Well. Bob Dylan was just in a Pepsi commercial.

[charlyvi]

Fuck. Just Fuck, that's all.

[KoKo]

1. In the End...we are ALL just Pepsi Commercials....don't 'cha GET IT? n/t

[charlyvi]

2. I do now.

But I don't have to enjoy it.

[RB TexLa]

3. All that because an actor was in a commercial?

Okay. :crazy:

[charlyvi]

4. Huh? Bob Dylan's an actor?

Who knew.

[RB TexLa]

6. Then whatever he is. Still, what is the horror over the person working in a commercial?

[charlyvi]

14. What horror?

This is Bob Dylan, not world hunger. Overreact much?

[RB TexLa]

18. I was talking about your horror over it.

[charlyvi]

24. What I felt was not horror.

Horror is Iraq, Katrina, Michael Vick. What I felt was surprise and, yes, disappointment. That's a long way from horror.

[skooooo]

15. You really don't know who Dylan is??

Whatta world.

[charlyvi]

19. Couldn't have said it better myself. n/t

[RB TexLa]

29. Look, not only do I not know the names of actors, I don't care that they even have names.

[skooooo]

38. Are you in touch with the larger world..?

You know..reality outside your window?

[RB TexLa]

41. A world where the names of actors has importance? I'll pass on such a world.

BTW what's it called? The People magazine world? :rofl:

[skooooo]

44. One day when you realize who Dylan is...

....you'll know how dumb you looked today!

[charlyvi]

50. Preach it Skooooo!

[skooooo]

53. Nothing else you can say...

..lol.

[hlthe2b]

54. isn;t that the truth...

Good heavens...

[book_worm]

108. So someone doesn't know who Bob Dylan is! Big deal.

You'd think it was the biggest sin ever committed. The person admits they don't know who he is (as unbelieveable as it may seem), but you keep going on and on about it to this person and acting like a bully just because they don't know who Bob Dylan is.

[BlooInBloo]

150. "just because they don't know who Bob Dylan is. " - Um, that's a LOT...

There is so much common ground that we assume as a matter of course between ourselves. Damn near all of it has to be tossed out of the window upon learning that my interlocutor doesn't so much as know who Dylan is.

I suppose my backup plan for common ground would be to conjecture that the person is (a) VERY young, and (b) from another country which (c) has close to no dealings with the US.

Backup common-ground conjectures can certainly be made, but they become very difficult to make for something that touches so many other things - especially if you limit yourself to non-insulting explanations.

In fact, all in all, it's more likely that the poster is simply lying.

[Enrique]

127. i think I know who he is

he's that guy in the Pepsi commercial right?

[tavalon]

157. You owe me a keyboard dammit! Now, go vote in my poll that was inspired by you.

[tavalon]

159. He's young, he lives in Plano, which is the Suburb in Hell

They didn't have the 1960s in Plano, even if he was alive then, which I highly doubt. But yes, if he has any sense, he'll google and walk away.

[Oregone]

81. RE: Bob Dylan, FYI

Bob Dylan, this man, is in a Pepsi commercial. It is a thought that brings on great disillusionment and disappointment.

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

[uppityperson]

60. How old are you? Serious question there.

I bet you don't know who Woody Guthrie was either, right?

[skooooo]

67. Dylan's quite a bit more..

...a contemporary icon I'd say than Guthrie.

[uppityperson]

146. True, thinking of musicians working towards making a change in the world.

For their times, they each had a strong message. Those messages still carry on. That is all I meant.

[tavalon]

160. Yep, and you will be happy to know that every Thanksgiving,

Woodie gets an honorary spot at the table and twenty two or so minutes of our rapt listening. It just ain't Thanksgiving with out Alice's restaurant.
'

[RB TexLa]

68. 40, sorry I really don't care that those people have names. Not a big deal.

I know people love entertainment, I'm not trying to disparage people who follow it, just I don't care about it to that point.

[skooooo]

73. This isn't a person that you would have had to "follow."

It's someone like JFK - a major personality that has had a major impact on society.

[charlyvi]

74. In the 60's and early 70's, he was a bit more that just entertainment.

[Ani Yun Wiya]

153. Dave Van Ronk, MacDougal Street, The Kettle of Fish, The Gaslight Cafe

Yes, those were very different and exciting times.
Not something that many understand, not having been there.


