My latest in PJ Media:
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” The statement has been attributed most frequently to Winston Churchill, who may never actually have said it; but in these days of calls to “Defund the Police” and antifa thugs running wild in cities where there are no rough men, it is more important that it is true than it is who said it. Recently, an affirmation of the wisdom of this saying came from what many might consider an unlikely corner: Bob Dylan.
Dylan, 79, is the hero of the Sixties counterculture, which makes him revered among today’s mainstream Left. Obama gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and not too long after that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, for which he never would have been considered at all if he weren’t an idol of Leftists worldwide. But on his new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan sings a curious stanza that should have his Leftist followers, if they’re listening to the words, wondering if the grand old man is losing his grip. Conservatives, by contrast, should be cheering.
The lines come in a song entitled Mother of Muses, which begins by sending out a series of pleas to the spirits of inspiration. The speaker calls on the “mother of muses” to “sing of the mountains and the deep dark sea,” and to “sing of the lakes and the nymphs in the forest,” that sort of thing.
So far, that’s fairly conventional: the man wants to write a song, and he needs some help to do it. Poets going back to Homer and before that have asked the muses to visit them with something worthwhile to say, or sing, or write. But then Dylan shifts the tone slightly, asking this “mother of muses” to “sing of the Heroes who stood alone / Whose names are engraved on tablets of stone / Who struggled with pain so the world could go free.”
Who might those heroes be? Bob Dylan is glad you asked. The song continues:
Sing of Sherman, Montgomery and Scott
Sing of Zhukov and Patton and the battles they fought
Who cleared the path for Presley to sing
Who carved out the path for Martin Luther King
Who did what they did and then went on their way
Man, I could tell their stories all day
There is much more. Read the rest here.
somehistory says
Never heard what others did from him..only song of his I like is Positively 34th Street.
But with this new song, seems he may have something else worth hearing.
James Lincoln says
somehistory, I too believe that that was Dylan’s best song…
mortimer says
But now, Dylan is praising career soldiers who fought tyranny with bullets and bayonets.
Dylan has become more conservative.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Dylan has become more conservative.
I’ve followed him closely since his first album, and disagree. Recently, I watched a documentary on Dylan, which included outtakes from many of his interviews at the time. The interviewers would invariably try to bait him into antiwar or socialist statements, and each time he’d respond adroitly, declining to jump aboard. He’d talk around the imputations in the question, replacing them with universal truisms.
He knew then, and he knows now.
GOLDMANN says
Mr Dylan is a Satanist ? he admits it on a vidio .
Mauricio says
That is hard to believe. What video are you talking about? I understand he converted to christianity. Link?
curious george says
GOLDMANN says
Mr Dylan is a Satanist he admits it on a vidio .
Mauricio says
That is hard to believe. What video are you talking about? I understand he converted to christianity. Link?
………………………………..
I stated that I know little to nothing about Bob Dylan, after reading these comments I did a quick search and found this article.
Bob Dylan: Is He or Isn’t He?
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/bob-dylan-a-spiritual-life/
Generally, we believe what we want to believe.
gravenimage says
This from GOLDMANN is ridiculous. It seems to be based on a single obscure song of Dylan’s called New Pony, which includes these lyrics:
Once I had a pony, her name was Lucifer
I had a pony, her name was Lucifer
She broke her leg and she needed shooting
I swear it hurt me more than it could ever have hurted her…
Pretty thin reed to consider him a Satanist–good grief.
Mauricio says
“A hard rains gonna fall”. The best song lyrics ever written. The man is a true poet and artist, although his voice is not that beautiful.
eddie says
Can’t agree:
Dylan’s best song lyrics are found on his album Blood on the Tracks (1975)
Tangled up in Blue is the finest love poetry of the 20th century.
E T says
I listened to the words very closely and I am not to sure if hell has no fury like a woman scorned is true. Some woman in his past might have caused some history. Lol
somehistory says
JL,
His lack of singing ability didn’t really matter with that one…in fact, I think it added to the enjoyment for me. So many great lines in it.
curious george says
somehistory says
JL,
His lack of singing ability didn’t really matter with that one…in fact, I think it added to the enjoyment for me. So many great lines in it.
