Happy Birthday Robert Zimmerman
One of music's legends is Seventy One today
he was born Robert Allen Zimmerman
better known as Bob Dylan to the rest of us
a poet, a songwriter, actor, painter and a musician.
He's written some classic songs over the years
and he has inspired so many artists along the way
he started out writing and singing in the sixties
and he is still performing around the world today.
His voice is unique and it's one of a kind
you know it's Dylan by it's pitch and tone
singing Mr Tambourine Man, Blowin in the Wind,
The Times they are a Changin, and Like a Rolling Stone.
His music is a mixture of Folk, Rock, and the Blues,
but if you want some poetry then Dylan's your man
he's like Shakespeare with a guitar in his hand
and I bet if the Bard was alive today he'd be a big fan!
poem by Kevin Halls
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around - the music and the ideas.
My father being in the movie business, I thought being an actor would be great. But when I started singing to people in coffeehouses, you know, singing folk music and then, later, singing songs that I started to write myself, I felt more than an affinity for it.
quote by David Crosby
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Today's Gone...
*****************
Today's Gone
*****************
Today's gone,
Its gone with the wind,
I don't know where its gone...
But today's gone!
I don't know where i m going,
For all i know to be left alone,
Today's Gone,
Its Gone with the wind...
I took a walk on lonely road,
To where the heart wants,
Today's gone,
Its gone with the wind...
Heart sings the tune,
It feels like June,
Today's gone,
It's gone with the wind...
Rock on, they 're all gone,
The Hendrix, Cobain and Page,
Today's gone,
It's gone with the wind...
'Imagine there's no countries' said John,
Wish the terrorism from the world is withdrawn,
Today's gone,
It's gone with the wind..
'Nothing Else Matters'; Says Met,
Strum the Guitar and play the frets,
For Today's gone,
It's gone with the wind...
I got something to say,
It was wonderful day today,
Today's gone,
Its gone with the wind...
poem by Sam Kanabar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
It's Music Time
It's Music Time - what shall I do?
It's Music Time today.
I haven't really thought it through
And it's Music Time today.
It doesn't have to last too long
This Music Time today.
We haven't finished our number work
We could miss Music Time today.
But Johnny and Jane will go berserk
If there's no Music Time today.
We could always sing that assembly song
At Music Time today.
I know they'll want to get the instruments out
At Music Time today.
But can I stand all that crashing about?
When it's Music Time today.
Maybe we could take turns to play?
At Music Time today.
And if there's too much noise we'll just put them away
At Music Time today.
poem by Karen Honnor
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Song For Bob Dylan
Oh, hear this robert zimmerman
I wrote a song for you
About a strange young man called dylan
With a voice like sand and glue
Some words of truthful vengeance
They could pin us to the floor
Brought a few more people on
And put the fear in a whole lot more
Ah, here she comes
Here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
Shell scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs
From your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
You gave your heart to every bedsit room
At least a picture on the wall
And you sat behind a million pair of eyes
And told them how they saw
Then we lost your train of thought
The paintings are all your own
While troubles are rising
Wed rather be scared
Together than alone
Ah, here she comes
Here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
Shell scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs
From your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Aoo
Now hear this robert zimmerman
Though I dont suppose well meet
Ask your good friend dylan
If hed gaze a while down the old street
Tell him weve lost his poems
So theyre writing on the walls
Give us back our unity
Give us back our family
Youre every nations refugee
Dont leave us with their sanity
Ah, here she comes
Here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
Shell scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs
From your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Come on
A couple of songs
From your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Oh, here she comes, (oh) here she comes
Oh, here she comes (oh)
song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The invention of Bob Dylan with his guitar belongs in its way to the same kind of tradition of something meant to be heard, as the songs of Homer.
quote by Robert Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I knew Bobby Dylan back in the days when he lived in the village. He used to come and see me and sing songs for me, saying they ought to go into my next collected book on American folk music.