A bit of something for you:


<>

[Oregone]

84. Bob Dylan was a great cultural poet and artist who inspired political & intellectual movements

Although he may of been trying to entertain (which may or may not be the truth), the genius he produced has had a massive impact on American culture and politics.

[annabanana]

90. jeez, Don't TELL him....

Let him discover on his own... It's the only chance he'll ever have of 'getting it'. .

[Oregone]

96. I just thought it was a matter of time before he pulled his head out of his ass

So what difference does it make. Honestly, I think that music changed me. Dylan is not saint in my eyes, but his work is incredible.

[madeline_con]

122. We are on the internets, after all. Not too hard to figure out who

Bob Dylan is from here...

:popcorn:

[Lorien]

123. Don't bother. He has a history of being intentionally obtuse

and gets his jollies by ruffling the feathers of those who can't fathom his brand of feigned ignorance.

Of COURSE he knows who Dylan is. He's just yanking your chains!

[uppityperson]

147. Well, you are missing something. Guess MLK Jr was an entertainer also then.

tata

[tavalon]

161. You were born in the Summer of Love dude!

I was born 3 months before JFK died but I know intimately about him. The 1960s are still shaping this country, albeit in more of a backlash form, but Dylan was a hero of the 60s and he hated consumerism, so to see him co-opt is gut punch ouchy. I'm only 5 years older than you but I know all about the decade I was too young to experience because it matters, it really, really matters. Even in Plano. Especially in Plano.

You've gotten your nose rubbed in it today/tonight and I'm sorry for my part in it, but please learn about that decade. We are most likely coming around to a similar time and we need to know everything about what happened then to try to make it happen differently and back then (not so much now) the singers were also activists.

[tavalon]

158. I could get the youngin up to speed in about 20 minutes,

at Alice's restaurant!

[Warren DeMontague]

94. Bob Fucking Dylan?

No, you're not serious.

Are you?

[timtom]

86. Certainment. (In answer to "Bob Dylan's an actor?")

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070518/

"Pat Garret and Billy the Kid"

Isn't everybody an actor?

[skooooo]

89. Masked and Anonymous was awesome

[charlyvi]

91. I guess we're all actors in the larger sense.

But his performance in that flick was not what I would call stellar. Not exactly Brando worthy.

[timtom]

149. I was being silly.

I didn't appreciate Dylan's genius for lyrical songs until many years after -- as I heard other artists perform them. My reaction was always the same: Dylan wrote THAT? Understand, it was generally the beauty of the melody rather than the words that moved me. The only artist whose lyrics I can remember easily is Randy Newman.

But, an actor...no.

[tavalon]

162. Yeah, I never could understand a word Dylan said or sang

but the lyrics, oh, my Goddess.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

88. Not that he can act, but he has been in a few films.

[tavalon]

156. Actor, singer, whatever.......

[BlooInBloo]

5. Clearly Dylan is not a "true progressive".

EDIT: I hear he's rich, too.

[charlyvi]

8. Yeah he is.

He's just a progressive who believes in capitalism. Which is not a bad thing, but a little shocking to my ears.

[tavalon]

163. We get older, we change. Most become more conservative

Most of my friends have become more radical. I think we egg each other on and we self select.

[Kahuna]

49. RICH?????? Not THAT!!!!!!!!!!

:cry:

[charlyvi]

51. He's richer than Midas.

Which is why I don't get the Pepsi commercial.

[Kahuna]

56. Maybe he had "investments" with Bernie Madoff???

:shrug: It's a possibility.

[charlyvi]

57. I hope not. Love him. (Dylan, not Madoff).

[tridim]

7. That said, it was still a good commercial.

[charlyvi]

9. True.

Just a little jarring to me.

[Skittles]

10. I'll take Neil Young over Bob Dylan any fucking day

yes INDEED

[charlyvi]

16. Young is great. n/t

But Dylan is in a class by himself.

[girl gone mad]

151. Is it a remedial class?

because I think he needs it.

[Dennis Donovan]

20. Seconded!

:thumbsup::hi:

[NoSheep]

137. Why over, not with?

:D

[MacBookPro]

11. Is every corporation evil?

I don't get the irritation you seem to feel.

[Skittles]

12. I bet you don't get a lot of things

[MacBookPro]

17. I'm having a huge problem understanding M-Theory.

So yes, you're right.

[Skittles]

22. MAYBE if you stick around you'll learn something

MAYBE

[MacBookPro]

23. I sure hope so.

Golly.