…………………………………………………….
+1
Maybe, his voice is best suited for his lyrics and style of music?
A.J. says
It’s 4th Street not 34th. Dylan was singing about the Village, not Macy’s.
somehistory says
Boo hoo. I made an error. so sorry i made a mistake. it’s my only one today. At least, the only one pointed out to me. 🙂
So, don’t “say you are my friend “if “you don’t really mean it.: Because failing eyesight and stressed out memory banks….might make me commit more terrible errors in the future.
I “got a lot of nerve,” haven’t I?
Seriously, thanks for the correction to the name. It’s one of those wispy things I sometimes forget
I already knew it wasn’t about Macy’s Please don’t “take me for such a fool.” I wrote nothing that shows otherwise. That Christmas movie about Macy’s and santa is fun though, huh?
gravenimage says
Somethistory, I don’t really think that A.J. was trying to be hostile–and I doubt he knows about your eye problems.
somehistory says
I didn’t take it as “Hostile,” but eh macy’s part was certainly unnecessary. As for making errors, and typos, everyone on this site does it, eye problems or not.
When I notice them, I rarely point them out… I try to limit it to only when it makes a difference to the Truth about islam or Christianity or the Bible.
Everyone knew… even he… which song I meant. And, I’m not the only one to say 34 instead of 4 for that song.
The fact that I kept putting parts of the song in my reply clearly shows my intent in answering his comment to me. Or, it should. 🙂
gravenimage says
OK, Somehistory.
curious george says
somehistory & James Lincoln,
Thank you for your comments.
I know little to nothing about Bob Dylan, other than I like his song, “Gotta Serve Somebody”, that seems to sum up the human condition.
curious george says
Alarmed Pig Farmer,
As Paul Harvey was famous for saying, “and now the rest of the story,” thank you your insight.
somehistory says
+10
mgoldberg says
I’m always amazed at how much he was able to create and publish and yet…. He wrote an amazing song, with lyrics that were bluntly accurate and true… and yet I hadn’t heard him open up and put down the destroyers here in America who are just as bad. Here are the amazing lyrics from Neighbborhood bully:
“Neighborhood Bully”
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 he 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 could 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 licence to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, 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 that he signed was worth that 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 ?
Nothing, 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.
gravenimage says
Thanks for citing this song, mgoldberg. I believe that Robert Spencer also mentioned this at one point.
Myron J. Poltroonian says
Robert Zimmerman is writing about Israel. ‘Bout time.
mgoldberg says
That was a song from about 1981 or so, If I remember….
gravenimage says
Very close, mgoldberg–1983.
eddie says
A magnificent song on the disappointing album Infidels, released in 1983. By that time, Springsteen had overtaken Dylan and was the most important voice in popular music.
In my opinion, Springsteen’s Nebraska album (1982) is superior to all of Dylan’s early folk and protest albums.
CogitoErgoSum says
Springsteen may have some better selling albums than Dylan but, in my opinion, the man who outdoes them both in terms of poetic lyrics is Leonard Cohen. If Dylan deserved a Nobel Prize, Cohen should have gotten one also. Great lyrics on all of his compositions. He’s really underappreciated. Go to YouTube and look up a few of his songs and see if you don’t think so.
gravenimage says
Yes–Leonard Cohen is absolutely brilliant.
gravenimage says
Bob Dylan and the Rough Men
……………..
Excellent stuff–and most of this will be ignored by leftists. It is try–if these rough men had not defeated Fascism, we never could have moved forward.
