by Larry Fyffe
Bob Dylan’s persona takes jabs at America’s materialistic culture and its glorification of “manifest destiny”:
... (T)he parades don't need your money baby ... it's the confetti & one george washington & Nadine who comes running & says where is Gus?
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
George Washington, the first president of the United States, pushes the American native “Indians” off their land.
Below, a window washer, who’s out of place and out of time, kids himself that he’s a success:
(H)e's getting his kicks telling one of the two headed coins that tom jefferson used to use him around the house when the bad stuff was growing
(Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, a slave-owner and member of the Democratic Republican Party, advocates small government. The “bad stuff”, besides his political troubles, could also refer to the opium poppies grown in Tom’s Virginia garden.
An image akin to the two-headed coin, a symbol of corruption, appears in the lyrics of the song below:
Well, they're living in a happy harmony Tweedledee Dum and Tweedledee Dee They're one day older, and a dollar short They've got a parade permit and a police escort
(Bob Dylan: Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum)
The media owned by the wealthy, though “the United States is not soundproof”, does its darnedest to keep the poverty that exists in the US off the minds of the satisfied “tens of thousands living behind the wall of a dollar”:
(P)icture of dirt farmer - long johns - coonskin cap - strangling himself on his shoelace (Bob Dylan: Tarantula)
Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, gets a better shake because of his efforts to lighten the worsening poverty bought on by the Great Depression:
Dear Mrs, Roosevelt, don't hang your head and cry His mortal clay is laid away, but his good work fills the sky This world was lucky to see him born
(Bob Dylan: Dear Mrs. Roosevelt {a song by Woody Guthrie})
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, don't hang your head and cry;His mortal clay is laid away, but his good work fills the sky;This world was lucky to see him born. He's born in a money family on that Hudson's rocky shore;Outrun every kid a-growin' up 'round Hyde Park just for fun;This world was lucky to see him born. He went away to grade school and wrote back to his folks;He drew such funny pictures and always pulling a joke;This world was lucky to see him born. He went on up towards Harvard, he read his books of law;He loved his trees and horses, loved everything he saw;This world was lucky to see him born. He got struck down by fever and it settled in his leg;He loved the folks that wished him well as everybody did;This world was lucky to see him born. He took his office on a crippled leg, he said to one and all:"You money changin' racket boys have sure 'nuff got to fall;"This world was lucky to see him born, In senate walls and congress halls he used his gift of tongueTo get you thieves and liars told and put you on the run;This world was lucky to see him born, I voted for him for lots o' jobs, I'd vote his name again;He tried to find an honest job for every idle man;This world was lucky to see him born, He helped to build my union hall, he learned me how to talk;I could see he was a cripple but he learned my soul to walk;This world was lucky to see him born. You Nazis and you fascists tried to boss this world by hate;He fought my war the union way and the hate gang all got beat;This world was lucky to see him born. I sent him 'cross that ocean to Yalta and to Tehran;He didn't like Churchill very much and told him man to man;This world was lucky to see him born. He said he didn't like DeGaulle, nor no Chiang Kai Shek;Shook hands with Joseph Stalin, says: "There's a man I like!"This world was lucky to see him born. I was torpedoed on my merchant ship the day he took command;He was hated by my captain, but loved by all ships hands;This world was lucky to see him born. I was a Gl in my army camp that day he passed away,And over my shoulder talkin' I could hear some soldier say:"This world was lucky to see him born." I guess this world was lucky just to see him born;I know this world was lucky just to see him born;This world was lucky to see him born.