[tavalon]

164. Handled that one well

Have to watch you, you might turn out to be someone worth watching. Or not.

[charlyvi]

31. For years, Bob Dylan was the essence of anti-establishment thinking

Now he's letting himself be used to hawk Pepsi. It's a jarring juxtaposition. That's all.

[MacBookPro]

36. I understand.

From what I know about Dylan, though, he wasn't too liked by the anti-establishment crowd back in the 60s/70s because he wasn't very vocal about their causes. He was more of a left-leaning libertarian. I could be wrong, though. I shall go look it up. :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

75. Snap OUT OF IT!!!!

When he was - what? - twenty years old, he signed his first RECORDING CONTRACT.

Do you understand what that means?

It means he did his work for money.

Don't confuse - not ever - the singer with the song.

Dylan's just Bobby Zimmerman from Hibbing who wanted to make it big. And he did. And how does it feel to know that he vacations on his yacht and happens to be a pretty fair golfer?

Welcome to the real world.

:hi:

[charlyvi]

82. Excuse me?

Someone from my youth, who sang songs about the issues I believed in, is now on a Pepsi commercial. I understand his right to do whatever he wants, I understand his desire to make money but you don't seem to understand the strange juxtaposition of it--and I am most definitely in the "real world". And your statement that I cannot distinguish the singer from the song or that I need to snap out of some sort anachronistic world view is offensive. You are very rude. Snap out of it.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

100. Rude? Hardly.

But you're touchy.

Dylan was a fixture of my young years, too, but if you look at his lyrics, you realize that part of their genius is that they're blank screens, wide open for the listener to project whatever he or she wants or needs to project on them.

His "Masters of War" is a work of extraordinary brilliance, there is no denying that, and one of the overt songs he wrote that can be directly interpreted. It's an anti-war song.

By the same token, he wrote a song glorifying Joey Gallo. Think about that.

The man who wrote "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll," which distorted the facts, by the way, of the real incident, also wrote "Hurricane."

Dylan's never made any kind of public political statement. He could be a rightwingnut for all we know, but none of that matters, because his songs are genius.

You're holding on to an image. Just an image. And that's the other part of his genius - he sold a product, and people bought it.

But the truth is that no one knows what Dylan thinks and what he represents to his fans is all in their heads, all of their own contrivance, not at all evidenced by anything he's said or done.

Projection. It's a beautiful thing.

And I don't think you're rude, but you sure are touchy, an emotional state that suggests a nerve's been touched.

I mean, really, "Dylan did a Pepsi commercial! The world has ended." So, how come it didn't end after his Victoria's Secret commercial?

Fans - you gotta love them.

[charlyvi]

111. Didn't realize I said the world had ended.

Oops. I didn't. And your post was rude. You can rationalize it all you want, it was still rude. Now excuse me while I retire to my Dylan museum and cry over my vinyl copy of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan to the point that I fog my Granny glasses. Oops, I don't have a Dylan museum or Granny glasses. Touchy? No. Angry, that someone on a message board, rudely by the way, presumes to tell me in a very patronizing way that I need to never confuse the singer with the song. In my 58 years on this earth I have never been accused of confusing a singer with a song; which, in your strange way, I suppose, is a metaphor for confusing what is real with what is not. Snap out of it? Please. Equating disappoinment with a figure from my youth hawking a soda is hardly being out of touch with reality. It's disappointment with a figure from my youth hawking a soda. Nothing more, nothing less. And it does not deserve a lecture from you as to how I should feel about it. Arrogance and self rightousness is not a beautiful thing. It's rude.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

133. Relax

World keep turnin'.......................

[Buns_of_Fire]

125. Bob Dylan did a Victoria's Secret commercial? Really?

I can't imagine that Bob Dylan in a Wonderbra would help their sales any, but then marketing has never been my strong suit.:-)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

134. The camera loves him.........

You can't imagine ............................... http://tinyurl.com/cc6ter

And his Cadillac commercial .............. http://tinyurl.com/amzg6s

And his iTunes commercial ................ http://tinyurl.com/bjtmxj

And his Pepsi commercial ................... http://tinyurl.com/bng6nl

And his chain of home-style buffet restaurants commercial ....................... http://tinyurl.com/dbjhua

[KoKo]

79. In the end "Da Man" ...or "Almighty Dollar" get's to many of us...

It's good to be "Pure" but given the CORRUPTION all around us....and we have families to feed and nursing homes to wait for us....why shouldn't we CASH IN? After all...All of America and many in Obama's New Administration have done it? Why should everyone else be left out? :eyes:

[corpseratemedia]

106. I swear I saw him in a victoria's secret commercial a few years ago

do you, Mr. Jones?