Myron J. Poltroonian says
Prophetically speaking: “The fascists of the future will claim to be anti-fascists.” -Winston Churchill.
mortimer says
Thanks for that tremendous quote for WC.
curious george says
Myron J. Poltroonian
+1
And to think this was once written about Churchill. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
“The man now elected to stand as the head of this empire, is a verbal bully, a chauvinist, a misanthrope, aggressive and looking for conflict. He is a rude man who’s face is red from alcohol who acts like a bulldog, and who’s voters voted for him for reasons of paranoia, and nationalistic fueled feelings – against an imaginary enemy.”
– Haaretz – May 10, 1940. Referring to Winston Churchill
gravenimage says
Thanks for that quote, curious george–very apt for today and Churchill’s American cousins.
curious george says
gravenimage,
You’re welcome. It does seem to fit our times.
GOLDMANN says
The man’s a Satanist he admits it . ?
Mauricio says
That is hard to admit. Which video?
Robert Spencer says
What a lot of hooey.
Mauricio says
Mr. Spencer! My sincere greetings.
Yes, lot of hooey indeed.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Mr. Spencer.
John Besharian says
Robert Zimmerman and I share history. we were both born on exactly the very same day, month and year. We both were “The Skinny Kid with the Big Nose as kids (although I prefer to remember myself as “The Slender Youth with the Proud Proboscis”) and picked on. We both can’t sing or play the harmonica. (Although I give him some credit (a.k.a. “Faint Scots Praise) when I say, “I have a voice that makes Bob Dylan sound like an opera singer”.) We both knew my wife, folk and blues singer, Lisa Kindred, although he met her in the Village, in New York City, before I met her at Sid’s Blue Beet in Newport Beach in Calipornia in the mid/late ’60’s. The first time I heard his voice as a budding guitarist in the early ’60’s, I thought he was a joke since I was listening to and playing with some of the best folk singers around in the Southern Calipornia music scene at the time. As a songwriter, he’s brilliant. As a vocalist to this day? Still; not so hot.
Rod says
“A 13-year-old boy with autism who was unarmed, was shot several times by police officers who responded to his home in Salt Lake City after his mother called for help.
Linden was recovering in hospital with injuries to his shoulder, both ankles, his intestines and his bladder.”
Rough men out of control in a sick society which seems to have lost its bearings. Not a topic Mr Spencer will invite you to discuss, today or any other day.
Several of my older relatives fought to defeat fascism. One didn’t return.
They were not “rough men”.
You can keep your rough men to yourselves. You’re welcome.
mgoldberg says
you are taking one example out of all the others that police never get credit for…. all the help they do too autistic people and so many others. That too is accomplished by ‘rough men’. We indeed will be happy to remember and think of those men at their best…. which is much much more often that the failures.
mgoldberg says
two days ago, in my state, a policemen died jumping into a river to try to save the life of a female robber who jumped in the river to escape capture. The policement died but the robber managed to get to the other side and lived.
E T says
How many police have been killed lately, putting their lives in danger to save others? The loons are exceptionally noisy out on the lake tonight and then along come Rod. Do yourself a favour, save yourself from all the anguish, go to another site and vent.
gravenimage says
“Rod” here regularly whitewashes horrors like slavery in Islam on this thread:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/09/why-racial-tensions-are-so-high-in-the-least-racist-society-on-earth
He may have relatives who fought Fascism, but he is not of the same material.
CogitoErgoSum says
Where do you get your news, Rob? Do you see the videos being posted on YouTube about the BLM and Antifa? Take a look at the one I have linked below. The woman BLM “protestor” drinking the elderly couple’s beer looks plenty rough to me. Her shirt says “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter.” But just who are the ones acting like Nazis? Do you condone this kind of behavior, Rob? Do you really think Trump is worse than these people? If Trump were really a fascist dictator there is no way this type of stuff would be happening in the streets of America. It needs to stop but it keeps getting worse because people like you support it. For the life of me I can’t understand why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIpq6JXC9c
CogitoErgoSum says
Ha! Well imagine that, Rod. YouTube just took down the video because it made Black Lives Matter look bad. They don’t want you to know the truth. What a surprise.
