No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

The Times They Are A-Changin'

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’

Sometimes I forget about things that I really love. I get caught up in the New, and lose track of the things that really made me happy. Most often this happens with music.

Last night I watched No Direction Home, a Bob Dylan documentary directed by Martin Scorsese. I enjoyed it so and it filled my head with thoughts........

I have been a Bob Dylan fan for ages. I think that he is an incredible song writer! A true poet! There was a summer, ages ago, when I became determined to learn his lyrics. I ONLY sing in the car when I am completely alone, but that summer I was driving back and forth across the country and decided I was going to listen over and over again until I figured out what the hell he was saying. The Times They Are A Changing was my favorite, and still is!

There were a lot of really inspiring things said in the film last night. The progression of his music is what resonated with me the most.

I have always wanted desperately to be able to express myself in an artistic way. I have admired those that can. Sometimes, I think that people are just born that way, capable. I have never felt capable, but I often wonder........is it talent or confidence that I lack?

There are times that I feel greatly inspired. Other times I fear that I don't have an original thought in my mind. To me the truly talented, do something that has never been done before. It's hard because with fashion, music, art.....so much of it is the same again and again, or recycled/slightly altered work. It can be difficult to find your way out of all that exists, to something totally new.

Dylan began studying those that he admired, imitating them and playing their songs or their style. It didn't mean that he wasn't talented from the beginning, he just needed to learn from them and then move forward. Eventually, he found his way to a completely original sound, different then what anyone else was doing at the time. People were moved by his perspective and his ability to articulate what he saw around him.

Years ago, I saw him in concert. I was much to young, and too drunk, to really appreciate the performance. In the film he talked about the power of words, how they affect people differently, and even affect the same person differently at different times.

My plan for the weekend, listen to lots of Bob Dylan and see what I come up with. I'll let you know.

all images: last fm