I guess he does

[skooooo]

13. Dylan is entitled to do whatever he wants.

He's a big boy.

[charlyvi]

21. Didn't say he wasn't.

And I still like him. It was just surprising to me.

[skooooo]

28. You must have missed the Victoria Secret commercial?

lol..he's been in a few weird ones

[charlyvi]

35. Yep, I did.

Seriously? He hawked for Victoria's Secret?

[skooooo]

63. I suspect..

...he's even a dirty old man!

[charlyvi]

69. Bwhahaha!

Why would that not surprise me? Old geezer.

[tavalon]

165. I get you

It's jarring. I can't imagine John Lennon ever selling out like that but..................?

[Kahuna]

25. How dare he make money!!

:cry:

[BlooInBloo]

34. Outrage for nothing more than outrage's sake - another version of my sig.

[JeffR]

42. He does these things

to screw with people's heads. Why? Because he can, and because it does.

[BlooInBloo]

45. Tweet! 15 yards! Unintroduced Anaphora!

[JeffR]

64. Crap. I clearly set it up within the rules of gridiron rhetoric.

I even swore off steroids a month ago just so I could avoid the appearance of impropriety.

:cry:

[tavalon]

166. I had to look that word up

Thanks BlooinBloo for expanding my word power!

[charlyvi]

46. Pure Dylan. n/t

[hlthe2b]

48. I hear he's gone "electric" too!

How DARE he! :evilgrin:

[Kahuna]

52. OMG!!!!!!!!! What's the world coming too!!

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[charlyvi]

55. LOL! Actually, I didn't mind that.

The wheel does turn. I just didn't know it would turn towards Pepsi.

[tavalon]

167. I know! I would have taken him for a Coke man, myself

B-)

[JeffR]

66. I know, huh?

Guy's just a... a... Judas!

[Sal Minella]

47. Dylan making money is not what makes me sad.

The man who wrote (possibly) the greatest anti-war anthem of all time -- "Masters of War" -- has chosen to shill for colored sugar water.

If that isn't sad, I really, really do not want to see sad.
It sent tremors through my world-view, I tell ya.

[GoesTo11]

26. Forever Young will never be the same for me

It used to mean something, man.

[katandmoon]

27. If you never saw his Victoria's Secret commercial...

Here ya go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNtlqPfhSzY

[Kahuna]

30. What next??? A reality tv show???

:scared:

[charlyvi]

43. That would be a truly wierd thing to see.

Pepsi commercial or no, Dylan is not what most would describe as a normal person.

[tavalon]

168. Anyone who does a reality show is not someone most would describe as normal

Okay, I wouldn't describe them as normal. I remember when it was all the rage to get polyamorous people on all those talk shows and of course the invitations would come across our lists and since my quad was fairly well known, we were approached more than once and the standard answer was "NO, I mean fuck NO!". We were normal, they wanted to make us into a reality show. Thanks and I don't need that case of Pepsi either.

[Sal Minella]

59. Okay, Now there's a folk icon having a good time and probably taking great glee

in what he's doing to doddering old Dylan-doters like me.

When Bob gets down to clasty, his favorite icon is his own, eh? Eh!!!

[charlyvi]

61. Yeah. He always did like to fuck with everyone's head. n/t

[Sal Minella]

65. Which I didn't remember until I saw the look on that face among the blossoming boobs.

I always have been a little slow.

[tomg]

76. Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homestyle

Buffet. Start the day with a rolling scone. Hilarious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gro3Fga11k&feature=related

[Radical Activist]

114. that was freaking awesome

[fishwax]

117. lol

funny stuff :)

[Enrique]

129. Desolation Roe

:rofl:

[Gabi Hayes]

136. eat the document

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OSZuG_1nHM&feature=related

[jkirch]

119. Dylan...

...looks a lot like Vincent Price in that one.

[MetaTrope]

32. At least Pepsi doesn't kill its union leaders

Well, except for that plant president in Venezuela two months ago, but he was an outlier for sure.

