Dylan picked up for street walking (Aug 2009)

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 12:08 AM

Just an observation....I'm a Brit -- have lived in the US for years. Here, I don';t leave home with out my ID because that is what the socio/political norm is -- CARRY ID. In the UK I wouldn't think of carrying my passport around unless   ] knew I wanted to cash a cheque - or whatever = because that is the norm over there.....what's the big deal - or am I missing something--when in Rome. The Queen doesn't carry ID but her minders don't let her out alone......

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 10:45 PM

I'm listening to and learning a bunch of great Sam Cooke songs. In the liner notes to the CD it says Sam wrote "Another Saturday Night" while on tour in England (only one, as it turned out).   He was staying in a posh hotel in London and "they would not let us have any female guests".    That inspired the song.

So, of course since the hotel would not Sam and his group have female guests, that proves the UK is a racist society.   Right?   Since there could not possibly be any other explanation.

So just in the last day, we've proven the UK is both a police state and a racist society. I'm surprised anybody ever wants to visit.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 03:11 PM

Yeah, okay, fine, mg. But if they don't recognize Chongo Chimp when they stop him, there will be hell to pay!

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 02:10 PM

Why in the world was not recognizing Bob Dylan a blunder at all? Why should anyone recognize him? Doris Day? Bon Jovi?

Policewomen should not be expected to recognize celebrities and it is good for the overinflated egos of celebreties sometimes if they don't..and I would hardly count Bob Dylan as a current celebrity..and then to expect they should recognize university professors?

Minor league baseball players? World-reknowned chess players? Child prodigies? Nuts. mg

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 12:13 PM

....Not recognizing Dylan was a small blunder compared to what was happing around the same time when Newark Airport security detained Hindi film actor superstar Shah Rukh Khan for a couple hours when he arrived in the US the other day.   

Talk about "dials set on outrage" and absurd overreaction!! The scorn of Hindi cinema fans is not to be played with!

Terrible, sensationalized "news" report

Shah Ruck speaks and shows his ignorance about visas

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 12:48 AM

NO problemo.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 11:15 PM

LOL

Great to see you posting again, Ron.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:28 PM

But Bruce, I was thinking of one in a very light blue. Will you be getting any of those in stock soon?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:20 PM

. . . and from the master.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:17 PM

Window shopping made easy.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:14 PM

Now this is interesting.   I was just talking with my wife, formerly of Bradford on Avon, and she says that she used to go walking in her downtown area at night when she could not sleep.   And it appears the vaunted cherishing of eccentrics in the UK has a definite limit. When she was looking into store windows late at night, she was picked up by the police--and they made it clear it was not for her own safety, but that they thought she might do more than window-shopping.

So it appears the UK is a police state--at least as much as the US.   Who knew?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 08:42 AM

I well remember reports years ago that Maurice Chevalier loved to walk to work in LA. The studio had a limmo follow all the way, because they feared the image was that they couldn't afford to pamper their stars. Or maybe opportunist would try to disrupt the schedule or hold him to ransome.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 08:03 AM

ABC online: The young policewoman's sergeant "opened the car door, looked in, and said: 'That's not Bob Dylan'.   So she wasn't the only one who doubted.

And Dylan has a history of intentionally seeking anonymity.

He's got it down to a fine art.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 11:31 PM

I've had several unpleasant experiences with suspicious police officers, and they were unpleasant precisely because those particular officers had immediatly decided that I fit a certain profile (long-haired person who is probably a drug user and up to no good). Their decision was based on my appearance not my behaviour. I've had police go fairly far out of their way to provoke me into doing or saying something stupid so they could take some aggressive actions against me.

I never allowed myself to be provoked. I always remained calm and cooperative. As a result those particular incidents did not spiral into some kind of very bad situation. In every case the officer in question eventually decided that there was no grounds for busting me (sometimes to their fairly obvious frustration). In every case the officer let me go on my way eventually without further harassment...once after wasting my time for at least 25 minutes and attempting to provoke me and a friend of mine into some kind of altercation by calling us "assholes", etc. We did not react in kind.

But.....I have also had an even greater number of pleasant and helpful encounters with police who behaved excellently, and I have had several good friends over the years who ARE cops.

Thus, whatever statements I have made here about the police, it would be a mistake on someone's part here to assume that those statements are intended to cast all police as either bad (one extreme) or good (the other extreme).

