One experience common for Baby Boomers when we were kids is that we were subjected to those ridiculous air raid drills at school, where we were taught to dive under our desks and shield our heads — as if that would save us in a nuclear attack.
All serious looks at Bob Dylan’s writing, including Martin Scorsese’s “No Direction Home” recognizes this as a decisive influence in the poet’s formative years. He uses footage from those drills to drive the point home and Dylan confirms it in interviews.
Even though we were kids, we knew it was absurd at the time, yet the adults piled it on with more stuff like Disney’s “Our Friend the Atom,” a blatant attempt at pro-nuclear-power propaganda in 1957. What a pathetic joke that one was.
Almost as soon as he arrived in Greenwich Village and started singing in nightclubs, Dylan was mixing his recurrent nightmares about World War III into his songs.
These were the early days of the anti-war movement, which — though focused on the Vietnam War — always reflected elements of anti-nuke sentiment as well.
As youngsters, we intuited but were never actually told by our government how close we had repeatedly come to nuclear war until the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. But based on declassified documents, my own youngest son, who just happens to be named Dylan, wrote in a paper last year that President Eisenhower threatened to drop the bomb on China on more than one occasion in the fifties. (Dylan W is finishing up his master’s degree in history.)
Meanwhile, in Bob D’s main song on the topic (reprinted below) the key generational line is “I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” I’ve riffed on that idea many times over the years. We all felt like outsiders in a world where the rulers seemed willing to indulge in mutually assured destruction — all that was left for us to do was to comfort each other.
Of course we all had nightmares of ending up, dazed and alone, wandering in a post dystopia. Our solutions — drugs, casual sex, rock ‘n roll, escapism all, or activism, protest music, community organizing, crusading journalism — all blended together as options.
It was somehow assumed that one had to be either a hippie and tune out or a radical and tune in, so of course many of us decided we would instead be both at the same time — hippie-radicals.
That’s when things became dicey and our generation started to spin out violent strike forces like the Weather Underground. Few of us actually supported violence but most of us harbored violent resentment and anger at those Dylan branded as the “Masters of War.”
We also struck out against racial injustice, misogyny, homophobia — hate of all kinds, by advocating love for each other. Other poets besides Dylan spun out their solutions: “Love is All You Need,” etc.
And when it came to love, Dylan seemed somewhat cynical but always ambivalent, with his haunting “Love is Just a Four-Letter Word,” that his once-lover Joan Baez turned into a classic, or the ever-so-tender “Just Like a Woman.”
The truth? Relationships between Baby Boomers have always been complicated. It’s almost as if we can’t be apart but we can’t be together — we tended to have more relationships over our lifespans than previous generations, but our breakups drove divorce rates to record levels as well.
The one label older people tagged us with that I utterly reject is that we were somehow the ultimate “Me Generation.” That simply was not the case, despite the occasional narcissist in our ranks.
No, the truth is that we were and remain the “We Generation.”
I ain't lookin' to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, classify you
Deny, defy or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you
We ran in a flock. And we’re still hoping to end up in each another’s dreams.
Today’s Headlines (40):
Russia targets port city of Odesa (CBS)
Firefighters battled blazes in Odesa after Russian missiles pounded the Ukrainian port, and Ukraine said Russian forces were pummeling a steel works in Mariupol where at least 100 civilians were still holed up. (Reuters)
Biden concerned Putin has no way out of war (USA Today)
Putin preparing for long war in Ukraine - US spy chief (BBC)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that trade at the country's ports was at a standstill and urged the international community to take immediate steps to end a Russian blockade to allow wheat shipments and prevent a global food crisis. (Reuters)
In Speech, Putin Shows Reluctance in Demanding Too Much of Russians (NYT)
VIDEO: Putin Says Invading Ukraine was “Inevitable” (Reuters)
Russia’s invasion upends a shared World War II history with Ukraine. (NYT)
Thousands more civilians have been killed in Ukraine during nearly 11 weeks of war there than the official U.N. death toll of 3,381, the head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country said. The World Health Organization's European chief said that at least 3,000 people had died because they had been unable to access treatments for chronic diseases. (Reuters)
Biden signs Ukraine lend-lease act into law, expediting military aid (WP)
