Like A Rolling Stone

A much needed dishwashing marathon took place in my house this week. How exciting. One never fully realizes how long 30 minutes really is until they have spent that entire time standing in one place, pruny fingered, and wishing they had washed this morning’s oatmeal bowl sooner…or had just let it soak. Seeing as how I made this realization the last time I drew the short straw and had to wash dishes, I decided to put the ole ipod on shuffle and hopefully find something to sing obnoxiously to whilst I wash. As luck would have it, it landed on my old friend Bobby Zimmerman. Some of you may know him better as Bob Dylan. Luckily for my neighbors I can sing better than he, no offense Bob..but really… Elbow deep in lavender and something else ridiculous (thanks Palmolive) soapy water, I thought..how perfect for my post this week.

Much of Dylan’s most famous work comes from around the 60s, a time of “American unrest,” if you will, and home to the civil rights movement. Dylan became a sort of figurehead of this time. “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” are two of his most famous songs, in my opinion I suppose, and became poster songs for this particular movement. Dylan’s song lyrics contained such political and social influences and standpoints, it’s no wonder they defied the norms and appealed to the counterculture.

Everyone has heard “Blowin’ in the Wind,” if you say you haven’t, you’re a liar:

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?

Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist

Before it's washed to the sea?

Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,

Pretending he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Ladies and gentlemen, this very simply is a protest song, posing questions about peace, love and freedom man. Oh yeah, and we never get the answers. They’re either blatantly obvious, or completely untouchable. Well that’s a given, right? It’s been speculated that this song either protests the Vietnam War, or specifically speaks about the civil rights movement as according to one African American woman, the song “captured the frustration and aspirations of black people so powerfully.” Why not both? Or more? Instead of coming up with new protest songs, people have used this particular song to protest the Iraq war 40 years later. War and civil rights aside, it’s impossible not to be able to equate this song to something, anything in one’s life when looking for answers.

If we look at the song “The Times They are a-Changin’” we see similar themes: racism, poverty, and social change. People have accused this song of capturing “the spirit of social and political upheaveal that characterized the 1960s.” You’ll find the lyrics below:

Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide

The chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon

For the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' who

That it's namin'.

For the loser now

Will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin'.

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast
As the present now

Will later be past

The order is
Rapidly fadin'.

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'.

According to the man himself (that’s Dylan in this case), "Those were the only words I could find to separate aliveness from deadness…I didn't mean 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' as a statement... It's a feeling." Well there ya have it. As far as historical “clues” for why or how such songs came about when they did, I think it probably doesn’t get much clearer. The political unrest and social change that every American faced (albeit some more than others), had a great impact on artists and the music industry and vice versa. It was a way to get out what you were feeling and generally, speak what the people think without being beaten or arrested, which is always nice.

Music with significance such as this is very easy to convey to current students whom may not share the specific historical frame. Take a look around, I’d say fill up your car but hey man..at less than two dollars…damn I’m even cool with that..which is sick..we again are in a time of war, economic crisis, social and political change (yes we can, yeah we did), etc. I think the lyrics speak for themselves, and are easily applicable to anything you want them to speak to or about. It doesn’t have to be about war specifically..remember..the change is a feeling. Again, what kid isn’t having some kind of tumultuous episode with their damn feelings. Hey, at least I’m not telling them that “everybody must get stoned.”