CogitoErgoSum says
Here’s another copy of the video that YouTube hasn’t gotten around to taking down just yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWjkad6-7Qk
gravenimage says
Thanks for those links, CogitoErgoSum.
How brave is it having a mob rob an elderly couple? Just disgusting.
CogitoErgoSum says
Here is what is was like in Rochester, New York a few days ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujJm8Hn5sIc
FYI says
Have you noticed how many antifa/blm activists are..WHITE?
You might say they have what Lefties call ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’:they think they are allowed to be thugs.
They are privileged spoiled lefties.Or..
WILLYS
White Ignorant Lefty Liberal Yobs
talleyrand says
+!+100
Giacomo Latta says
You just described ”Rod” to a tee.
curious george says
FYI says
Have you noticed how many antifa/blm activists are..WHITE?
…………………………………………….
+1
And, they are supporting an old white career politician for President? Am I missing something?
Against stupidity even the Gods themselves contend in vain.
– Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)
gravenimage says
What thugs.
CogitoErgoSum says
Have you heard of Cannon Hinnant, Rod? Do you think his life mattered? Most of the news media don’t think so but at least Fox News did. I’m surprised this video is still up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F33uVghqIUU
gravenimage says
Horrifying.
FYI says
@Rod
+1
{…nah,I’m just kidding..}
But your older relatives who you tell us fought to defeat fascism?
They get a Gold Star each.
Meanwhile,since the ‘rough men’ of blm and antifa are “out of control” we need good
police officers to enforce Law and Order.
Defunding the police as Far Lefties want is ridiculous:antifa/blm activists have had to be rescued by the police on several occasions,one involving antifa kicking a bike at a biker rally{who does that?} in Sturgis this year and the cops had to escort them to safety.
Giacomo Latta says
Antifaman,
So, keeping score are we? No, you would never do that. You much prefer committing the ”sin” you lay at the feet of Robert Spencer: searching out obscure incidents. So how many of us ”fascists” died on September 11, 2001? Ever watch any reality shows involving police? Ever notice there are more everyday blacks and everyday whites killing each other?
How lucky you are to be able to die fighting fascism in this age! Go for it.
James Lincoln says
When I think of the BLM/antifa riots going on right now in Democrat-controlled cities, I think of John Fogerty’s “Gunslinger”
===============
“Looking out across this town
Kinda makes me wonder how
All the things that made us great
Got left so far behind
This used to be a peaceful place
Decent folks, hard working ways
Now they hide behind locked doors
Afraid to speak their mind
I think we need a gunslinger
Somebody tough to tame this town
I think we need a gunslinger
There’ll be justice all around
Someone let the fences go
While that bunch moved in, you know
Shooting up the streets
Shoutin’ everybody down
The dogs all running loose
Wreck the paper
Closed the school
Tired ol’ judge got roughed up too
No one left to make a stand
They whisper, “what’s the use”
I think we need a gunslinger
Somebody tough to tame this town
I think we need a gunslinger
There’ll be justice all around”
E T says
Excellent choice James.
curious george says
JL,
I have never heard this, however, what immediately came to mind was the movie, High Noon with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.
gravenimage says
Here’s John Fogarty’s Gunslinger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VjDri-EYvE&ab_channel=SOUTHERNREBEL
curious george says
Thank you, gravenimage. Now I can say I have heard John Fogarty’s Gunslinger.
E T says
Thank you James and GI. Although I am younger than Joe Biden, I am too old to run, which is a terrible shame, I would make that my campaign song and my platform would be “I don’t give a shit about any of you, I only want the money and the power BUT I am honest.
RCCA says
I had a meditation teacher (MMY) who used to say, “Sometimes it takes a thorn to remove a thorn.”
Mauricio says
My grandpa told me that when the mother of my first son dumped me and took my child away.
E T says
Oh Cog, I listen to lovely Leonard singing “I’m Your Man” and I know he was singing that song to me. One can linger longer listening to Lovely Leonard. Allah would not approve.
dusty says
My favourite Dylan is “Not Dark Yet”
But it’s getting there.