Amazing Dylan lyrics on Israel

1983 | dylan

[dennisw]

 

 

Amazing Dylan lyrics on Israel. Must read the entire lyrics.
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The Neighborhood Bully
by Bob Dylan - 1983

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.

[Skooz]

This song has been going through my mind since this latest round of suicide bombings (just after 9/11) began. It's from the "Infidels" album. A great song and timeless, as is most of Bob's music.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Dylan was Jewish by birth, but, in the 60s, acted like a typical leftist and tried to hide that fact (although there were often some biblical themes or images in his songs, as in Highway 61 ). Later (late 70s), he went through a "Jewish" period, and was photographed praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem wearing a skullcap. Still later (early 80s), he became a born-again Christian, and did a few explicitly Christian albums. I don't know if he ever explicitly disavowed Christianity, but he doesn't do those songs anymore and, if he's still a Christian, he doesn't talk about it as far as I've seen.

[Skooz]

Infidels, 1983.

Desire, 1976 (my favorite Dylan album).

[dennisw]

Dylan is a child of Emma Goldman and Abraham Maslow, the godparents of the 60s radicals. Maybe he's changed but few of them ever did.

Bob Dylan has done some positive in his life unlike you. He has something good here to say about Israel, unlike you. I know who Israel's friends are and you are not one. But then neither is 97% of the Islamic world and neither is Arafat or Bin Laden. 

Your lamer critique is hereby rejected..... by me at least.

 

[Thinkin' Gal]

Bob Dylan always struck me as a genius who could never fit in... most of his contemporaries were utterly brain dead, even without the help of drugs.

[Beau Schott]

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/index.html?ts=1024513703
If you translate it - they will buy it
Jerusalem Post; Jerusalem; Apr 5, 2002; Jerusalem Post Staff;

Words in Document: 141

Available Formats:
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Abstract:
Mein Kampf was originally translated in the 1960s, and revived by Bisan, a Lebanese publisher, in the 1990s. In the preface, translator Luis al-Haj states: "National socialism did not die with the death of its herald."

[kjam22]

Your right... He does still play some of those songs. Here are some lyrics from his recent Grammy winning album.

The air is getting hotter There's a rumbling in the skies I've been wading through the high muddy water With the heat rising in my eyes Every day your memory grows dimmer It doesn't haunt me like it did before I've been walking through the middle of nowhere Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

When I was in Missouri They would not let me be I had to leave there in a hurry I only saw what they let me see You broke a heart that loved you Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore I've been walking that lonesome valley Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

People on the platforms Waiting for the trains I can hear their hearts a-beatin' Like pendulums swinging on chains When you think that you lost everything You find out you can always lose a little more I'm just going down the road feeling bad Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

I'm going down the river Down to New Orleans They tell me everything is gonna be all right But I don't know what "all right" even means I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore I been all around the world, boys Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door

Gonna sleep down in the parlor And relive my dreams I'll close my eyes and I wonder If everything is as hollow as it seems Some trains don't pull no gamblers No midnight ramblers, like they did before I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My favorite is Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

[dennisw]

My fave Dylan with "Visions of Johanna" being my fave tune. Poetry. 

Audio and more links!>

First Release

Blonde on Blonde
1966
{ RealAudio }
WindowsMedia { 56 }

Live

Biograph
1985
{ RealAudio }
WindowsMedia { 56 }

Live

Live 1966
1998
{ RealAudio }
WindowsMedia { 56 }

Visions Of Johanna 

(Seems Like A Freeze Out) 
(Was the alternative title of this song)

Bob Dylan © 1966 Dwarf Music

Ain't it just like the night to play
Tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet ?
We sit here stranded
Though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain temptin' you to defy it.
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
An' these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind.

<SNIP>

 

[SJackson]

Dylan is a child of Emma Goldman and Abraham Maslow, the godparents of the 60s radicals. Maybe he's changed but few of them ever did. Does that mean you don’t like the song?

[Bella_Bru]

To quote "The Chanuka Song" by Adam Sandler:

Bob Dylan was born a Jew Then he wasn't but now he's back,

[A CA Guy]

Glad you have READ that, you for-sure can't understand him when he sings it.

[Bella_Bru]

Bump for dennisw and a another great Dylan song!

[Atsilvquodi]

thanks for the ping.

[kazatzkeh]

When asked if this song is about Israel Bob replied "It's about whatever you want it to be about"