John Roberts is a Bob Dylan fan? Say it ain’t so
July 1st, 2008 at 10:41am Pat Cunningham
I’m sorry, but people with whom I fundamentally disagree on political matters are not allowed to enjoy the kind of music that speaks to my mind and soul. I think there’s some kind of cultural rule written down somewhere about that sort of thing.
That’s why I’m forced to demand that Chief Justice John Roberts (he of the right-wing bent, you know) cease and desist in the favor he shows toward the lyrics of the incomparable troubadour Bob Dylan.
Dylan’s words and music belong to me and like-minded people who can fully appreciate their meaning, not to conservative zanies. If Roberts wants to wax ecstatic about Toby Keith or some other musical jingoist, that’s fine with me. But he should leave Dylan to those of us who really understand him.
This matter arises with NEWS from The New York Times that Roberts quoted a Dylan song in rendering an otherwise boring ruling in some boring case.
The Times quoted the following passage from Roberts’ opinion:
“The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing. ‘When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).”
Typically, Roberts didn’t even get the Dylan quote right. It’s supposed to be, “When you ain’t got nothin’…”
The Times also reports that Dylan is the most oft-quoted rocker in judicial opinions. But I have to wonder how many of those opinions are of the right-wing variety and thus are disturbing to me — and presumably to Dylan, too.
As Bob himself might say to these conservative jurists: “You’ve got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend…”
Entry Filed under: John Roberts, Bob Dylan
10 Comments Add your own
1. Mike Carroll | July 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The left doesn’t get to claim Dylan. I was listening to him when you were still singing along with Mitch Miller.
2. Pat Cunningham | July 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Mitch Miller? Now, that’s low. I began listening to Dylan when he released his eponymously titled first album in 1962. (Interestingly, it contained only two of his own compositions, and neither are remembered as Dylan classics.) Hey, I was even reading Sing Out magazine in those days, and that was a real commie publication. Your idea of cool folk music back then was probably that clap-a-nanny crap they featured on TV. I was a genuine man of the roots myself. We were working-class people, and my dad was a union man. Need I say more? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go write a song about the hardscrabble travails of casting pearls before swine as a 21st century blogger. Power to the people!!
3. Pat Cunningham | July 1st, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Mike: Coincidentally, Mitch Miller was instrumental (no pun) in the rise of Bob Dylan. Miller was A&R boss at Columbia records when the label signed Dylan. For all the hokiness of his own music, Miller was a visionary.
4. Mike Carroll | July 1st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I knew the Mitch Miller comment would get a rise.
5. hokumboy | July 1st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I’ve had a man-crush on good old Bobby D for the past 45 years and still get palpitations when he comes to Rockford.
His first 3 albums seem to shape our/my generation and seemed to go beyond any political partisanship. We all seemed to know what he was saying, even if we didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Now, his latest is, in my opinon, another classic. No obvious messages, but some great tunes.
And, I can’t seem to take a road trip anymore without poping in a disc of his Theme Time Radio Hour.
He’s still the man!
Pat,
one of these days I’ll scan my collection of Broadside Magazine from the 60’s and 70’s and show you what a REAL commie-pinko mag of the era was like.
6. hokumboy | July 1st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
It looks like I can give the scanner a rest.
The collection is here:
http://broadsidemagazine.com/?page_id=11
including the first issue whic contained Dylan’s first published work, “Talkin’ John Birch”.
7. Pat Cunningham | July 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Thanks, Comrade Hoke.
8. Menlo Bob | July 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 am
In as much as Chief Justice Roberts is finding common cause in the DC gun decision and the child rape death penalty decision, you think they’ll be car pooling to a Stevie Wonder concert? A little ebony and Ivory wouldn’t you say?
9. Kaus | July 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
I’m not suprised Pat liked to read commie magazines….it expains a lot.
10. Pat Cunningham | July 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
You have absolutely no sense of irony, do you, Kaus?
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