Happy Birthday, Mr. Zimmerman

In honor of Bob Dylan's birthday today (born May 24, 1941 as Robert Zimmerman), I listened to a healthy cross-section of his songs in my collection, ranging from his early protest folk songs up through the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, and marveled again at how well his lyrics perfectly captured whatever mood and imagery he was targeting.

His "Blowin' In The Wind" put the question of civil rights before us all:

"How many years can some people exist,

before they're allowed to be free?"

In "Masters of War", he denounced the military-industrial complex only two years after President Eisenhower had coined the term:

"Come you masters of war, you that build all the guns

You that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls, you that hide behind desks,

I just want you to know I can see through your masks."

His "Subterranean Homesick Blues" contained the lyric that inspired the name of the Weathermen faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS):

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

Even when Dylan turned his rage on personal relationships rather than social injustice, his lyrics captured things perfectly. How many of us have found ourselves in situations where these parting words seem all too fitting:

"You just kinda wasted my precious time,

Don't think twice, it's all right."

My personal favorite, though, is from "Positively 4th Street":

"You've got a lot of nerve, to say you are my friend

When I was down, you just stood there grinning...

I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes

You'd know what a drag it is to see you"

Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman, for giving us so many great lyrics. As you said in "My Back Pages", you were so much older then, you're younger than that now.