[KoKo]

80. Do they use Mercury Laden "High Fructose Corn Syrup" in their products?

:shrug:

[tavalon]

169. God, I have to tell you that has been a pain in the butt

I'd gotten used to not having to read every fucking label like I used to have to. Now, I'm back to it. The good thing though, is we actually eat healthy enough that there were only a handful of things in the pantry that had to go and only a handful of staples that we will no longer get. It was easier than I expected.

[spanone]

33. i guess the times have changed

:shrug:

[charlyvi]

37. Yep, I guess they are a' changin. LOL!

[spanone]

40. i do remember the victoria secret commercial and thought it was pretty strange

but pretty strange is what i expect from mr zimmerman

[Morning Dew]

39. I've gotten so used to ignoring commercial that I keep missing the SB ads

lol.... that's the main reason I'm watching. Not really invested in either team.

GO Cardin-eelers!

[skooooo]

58. I just saw it!!

At least they show some cool footage from his younger days!!

:bounce:

[tomg]

62. I missed it, but I think what is

jarring about it for many of us is twofold. Many of us still identify him with his earliest music which was politically committed and was important social commentary. Imagine if Pete Seeger suddenly started doing commercials for Walmart or something. The thing is that Dylan hasn't really said anything political in years ( the last I recall is The Hurricane about Ruben Carter, but I could be wrong), and even in the early years seemed more opportunistic than anything else - and this is not to take away anything from his early work's power or affect or even to make a statement about the person. The second is that, rightfully, we also see him as a brilliant singer/writer who has written some of the finest music of the last 1/2 century. Artistic geniuses aren't supposed to do that sort of thing, at least according to the popular mythos. In some ways, that is a little more disorienting for me. It is sort of like us seeing Walt Whitman in a commercial saying "You know, when I really want to hear America singing, I go to Itunes," or Michelangelo "After a tough day working on the Sistine Chapel, noting tastes quite like a cold Coors." The irony is Michelangelo would have done that gig in a minute ( probably Whitman, too).

Yeah, it depresses me, too, but only because it makes me feel old. Which I am.

[charlyvi]

70. Yep. I think that's it. The old part, I mean. n/t

[Sal Minella]

71. But as charlyvi pointed out, he's doing it just to fuck with our heads -- it's not that he's

reduced to making ads for money -- he just found YET ANOTHER new way to reinvent himself again.... The one thing I'm sure of is that Dylan's next version of Dylan will surprise us just as much if not more.

[tomg]

101. I completely agree that

he doesn't need the money. Although to even ascribe that he is doing it to screw with our heads is, in a way, part of the 'great genius' idea, which is one of our societal constructs about 'artistic geniuses - that is, they always have a reason for doing what they do, and that is either some aesthetic purpose, or because they need the money and are selling out. I have no idea why he is doing it: money, boredom, screwing with our heads, free tickets to the superbowl, he lost/won a bet, he like Pepsi ( so do I) and he is getting a lifetime supply. I don't even know if he is thinking in terms of reinventing himself or if he is just so damned good and famous, he can do whatever he wants artistically. Hell, maybe next year he will decide he wants to be on "Dancing with Stars" but do it in a Rabbit costume. Just because he can.

Oh, and I'm just depressed about getting old. Which means I need to listen to My Back Pages again, the version with Dylan, Clapton, Harrison, Petty, McGuinn, and Neil Young.

[Sal Minella]

115. "Just because he can. " Yes, that's it.

As for being depressed -- aren't you enjoying your own company more now as the years go on? My knees don't work so hot these days but I seem to be having more fun than at any other time in my life -- expectations are realistic, achievements modest, pleasures small and many.

But I never had to go through the anguish of losing my looks because I never had any looks to lose, so time has let me gain emotional stability while losing knee function. It was a good trade, for me. I hope you can relax into enjoying what you have......

Yes, next year Dylan may be conducting the Philadelphia Philharmonic in the nude, who knows.

[tavalon]

170. I'm loving midlife

I suspect I'm a bit younger than you (too young to have enjoyed the greatest decade ever, though I was alive, just young) but it's great. And don't say that the looks thing means anything really because I was a looker and I got real sick of people talking to my breasts and assuming my IQ was down there somewhere. People don't fall all over themselves around me anymore but they listen to what I have to say and that has always been more important to me. People around my age keep reminiscing about being teenagers and wishing they still were. That is a hell I'm glad I got through. Yuck. I don't want to be a teenager or a twentysomething still scrambling to figure out who I am and my thirties were hellish but soul deepening. This decade and the next few I hope are the sweet reward. We shall see. Life is nothing if not capricious, eh?

