Informed Speculation

Having just watched part 2 of Martin Scorsese’s fine Dylan documentary No Direction Home, I’m struck once again by the true artistry of Dylan, and how prescient he was to see the trap laid out for him by the folkies. When watching a windbag like Pete Seeger or Peter Yarrow, with their earnest lefty political warmed-over 60s nostalgia, and then juxtaposing their corny idealism with the brilliance of Dylan, you see just exactly why he remains relevant while they do reunion tours at water parks.

Nothing would have been easier than for Dylan to grab the mantle offered him, king of the protestors, the troubadour of the left, the brightest star in the progressive sky. He would have none of it…not only did he decline to accept, he actively resisted, and nowhere is that more evident than in the remarkable footage from Newport 1965, when Dylan performed with the Bringing It All Back Home band amid a chorus of hostile boos. Seldom is an iconic moment captured so plainly for posterity. It was at that moment that Dylan broke out of the 60′s trap that would claim, and continues to claim, so many on the Left.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing Dylan live on 4 occasions; 2 were spectacular, and 2 were horrible…but that’s what you get with an artist like Dylan (and also with the Grateful Dead – RIP, Jerry!) who is constantly reinventing himself. Dylan spoke in the documentary of the need for an artist to never fall into the trap of believing that he has arrived somewhere; and even at his advanced age, Dylan continues the Never Ending Tour that he began in 1988 – 17 years of almost nonstop dates on the road. Not even the Dead can lay claim to that record (the Dead toured for 30 years, but they took one significant break, and they broke their tours up a lot more than Dylan does).

And no one in the history of popular music has ever written lyrics of Dylan’s caliber – and it’s doubtful that anyone ever will. The best Dylan show I saw was at the Sunken Garden Ampitheatre in San Antonio on September 9, 1990 (just look at this amazing setlist!). Dylan opened the second set (of three!) with an absolutely electrifying version of ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, and I’d like to end with a little taste of that:

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

Powerful stuff…from an American Master, indeed…