Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out, but when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky
. . .
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads headin' south
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe, it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
. . .
I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes
Blood on your saddle
. . .
Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe, it's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
~ Bob Dylan
This live version, from Dylan's 1975 - 76 Rolling Thunder Tour, clocks in at over nine minutes. And needless to say, I hand-picked which lyrics to include, no easy task, but necessary for efficiency's sake. I recall seeing Dylan in NYC for the Rolling Thunder Revue, and it was a good time, though not as good as the first time I'd seen him, which was his reunion with The Band in early 1974. I saw two of those shows, at Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum. I thought I was in the same house as God. I guess Dylan had become a little less god-like by the time I saw him with Rolling Thunder. Maybe Alan Ginsberg helped to put it all in perspective? Most recently, I saw Dylan at Red Rocks in Denver last summer. No god, but he had a good back-up band.
Appearing on 1975's Blood on the Tracks, the song's lyrics have been referred to as some of Dylan's "most malicious." Perhaps. But Dylan was long past his youthful idealism, and Blood on the Tracks is testimony to his growth.
Written in the summer of 1974 when he was separated from his then-wife, Sara, many felt that the song's venom was directed at her. Dylan has always denied this. "I've read that the album had to do with my divorce. Well, I didn't get divorced until four years after that." Bob's and Sara's son, Jakob, however, has stated that the song (and others on the album) is "his parents talking." Whatever the inspiration, the song demonstrates how a writer's mood and circumstances can inform the song's content. Little does it matter whether Sara was Dylan's target or not. The song survives on its own, regardless of Dylan's motivation for writing it.
And that's why I picked it for today's post. Still reeling from the House of Representatives' passage of the AHCA on Friday, I happened to hear "Idiot Wind" on my iPod shuffle. The first two lines made me chuckle, thinking of them coming out of the tweet of someone not named Bob Dylan. The million dollar inheritance gave me another chuckle. As the song continued, I wasn't chuckling much. You hurt the ones I love best and cover up the truth with lies. It's just not that funny thinking about loved ones who will be unable to get or afford insurance coverage.
I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind. And you, DT, have only become more blind. All you can see is your own ego. Well, here's a reality check for you: You'll find out when you reach the top, you're on the bottom.
Idiot wind.
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