It would be a mistake to assume that I am talking in all-or-nothing terms, though it might be convenient for YOU if you wish to put my statements in that light just so you can convince yourself I've said something that you have a big issue with.

Police are like other people. They run the gamut. They come in all flavors, so to speak. They sometimes abuse their powers, they sometimes don't abuse their powers. Some are bullies, some are not. Some are honest, some are corrupt. Their behaviour varies from the extremely good to the extremely bad and everywhere in between, all depending on the individual cop, his department, and what's going on and how he or she deals with it.

So don't misinterpret my statements here by putting them in black and white all-or-nothing terms, and then we'll probably understand each other just fine.

Dylan conducted himself well. So did the police. There is no fuss here as far as I'm concerned.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 11:13 PM

" "street walking" is a totally different thing "

It was a joke.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:39 PM

"eccentric-looking old man"

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:37 PM

You're right, Open Mike. Only the slight distinction of 2 words versus 1 word.   I was going to point that out too.

That article is delightful, Azizi.   It would be somewhat interesting to know how the person who called the police described Dylan:   was that "eccentric old man" a direct quote from the policewoman, the citizen, or both?

Admittedly, Dylan does look, as a former girlfriend with a good turn of phrase liked to say, as if he's been "ridden hard and put away wet".

But I think we've put the "police state" etc. canard to rest, much as some people, especially some who don't live in the US, may want to believe it. It must fit their comfortable preconceptions of the US.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: open mike
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 09:06 PM

well, wording is a funny thing:
"street walking" is a totally different thing
than just walking down the street--or sidewalk as it were.

    * Main Entry: street·walk·er
    * Pronunciation: \ˈstrēt-ˌwȯ-kər\
    * Function: noun
    * Date: 1592

: prostitute; especially : one who solicits in the streets
   — compare call girl

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 08:35 PM

When I typed that, it began to the effect that I've never been brutalized, or anything close to if, by the police, but...

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 08:32 PM

I've had an annoying experience or two. Years ago I was driving around in a fairly scenic rural area just a few miles south of home. I was just out looking for spots to photograph. The area has quite a few high-end homes, some worth a few million. (None of which I was even hanging around near.). I was driving an aging Subaru that was getting ratty. I was stopped twice within an hour or so by local police and interrogated as to my excuse for being alive there. I gave my license; they asked how long I had lived at my current address, and I told them. We were on Brocker road; they asked me how to pronounce Brocker correctly, the apparent implication being that if I didn't know how to pronounce it, I didn't belong there. I'm white, the area is white, and I don't think there was anything about my physical appearance that would normally push any buttons. They finally got off it and let me go, but I have never had any idea but conjecture as to what that was all about.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 07:55 PM

isn't it hare-brained? Maybe not. mg

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: bobad
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 07:07 PM

"I saw Dylan a few times waaaay back in the Village days and he looked like that then."

In Suze Rotolo's, Dylan's girlfriend from that period, recent autobiography, "A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties", she mentions that he spent a lot of time in front of the mirror to get a look that said he didn't care about how he looked.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 06:53 PM

You know, thinking back, I can't recall an unpleasant or unhelpful experience I, personally, have had with the police.

And I've known a couple of cops personally. Randy Remmon, who, when he wasn't on duty, used to hang out in Pamir House, a coffeehouse in the University District that featured folk music and where I sang a lot. Randy also played a bit of 5-string banjo. Randy's younger brother, whose name I forget, who was also in the police department. Ben Johansson, the beat cop in the University District. Cool guy.

The only time I ever saw Ben give someone a large ration of grief was when the guy pulled over on the wrong side of a busy street (right into oncoming traffic) because he spotted a parking place. Right by where Ben was standing. He got out of his car and found himself staring at a broad, blue-clad chest with a badge on it. Ben started to write him a ticket and the guy started lipping off at him. Ben gave him a long look, said nothing, but the more the guy mouthed off, the more Ben wrote. He stood there with his ticket book and wrote for hours. But the guy had really asked for it.

I think it depends a lot on a person's attitude. Dylan was cool, the cops (simply doing their job—investigating what a neighbor had reported as looking like suspicious behavior) were cool, and everything came out okay.

So what's all the fuss?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 06:18 PM

"If he actually had been down and out...powerless in the face of society, in other words...it would have been just one more unpleasant incident in a life that already could promise little but a succession of unpleasant incidents."

