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Neighborhood Bully
Posted on 10/12/23 at 8:08 pm
Posted on 10/12/23 at 8:08 pm
Dylan pretty much summed it up in his 1983 song.
Edit - Judging from the number of down votes, I don't think some of you understand that Dylan, who is Jewish, is sarcastically referring to Israel as the bully.
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He's criticized and condemned for being alive
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one's command
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits for feed
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully.
Bob Dylan - Neighborhood Bully
Edit - Judging from the number of down votes, I don't think some of you understand that Dylan, who is Jewish, is sarcastically referring to Israel as the bully.
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He's criticized and condemned for being alive
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one's command
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits for feed
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully.
Bob Dylan - Neighborhood Bully
This post was edited on 10/13/23 at 7:41 am
Posted on 10/13/23 at 7:45 am to Zendog
I edited and added a comment to the post because this is one of those times where I don't understand why people down vote. I assume it is due to one of three reasons -
1. You are a Hamas supporter.
2. You really hate Bob Dylan regardless of the lyrical content so feel obligated to down vote.
3. You are not smart enough to recognize the use of sarcasm in his referring to Israel as being the bully.
1. You are a Hamas supporter.
2. You really hate Bob Dylan regardless of the lyrical content so feel obligated to down vote.
3. You are not smart enough to recognize the use of sarcasm in his referring to Israel as being the bully.
Posted on 10/13/23 at 7:50 am to Ramblin Wreck
Dylan is a great artist but also a disingenuous prick at the same time.
Hurricane is a great song but it was constructed on bullshite to make Ruben Carter look a lot more innocent than he was.
Hurricane is a great song but it was constructed on bullshite to make Ruben Carter look a lot more innocent than he was.
Posted on 10/13/23 at 7:53 am to Ramblin Wreck
You mean Bob Zimmerman?
Posted on 10/13/23 at 8:34 am to L1C4
Posted on 10/13/23 at 8:39 am to Ramblin Wreck
quote:
3. You are not smart enough to recognize the use of sarcasm in his referring to Israel as being the bully.
I believe the majority fall under this one. If you actually read and decipher the words instead of just honing in on the fact that he refers to Israel as the neighborhood bully, which was complete satire, then you can clearly see he painted a picture that everybody else was out to get and persecute the neighborhood bully and that is why they had to be a bully.
Posted on 10/13/23 at 8:42 am to Ramblin Wreck
Most of us understand it is a song like that which keeps Dylan propped up for we know who manages every type of media.
Posted on 10/13/23 at 5:38 pm to Ramblin Wreck
quote:
I assume it is due to one of three reasons -
Maybe a fourth. Despite Dylan’s clever and very accurate portrayal of Israel’s plight-her actions, the bullying actions, are given a pass in the song, not mentioned, or explored at all, and in fact, are essentially justified. And, I suspect, some object to Dylan having little physical skin in the ancient struggle. Like he’s pandering maybe.
Whether Israel’s (The Neighborhood Bully) actions are justified or not, in some measure, depends on a perspective we in the West only dimly appreciate, not living day to day, everyday, from our founding, in a bull’s eye surrounded by millions Muslims who are committed to our annihilation in the name of Allah and Mohammed.
On the other hand, it’s difficult to unreservedly applaud Israel if she intends to annihilate a million or more in Gaza in indiscriminate retaliation for Hamas’s atrocities.
Appeals by Israel to the residents of Gaza to evacuate are questionable, if not in their sincerity, at least in their feasibility. Evacuate where? Swim for it? No Arab country will have them.
The Arab nations will only use them as poster children for Israel’s alleged brutal occupation and alleged human rights abuses. And also, and most importantly, as human bombs, as “soldiers” in the “Struggle”, as cannon fodder; but they will not give asylum because the people of Gaza are little else to the Arab nations but a means to an end.
That end is precisely for Israel to respond to the most recent Islamic barbarism in a manner the whole world will decry as disproportionate, horrific, and genocidal-presumably justifying an Arab war of attrition that a politically isolated and morally unsupportable Israel might not win. Then the world can stand by, wringing its hands, and watch as Israel is butchered on live streaming social media in scenes which would make the recent music festival and kibbutz massacres look like Candy Land.
I’m finding it nearly impossible to be critical of Israel defending herself by all means necessary to assure her survival. She’s been given no choice in a fight for her right to exist.
One man’s opinion.
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