Yes, he is the one who composed Blowin’ in the Wind.
Yes, Mr. Tambourine Man also. And Like a Rolling Stone. And Highway ’61 Revisited. And a host of poems set into music plus a number of traditional materials that have since been memorialized in countless articles and glowing tributes to his genius. Yes, he also wrote and performed Forever Young for his son.
Although Bob Dylan has yet to acknowledge “the voice of his generation” accolade, there is irrefutable evidence that he influenced those born after WWII, also popularly referred to as the “baby boomers”.
A sweep at those who set the tune to the 21st century reveals that baby boomers are the ones now at the helm of the so-called international shift in world view. The title also covers many senior citizens as well as those who are at the threshold of nursing homes.
Be that as it may, Bob Dylan was a virtual lamplighter in those Long Days’ Journey Into Night1, when equality was just another dream, before and after the depletion of the ozone layer was discovered.
It was a generation that dreamt of change. It was the era of experimentation. The fire to set trails a’blazin’ can be gleaned in Al Gore’s documentation titled The Inconvenient Truth 2 while The Prophet3 exploded in popularity across the globe.
The space race was on. In Cold Blood4 defined a new literary genre. Richard Burton played The Spy Who Came in from the Cold5. Von Karajan was icon and Hemmingway was at the top of the best seller list.
Then, Woodstock happened.
All took advice of the youth who has something to say and wanting to say it. All noticed how this guitar-wielding amalgam raised funds for Bangladesh and Africa, as current pop icons still get together to raise funds for the children of the world.
Those four decades ante-90’s set the stage for the pc and the global village. They did and done that, irrefutable as the change that is in itself inevitable. Seen from the eyes that saw this spawning, change could be and should only be, as they would have it, always for the better.
A hankering for positive change was the ambiance of those times. Spirits soared. The baby boomers were hopelessly in love – apparently with everyone and everything.
They are still in-love and seriously proud of moments captured in one-liners on bumper stickers. Reminisce those moments they do, in Forest Gump6 scenarios like “Shit happens” and “Just Do It” billboards.
Nobody Does It Better and everyone IS already involved and doing it in the best possible way – mostly thru IT almighty. The answer is perhaps, not blowin’ in the wind but in Face Book, or as proposed by the mud-blood prince.
As for the flower children, love is not merely Il Postino according to Pablo Neruda. It is “lying beside you, dreamless and straight as an arrow.”
Yes, the baby boomers grew up with Bob Dylan. And as he put it, “It took me a long time to grow young.” 7
Growing young, they still are. Ask Yoda9, who wrapped up sincerity thus: Try not. Do or do not.8
Say you?
*NotaBene:
1Long Day’s Journey into Night. Eugene O’Neill, Yale University Press. 1956
2An Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore Documentary.2006
3The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran, Knopf Publishers.1923
4In Cold Blood. Truman Capote, Random House.1966
6Forrest Gump. Paramount Pictures. 1994
7Tom Paine Award Acceptance Speech, 1963
8Star Wars Saga.1980-2008, Wikipedia
Discography:
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Released August 1963 Recorded July 9, 1962, Columbia Recording Studios, New York City, New York
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. Released March 22, 1965 (album) Recorded January 15, 1965, Columbia Recording Studios, New York City
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. from the album Highway 61 Revisited Released July 20, 1965 Recorded June 15–16, 1965, Columbia Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York City
Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Released August 30, 1965 Recorded Columbia Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York, June 15, 1965 – August 4, 1965
Nobody Does It Better is a ballad by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole
Bayer Sager from the album The Spy Who Loved Me, recorded by Carly Simon as a single in 1977
Bayer Sager from the album The Spy Who Loved Me, recorded by Carly Simon as a single in 1977
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