Amazing Dylan lyrics on Israel

1983 | dylan

[dennisw]

 

 

Amazing Dylan lyrics on Israel. Must read the entire lyrics.
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The Neighborhood Bully
by Bob Dylan - 1983

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

 Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
 He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
 He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

[185JHP]

He made wonderful music during an era when much/most of it was filth - "He hands you a nickle/he hands you a dime/he asks you with a grin/if you're havin' a good time." "The only thing I knew how to do/was ta keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew/tangled up in blue."

[PhilDragoo]

Senior year in college I got three hours credit for a semester-in-the-making paper on 100 Bob Dylan lyrics. 1969.

The year I fell in love with a Jewish ballerina and chased after her to Boston in a (absolutely) black 1957 Chevrolet hearse.

If you're travelin' to the north country fair. . . .

He remains a spring bubbling up--and will do so until he dies.

Yes, his Hurricane promoted a guilty man, but it's powerful in its way.

Zimmerman he jettisoned and famously snubbed his parents at a concert forty years ago.

Motorcycle black Madonna two-wheeled gypsy queen. . . .

Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Dylan--certain elemental forces appear in nature.

Weberman Alan J. garbologist tried to claim he'd found syringes--and others of a skinhead bent needle him, too--

--but, Joan Baez sang, "I need some of that vagueness now"--

--while Mimi rode as a motorcycle black Madonna with Richard Farina, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me

Saw Joan alone onstage at Redrocks with the full moon rising behind

All along the watchtower. . . .

Dylan kept the view. . . .

While all the FReepers came and went. . . .

dennisw, too. . . .

[AdA$tra]

Anybody know the chords to this song for guitar?

I have the sheet music for Infidels upstairs somewhere. If I find it later I will freemail you a text synopsys. It isn't much fun to play if I remember right. Mostly one chord "A"; not very melodic. "Sweetheart Like You" is a blast to play. In fact I wooed my wife with that one back in the 80's. Lots of Dylan tunes have C#m, F#m, Bm and A major. Especially the Infidels era. Man, I used to play Dylan and Neil Young songs all night long on my guitar. Haven't played much lately.

[AdA$tra]

Guess I should have read further down before answering....hehehe.

[Jeremiah Jr]

Here's an interesting definition from Strong's Concordance of the Bible.

Everlasting - Olam: Strong's #5769, meaning the vanishing point, time out of mind past or future, eternity, always, continuance, eternal, since ancient time and evermore, perpetual, at any time, since the beginning of the world and without end.
http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/0108/0108am.html

...and the first track, 'Love Sick' is strait (pun intended) out of The Song of Songs...

I love Bob Dylan, now where'd I put that tape with 'Brownsville Girl' on it?

Again, Thanks much!

...and it's 5762 now...and counting...

[2sheep]

One of Dylan's most important songs was You Gotta Serve Somebody (text below) ~~  RealAudio ...  The culture has generated in many cases to serving oneself and sinking to the lowest common denominator of the lukewarm milksop middle, as evidenced in the White House.  John Denver wrote, "Life is just a funny-funny riddle," but he came to a sudden conclusion when he flew a plane into a sea cliff and the answer to the riddle is what Bob Dylan wrote --

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Moses, Elijah and all of the patriarch and prophets down through the ages, even Dylan, have said,

You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

They said pick one side or the other.  Whose on the Lord's side...or not.  The middle is where the ground opened and swallowed up the wicked.  The middle is under the Curse of Meroz and cursed of God:

Jg 5:23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

The answer to the riddle is to "Choose Life!"  Each of us chooses daily to live a holy life for God or to sin and live for oneself and serve the devil.  Each chooses daily to be transformed by yielding to the Spirit of God, the Word of God and receive His power or chooses to deny the power/Him/Word/Torah in deed, works and action or inaction.

Jos 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Ro 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

You Gotta Serve Somebody

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

[ObfusGate]

But you and I have been through that...

And this is not our fate...

So let us not talk falsely now...

The hour is getting late.

As long as Dylan sings, I will listen. Not everything he says is right but unlike 99% of modern musicians, at least he has something to say.

[AdA$tra]

I saw the Wallflowers in a tiny bar in Lawrence, Kansas about a week before "7th Avenue Heartbreak" broke loose. It was awsome. Two months later they were at Sandstone Ampitheater with the Counting Crows. Probably never get to experience that intimate atmosphere again.

[Don Myers]

I tried your link. It just takes me to the Jerusalem Post. I can't find the article.

[A CA Guy]

He's a great writer, but unless he is singing with someone else, he is satisfied with mumbling.
It's the strangest thing. He will mumble into the mike, but when he sings with someone else he is as clear as a bell in his words.
Strangest deal!

[PhilDragoo]

Ah but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now

[2sheep]

>I've heard my share of people who sound just like Mr. Lied -- when they're speaking in public/on the record. But get them alone, where they're comfortable letting their hair down, and if you close your eyes you'd swear you're in a bavarian beer over half a century ago.

How can anyone let their hair down who has shaved it to the skin?

[ObfusGate]

There's something going on and you DO know what it is, don't you Mr. Dragoo.

;-)

[ObfusGate]

But please don't let on that you knew me when...I was hungry and it was your world.

[don-o]

Oh me oh my

bump

[dennisw]

That's your stream of conciousness..... :)

[TheOtherOne]

GREAT post. Never heard that one. Saw Dylan play just a year or two ago at a great small venue, the El Ray, in LA. Dylan has got some wonderful skills.

[Valin]

Funny I didn't know they lived in Hibbing?

[AdA$tra]

In the heart of the Iron Range, eh?