That is making an assumption. If you have a bias that all authority figures are out to make life miserable then the outcome will never be acceptable. IF you choose to ignore all the times police and othes help the homeless and poor, then life will be full of unpleasant incidents.

You can choose between whether the glass is half empty or half full, or you can decide the water is also tepid and the glass is dirty before being served.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 05:30 PM

Yeah, froggy, I got it.

But I just wanted to explain things in some detail for those earnest folks on this thread who don't seem to be able to see the funny side of things.

Irony seems to slip by a lot of people. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 01:56 PM

Oh, here are some other things people are really scared of:

being seen as "stupid" or "wrong" or feeble-minded or weak or incapable

And see what happens in general to those who are seen that way.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 01:22 PM

That's an excellent article on the criminalization of poverty, INOBU. It isn't just a recent phenomenon. It's been happening for thousands of years. The poor have virtually always been treated in a prejudicial manner by law enforcement and the court systems. Why? Because they're poor, and they get no respect, that's why. They have apparently failed the competitive game of life in society's eyes...therefore they are penalized for that apparent failure in a thousand little demeaning and nasty ways. I think it's a reflection of how much most people fear poverty. They express that fear instinctively when they bring down the law on poor people. They are attacking what frightens them at a very deep psychological level.

Some other common things most people are afraid of:

- getting old
- getting ill
- dying
- being physically unattractive
- being unpopular
- being alone

If you are any of the above, then you are already in a position where you're going to get a much less positive reaction from most of society around you than if you were, say....young, attractive, rich, healthy, popular, and surrounded by your "friends".

It's just like the wounded bird in the flock of chickens. The others will commonly peck it to death. Why? Well, perhaps they are afraid at some level of being wounded themselves.

"nobody loves you when you're down and out"

Dylan probably looked (superficially) like someone who was down and out. That aroused suspicion in someone's mind, so they called the cops. If he actually had been down and out...powerless in the face of society, in other words...it would have been just one more unpleasant incident in a life that already could promise little but a succession of unpleasant incidents. And that's scary. No wonder most of us are so afraid of poverty. I know it scares me.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: fretless
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 01:09 PM

MtheGM rightly understood that when I wrote that The Pedestrian was about "waking" in America I really meant "walking."

I guess it was back in early spring 1965 that I ended up in Scottsboro, Alabama with some friends in a car with New York State license plates. We parked in the center of town and in less than five minutes the local cops had bundled us down to the police station for an extensive background check (mostly focused on determining if any of the women with us were underage, or if we were there as part of the Civil Rights movement). We were really polite about it and everything worked out OK, which is not what I suspect would have happended if we'd given the cops any lip...or if any of our crew had been black.

There have always been extensive limits placed on so-called Constitutionally-guaranteed rights in America. That doesn't mean the limits are correct, or that enforcement of the limits isn't determined in great part by race or apparent social class affiliation.

By the way, what was Bobby wearing when he got stopped? I'm guesing it wasn't a three-piece suit!

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 01:02 PM

Yes, I've heard that about L.A. too. Fortunately, I've never had to live there. ;-)

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,MtheGM
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 12:19 PM

Fretless's post above citing Bradbury's The Pedestrian [1951] + some of his own & his friend's experiences from the 60s, makes a point that has been ticking in my mind as I have read thru this thread:— in contradiction of several posts above which claim it 'wasn't like that in the old days, my parents used to walk everywhere', it has always been known over here in the UK that walking in LA was a no-no. In the early 1930s, P G Wodehouse, working then as a studio scriptwriter, placed on record how eccentric he appeared to his colleagues, & how suspicious to the police till they got used to him, for his insistence on walking the several miles each morning from his Beverley Hills {I think} home to his Hollywood workplace thru the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, & back again in the evening. It would appear that not much has changed. My own experience of LA has been that, tho one can walk freely within the quarter one happens to be in, it is impossible to cross the freeway-network into another part of the city on foot.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Amos
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 12:14 PM

Damn, Peace. We must be linked through Dylan's ether or something--that song has been percolating in my brain since I read this story!!


A

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:58 AM

Most "famous" people crave a little anonimity, sometimes.

I think we can say Bob got a bit that day.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: fretless
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:41 AM

None of the posts seem to have cited Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story, The Pedestrian, about someone in the future who gets busted for waking. Based on a stop-and-question with the cops that Bradbury himself suffered.

