the sun is shining.. if you’re
gonna put your good foot forward
and stop being influenced by fools

otherwise
the sun’s not yellow it’s chicken


the red Republican Romney/Ryan ticket might be delighted to jump all over that semi-retirement idea-

impose a 75-100-arena-sized-shows-a-year definition of semi-retirement ?

give each Social-Security-hopin’ voter a voucher for 1 free pair of Spanish leather bootstraps,

and host a coast to coast singalong tea party.. hum along now-

.. Hopin’ to find one circumstance
Of gratitude..
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take
To find gratitude

because I’ve given up on dignity


call me precocious? only 5 Dylan-listening years old and I decide to try sarcasm, here, for the first time.
the nerve of me
ineffectual?
that’s a foregone conclusion


but really ? ?! really? are any of us doing our profession’s equivalent of ONE, Madison Square Garden sized-show-a-year, even in our prime? much less, at 70+ years old, with enough fame, money, professional respect in our pockets to satisfy, what-- a dozen lifetimes’ stellar work ?

there is no reason Dylan needs to get up on that stage-

no reason.. but for -I imagine- that tiny, undiscussed detail that he cannot live without it. that he lives for it.

.. and maybe, maybe, but for those who want to hear- see- him at work.
yes, even if it’s just to watch the eyes, guitar neck, hands, direct the next key change, tempo change, signal the final 4-8 measures of a song--

Dylan, on stage, is a living songbook

every cell in his onstage body a lived map of great- goose-bump great, bewitchment great, spellbinding great- performances. think about that. that’s experiential, visceral, muscle memory. if that does not inspire awe in a music lover, nothing will.
a ’bad’ Dylan night can teach you more than most performers’ best.

if the man wakes up one day, with so little ravaged voice left that he can no longer speak-
I still can’t think of another musician who has more right to command whatever the heck stage he wants to command-


sure, the insults, bullying, derision on this site are unpleasant- bla bla bla

but what infuriates is the notion that someone- anyone- believes their discernment ? musical acumen ? points to profundities (heavy handed, arrogant sounding word) that Dylan isn’t aware of-
that Dylan needs to be enlightened about his own abilities- ’called out’ ?

do you really believe the man who penned "when you think that you lost everything/ you find out you can always lose a little more.." needs your "insight" into the status of his voice ? his setlists ? his commitment (as if any of us know what that is-)

that the man who said "I did it once, and I can do other things now. But, I can’t do that.."; who sang, at 24 frighteningly-young years old "he not busy born is busy dying"; who warns "don’t look back".. and..

that this man hasn’t known, anticipated- for decades.. that he would have this road to hoe ? performing within/under his own, unbeatable shadow ? and doing it anyways ?

the guy, basically, flew to the sun between 1941-1966, musically speaking (my nonsense. I think of it as the Icarus tour.)

any of you ever contemplated what you’d do with the rest of your life if you got back, alive, from a trip like that? that’s if we could get off the ground at all- learn to fly ?

it’s laughable to hear Dylan called ’TIRED’.

beyond laughable

there’s nothing I can think of more heroic, more UN-tired, for a performer to do than get up on stage, DESPITE others’ insistence your dazzling best is behind you.

so you’re not Mr Tambourine Man anymore, you’re Workingman-
Blues ’an all

but by doing the work, ’keeping the bargain with the chief’.. whoever you serve,
another, "different kind of penetrating magic" happens. alchemy.

and Mr Tambourine Man, or the younger Bob Dylan(s), if you will, still are up there- onstage- within him.

only because the work stays most important.
the music.
continuing to get busy being born.

that’s what, if anything, he’s always ever preached

I realize there are hundreds of Watchtower members who may not share the "I’m perceptive/cool/right/statistics quoting/a "real" fan because I don’t admire his current work and you’re an idiot/loon/pathetic/can’t hear if you do" opinion-

but the few who do feel this way are loud and repetitive

consider your thundering on,
a mountain of repetition

and some are tired of your song

Posted October 31, 2012   by Blue-eyed on the Watchtower Dylan forum

www.allalongthewatchtower.dk