From the Blonde on Blonde album. I hope you like it.
I used to listen to this song when I was a kid, and sing along.
I feel like Dylan is telling us: Hey, you don't have to be so sensitive, honey,
everybody faces criticism on all sides. Keep doing your thing. You're not alone!
The vocals come off irreverent, light and easy, but I think the message is real and
real painful underneath.
The repetition of words plays out like the meaning of the song. You know when you
finally found your courage to bring your voice, your truth out into the open, expecting
people to shut up and listen...right... and then what results is getting 'stoned'.
No, not getting high (though self-medicating the pain of repetitive abuse
in any form, often verbal, could be a common reaction to character assassins).
This kinda stoned here is more like Shirley Jackson's kinda Stoning (her story, 'The Lottery').
Getting attacked the old-fashioned medieval way. An onslaught of rocks.
This is how people were once summarily executed. Today they use combo drugs
and lethally inject you. Or sever your head with a machete. Maybe not so evolved
as we would hope.
What i got from Dylan, was a feeling maybe he was feeling being in the spotlight
as a star, a showman, a celebrated musician and mind. The character assassination
which comes along with celebrity. How the media analyzes every word you say, every note you play.
They look for ways to break you down, to prove you're not perfect. Even when all you
might be saying is "hey, I am real!" It's not your fault they put you up as a deity. All you
were doing was selflessly sharing songs, putting your passion on play over the airwaves
for whomever would hear. Trying to spread the love comes from your beating heart.
But the feeling is universal. Because everyone is sensitive from time to time. Some more than
others. And some are better at hiding vulnerability. Anyone can hear this song and relate.
Anyone can find happiness, just singing along.
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