Like A Rolling Stone Bob Dylan

LIKE A ROLLING STONE IS A RACIST SONG

Once upon a time you dressed so fine You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall" You thought they were all kiddin' you “Once upon a time” when you were in fantasy land, in a story-book like land “you dressed so fine” you applied medication to a social wound and it was satisfactory; it worked just fine “You threw the bums a dime” you casually gave colored folk welfare, such as Aid To Dependent Children (ADC) wherein mothers were paid by the child thus increasing the Black birthrate “in your prime didn't you?” on a federal level as in U.S. Government Grade A Prime or as in ‘The prime rate’ “People'd call” demand a meeting of; convene a legislative session “say Beware doll” and say beware you doll, you who acts so kindheartedly “you're bound to fall” you are destined to decline in political influence and in ratio to the non-White population “You thought they were all kiddin' you” and you thought they were joking; putting you on and America could never be overrun by non-Whites.

You used to laugh about Everybody that was hangin' out Now you don't talk so loud

Now you don't seem so proud About having to be scrounging for your next meal “You used to laugh about / Everybody that was hangin' out” you used to laugh off, not take seriously, all the pregnant Black welfare mothers on ADC “Now you don't talk so loud” now you are not so insistent, no more loud denials, Mr. White American? “Now you don't seem so proud?” now you no longer show racial pride, do you White man? “About having to be scrounging” about having to be foraging in an effort to acquire something at no cost, asking for charity “for your next meal” so that you can feed your own White American family while your tax dollars goes to feed countless illegitimate Black babies.

How does it feel?

To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone?

“How does it feel” sarcastic: it doesn’t feel so good does it? “To be on your own” to have lost your birthright as a White American “With no direction” with no authoritative indication, order and command “home” to get you to your goal of preserving your race “Like a complete unknown” like a member of the silent majority, like a person whose action and effect is unknown and unpredictable “Like a rolling stone?” like a Rightwing political force that is gathering momentum.

“Stone” as reactionary, Rightwing; to the Left in It Ain’t Me Babe 1964 “Go melt back into the night / Everything inside is made of stone” The Times They Are a-Changin’ 1964, “And accept it that soon / You'll be drenched to the bone” to the core; Property of Jesus 1981 “He's the property of Jesus / Resent him to the bone” “If your time” life “to you is worth savin' / Then you better start swimmin'” you better get into the swim of things “Or you'll sink like a stone / For the times they are a-changin'.”

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

“You've gone to the finest school all right,” at one time you attended safe, highly rated public schools when the Rightists controlled America “Miss Lonely” where the children there were all White and well behaved, one lone race “But you know you only used to get juiced in it” but you lost political power over your school district and now a bunch of niggers are being bused in. “Juice” slang, political power and influence; clout “And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street” and you were brought up in a civilized fashion with a mother and father not by a single mother in the slums so you don’t know how to survive in a jungle, the ghetto “streets” the streets of a city viewed as the scene of crime, poverty, and dereliction “And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it” and now thanks to these race mixing politicians whose children attend private

schools the thing you love best in the world, your children, are being mixed in with a bunch of savages.

“Juice” as influence; What Was It You Wanted 1989, to the Communists, “What was it you wanted? Can I be of any use? Can I do something for you? Do I have enough juice? Wherever you're off to, one thing you should know. You still got seven hundred miles yet still to go."

You said you'd never compromise With the mystery tramp, but know you realize He's not selling any alibis As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes And say do you want to make a deal?

“You said you'd never compromise” you said you would never make a concession to something detrimental and pejorative; compromise your morality when it came to dealing with certain people such as “With the mystery” with a person that arouses curiosity and suspense because of an unknown, obscure, and enigmatic quality; a racist leader “tramp” who will tread down; trample upon these untermenchen until they are driven back into the ghetto or shipped off to Africa “but now you realize” but after having your kids thrown in with a bunch of baboons it has suddenly dawned on you “He's not selling any alibis” racists are not making any excuses for these jigaboos “As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes” as you look with wonderment into his thoughts wherein he proposes to vacuum, make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted people like niggers “And say do you want to make a deal?” now you have come to your senses and are willing to compromise and you say how about formulating programs and policies to promote economic recovery and social reform that would benefit Whites like a racist variation of the New Deal? Dylan is actually promoting George Lincoln Rockwell, the most dangerous Nazi in America at that time.