Back in the early 60's one of my buddies, teenage, white, reasonably stocky, somewhat threatening looking, was routinely stopped and questioned by police when he walked in our neighborhood. And after my hair grew longer, so was I. Just part of growing up in America, we figured.

And even though it has been written above by others, I can't resist adding that it was lucky for Bobby that he wasn't walking with Skip when the cops came by.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,InOBU Lorcan Otway
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:08 AM

New York Times on the cirminalisation of poverty in a rush, but this says it all, sorry about the above, big hurry,

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:07 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09ehrenreich.html This about says it all...

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 10:04 AM

Yes, of course I was just messing around with Don Firth; but what I was primarily after was the hair-brained/cynical criteria being used to brand people as "elitist".
                         Dean

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Dita
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 04:28 AM

The out walking is just the latest version of Dylan's pre gig ritual.

About 15 years ago it used to be solo jogging.

At that time, while playing the SECC in Glasgow, he decided to jog from his hotel to the gig. Hoodie, tracksuit bottems, no ID. Security at the gig wouldn't let him in. He had to go back to the hotel and get some.

Gig security can be like that in Scotland. Eddi Reader, trying to get into the green room at Celtic Connections, was told "Nae pass, nae entry". "Don't you know who I am, I'm Eddi Reader" says the bold Eddi. "Naw, Hen", says wee Annie on the door, "A don't dae famous".

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:24 PM

About whether he bought the house, I mean...

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:23 PM

Now there's the question everyone should be asking. ;-) You are a brilliant man, Peace, and you know I've always said that.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:17 PM

From the site Azizi linked to:

"> [Poster quoting an article he'd read] Now, I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head.["]

Looks like Bob Dylan to me.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:07 PM

Does anyone know whether he bought the house?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:06 PM

Interesting read, Azizi.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 11:03 PM

That Neatorama blog http://www.neatorama.com/2009/08/15/bob-dylan-picked-up-by-police/ has 41 comments to date about Bob Dylan's experience with the New Jersey police officers.

It's interesting to read the comments posted by that blog community and see how similar and how different those comments are from the ones on this Mudcat thread.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Peace
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 10:56 PM

I saw Dylan a few times waaaay back in the Village days and he looked like that then.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Don Firth
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 10:54 PM

"So now we find out that Don Firth lives in 'a 100 year old building, well maintained, and it has a brass plaque in front designating it as a historical building. Architecturally quite interesting.'

"Damn liberal elitist..."

Frogprince, the building I live in is the oldest co-op apartment building in the city of Seattle. It became a co-op in 1946. Barbara and I bought into the building thirty-two years ago, getting a one-twentieth share (which includes the apartment) for far less than we would had have to pay for a house or a condo half the size. Good timing and a lot of luck!

It got historical status from the city because it is quite a nice building and it is the first co-op apartment building in the city.

By the way, it's well-maintained because we (the owners) do the maintenance ourselves. Like I said, it's a cooperative apartment building.

I trust you were merely twitting me, but just to keep the record straight. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 10:52 PM

Here's another article about this incident:
Bob Dylan Picked Up by Police
P
osted by Miss Cellania in Odd News on August 15, 2009 at 7:11 am

"Legendary musician Bob Dylan had a brush with the police last month in New Jersey. Long Branch police officer Kristie Buble responded to a call about an "eccentric-looking old man" in a residential neighborhood. Buble approached the man and questioned him. He had no ID, and said he was Bob Dylan and was checking out a house that had a "for sale" sign. Buble later said,

"Now, I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head.

Buble decided to humor the old man who didn't know the address of where he was staying, and gave him a ride to the hotel he described. There were tour buses parked there, and entourage members vouched for Dylan's identity. They went so far as to produce his passport for the officer.

A police department source said Buble had taken her share of good-natured ribbing from some of the older officers.

"To really appreciate the story from our end, you have to see Kristie," one cop said. "She looks like a 16-year-old kid, next to this living legend. It was unbelievable." "


http://www.neatorama.com/2009/08/15/bob-dylan-picked-up-by-police/

-snip-

For what it's worth, the articles about this that I have read that identify the community indicate it was a predominately Latino neighborhood. It also appears from the articles I've read that the neighborhood may have been low income, but it wasn't a public housing development.

