January 05, 2013 Let Me Die in My Footseps by Bob Dylan

Thanks to YouTube ID Jason Bennett for this performance and post.

A great Irony in my life, is that I never knew who the hell Bob Dylan was when I was growing up in the 1960's. I knew his songs, of course, through Peter Paul & Mary among others, but I did not become obsessed with him until he and I were already old men. 

I am now vigorously obsessed with his music, and his entire musical catalog. 

However, Appreciation for Dylan is somewhat inexplicable. Sort of like when you recommend a restaurant or a movie to a friend. Then they come back and say what the hell did you see in that place/movie.

It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live Spoof of the 1988 presidential debates where Jon Lovitz as Michael Dukakis turns to the audience and says..."I can't believe I'm losing to this guy"... meaning George Bush Senior played by Dana Carvey (...stay the course, 1000 points of light etc. etc.) When I listen to a Bob Dylan song e.g. "Ballad of a Thin Man" I wonder similar things. I can't believe I'm actually listening to this guy. And loving it? Maxwell Smart AKA Don Adams haha 

There is something really infectious or contagious about Dylan. Once you've got it, I'ts like a dose of HIV. You can't get him out of your system.

From protester to old goofball and everything in between, I listen with rapt attention.
It could be because of all the times I had my attention rapped in grade school, but

I do find a lot of parallels between Dylan and I , well, except of course for the all his talent, fame, intellect, cleverness, inscrutability, etc. etc. You get the picture.

Perhaps I should have said we have shared the same time and space and planet for some and many years now.

It is just a guess, but I believe the "dying in my footsteps" idea came from the generally accepted fatalism in the 50's and 60's that an "hot" war with the USSR was both imminent and inevitable. Many gruesome images of Nagasaki and Hiroshima citizenry "dead in their footsteps", so to speak" were still vivid in people's consciousness, as I'm certain any one with a brain would still have today. Under the ground might well have meant the Bomb Shelters people were being encouraged to build. I have always wondered, whether the people that actually built these shelters were optimists or pessimists.

Dylan may have listened to Tom Lehrer's macabre humor in the song 
"We Will All Go Together When We Go" We Will All Go Together When We Go
with the following, not for the faint of heart, lyrics....

When you attend a funeral,
It is sad to think that sooner or
Later those you love will do the same for you.
And you may have thought it tragic,
Not to mention other adjec-
Tives, to think of all the weeping they will do.
But don't you worry.
No more ashes, no more sackcloth.
And an armband made of black cloth
Will some day never more adorn a sleeve.
For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too,
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve.

And we will all go together when we go.
What a comforting fact that is to know.
Universal bereavement,
An inspiring achievement,
Yes, we all will go together when we go.

We will all go together when we go.
All suffuse with an incandescent glow.
No one will have the endurance
To collect on his insurance,
Lloyd's of London will be loaded when they go.

Oh we will all fry together when we fry.
We'll be french fried potatoes by and by.
There will be no more misery
When the world is our rotisserie,
Yes, we will all fry together when we fry.

Down by the old maelstrom,
There'll be a storm before the calm.

And we will all bake together when we bake.
There'll be nobody present at the wake.
With complete participation
In that grand incineration,
Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.

Oh we will all char together when we char.
And let there be no moaning of the bar.
Just sing out a Te Deum
When you see that I.C.B.M.,
And the party will be "come as you are."

Oh we will all burn together when we burn.
There'll be no need to stand and wait your turn.
When it's time for the fallout
And Saint Peter calls us all out,
We'll just drop our agendas and adjourn.

You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas.
Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dolla's.

And we will all go together when we go.
Ev'ry Hottentot and ev'ry Eskimo.
When the air becomes uranious,
And we will all go simultaneous.
Yes we all will go together
When we all go together,
Yes we all will go together when we go.

BTW, Tom Lehrer was a satirist with a much harder edge than a latter day Mark Russell, and most certainly had a huge influence on Biff Rose, who, while being another one of my musical obsessions,  had sort of a flash in the pan career in the late 1960's, and then proceeded directly into obscurity, just like normal people like me.

So, an obscure post in an obscure blog about obsession AND obscurity and insecurity. 
Here's just a little bit more and then on to a new day....
Norwegia Section