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns When they all come down and did tricks for you You never understood that it ain't no good You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

“You never turned around” you never changed direction and moved to the Right “to see the frowns” so that you could observe the displeasure of “the jugglers” the police “and the clowns” and the soldiers, the National Guard “When they all come down” when they came down to the ghetto, the inner city, when they came down on the niggers case “and did tricks for you” and performed a convention or specialized skill peculiar to a particular field of activity ‘learned the tricks of riot suppression’ and quelled the racial disturbances there for you “You never understood that it ain't no good / You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you” you should have formed a vigilante group and did the job yourself with much more brutality, mutilate a couple of niggers, like what was done to Emmet Till, that will put the fear of God in them!

“Jugglers” as police; Tarantula, “lenny” Lenny Bruce who was busted by the fuzz on numerous occasions “laughing in a fake sombrero & the jugglers trying to smother the queers” Obviously Five Believers 1966, “Fifteen jugglers / Five believers” true believers in Catholicism “All dressed like men / Tell yo' mama not to worry because / They're just my friends.”

“Tricks” knack, specialized skill; Tarantula, to the folk community “yowee i'm here because i'm starving” desperate “& swallowing” believing and accepting without questioning or challenge “your tricks” your conventions or specialized skills peculiar to a particular field of activity, getting the knack of playing folk music “into my stomach” even though a lot of it is difficult to stomach, bear, tolerate Chronicles, “On weekends, if you played all the joints from dusk 'til dawn, you could make maybe twenty dollars. Weeknights it was hard to tell. Sometimes not much because it was so competitive. You had to know a trick or two to survive.”

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat Ain't it hard when you discovered that He really wasn't where it's at After he took from you everything he could steal “You used to ride” you used to allow to continue without interference, you used to support “on the chrome horse” candidates who supported regimes that practiced apartheid (South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of chrome) “with your diplomat” and your government had diplomatic relations with them while the South Africans “carried on his shoulder” shouldered a burden, the White Man’s Burden of having to uplift inferior races and cultures such as “a Siamese” a closely connected or very similar; twin “cat” slang for a Black man, the South Africans also have to deal with the burden of living with niggers “Ain't it hard when you discovered that” ain’t it hard for Whites to really believe “He really wasn't where it's at” that apartheid was an evil system and was worthy of economic and political sanctions “After he took from you everything he could steal” after you learned that apartheid was “stolen” from Jim Crow a practice that originated with Whites in America. “Steal” to use, appropriate, or preempt the use of another's idea. In other words, apartheid is as American as apple pie.

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made Exchanging all precious gifts But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe

“Princesses” the outstanding men in a particular group or class “on the steeple” of the Protestant clergy “and all the pretty people” and all the ostensibly and superficially attractive but lacking in substance and conviction people, the liberals “They're drinkin'” taking it in eagerly through the senses and intellect “thinkin' that they got it made” thinking they were responsible for the Civil Rights Movement “Exchanging all precious gifts” desegregating the schools, sending children, God’s most precious gifts, to Black schools and having Black students attend White schools “But you'd better take your diamond ring” but you better take your separatist principles and take the risk of expressing them. “you'd better pawn it babe” and are put at risk for their lives “pawn” risk, hazard; ‘pawn one's life.’ “Diamonds” are a Dylan symbol for South Africa which is the world’s number one producer of diamonds.

“Steeple” as church; I Shall Be Free 1962, “Now, the man on the stand he wants my vote / He's a-runnin' for office on the ballot note / He's out there preachin' in front of the steeple / telling me he loves all kinds of people” Tarantula, “Matty Groves, who secretly at midnight tries to chop down the church steeple.”

You used to be so amused At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

“You used to be so amused” at one time you didn’t take this seriously and you laughed at, ridiculed “Napoleon” a person who you initially believed was crazy “in rags” and whose ancestors were Jews in the garment industry; Senator Barry Goldwater “and the language that he used” and the tough language that he used when it came to integration and forced busing “Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse” vote for him now, it is in your self interest, it is an urgent matter that you do so “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose” when the government has taken away your right to protect your loved ones from harm what more can you lose? “You're invisible now” sarcastic; you can’t be discriminated against now because you are White since your skin color is not visible “you got no secrets to conceal” so you no longer have to be ashamed of being a member of the White Race as the race mixers want you to be. The message about bussing in Like A Rolling Stone is totally different than what he wrote in Iron Train A-Travelin’ 1962 “Does the burning of the buses give your heart a pain?”