quote by Alan Lomax
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Diary of a Nine Day Poet
Today (Day 1) I writed stuff I thort was pritty neet
I wanna do this poet shit, so that I can complete
Today (Day 2) I wroted tings I thawt was really neat
I one ta do these poem stuff just so I can compete
Today (Day 3) I wroted down some things I thawt was neat
I want to do some poet stuff just so I can compete
Today (Day 4) I wrote some things I thought was pretty neat
I want to do some poetry just so as I’ll compete
Today (Day 5) I’ve written things I think are fairly neat
I want to write poetically so that I can compete
Today (Day 6) I’m writing verse that is a poets treat
Expressing so poetically; you really can’t compete
Today (Day 7) One is just the best that one can be
I’m thinking other lesser folk should focus just on me
Today (Day 8) I give critique whilst looking down my nose
“One shouldn’t stand illiteracy – Does really one suppose”
Today (Day 9) Ones course is done, one writes on this and that
One’s still unread but now one wears a cloak and silk cravat
poem by Stephen Stirk
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I'm Very Young Today
I drank the sky, the summer sky
And watched the orchestrated trees
Symphony with woodwind breeze
And 'Lovin' Spoonful' on the radio
In long grass where I lay
As children's laughter narrates this play
I'm very young today
I'm very young today..
Your strawberry lips with a forever kiss
As I slumbered to a faraway shore
Setting sun takes pictures for the memory
That the wind alone will store
And Dylan on the radio
On white sand 'Lay Lady Lay'
I'm very young today
I'm very young today.
And now after all these years, time pushed you away
Love burns bright within me, just to find you in the dark
Dreams just lend me moments
Stargazing in the park
I never held you tight enough
But would have crushed you like a flower.
Yet when your hand stroked my cheek
- I wasn't tough
God give us one more hour
And Beach Boys on the radio
I close my eyes and sway
I'm very old today
I'm very old today.
poem by Kevin East
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Today
There has been a day like today
But a fresh new day is today
It is a unique day today
It is wide open today
All the answers for our questions has today
Let us dream today
Let us laugh today
Let us share our love today
Let us express our greatness today
Let us trade many a yesterday for today
Let us perform our tasks today
Let us make it a magnificent today
Let us thank God for giving life today
Let us thank God for seeing His creations today
Let us love most about today
A golden day is today
For it is a fact today
It has arrived today!
poem by Chandra Thiagarajan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
How Does It Feel To Be Alone?
How does it feel to be alone
with no one round with whom you can
hang out, e-mail and telephone
now silent from your loverman?
How does it feel to get no kicks
from your beloved? Who is left,
for you to mix with, will you nix
your lovelife, loverman bereft?
Stone cold and lonely, lady, will
you roll, or will you gather moss?
On empty running, will you fill
your life again, make up your loss?
I knew that you were bound to fall
when first you fell for me. D’you feel
there’s someone else now you can call
and hope that you can make a deal?
With no direction home, is there,
d’you think, another man who’ll hold
you as I did, and if so, where
d’you think that like a stone he’s rolled?
Inspired by an article in the NYT by Adam Liptak on the use of lyrics by Bob Dylan in the Supreme Court (“The Chief Justice, Dylan and the Disappearing Double Negative, ” June 29,2008) :
The last chief justice liked light opera. The new one cites Bob Dylan. oour pages into his dissent on Monday in an achingly boring dispute between pay phone companies and long distance carriers, John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, put a song lyric where the citation to precedent usually goes. “The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing, ” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “ ‘When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965) .”
Alex B. Long, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and perhaps the nation’s leading authority on the citation of popular music in judicial opinions, said this was almost certainly the first use of a rock lyric to buttress a legal proposition in a Supreme Court decision. “It’s a landmark opinion, ” Professor Long said.
In the lower courts, according to a study Professor Long published in the Washington & Lee Law Review last year, Mr. Dylan is by far the most cited songwriter. He has been quoted in 26 opinions. Paul Simon is next, with 8 (12 if you count those attributed to Simon & Garfunkel) . Bruce Springsteen has 5.
But Mr. Dylan has only once before been cited as an authority on Article III standing, which concerns who can bring a lawsuit in federal court. His key contribution to legal discourse has been in another area.
“The correct rule on the necessity of expert testimony has been summarized by Bob Dylan: ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, ’ ” a California appeals court wrote in 1981, citing “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Eighteen other decisions have cited that lyric.
