The wisdom of Bob Dylan

These images (of a bong store and a fancy apartment building) are 116 MacDougal St and 160 Bleecker St, respectively. And I can guess your reaction: who cares? Well, you should! 116 MacDougal is not only where Bob Dylan and Alan Ginsberg used to hang out, but also where Dylan lived for awhile. It used to be known as the Gaslight Cafe, and there were readings there by Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. 160 Bleecker is where Dylan wrote "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."

I knew that Bob lived in Greenwich Village, but after googling it, I found a few definite addresses, and MacDougal Street has quite the history! For starters, Bob Dylan once got in a fistfight there was Andy Warhol. And here's a shortlist of the people who lived and wandered around there: Eleanor Roosevelt, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, ee cummings, Miles Davis, Dylan Thomas, Gore Vidal, Paul Robeson, Eartha Kitt, Joan Rivers, and Richard Pryor. Now it's peopled by hipsters from NYU, which I feel like Bob would have something to say about.

Having been on an unofficial, meandering Bob Dylan walking tour (first with my cousin, then with my sister, about 7 months apart) I can say that if you have any interest in the musical culture of the 1960's, Greenwich Village is the place to be. To walk the same street that features on the album cover of the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan? Pretty awesome.

Moreover, Bob Dylan lyrics are good at describing everything, for a variety of situations. After consulting with my cousin, here are some examples:

Places we would like to be, other than NYC:
I like to spend some time in Mozambique
The sunny sky is aqua blue
And all the couples dancing cheek to cheek.
It’s very nice to stay a week or two.
--Mozambique, 1975

Lost love/lost friendship
I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better, but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
--Don't Think Twice, it's All Right, 1963

Freedom
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
--Mr. Tambourine Man, 1964

Post-grad life, sometimes
You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
--Like A Rolling Stone, 1965

Post-grad life, sometimes
I’m out here a thousand miles from my home
Walkin’ a road other men have gone down
I’m a-seein’ your world of people and things
Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings
--Song to Woody, 1961

Post-grad life, sometimes
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
--The Times They are A-Changin', 1963

Unsavory bosses
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law
Everybody says
She’s the brains behind pa
She’s sixty-eight, but she says she’s twenty-four
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
--Maggie's Farm, 1965

Sound Life Advice
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows
--Subterranean Homesick Blues, 1965

Corporatism
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
--Hurricane, 1975

When considering upcoming birthdays (!!)
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young
--Forever Young, 1973

Art
Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo, this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
--Visions of Johanna, 1966

Being in a Rut and Getting Out
My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin’ to be kind
So give me your hand and say you’ll be mine
--Mississippi, 1997

P.S. I don't think me quoting song lyrics constitutes plagiarism, but if it does, and you're reading this Mr. Dylan--I'm sorry, and I'd be happy to buy you a drink to make it up to you.