| Bob Dylan – Neighborhood Bully Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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This song may be about Israel but I doubt it. If it is about any nation at all, I think that it is more likely to be about the USA. However, I think that its meaning is on a deeper level than that of characterising the particular experience and/or perception of any one nation or individual. My view is that this song is an attempt to relate the experience of any strong entity that stands against accepted mores, traits or conventional 'wisdom'. It recognises that even when helping others and standing against corruption, prejudice, hatred, violence, inequity, poverty or bullying, whoever or whatever the entity doing so will be reviled as that which it seeks to overcome or from which it seeks to protect others. Having enjoyed and admired and followed Dylan's journey, as a contemporary, since he first performed in New York at the start of the 'sixties, I can't envisage Dylan as having such a simplistic view as seems to be represented by many of the comments here. However, perhaps my admiration for his perception, understanding of complex issues and ability to express them in simple and poetic words, is clouding my judgment. I certainly don't claim to have any particular ability to get inside his head. I'm just very grateful that I've been able to appreciate and enjoy his work for the last 60 years. In response to those who consider the song trivial and posit other titles as equally or even more-so, I agree that Dylan can be trivial but usually does so when he's either laughing at himself or intending to amuse others, His VD songs and his children's songs are some examples of that side to him. For me, that seems a very tiny aspect to his character and one that is likely a result of male and North American socialisation and experiences whilst young. None of us can escape our socialisation entirely so, although some of that output I find fairly crass or trivial, it doesn't constitute what truly characterises Dylan and his output. For me, Dyaln certainly deserved the Nobel prize for literature and I think he would find it ironic, as do I, that Nobel's father made his fortune by working with the then Tsar of Russia and the military and, in particular, promoting the use of mines to protect St. Petersburg harbour, which successfully prevented the British from invading it in the Crimean War. More-so, however, was that Nobel himself was the individual who invented a way to stabilise Nitroglycerine and who patented the resulting product and named it Dynamite. I feel sure that Dylan would find it an amusing paradox that the Nobel is both responsible for one of the most destructive products in history and also the major World Peace prize. Please excuse me. Yes, I get carried away whenever I'm involved in discussions about Dylan. |
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