[Hannah Bell]

124. springsteen didn't need walmart's money, either.

they do it for the money. for the money.

not to fuck with your head or some deep quirky artistry.

for the fucking money.

[tomg]

138. I think there are a lot of reasons

people might do things. I was more mystified about Springsteen and Walmarts than Dylan and anything he's done: first because I really hate Walmarts and I drink Pepsi; and second because Springsteen has a particular persona which by and large seems pretty legit, and he did the Seeger Sessions and there is no way Pete Seeger would have anything to do with Walmarts ( now there is a saint. I wonder if he chewed Springsteen out). I honestly don't know what I would do if Walmart offered me a boatload of money to, say, teach some bullshit novel in a course ( it's kind of a reach for me to figure out anything Walmart, Pepsi or anyone would offer me a boatload of money to do). Of course I know what I would do: I would tell my students that Jackie Collins makes F. Scott Fitzgerald and Toni Morrison and James Joyce look like shit. And then if Walmart's wanted I would give them a test with one question that would be their grade for the course: True or False: Jackie Collins is the greatest novelist who ever lived. But it would have to be a big boat.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

141. That 30th Anniversary Concert

is one of the most amazing collections of musicians and songs ever. The ladies singing "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" makes me just crazy.

Neil Young welcoming people to "Bobfest."

We're not getting old. We're the ones who lived the sixties. That makes us immortal, because, in the words of Tim Hardin, "It'll Never Happen Again."

(The cultural references from 'way back when are startlingly appropriate today, don't you think?)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

Listen to his songs,

even his early songs, and realize what a genius he was at writing really great poetry set to music, upon which everyone could project their own meaning. I don't ever recall Dylan making any over political statement ever - although he did glorify Joey Gallo, and where does that fit on the God Scale people seem to want to put him on.

He's a troubadour. A businessman. Great at both. I love his work.

But that's all he is. Reading these disillusioned posts makes me wonder exactly how much of the real world some people deal with. He's an act for sale. Not a hero.

[tomg]

98. I have been listening to his

songs for about 46 years. My point was twofold. The first was that some people create a specific "early" political Dylan and the notion that that construct would do a Pepsi add is, to them, jarring. When I was 16 and 17 he was a hero, but I was 17. The second is that he is easily one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century. That falls into the "genius" construct. In our cultural mythos, "geniuses" do things for "artistic" reasons or because they are "selling out." So for Dylan, a "genius" to do a Pepsi add is either a) a sellout of B) artistic. As I thought I suggested, this is a false dichotomy.

I'm not disillusioned, just old. When I want to feel undepressed old, I listen to Modern times. When I want to feel old but fuck em, I listen to My Back Pages off the 1991 Bobfest.

Still, I do disagree with your comments on his early political works:e.g. Masters of War, The Death of Emmett Till, Only a Pawn in the Game (singing 'A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood." in rural Greenwood, Mississippi in 1963 strikes me as both political and heroic). Still, your greater point that "He's a troubadour. A businessman. Great at both. I love his work." are pretty much my feelings.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

103. Greenwich Village, 1962, Cafe Wha'

I saw Dylan for the first time, but I had no idea who or what I was seeing. It took the old boyfriend, years later, to remind me, and then I was knocked out. At the time, we were much more taken with Richie Havens, who was also playing there that night.

Dylan's songs never take a political slant, and that's part of his brilliance. He tells stories. As in "Hurricane." As in "Joey." As in "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll." And in each instance, he took poetic license with the facts. The recent death of Zanzinger once again brought that up.

But, there was nothing about any of those songs that would tell you where his political loyalties resided, and I love that about him. Of course "Masters of War" is a song about the Rumsfelds of this world, and it's grand - but it still keeps the author hidden. All you know about him is that he hates those people who make war.

Do you think Dylan, a devout Jew (now that he's gotten his Born-Again phase behind him), would also object to what the American forced did in Europe during WWII? Would he have written a "Masters of War" about what America did there to stop Hitler?

So, you see what I mean when I say the deification of him was something that, sure, we all went through when we were young. That's what music heroes are for. But then we learn and we apply that learning and we understand that these performers are not the roles they play, but just people working a job and earning a living.

