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


5 comments:

  1. Wouldn't you loved to have been the person who grabbed that moment of time? Then again, given the story of hope you told, you did grab it...

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  2. Karen, old Bob is not that much older than I am, and so he is making me think that 70 is rather young.

    I've only seen Dylan in person once, at the second of the Bangladesh benefit concerts organized by George Harrison so many years ago. It was Dylan's first performance after the motorcycle accident.

    Happy Birthday!

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  3. Happy Birthday Bob!
    What a lovely and poetic post dear Karen!
    Thank YOU!

    Just saw a few nights ago the brilliant film about and with Bob Dylan from Martin Scorsese. Kept me awake nearly the whole night. Highly recommended and DVD available at amazon.
    Many greetings,
    karin

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  4. Would it be terrible of me to say that Bob passed me by - in the musical sense! Never quite got into him, though intrigued by the recent interest in him, bought his autobiography. But will I ever read it?

    Pleased you picked up on the Scots text in my recent post Karen. Dreich is a great word - succinctly describes rotten weather in one word!

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  5. I went to one of his concerts when he had just turned 60.
    Man, what a show! I was completely taken (my daughter whispering by my side - "Mum, act your age! - did not keep me from jumping from my seat).

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