Wednesday 25 May 2011

Hey Mr Tambourine Man

In the week of his 70th birthday ...


The voice was nasal and reedy, alongside the raspy harmonica. But it was never about the voice; he was a poet and he helped define a generation.



You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows ... In the back of a blood-spattered police van in Cape Town in the midst of the 1976 riots we sang Blowin' in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changing to keep our spirits up - young and scared, his words gave us the confidence to believe a change of the ancien regime was possible. 

Thanks, Bob, and happy birthday.

Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind

Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves

The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach

Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free

Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands

With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves

Let me forget about today until tomorrow


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