Happy birthday Bob Dylan (a few days late)

We are a couple of days late but do recall that Bob Dylan turned 71 on Thursday.  Dylan has been very quiet lately.  He seems to be enjoying retirement and how much all of us remember his songs.  (By the way, today is the 49th anniversary of Dylan's second album, the one that included "Blowing in the wind")

I never really liked Dylan singing his own songs, although "Mr Tambourine Man" & "Like a rolling stone" are obvious exceptions.    Nobody can sing those two songs like Dylan.    I love The Byrds' "Mr Tambourine Man" but Dylan is Dylan.

Nevertheless, I was one of those who loved others sing Dylan Songs.  Nobody did it better than Peter Paul & Mary and Joan Baez,

Click for Peter Paul & Mary's great version of "Blowing in the wind" & Joan Baez singing "Love is just a four letter word" PLUS Bob Dylan's incredible performance of "Like a rolling stone":

"How many roads must a man walk down
Before they call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
How many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
The answer is blowin' in the wind....."

"Seems like only yesterday I left my mind behind
Down in the Gypsy Café With a friend of a friend of mine
She sat with a baby heavy on her knee
Yet spoke of life most free from slavery
With eyes that showed no trace of misery
A phrase in connection first that she averred
That love is just a four-letter word

Outside a rambling store-front window
Cats meowed to the break of day
Me, I kept my mouth shut, To you I had no words to say
My experience was limited and underfed
You were talking while I hid To the one who was the father of your kid
You probably didn't think I did, but I heard
You say that love is just a four-letter word

I said goodbye unnoticed Pushed forward into my own games
Drifting in and out of lifetimes Unmentionable by name
After searching for my double, looking for
Complete evaporation to the core
Though I tried and failed at finding any door
I must have thought that there was nothing more absurd
Than that love is just a four-letter word

Though I never knew just what you meant
When you were speaking to your man
I could only think in terms of me And now I understand
After waking enough times to think I see
The Holy Kiss that's supposed to last eternity
Blow up in smoke, its destiny Falls on strangers, travels free
Yes, I know now, traps are only set by me
And I do not really need to be assured
That love is just a four-letter word

Strange it is to be beside you, many years the tables turned
You'd probably not believe me if told you all I've learned
And it is very very weird, indeed To hear words like "forever" plead
though ships run through my mind I cannot cheat
it's like looking in a teacher's face complete
I can say nothing to you but repeat what I heard
That love is just a four-letter word....."

"Once upon a time you dressed so fine,
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 a'kiddin' you.
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 your next meal.

How does it feel? How does it feel?
To be without a home? Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?

Aw, you've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely,
But you know you only used to get "juiced" in it.
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street,
And now you're gonna have to get used to it.
You say you never compromise
With a mystery tramp, but now 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?

How does it feel? How does it feel ?
To be on your own? With no direction home ?
A complete unknown? Like a rolling stone ?

Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all 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 used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat.
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal?

How does it feel? How does it feel?
To have ya' on your own? With no direction home?
Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone?

Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made.
Exchanging all precious gifts,
But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe.
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 ain't got nothing, you've got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel? Aw, how does it feel?
To be on your own? With no direction home?
Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone?..."

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