A friend of mine from college was mad for Dylan. He absolutely flipped when he saw Dylan on "Sixty Minutes," talking about the first volume of his autobiography, "Chronicles." Arthur was beside himself. Dylan had sold out, he had gone corporate, he was becoming like everyone else.

This wasn't that long ago, remember? And I tried to comfort Arthur by telling him how it worked - that Dylan's publisher was owned by the same company that owned CBS and it was probably a contractual obligation he had incurred when he sold them his book. For whatever reason, Arthur felt better when I told him that because, to him, the eternal fan even though he was pushing sixty, it meant that Dylan had been FORCED to do "Sixty Minutes."

I loved Arthur, who's no longer with us, and I love Dylan's fans who want him to be some kind of outlaw liberal hero. Where would we be without our heroes?

[tomg]

113. I remember 'the wha" very well. I couldn't

get in the first time I tried in 64 or 5 because of my age.You and I are pretty much on the same page here, although we might disagree slightly on what constitutes the political in Dylan's work. I do see your point, though and his effacement is dead on target. I will really think about it. Actually in those years, while I listened to Dylan, I was politically drawn more to Ochs(I met Ochs a few times at parties in the late 60s when he played in New Paltz).

You are right about heroes. Whenever I need some musical hero worship ( or at least to feel old is good), I just put on the Dylan, Harrison, Petty, Young, Clapton and McGuinn "My Back Pages." Thanks so much for the post.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

135. Weren't we lucky?

I get chills when I think of being so young - hey, I wasn't eighteen, and shouldn't have been allowed in, but I was dating a Columbia University student, so I guess we looked older.

Now, I wish I had had the chance to see and hear Phil Ochs, but I will tell you a story - from my late friend Arthur, who must be thinking of me tonight somewhere out there in the universe:

Arthur and the woman he later married went to listen to Ochs in a Boston club (we went to school in New England), and when they left, he said to her, "That guy's gonna die because he'll never be as big as Dylan."

Dylan never wrote a song - and I mean this - as powerful as "The War Is Over."

I wish Phil could have stayed with us. I wish that so much.

Thanks for the chance to remember.

:toast:

[tomg]

139. and thank you. nt

[glinda]

72. I am rather liking the Democratic sort of packaging of this Super Bowl

[TripleKatPad]

77. F me

I enjoyed it.

[Dorian Gray]

78. Oh no....

a commercial?????


I've heard he's a Born Again Christian, too! ::GASP::

[charlyvi]

83. I think he dropped out of the Born Again Christian movement.

But, who knows?

[Ishoutandscream2]

87. I think he turned away from the Born Again thing

Which really blew me away in the late 70s when he found Jesus. Yes, I think Dylan likes to shock his fans.

[Dorian Gray]

173. Me too

I think he likes to play around with the notions that people have of him to prove that we don't really know him.

I still like him, despite the Pepsi Commercial.

[fishwax]

85. well, he did that victoria's secret ad a few years back

that was weird.

[Warren DeMontague]

95. Nah. If he'd been modeling a black lace teddy,

THAT would have been weird.

[Warren DeMontague]

92. It's the end of the world, as we know it.

Hey- call me when Michael Stipe shows up in something that isn't political or non-profit, then I'll worry.

[htuttle]

93. Dylan explained this years ago

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might be a rock'n' roll adict prancing on the stage
Might have money and drugs at your commands, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be an young turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody's landlord you might even own banks.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say.

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

[skooooo]

97. Good thing you're around...

...to be Dylan's conscience!

:eyes:

[htuttle]

104. Ha! You take me all wrong...

If somebody offered me a cool million to be in a Pepsi commercial, I take it in a minute, even though I don't drink the chemical-laden crap anymore.

I gotta serve my landlord and our grocery bill and everything my health insurance doesn't cover...

[PVnRT]

99. Oh no! Not a boomer icon! The horror....the horror.....

[Evoman]

102. Man...I wish I was famous so I could sell out too.

But I'm not. What I'm selling, no one is buying. :(

[donheld]

105. So fucking what!

Get a life.

[book_worm]

107. Good for him, he deserves to make some money.

[rug]

109. Big deal. Yogi Berra used to endorse Yoo-Hoo.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

110. Yeah....first it was the Victoria's Secret commercial, then the Cadillac

commerical...now Pepsi.

[Radical Activist]

112. How many times can one guy sell out

and STILL have people act surprised and upset about it? He sold out over 40 years people. Get the fuck over it already!

