Bob Dylan wrote “The Times They Are a-Changin’” because he said it was what people wanted to hear.
That was in 1963, and less than a month after he recorded it JFK was shot dead in a moment so alarming it made grownups who didn’t know each other cry in front of each other.
Dylan said he was a songwriter, not an activist, not a deep thinker, not a prophet. Since 1964, at least 44 well-known musicians, from Keb’ Mo to Odetta to The Beach Boys, have recorded that song. None of them claims to know what it means, either, but it obviously spoke to them.
The song talks about the folly of being uninvolved and trying to save time – “You better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone.”
Today, Tuesday, had one of those mornings attached to it where big trucks led the way into work, downshifting and spewing diesel fumes that blackened the blue-eyed sky. Radio djs were complaining about mothers-in-law and people who didn’t know how to order at Popeyes.
Tuesday is one-seventh of our newspaper week. It’s potent. I imagine it’s like flying a plane low on fuel or giving birth – scary and there’s no turning back. But we know if we get through it we’ll be so high we’ll do it again next Tuesday.
So is that the same as feeling the times they are a-changin’? Anyone who reads or eavesdrops knows that there are no bugs on our windshields anymore and the 2019 version of clean water is defined as something we might be entitled to financial compensation for if we drink it.
ESI has four guestatorials this week and we’re still trying to fit them all into the paper, but at least they’ll all be online. Each of them deals with where we Americans are, how’d we get here and now what?
So easy to blame others for our plight. We’re pretty good at blaming Donald Trump for ignoring and accelerating the mistakes we’ve made, but come on. Is it really him? Seems to me he’s easily influenced, so why not influence him?
We know the problem is us. Our secrets. Our judgments. Our creations. The universe, and our planet, are indifferent. We named it Mother anyway.
“Don’t criticize what you can’t understand, Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. The times they are a-changin’.”
Go Millennials Go!