Also, for what it's worth, in the article that is quoted above,   the description of Dylan's clothing differs from the description in the article which GUEST,Gerry provided a link for (15 Aug 09 - 02:22 AM). In that article, Dylan is said to have been wearing a blue jacket. If he was indeed wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head" that may have added weight to the residents and the police concerns about the "eccentric-looking old man". My reading of this article is that the police may have been concern

ed that Dylan was a man who had wondereed away from a hospital or he was a man who may have needed to go to a homeless shelter.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ron Davies
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 10:03 PM

"eye-opener as to what a police state" the US is.

And, contrary to recent comments, it's not just one person favoring us with such remarks.   We also have:   "Do you need a license to breathe in the States?", etc.

That's the crux of many of our comments--the absurd degree to which that sort of attitude is off target.

The fact is:   if neighbors find an outsider's behavior suspicious, they have the right to call the police.   At that point, if said outsider has no ID, it is reasonable to get some.

As I noted, Mudcatters should actually be glad this happened: it seems to show that, at least in NJ, poor blacks can possibly get some response from the police against what they believe might be a suspicious character--a shabbily dressed, disheveled older white man behaving strangely in their neighborhood.   And just his claiming to be an internationally known rock star is not enough--he has to back this up with some evidence.

Sounds like the NJ police have a lot more on the ball than the MA police.

Of course, it also helped there was no anti-police rant involved this time.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 09:29 PM

I think Mr Dylan has spoken for himself.

Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Words and music Bob Dylan
Released on Blonde on Blonde (1966) and Greatest Hits II (1971), in a different studio version on No direction home (2005), and in a live version on Hard Rain (1976)
Tabbed by Eyolf Østrem


|: C   Csus4 C Csus4 :|

       C            Am
Oh, the ragman draws circles
C                   Am
Up and down the block.
    C                Am
I'd ask him what the matter was
      F                  G
But I know that he don't talk.
       F               C
And the ladies treat me kindly
    Am             C
And furnish me with tape,
    Am             C
But deep inside my heart
F             C
I know I can't escape.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
      C       G       F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C       G11            C
With the Memphis blues again.

:   .   .   .   ;   .   .   .
|---------------------------------
|-1-------------------------------
|-------3-----0-----3-----1-------
|-----------------------------3---
|---------------------------------
|---------------------------------

Well, Shakespeare, he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some French girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And I would send a message
To find out if she's talked,
But the post office has been stolen
And the mailbox is locked.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Mona tried to tell me
To stay away from the train line.
She said that all the railroad men
Just drink up your blood like wine.
An' I said, "Oh, I didn't know that,
But then again, there's only one I've met
An' he just smoked my eyelids
An' punched my cigarette."
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Grandpa died last week
And now he's buried in the rocks,
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked.
But me, I expected it to happen,
I knew he'd lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street
And shot it full of holes.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the senator came down here
Showing ev'ryone his gun,
Handing out free tickets
To the wedding of his son.
An' me, I nearly got busted
An' wouldn't it be my luck
To get caught without a ticket
And be discovered beneath a truck.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the preacher looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest.
But he cursed me when I proved it to him,
Then I whispered, "Not even you can hide.
You see, you're just like me,
I hope you're satisfied."
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the rainman gave me two cures,
Then he said, "Jump right in."
The one was Texas medicine,
The other was just railroad gin.
An' like a fool I mixed them
An' it strangled up my mind,
An' now people just get uglier
An' I have no sense of time.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
'Neath her Panamanian moon.
An' I say, "Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante."
An' she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want."
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the bricks lay on Grand Street
Where the neon madmen climb.
They all fall there so perfectly,
It all seems so well timed.
An' here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.



I figure by the time I get it all figured out I'll be in my dotage big time and the issue will have ceased being what it is now.

Ain't my business but I think y'all should stop arguing with each other. Yer the good guys fer krissake.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: frogprince
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 09:08 PM

So now we find out that Don Firth lives in"a 100 year old building, well maintained, and it has a brass plaque in front designating it as a historical building. Architecturally quite interesting."

Damn liberal elitist...

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 08:54 PM

It's funny.

Except for one person, it seems that the most severe reactions anyone is having are about the reactions other people are having, which they aren't, except for one person, and the one person has an issue with cultural differences. You guys are trying too hard to escalate this.