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Friday, March 14, 2008

Poetry Friday - the Bob Dylan Edition



Jama Rattigan is hosting Poetry Friday this week. And she requested that people post their favorite Bob Dylan lyrics.

I panicked. Okay - I know who Bob Dylan is. I recognize his songs, but I don't know his songs the way I might for Billy Joel or Harry Chapin. Could I name any Bob Dylan song off the top of my head. Wait! Didn't he sing "Blowing in the Wind"? I know that song. I checked and sure enough - that was his. And looking through his list of songs I found that there were a lot of other ones I knew as well - and probably even more I would recognize if I heard them, but don't know them by the title.

But I won't pretend to be any more savvy than I am - and since the first song that came to me was "Blowing in the Wind" - that's what I'll share.

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.

You can read the rest of the song here.
The Round-up is by Jama Rattigan this week. So go and get in a Bob Dylan frame of mind.

8 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

So I'm guessing you didn't hang with the wild crowd back in high school?

christine M said...

LOL - Good Guess!

tanita✿davis said...

Oookay, fine. I don't recognize Harry Chapin either, but I do know from Billy Joel! I couldn't think of any Dylan songs, either, but after today, I feel VERY enlightened!!! Thanks for the lyrics to a song I actually knew for once!

jama said...

Hey, who are you people calling "wild?" :)
Thanks for looking through his lyrics, Christine. There are a lot of other people who don't realize they actually "know" Dylan songs. He's ingrained in popular culture, and very hard to miss.

Vivian Mahoney said...

I love this song. Thanks for reminding me about it.

Anonymous said...

I think that's the funny thing about Dylan songs -- they've all been covered a zillion times so we all know them. Even if we don't think we do...

kristen said...

I thought all you old people knew Dylan by heart. Who would have thought that you would look up the lyrics.

THOMAS GRASTY said...

For those of you participating in this 'favorite Dylan lyric' exercise, you know I love this concept. Citing Dylan lyrics can be an endless source of fun...and inspiration. In fact, it's Bob's lyrics that formed the inspriation for my new new novel, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS, which I think you'd enjoy.

So for those of you who haven't been to Liz or Jama's post yet, here's the scoop:

It's a murder-mystery. But not just any rock superstar is knocking on heaven's door. The murdered rock legend is none other than Bob Dorian, an enigmatic, obtuse, inscrutable, well, you get the picture...

Suspects? Tons of them. The only problem is they're all characters in Bob's songs.

You can get a copy on Amazon.com or go "behind the tracks" at www.bloodonthetracksnovel.com to learn more about the book.