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Bob Dylan is 70 today (Did you know?)
The Cinch Review ^ | May 24, 2011 | Sean Curnyn

Posted on 05/24/2011 4:16:39 AM PDT by don-o

Happy birthday to Bob Dylan, born May 24th, 1941.

I’m not big on birthdays, to be honest. What difference does it really make that on one day you are technically one age, and the next day you’re technically another age? You’re as young as you feel, and the older I get, the more it pleases me to think so.

There’s predictably been enormous hoopla over Bob Dylan turning 70, and at least 30 new books have been added to the groaning shelves of tomes analyzing, documenting and distorting his music and/or life. I should talk — I’ve written untold thousands of words around those topics, albeit in shorter forms.

It seems to me that the nicest thing to do on Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday is just to give him kudos for being out there in the way that he is, at his age. What peers or contemporaries of Dylan can do as he does — touring constantly, revisiting many of the same places year after year, playing sets that are top heavy with songs from the last decade or so, and filling those seats with fannies time after time? And not all aging 1960s types — not by a long shot. His shows have loads of people under 30, under 25, even under 20. Sure — you always hear complaints from some about him changing the songs, or being indecipherable, or whatever. I’ve been to enough of his shows to know that sometimes complaints can be justified. I hate the bad or too-loud sound at too many of the venues he plays. But the numbers don’t lie. On balance, the man delivers, and gets people to come back, while doing it completely on his own terms, and keeping it fresh for himself. This doesn’t happen in popular music, as a pretty good general rule. Dylan has achieved something that very few others have. Ever. And the older he gets, the more astounding it is.

It’s not the first time I’ve stopped to point to how amazing this is, but the pride he himself takes in this was evident in that unprecedented statement he made about his gigs in China. Maureen Dowd et al aside, he was obviously irritated by some things he had read about there being a lot of empty seats, and that the concerts were attended mostly by ex-patriot types. NO, he said. We almost sold out, the attendees were almost all Chinese, and, what’s more, they were young! I’m willing to buy Bob’s version, given the pile of distorted lies that the media gives us on any given day (and not only about Dylan). Bob may makes up stories about shooting heroin and kicking it, but it’s my belief that he doesn’t lie about the important things. He deserves to be proud of his success as an entertainer, doing it in the way that he likes to do it and giving the customers what they obviously like at the same time. It’s a helluva thing.

Many more, Bob.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Poetry
KEYWORDS: dylan
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If anyone is really interested in Bob Dylan (as opposed to launching the boring "Dylan can't sing" blurp), have a look at the source of this one plus the archived rightwingbob.com.

Happy Birthday Bob!

1 posted on 05/24/2011 4:16:42 AM PDT by don-o
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To: scott says; Merciful_Friend

ping


2 posted on 05/24/2011 4:17:40 AM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory; and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.)
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To: don-o

Happy Birthday Bob. The times are indeed changin’.


3 posted on 05/24/2011 4:22:26 AM PDT by afnamvet (I stand with Israel.)
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To: don-o

I use this song on DVDs I make of my grandchildren’s photos:

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.


4 posted on 05/24/2011 4:25:31 AM PDT by Portcall24
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To: Portcall24
Forever Young: by Bob Dylan
5 posted on 05/24/2011 4:28:55 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free!)
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To: don-o

I first saw Bob when he was in his late 30s and thought “man, this dude is getting old.”

He was so much older then; he’s younger than that now.


6 posted on 05/24/2011 4:32:28 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: don-o

He not busy being born is busy dying.

but It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

Happy Birthday Zimmy.


7 posted on 05/24/2011 4:40:23 AM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Like a rolling stone.......


8 posted on 05/24/2011 4:41:50 AM PDT by elcid1970 (Deport all Muslims. Nuke Mecca. Death to Islam.)
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To: don-o

To celebrate, I guess then that everyone must get stoned.


9 posted on 05/24/2011 4:43:25 AM PDT by Mr. Jazzy (The United States Marine Corps, your greatest friend or your worst enemy. YOU choose.)
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To: don-o

Don’t trust anyone over 71.


10 posted on 05/24/2011 4:50:02 AM PDT by Cheburashka (Democratic Underground: The Hogwarts of stupid.)
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To: don-o
And if you want to feel really old ...


Gary Burghoff is 68.

11 posted on 05/24/2011 4:50:17 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: don-o

Rock on Bobby!!!


12 posted on 05/24/2011 4:59:40 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Hating *me* won't make *you* handsome, intelligent, straight, male *or* white.)
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To: don-o
A Bob Dylan Top Ten
13 posted on 05/24/2011 5:06:03 AM PDT by Rocko
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To: Mr. Mojo

LOL Mojo. Best verse quote of the day!


14 posted on 05/24/2011 5:14:25 AM PDT by Reo
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To: Rocko
Interesting set. My personal favorite Dylan covers are the gospel songs.

Gotta Serve Somebody

15 posted on 05/24/2011 5:15:05 AM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory; and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.)
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To: don-o

This thread needs music:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abandoned+love+bob+dylan+original&aq=1&oq=abandoned+love+

“Abandoned Love”, Everly Brothers


16 posted on 05/24/2011 6:01:19 AM PDT by Huck (The Antifederalists were right.)
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To: don-o

Happy birthday!


17 posted on 05/24/2011 6:05:37 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Larry Lucido

Cannot find this on YouTube but here’s one of my all time favorites (from “Infidels”)

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 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 should 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 license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully

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 he signed was worth 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?
Nothin’, 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

Copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music


18 posted on 05/24/2011 6:25:24 AM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory; and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.)
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To: don-o

Who?


19 posted on 05/24/2011 6:25:32 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (explosive bolts, ten thousand volts at a million miles an hour)
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To: don-o
Check out XM Radio's “Theme Time Radio Hour” with Bob Dylan.

He DJ’s an hour of music from his own record collection (not his own songs, his record collection) while sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of the musicians and the music.

Some jokes as well....

“What is the difference between a Treasury bond and a Drummer?”

“The Treasury bond will eventually mature and earn money.”

20 posted on 05/24/2011 6:29:11 AM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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