February 14, 2015

Bob Dylan says "I wasn’t dissing Merle, not the Merle I know. What I was talking about happened a long time ago, maybe in the late sixties."

"Merle had that song out called 'Fighting Side of Me' and I’d seen an interview with him where he was going on about hippies and Dylan and the counter culture, and it kind of stuck in my mind and hurt, lumping me in with everything he didn’t like. But of course times have changed and he’s changed too. If hippies were around today, he’d be on their side and he himself is part of the counter culture… so yeah, things change. I’ve toured with him and have the highest regard for him, his songs, his talent – I even wanted him to play fiddle on one of my records and his Jimmie Rodgers tribute album is one of my favorites that I never get tired of listening to. He’s also a bit of a philosopher. He’s serious and he’s funny. He’s a complete man and we’re friends these days. We have a lot in common. Back then, though, Buck and Merle were closely associated; two of a kind. They defined the Bakersfield sound. Buck reached out to me in those days, and lifted up my spirits when I was down, I mean really down – oppressed on all sides and down and that meant a lot, that Buck did that. I wasn’t dissing Merle at all, we were different people back then. Those were difficult times. It was more intense back then and things hit harder and hurt more."

Link.



"I read about some squirrely guy/Who claims, he just don't believe in fightin'/An' I wonder just how long/The rest of us can count on bein' free/They love our milk an' honey/But they preach about some other way of livin'/When they're runnin' down my country, hoss/They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me."

30 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

"If hippies were around today..."

They're not?

Not real hippies.

Meade said...

It has been a while since Bob last performed "Searching For A Soldiers Grave".

retired said...

Dylan is a dried husk of what he used to be. Why are you still talking about him? My dog can sing better.

Hippies are still around, they just aren't hip anymore, only pathetic. I have a bunch in my family.

Patrick said...

Things Have Changed.

Patrick said...

Things Have Changed.

FullMoon said...

Evreything passes
Everything changes
Just do what you think you should do
And who knows,maybe,
Someday, baby,
I'll come and be
Fightin' with you

chickelit said...

My favorite Merle, from back when the country was strong:
Are The Good Times Really Over For Good?

JSD said...

Bakersfield is a whole different side of California from LA and SF. Hot dry country primarily grounded in oil, agriculture and gritty industry; country music, also Merle Haggard and Bakersfield Sound. The place is a lot like Texas. Bakersfield Ag Companies own a lot of Texas Ag production land.

I wouldn’t expect Merle to be on the same page as Dylan. They aren’t far apart in age, but Merle got there from a completely different place. Merle engaged in some actual fisticuffs, had rap sheet and did time in San Quentin. Ronald Regan expunged his record in 1972.

Oso Negro said...

You older Boomers should have supported the war in Vietnam and protested the Great Society. As it was, you fucked up. "Fighting Side of Me" still rings true today.

james conrad said...

2 giants from the 60's no doubt but i would say in his prime, Merle had the better voice by a lot, really wonderful voice. I first became aware of Merle from the SMASH HIT Okie from Muskogee, man that song crossed a bunch of barriers in AM radio land as i remember.

traditionalguy said...

The less Bob says, the fewer people he offends by telling the truth which he sees from a unique perspective. They want to control their own image, damnit.

But that unique perspective is part of what we love about Dylan's words...and his music too. He takes us from folk songs to electric pop, to the Christian gospel to Christmas carols to classic crooners and manages to offend people the whole way. I believe he said he was born to confront culture. Nobody gets away with that...ask Merle Haggard.

Anonymous said...

Dylan became a member of the greater artistic community the day he forswore protest music. As a great artist, he (specifically) resented being lumped in with hippies (the 60's intellectually, morally. and spiritually bankrupt youth movement that I'm sure he never considered himself part of) by implication in Merle's song. Bob's clear and thoughtful perspective is very well taken.

Conserve Liberty said...

Dylan is a dried husk of what he used to be. Why are you still talking about him? My dog can sing better.

Hippies are still around, they just aren't hip anymore, only pathetic. I have a bunch in my family.


Dude.

Anonymous said...

Scruggs and Baez were fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY3VAWZJ1T8

Gary Rosen said...

Here is a politically correct song from Merle:

I'm a White Boy

kjbe said...

My 27 y.o. son-in-law (and musician) is a huge Merle Haggard fan.

gadfly said...

Merle Haggard's" Fighting Side of Me" sounds exactly like every other song that he made up and sang. He strums the same guitar chords and he monotones the idiotic words.

Talent was never his thing but after "Okie from Muskogee" made it to the top, he coasted.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I knew tomorrow what dead Merle didn't know three centuries ago.


I am knowing, temporous-leaning, more than you and hence better.

Fritz said...

Mama tried. . .

Wilbur said...
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Wilbur said...
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Laslo Spatula said...
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Laslo Spatula said...

Not enough young people named Merle nowadays. Part of what is now wrong with America. Guys named Merle and Buck could fix your Rambler, get in a bar fight for damned good reasons and then go home and get shit done.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

One night with a guy named Merle and Gwyneth Paltrow would drop that fake British upper-crust shit and make him a damned decent breakfast in the morning, served with a can of Schlitz.

And she'd be wearing only an apron, secretly wishing she was pregnant.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Buck would be your Best Man for the wedding.

Then, on the morning of the event, he'd pick you up, look you stone in the eye, and offer to drive you to the train station, no questions asked.

Then he'd go to the church and let everyone there know that it just wasn't in the cards.

Let's open up a few Schlitzs and eat some cake.

I am Laslo.

Ipso Fatso said...

I have never paid much attention to Dylan but I am starting to like him due to Althouse's posts. He is much more complex and more varied than I thought. Merle will go down as one of the great song writers of all time as will Dylan. I can see why they are friends.

Archilochus said...

Lately, Bob has been sitting down for more interviews, His answers are also less cryptic and more candid than before. I wonder if he senses his end is near. I hope that isn't true!

zefal said...

npr had an interview when Bush was president pushing how bad the economy really was. npr hasn't had him on asking how things are really now under obama.

zefal said...

npr had an interview with Merle Haggard

Unknown said...

I watched a PBS special on Baez, turned out to be a lot about Dylan and interesting. I was in junior high and high school for most of the period of the film in Kansas and pretty oblivious.

I saw Haggard in concert with Shellie West because my wife and country, was astounded at Haggard's violin. I would have bought his music if I could have gotten violin solos.