Bob Dylan song about JFK assassination

[Pamela Brown]

6 hours ago, Andrew Prutsok said:

Saw him one time in the early 80s in a couple thousand seat theater in Charleston, WV during the Slow Train Coming tour. Didn’t play a single old song.

Lucky you! 

[Pamela Brown]

A bit of JFK assassination irony in Bob Dylan's song Black Rider from R+RW?

https://dylagence.wordpress.com/2020/12/06/black-rider-a-bit-of-dylans-gallow-humor/

[Pamela Brown]

Odd references in Bob Dylan's My Own Version of You...from RARW

https://dylagence.wordpress.com/2021/03/12/a-possible-connection-in-the-vortex-odd-references-in-bob-dylans-my-own-version-of-you/

[Chuck Schwartz]

My favorite line in "Murder Most Foul" is "The age of the antichrist has only just begun".

[Pamela Brown]

11 hours ago, Chuck Schwartz said:

My favorite line in "Murder Most Foul" is "The age of the antichrist has only just begun".

Back in 1963, no less...

[Ron Bulman]

On 1/2/2021 at 6:23 AM, Andrew Prutsok said:

Saw him one time in the early 80s in a couple thousand seat theater in Charleston, WV during the Slow Train Coming tour. Didn’t play a single old song.

I guess by then he'd passed on through Tangled Up and Blue, which I wondered if it addressed the assassinations.

 

As well as Shelter From The Storm.

 

[W. Niederhut]

11 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I guess by then he'd passed on through Tangled Up and Blue, which I wondered if it addressed the assassinations.

 

As well as Shelter From The Storm.

 

Probably Dylan's greatest album, among several greats.

In Princeton historian Sean Wilentz's biography of Dylan, he tells the story of Bob Dylan taking painting lessons in NYC around the time that he was working on the Blood on the Tracks album.

One day, Dylan's art instructor was critiquing a Dylan painting and he blurted out, "This thing is all tangled up in blue!"

Bob Dylan in America: Wilentz, Sean: 9780767931793: Amazon.com: Books

[Pamela Brown]

10 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

Probably Dylan's greatest album, among several greats.

In Princeton historian Sean Wilentz's biography of Dylan, he tells the story of Bob Dylan taking painting lessons in NYC around the time that he was working on the Blood on the Tracks album.

One day, Dylan's art instructor was critiquing a Dylan painting and he blurted out, "This thing is all tangled up in blue!"

Bob Dylan in America: Wilentz, Sean: 9780767931793: Amazon.com: Books

That's a good read.

Dylan's classmate Carolyn Schlam has written a wonderful book that includes fascinating summaries of Arthur Raeben's lectures and technique..https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Path-View-Studio-Making-ebook/dp/B075X2LFLK#:~:text=The Creative Path is an,identity%2C and wonder through art.

[Pamela Brown]

A different view of Bob Dylan...something of a black hole who vampirizes his targets...https://arsnotoria.com/2020/06/13/the-mystery-of-apolitical-bob-dylan/

[Robert Burrows]

14 hours ago, Pamela Brown said:

A different view of Bob Dylan...something of a black hole who vampirizes his targets...https://arsnotoria.com/2020/06/13/the-mystery-of-apolitical-bob-dylan/

The only "dead soul" is the author of this anti Dylan hit piece. It reads as if were written by Mark David Chatman. 

[Pamela Brown]

13 minutes ago, Robert Burrows said:

The only "dead soul" is the author of this anti Dylan hit piece. It reads as if were written by Mark David Chatman. 

Chapman...

Funny...Suze Rotolo did call Dylan a 'black hole' though...

[Richard Booth]

On 6/27/2020 at 7:14 PM, Pamela Brown said:

It is not unrealistic to me that the govt might attempt to use these major stars to control or condition their multitude of fans to events of military significance.  

