Ron Peacock
Wooster, OH (PN)

They put flowers in their hair, headed out to San Francisco, flocked to 'Acid Test' parties, turned on, tuned in and dropped out. Somewhere along this 'magical mystery tour', in a 'Simple Twist of Fate', these counter-culture disciples chose Bob Dylan as a principal icon. In what must have seemed a 'World Gone Wrong', Dylan reveals "The world was absurd … I had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of,". These new revelations, from Dylan's recently released memoirs, are going to have more than a few fans crying 'Buckets of Rain'.

For Dylan, it seemed the world had been caught up in an 'Idiot Wind'. Feeling like a prisoner in his own home, Dylan was 'Living the Blues'. Like some 'Wanted Man', the singer / songwriter even resorted to packing a Colt pistol and Winchester rifle for protection against "rogue radicals". In a quote as fierce as a Florida 'Hurricane', Dylan writes "I wanted to set fire to these people," (We wonder how many of these wayward hippies realized how close they had come to 'Knockin' on Heavens Door'?). Dylan goes on to say "I was fantasizing about a nine-to-five existence, a house on a tree-lined block with a white picket fence, pink roses in the backyard." "In my real life, I got to do the things that I love the best ... Little League games, birthday parties, taking my kids to school, camping trips, boating, rafting, canoeing, fishing ...". Whoa! Did someone just slip a dose into my coffee? I mean, Bob sounds like your run-of-the-mill midwestern 'Man on the Street' exercising his Second Amendment rights and extolling family values while seeking a 'Shelter from the Storm'.

I now consider myself to have a better appreciation of the inspiration behind the verse:

Yes, I wish that for just one time

You could stand inside my shoes

You'd know what a drag it is

To see you