It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Barfing)
Hello.
Midway through “A Complete Unknown,” the fascinating new movie about Bob Dylan, something made me laugh out loud. It was not supposed to.
It is late at night and Bob is pacing a room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, trying to write a song, one that will become a masterpiece: “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).” In bed, trying to sleep, is Joan Baez.
Dylan is struggling over a line in the song. He can’t seem to bring it home. He is reciting to himself:
“He not busy being born is …
Sighs. Starts again, pen in hand.
“He not busy being born is …
Then a third time.
That’s when I laughed.
A little while later, I thought of today’s presidential inauguration. The two were connected, in a way.
—
We do not expect biopics to be entirely, literally true. The need to more compellingly entertain sometimes requires filmmakers to cut some corners, to condense, conflate, maybe invent a composite character. But I do think we should expect them not to play us for patsies. To take us for nitwits.
I don’t care if Bob wasn’t actually in that famous hotel when he wrote that song. I don’t care if he wasn’t with Joan. I do care that we not be manipulated into accepting something ridiculous, under the assumption we are too stupid to notice.
Do you believe Dylan wrote the beginning of that ingenious line without knowing exactly how it would end — with “… busy dying”? Those two clauses were obviously written at the same instant, to efficiently express a single breathtaking thought. In fact, Dylan had already written the line with which it had to rhyme, a line that ended in “trying.”
Are we expected to believe that he first considered, say, “He not busy being born is busy dehumidifying…”?
I am nitpicking, but this little deception makes you wonder about the underlying honesty of the whole film. And that’s bad.
So why did the filmmaker do this? One, because he felt that somewhere in the movie he had to show the agony of the creative process somehow. But more because in that instant he took you for granted. He decided that you were his tool, and that you wouldn’t think too hard about it. Because, deep down, he thinks you’re an idiot.
Just like Trump does.
You are going to hear some big-league bullshit today from the greatest political con man of our times. He will wave empty bromides at you, working your fears, percolating distrust of anyone but him, alleging terrifying crises that are untrue, and he will promise to solve them through simpleminded, self-serving, impractical, crowd-frothing means that are unattainable by him and his incompetent flunkies who are partnered in fleecing you.
This will not be a single, ludicrous misstep in a single movie. It will be the very hallmark of his corrupted plutocracy.
Don’t buy it. Stay always vigilant. It will be galling; but I’d advise you to watch today. It will put you on better footing to resist, resist, resist.
—
Today’s semi-extraneous Gene Pool Gene Poll:
I believe that Kris Kristofferson ripped off Bob Dylan in a line from “Me and Bobby McGee.” Rachel says I am wrong, that the lines are dissimilar enough that they do not constitute piracy. Dylan’s 1965 line, from “Like a Rolling Stone,” is “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” Kristofferson’s 1969 line: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…” Is this theft?
In case you missed it, in her Substack, Ann Telnaes yesterday reprinted an old cartoon of hers, to illustrate the tragic irony of today. Here it is.
I’ll now be responding to your questions and observations that were received before 11 p.m. on Sunday. Please keep sending them in; I will get to those later during this awful week. As always, please send them here:
And … if you like this column, and if you are financially able, please consider upgrading your subscription to “paid.” As of now, it still costs $4.15 a month.
—
Q: I was moved by your essay on Katharine Graham, which ran a few months ago. You might have titled it "Profiles in Courage" (but that has been taken). I disagree with one important point: "...Donald Trump, a man who aims to dismantle the will of the people..." Far more than half of the voters are tremendously encouraged by the election result (I'm one). A landslide victory displays the will of the people better than any heartfelt editorial, however eloquent. Among the things that I like about Trump (I won't go into all the things I don't like) he sees that our world is in the grip of a ruthless international profit and control machine - the military/industrial/pharma/govt complex. He appears to be willing to go up against that malevolent machine (I say "appears" because my perspective is limited to that of an ordinary citizen and maybe he, too, will let us down). We could not see anyone in the Biden/Kamala/Obama regime having the wisdom or the cojones to do that. — Douglas Lloyd Peck
A: I envy you your confidence and optimism, Mr. Peck. But that’s quite a point on which we disagree.
I believe we are on the brink of living in a kleptocracy. I do not share or even understand your contention that this is a selfless man trying to take on the robber barons and swindlers. He is a Robber Barron and swindler and has been his whole life. How do you reconcile this with his wanting to cozy up to the ruthless titans of tech and media and other big business. You think he wants to break them? He wants to bend them to his will, for his own benefit. Everything he wants, he wants for his own benefit, financial and otherwise. He has been that way his whole life, and nothing has changed. He cares nothing for you or me. He made that clear when he fomented an insurrection to overthrow the legitimate vote of the people. That was a crime against democracy, against the rule of law, against everyone — even his supporters. Like you.
—
Q: Can you tell me the name of the steak house near the White House? The one you dined at on Friday with Rachel, where you formed your opinion about Republican women? I think I may know it.
A: I can, but I won’t. The maitre-d’ did not know I was a writer or that he’d be quoted. He was remarkably candid with me about his clients, in a way in which his employers might not approve. He deserves anonymity.
—
Q: So the management of the Washington Post now wants to “Reach All of America” ? Are they not aware that Gannett tried this about 45 years ago and ended up with something derisively called The McPaper? May the Ghost of Al Neuharth haunt you forevermore.
A: Exactly! You are a journalist, I am thinking. Have you seen USA Today of late? As I have writ before, it is so thin that it settles on your front porch like a leaf.
—
Q: If someone offered you $1 million to pick one person out of crowd of thousands and correctly identify their political party affiliation, would you not choose a Black woman and say “ Democrat?” Is that notion racist?
A: It is racist, though I would take that deal, but not if I’d lose a million if I was wrong. See below.
—
Q: Not sure this falls within the parameters of wildly inaccurate assumptions about strangers but here goes: I pulled up to the drive-thru window at a fast food establishment with my radio on a bit loudly, and the blonde-haired-blue-eyed-perfect-teeth young man asked “What kind of music is THAT?” Before I could respond, another young man behind him – tattoo-covered, dreadlocked with multiple-piercings – responded “That’s Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the lyric soprano from New Zealand and she’s singing an aria from La Traviata.” And I felt like a doofus.
A: Indeed.
Okay, that’s it for today. I am tired.
—
I’m responding to your comment about someone’s offering you a million dollars to pick one person out of a crowd and correctly identify their political party. You thought it would be racist to pick a Black woman out of a crowd and guess that she is a Democrat. I’m sure that you and I both feel the same way about racism (i.e., strongly opposed), but we clearly disagree about whether this is, indeed racism.
If you were asked to pick a woman from a crowd who reads the “National Enquirer,” and you picked a Black woman on some ferkokte theory that Black women aren’t educated enough to know that the Enquirer is bird cage liner, THAT’s racist — you have applied a negative stereotype with no basis in fact. However, statistics are supposed to be scientific, and not skewed positive or negative. If you know that, say 90% of Black women vote Democratic, you’d have to be nuts to identify a Black lady as Republican — unless she’s wearing a MAGA hat.
Oh, and I am already SO tired of hearing about "landslides" and "mandates". He did not even get 50% of the vote. More people voted AGAINST him than for him.