Hi Pam,

This absolutely happened. There is a podcast called "Wind of Change" which is a podcast about investigating whether or not the German rock band "The Scorpions" was used by the CIA at the end of the Cold War. Their song, "Wind of Change" is basically about the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the USSR, and it became a #1 hit--you may be familiar with it. It swept through the USSR and the youth loved it.

The podcast was a result of a discussion one of the podcasters had with a high ranking former CIA agent. The CIA officer told him that the CIA was responsible for the "Wind of Change" song. You can see more about the theory here:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/15/wind-of-change-did-the-cia-write-the-cold-wars-biggest-anthem

During the podcast, the podcasters contacted and spoke to a number of CIA officials: Burton Gerber, Milt Bearden, Jonna Mendez, and a few more, and asked each one about the story. Most of them denied it. However, one agent told them about a dinner party that Senior Intelligence Staff members attended in the 2000s. She said that there was a "rock star" present at the party, and one of the members asked the rock star why he was there, how he knew all of the predominantly CIA employees. The rock star replied that during the cold war, the agency had used him for some of their "messaging"

The CIA is sending glomar responses and non-denial denials when you send FOIA requests about the CIA possibly being involved with the Scorpions' "Wind of Change" song. One agent told the podcasters that one of the primary reasons the agency would avoid this subject is because the practice of using pop stars to saturate pop culture with ideas is still probably being carried out--it's still an active source/method.

With this in mind I wonder just how many pop/rock stars might have been part of some kind of CIA operation. 

Regarding "Wind of Change" -- I tend to believe the CIA officer who says the agency was involved in that song. And one thing I noted that was very interesting, is that song was released in three languages. There was the English language version, there was a version recorded in Russian, and a version recorded in Spanish. Now, tell me this, how many rock bands released 3 different language versions of a song!? That struck me as unusual! 

Another thing, too, is when I look at the lyrics to Wind of Change and compare those lyrics to other Scorpions songs, it's quite evident to me that the lyrical and poetic sophistication in 'Wind of Change' was leaps and bounds above the level on display in other Scorpions songs. Most of their material looks like it was written by a fifth grader, with very crude lyrics and little poetic value.  

Edited April 13, 2021 by Richard Booth

[Richard Booth]

On 4/21/2020 at 5:40 AM, Pete Mellor said:

With all his g'zillions of fans, if [Dylan] had spoken up early, worlds could have turned upside down.

Oh yeah, if Zimmy came out with a Murder Most Foul in the 1960's maybe HIS world could have turned upside down!  With Hoover and Cointelpro + LBJ & Operation Chaos Bobby may well have experienced the kind of hassle meted out to Lennon in the '70's & we know what happened there!

 

He would have been shot, and A.J. Weberman would have been setup as the patsy for his murder. "Crazed fan shoots Dylan" ...

[W. Niederhut]

On 4/13/2021 at 5:33 PM, Richard Booth said:

He would have been shot, and A.J. Weberman would have been setup as the patsy for his murder. "Crazed fan shoots Dylan" ...

LOL.  Weberman would have been the perfect patsy... 🤥

As for the subject of rockers who may have contracted with Operation Mockingbird in the U.S., any likely candidates?

As an amateur Dylanologist, I would rank Bob Dylan last on the list of likely candidates, along with well known anti-Vietnam War rockers like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Was there ever a more profound take down of the U.S. military-industrial complex than Dylan's May 1963 Masters of War?

 

[Richard Booth]

7 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said:

As for the subject of rockers who may have contracted with Operation Mockingbird in the U.S., any likely candidates?

 

The only one I can think of is The Scorpions and there are a few things about them that cause them to be a good candidate. Firstly they are a German band--so technically it would not be a domestic operation which the CIA supposedly doesn't do.

Then you have the fact that their song Wind of Change was released in Russian, Spanish, and English--that's unusual. But it reminds me of how military intelligence will broadcast in foreign languages via Voice of America, or drop foreign language flyers like we did in Iraq, Guatamala, and other countries. If Wind of Change was a messaging op it would make sense to release the song in several languages whereas if it's just this pop song it's weird to have these other versions.