German officials are quietly preparing for any sudden halt in Russian gas supplies with an emergency package that could include taking control of critical firms, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Germany and Qatar have hit difficulties in talks over long-term liquefied natural gas supply deals amid differences over key conditions, including the duration of any contract. (Reuters)
Nearly Encircled, Ukraine’s Last Stronghold in Luhansk Resists Russian Onslaught (WSJ)
The ripple effects of Russia's war in Ukraine are changing the world (NPR)
Alito's home draws latest abortion-rights demonstration after Roe opinion breach (Politico)
GOP bets midterm voters will care more about inflation than abortion (WP)
Yellen: Banning abortion would be ‘very damaging’ to U.S. economy (Politico)
Predictions for a Post-RoeAmerica (Atlantic)
Ex-Facebook moderator in Kenya sues over working conditions (Guardian)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working to fix a baby formula shortage resulting from supply chain problems and a recall ordered after two infants died from bacterial infections, the White House said. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there's no strategic Enfamil reserve to offset low national supplies. [HuffPost]
Gas prices climb to new high, putting Biden in a fresh bind (WP)
Marcos presidency complicates US efforts to counter China (AP)
Philippines election: torture survivors from Marcos era in shock after son’s win (Guardian)
China is on the hunt for 'Earth 2.0' with proposed space telescope (Space.com)
House Panel to Hold Public Hearing on Unexplained Aerial Sightings (NYT)
NASA reveals 1,600-foot asteroid will make ‘close approach’ to Earth in six days (NY Post)
NASA's InSight lander records 'monster earthquake' on Mars (ABC)
Pandemic gets tougher to track as COVID testing plunges (AP)
Bodies surfacing in Lake Mead recall mob’s time in Las Vegas (NBC)
Earth given 50-50 chance of hitting key warming mark by 2026 (AP)
Environment ministry to look for more areas to reintroduce endangered birds (NHK)
Ecuador prison riot leaves 43 dead in latest bloody episode (Guardian)
Inside the sales machine of the ‘kingpin’ of opioid makers (WP)
How to Quit Intensive Parenting (Atlantic)
Buckingham Palace announced Queen Elizabeth will not be attending the state opening of Parliament, revealing that the 96-year-old monarch is experiencing "episodic mobility problems." This will be only the third time that the queen has missed the ceremony. [HuffPost]
Prince Charles delivers Queen’s Speech for the first time (CNN)
Dad Delivers Annual State Of The Lawn Address (The Onion)
TODAY’s LYRICS:
”Talkin’ World War III Blues”
By Bob Dylan
One time ago a crazy dream came to me
I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three
I went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say
He said it was a bad dream
I wouldn't worry 'bout it none, though
Them old dreams are only in your head
I said, hold it, Doc, a World War passed through my brain
He said, nurse, get your pad, this boy's insane
He grabbed my arm, I said ouch
As I landed on the psychiatric couch
He said, tell me about it
Well, the whole thing started at three o'clock fast
It was all over by quarter past
I was down in the sewer with some little lover
When I peeked out from a manhole cover
Wondering who turned the lights on
Well, I got up and walked around
And up and down the lonesome town
I stood a-wondering which way to go
I lit a cigarette on a parking meter
And walked on down the road
It was a normal day
Well, I rung the fallout shelter bell
And I leaned my head and I gave a yell
Give me a string bean, I'm a hungry man
A shotgun fired and away I ran
I don't blame them too much though
They didn't know me
Down at the corner by a hot-dog stand
I seen a man, I said, 'howdy friend'
I guess there's just us two
He screamed a bit and away he flew
Thought I was a Communist
Well, I spied a girl and before she could leave
I said, let's go and play Adam and Eve
I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin'
When she said, hey man, you crazy or sumpin'
You seen what happened last time they started
Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown
And there was nobody aroun'
I got into the driver's seat
And I drove down 42nd Street
In my Cadillac
Good car to drive after a war
Well, I remember seein' some ad
So I turned on my Conelrad
But I didn't pay my Con Ed bill
So the radio didn't work so well
Turned on my record player
It was Rock-A-Day, Johnny singin'
Tell your Ma, tell your Pa
Our loves are gonna grow ooh-wah, ooh-wah
I was feelin' kinda lonesome and blue
I needed somebody to talk to
So I called up the operator of time
Just to hear a voice of some kind
When you hear the beep
It will be three o'clock
She said that for over an hour
And I hung up
Well, the doctor interrupted me just about then
Sayin, Hey I've been havin' the same old dreams
But mine was a little different you see
I dreamt that the only person left after the war was me
I didn't see you around
Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody's having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves walkin' around with no one else
Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can't be all right all of the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that
I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours
I said that
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