Chief Justice Roberts’s predecessor, William H. Rehnquist, cited his beloved Gilbert & Sullivan in a 1980 dissent from a decision that the press had a constitutional right of access to court proceedings. He was still an associate justice, and he thought the court had made up the right out of whole cloth. In rebuttal, Justice Rehnquist relied on the Lord Chancellor in “Iolanthe” to rebuke the majority. “The Law is the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent, ” the Lord Chancellor says. “It has no kind of fault or flaw, and I, my Lords, embody the Law.”
That made Justice Rehnquist’s point pretty well. The Roberts citation is more problematic. On the one hand, he showed excellent taste. “Like a Rolling Stone, ” as Greil Marcus has written, is “the greatest record ever made, perhaps, or the greatest record that ever would be made.” On the other hand, Chief Justice Roberts gets the citation wrong, proving that he is neither an originalist nor a strict constructionist. What Mr. Dylan actually sings, of course, is, “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”
It’s true that many Web sites, including Mr. Dylan’s official one, reproduce the lyric as Chief Justice Roberts does. But a more careful Dylanist might have consulted his iPod. “It was almost certainly the clerks who provided the citation, ” Professor Long said. “I suppose their use of the Internet to check the lyrics violates one of the first rules they learned when they were all on law review: when quoting, always check the quote with the original source, not someone else’s characterization of what the source said.” The larger objection is that the citation is not true to the original point Mr. Dylan was making, which was about the freedom that having nothing conveys and not about who may sue a phone company. (See, e.g., “Me and Bobby McGee.”)
6/29/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
As Bob Dylan Said
The times are a changing as Bob dylan said
And expect more changes in the days ahead
Though at the tip of the iceberg as change goes one might say
Major changes in our environment from us not far away
What with climate change and global warming the old prophecy
That 'The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth' may very well be
For in a world where human success cannot come about by material greed
The humble and compassionate are destined to succeed
With Nature's resources for human greed over utilized
At a great shift in power one should not feel surprised
In a World where for human success greed will not be good enough
Only the unmaterialistic will succeed when the going gets tough
Bob Dylan's song the times are a changing is quite relevant to today
And great change from us is not that far away.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Each Morning At The Breakfast Table
Who’ll stone you when you feel unable,
eating at the breakfast table,
to answer who’s the great composer,
implying that you are a loser?
Not my wife, though she’s most brainy;
on my creations never rainy,
she doesn’t let me feel alone,
rolling like a lonely stone.
Less than I a fan of Bob
on no occasions will she rob
me of my confidence. Sure, Dylan
to her appears to be a villain,
because of his association
with other forms of inspiration.
but she won’t stone me ever, that’s
why I won’t settle for ersatz.
She sees through masks, including mine,
but never stones the wearer, she
is morning coffee, evening wine,
and midnight she is ecstasy.
Not number twelve or thirty-five,
she’s number one, and helps me thrive
like Scarlett on the screen with Gable,
each morning at the breakfast table.
Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women, #12 and 35, ” which he sang wwith a lot of other songs at Prospect Park Bandshell two days ago. Nate Chinen writes in the NYT, August 14,008 (“In Prospect Park, the Consequences of Love and a Shot of War”) :
In the final moments of his sold-out Celebrate Brooklyn concert at the Prospect Park Bandshell on Tuesday night, Bob Dylan struck a pose. He was standing at center stage, feet planted wide. Dressed in black from his hat on down, he faced outward, proud, flanked by stone-faced band members. Then he formed his hands into pistols — six-shooters, let’s say — and fired shot after shot, roguishly slaying the crowd. It was a pretty good illustration of what had been happening for the past two hours.
Mr. Dylan can be an inconstant performer, and sometimes an indifferent one. But here he was dynamic, enthusiastic, out for blood. His set list featured more than half a dozen irrefutable classics, starting with “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” And he showed ironclad focus, commanding the same professionally gritty crew heard on his most recent album, “Modern Times” (Columbia) . As usual Mr. Dylan transformed his old songs, in some cases preserving only the lyrics. “Girl From the North Country” adopted some shadowy new harmonies, and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) ” turned up with a Celtic-Appalachian lilt. “Blowin’ in the Wind, ” the civil rights anthem that put Mr. Dylan on the map roughly 45 years ago, underwent the most radical revision, riding a crisp backbeat and rhythm-guitar part that suggested the heyday of Muscle Shoals rhythm and blues. Necessity surely birthed some of these inventions: Mr. Dylan,67, now sings with a (more) limited range, and a coarse, throaty tone. (When he rasped, “Lay across my big brass bed, ” in “Lay Lady Lay, ” he sounded like the Big Bad Wolf entreating Little Red Riding Hood.) And he rarely plays guitar, instead favoring an organlike keyboard, and occasionally the harmonica. Rhythm is his asset, his best means of asserting control; the bassist Tony Garnier and the drummer George Receli dug in but followed his lead.
