(np) Dylan's _Chronicles vol 1_ AuH20

[Michael Bailey]

interesting book, lots of good anecdotes and musical references

that said, and despite a reasonably strong liking for the man's voice
and many of his lyrics,
I was flummoxed when I got to page 283 and read, "I had a primitive
way of looking at things and I liked country fair politics.  My
favorite politician was Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, who reminded
me of Tom Mix, and there wasn't any way to explain that to anybody."

wow.  The context of this thought was in a conversation with Dave van
Ronk after listening to Robert Johnson recordings.

Like the music of Woody Guthrie, the music of Robert Johnson impressed
him deeply.  Van Ronk wasn't so taken, and was more interested in
tracing influences.  -- Great passage earlier on where in Minneapolis
a more knowledgeable folkie interested in bursting his "Guthrie"
afflatus showed him how the Guthrie torch had already been taken up by
Ramblin' Jack Elliott... -- anyway, Dylan distanced himself from van
Ronk's less passionate take on RJ and added the little blurb about
Goldwater as a way of saying he had other differences as well...

So that would've been in 61-62.

If it'd been in 64 or later, I would probably have to sell my Dylan recordings.
Nuking Vietnam?  Unacceptable.  The "states rights" campaign plank,
precursor of Nixon's Southern strategy?  Emetic.

But what was Goldwater known for, by 61-62?
_The Conscience of a Conservative_

Like William Buckley, he ignored the lessons of Randolph Bourne...

so that the efforts and expenditures required to ensure civil rights,
create a social welfare net, and enforce a climate of accountability
for business loom disproportionately large in his worldview, as tasks
not worth undertaking,

while the crushing burden of supporting a military machine that scouts
the world creating and exacerbating trouble is not only ignored but
seen as a manifestation of freedom!

(yeah yeah he came out for gay rights in later life and opposed mining
the Nicaraguan harbors,
big whoop, he was still a McCarthy supporter (though not the most
ardent), still a pro-Vietnam war partisan, still a big-military
booster, still a Reagan nurturer, still a voter against the Civil
Rights Act of 1964)


ah well, speaking as someone who's occasionally supported people and
causes I'd rather forget about,
I can only say, thank goodness Bob didn't write songs about this -
but there's no sign in the narrative that his views are any different now...







-- 
"...seems the simplest things are hardest to explain" - Dave Mason