[kwassa]

120. 40 years ago? how did Dylan sell out in 1969?

[Radical Activist]

121. the first time people called him a sell out

was when he plugged in instead of staying an acoustic folk singer. He has done something new to outrage people every few years since then. BTW, how many anti-war rallies have you seen Dylan sing at in the last 40 years?

[JI7]

116. he has done Victoria's Secret ads also

he has done music for it.

[Marr]

118. Has Neil Young done a Pepsi commercial yet?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

154. Hell no - or as Neil would say...

Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.

"This Note's for You"

[tavalon]

171. Neil Young!

No, he is to the bones a liberal and still an activist if not a very well tuned in one. He recently put out a protest album because he said no one these days were doing protest songs. What he didn't understand is that clear channel has a stranglehold on what will be heard and until the internet becomes an even savvier place for artists, the voices of dissent have been well silenced. But no one will shut up Neil Young. I think one of the songs on that album had to do with not giving in to commercialism. Unfortunately, the album was so badly produced, I can only listen occasionally.

[mod mom]

126. I lost faith when he did a Cadillac commercial. I have been him for the last time.

[Enrique]

128. Dylan in 1965 answering who he'd sell out to

I'm guessing the year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRQQ-0A0J14

[MilesColtrane]

130. That wasn't Dylan.

It was Cate Blanchett.

Yes, she's THAT good.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

131. he's been more of a sell out than we'd like to think for a VERY long time

[Wendio]

132. I thought the same when Van Halen sold out to Pepsi.

Maybe I would have been ok with a Coke ad?
I know Van Halen is not in the same league as Dylan but it was a sell out nonetheless.
Depressing, no?

[ezgoingrl]

140. I felt the same way when Dennis Hopper was in an Ameritrade

(or something similar) commercial. Then I found out that he's a Republican and it made sense...but Dylan!?? That hurts, that really hurts.

[mucifer]

172. dennis hopper played a liberal in the movies. he's a republican.

[serrano2008]

142. They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck...

Everybody must get stoned.

[salguine]

143. What song was he singing? "Just Like A Pepsi"? "Pepsi Rolling Stone"? Maybe

"Pepsi's Farm"? "Pepsitively 4th Street"?

[serrano2008]

145. Oh....good one!

How about:

"It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Drinking Pepsi"

"A Refreshing Pepsi's A-Gonna Fall"

"Don't Think Twice, Drink A Pepsi"

"I Dreamed I Saw St. Pepsi"

[salguine]

148. "Visions Of JoPepsi"..."Pepsi Day Women #12 & 35"..."I'll Be Your Pepsi Tonight"...This could

go on and on. "It's All Over Now Pepsi Blue"..."Sad-Eyed Pepsi Of The Lowlands"..."Temporary Like A Pepsi"..."Spanish Pepsi Incident"...

I better stop now. I should be in bed sleeping.

[JVS]

144. Beats selling Caddy SUVs

[LSdemocrat]

152. Then you'll love this write-up from the NY Times on Pepsi's true history

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/business/media/02adco.html?_r=1&hp

"PEPSICO A commercial by TBWA/Chiat/Day, featuring Mr. Dylan and Will.i.am, rewrites history by presenting Pepsi-Cola as the choice of peaceniks, hippies and other youthful rebels. In reality, the Pepsi-Cola parent, PepsiCo, was led at the time by Donald Kendall, a friend of Richard M. Nixon’s, and the soft drink was considered the Republican soda."

[Hannah Bell]

175. i was just reading up on mr. kendall today - the deep politics of the texas oil

nexus, kendall figured majorly.

finance chair, bush '88.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/donald-kendall.asp?cycle=08

interesting pattern of donations: $64K for republicans, $250 for obama.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

155. Bob also played private parties for corporate CEO to celebrate mergers in the 90s

along with his son Jacob.

Lots of jobs were lost, but Bob sang - cuz he got paid.

Dylan is a sell-out a thousand times over. And he tries to cover for it by claiming he was never political. Then explain "Masters of War" to me, Bob!

He's decades past his prime and no amount of raves from jan Wenner and Rolling Stone can hide the fact that he's coasting on a wave of Boomeritis.

Give me Neil Young, Lou Reed and John Fogerty over him any day. At least they still put out good records.

[Hannah Bell]

174. yep, he did it for the money. not to mess with people's expectations, but for the m-o-n-e-y.