Mr. Dylan has a new edition of his popular Bootleg Series due out in October: “Tell Tales Signs” (Columbia/Legacy) , consisting of relatively recent recordings, many previously unreleased. Only one track from that package, “Lonesome Day Blues, ” crept into the show. (It can also be found on the 2001 album “Love and Theft.”) Meanwhile the five songs culled from “Modern Times” held up admirably. “The Levee’s Gonna Break, ” set at a hard-rollicking tempo, was especially strong. But the two most potent songs, in a show that often touched upon the consequences of love, had to do explicitly with war. One was “John Brown, ” an early protest song that Mr. Dylan never released on a studio album: its narrative, forcefully told, involves a shattered soldier returning to his chastened mother. The other was “Masters of War, ” a much more celebrated song from the same era, which draws its focus wide but sharp. Here Mr. Dylan enunciated unusually clearly, over a drone-haunted vamp. “I hope that you die, ” he snarled, leaving two bars of open space before the next line, “And your death will come soon.” But his peak of intensity came paired to something other than a death wish. “I can see through your masks, ” he wailed, stretching out the last word of the phrase for emphasis. He seemed to know firsthand about masks, and seeing through them.
8/14/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
When Music Touched My Heart
Your singing a beautiful tune
But it is over too soon
I need to hear more
Your singing, I adore
Up until today
I was drowned with dismay
Then I heard your song
Now, to your music, I belong
Your music has taken over my soul
I am under it's control
All because I opened up my core
Its like a drug, I need some more
Of your music, I'm now part
Ever since the day your music touched my heart
poem by Katniss Everdeen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.
Bob Dylan is quite a songwriter, and a great singer and musician. I won't bother with comparing myself to him, but I will say that I heard his records at a very young age and I still listen to all his records.
quote by Frank Black
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Times They Are A Changing
(1963) Bob Dylan
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'.
song performed by by Nina Simone
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Fastest Guitar Alive
Orbison/dees
Hey here I go a lucky so and so
Happy cos I know Ive got my fast guitar
Singing pretty songs, knowing I belong
I am first and last, and always a fast guitar
The fastest guitar alive
Rattling strings like a gattling gun
Shaped like a lovely woman
Stay right where you are
My guitar is a fast guitar
The fastest guitar alive
Im rolling on like a rolling stone
Gathering no moss, I play a boss guitar
The fastest guitar alive
Strumming like a battling soldiers drum
Shaped like a lovely woman
Stay right where you are
My guitar is a fast guitar
The fastest guitar alive
Hey here I go a lucky so and so
Happy cos I know Ive got my fast guitar
The fastest guitar
The fastest guitar
The fastest guitar alive
song performed by by Roy Orbison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
But, in the end, even a song that's as politically bland as Blowin in the Wind, you probably wouldn't get up and sing that now, whereas some of Bob Dylan's love songs that were contemporary with that, like say Girl from the North Country, you can still get up an play now.
quote by Billy Bragg
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Old Time Rock & Roll
old time rock & roll
Just take those old records off the shelf
I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself
Today's music aln 't got the same soul
I like that old time rock 'n' roll
Don't try to take me to a disco
You'll never even get me out on the
In ten minutes i'll be late for the door
I like that old time rock'n' roll
Still like that old time rock'n' roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock 'n' roll
Won't go to hear them play a tango
I'd rather hear some blues or funky old soul
There's only sure way to get me to go
Start playing old time rock 'n' roll
Call me a relic, call me what you will
Say i'm old-fashioned, say i'm over the hill
Today' music ain't got the same soul
I like that old time rock 'n' roll
Still like that old time rock'n' roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock 'n' roll
song performed by by Bob Seger
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!