Sunday, February 12, 2006
Let Me Die In My Footsteps
I will not go down under the ground
"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round
An' I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high,
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Bob Dylan wrote "Let Me Die In My Footsteps" in the early 60s when the panic of "what if the commies dropped the bomb" swept fear into the people and brought on the craze of people building their own bomb shelters and big cities like New York use to have air raid practices where at the blowing of a siren people would all file into the subways. Schools showed films about how to survive a nuclear attack and how to live after one occurred.
There's been rumors of war and wars that have been
The meaning of the life has been lost in the wind
And some people thinkin' that the end is close by
"Stead of learnin' to live they are learning to die.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
It's funny to think that here we are 45 years later going through the somewhat of the same panic. The panic of terrorists blowing up something someplace. From what I have seen on my short stay in blogosphere, this fear is generally perpetuated by radical conservatives who believe that Muslim extremists are out to conquer the world and will not stop at any means to achieve it and therefore the President of the United States has the unlimited power granted to him under his powers in war to suspend the 4th Amendment to the Constitution to all Americans in order to protect them.
I don't know if I'm smart but I think I can see
When someone is pullin' the wool over me
And if this war comes and death's all around
Let me die on this land 'fore I die underground.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Dylan's song became a cult classic among the people who finally decided that the fear of the bomb wasn't going to stop them from living a normal life. That as terrible as having a nuclear horror would be, they weren't going to cower around underground in a miserable existence if it did. If living life meant no more than just eking out a mole like existence, then life wasn't worth it.
There's always been people that have to cause fear
They've been talking of the war now for many long years
I have read all their statements and I've not said a word
But now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Terrorists win when they instill terror on the people they are out to terrorize. I refuse to be terrified that the subway or the building I'm in will suddenly be blown up. My death is left to the fate of God anyway. But, the only thing I have to carry until death is by remaining true to my ideas of freedom and liberty I will have refused the fear that terrorism creates in hopes of compromising me. I would rather literally die in my footsteps than live continually looking over my shoulder.
"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round
An' I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high,
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Bob Dylan wrote "Let Me Die In My Footsteps" in the early 60s when the panic of "what if the commies dropped the bomb" swept fear into the people and brought on the craze of people building their own bomb shelters and big cities like New York use to have air raid practices where at the blowing of a siren people would all file into the subways. Schools showed films about how to survive a nuclear attack and how to live after one occurred.
There's been rumors of war and wars that have been
The meaning of the life has been lost in the wind
And some people thinkin' that the end is close by
"Stead of learnin' to live they are learning to die.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
It's funny to think that here we are 45 years later going through the somewhat of the same panic. The panic of terrorists blowing up something someplace. From what I have seen on my short stay in blogosphere, this fear is generally perpetuated by radical conservatives who believe that Muslim extremists are out to conquer the world and will not stop at any means to achieve it and therefore the President of the United States has the unlimited power granted to him under his powers in war to suspend the 4th Amendment to the Constitution to all Americans in order to protect them.
I don't know if I'm smart but I think I can see
When someone is pullin' the wool over me
And if this war comes and death's all around
Let me die on this land 'fore I die underground.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Dylan's song became a cult classic among the people who finally decided that the fear of the bomb wasn't going to stop them from living a normal life. That as terrible as having a nuclear horror would be, they weren't going to cower around underground in a miserable existence if it did. If living life meant no more than just eking out a mole like existence, then life wasn't worth it.
There's always been people that have to cause fear
They've been talking of the war now for many long years
I have read all their statements and I've not said a word
But now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard.
Let me die in my footsteps
Before I go down under the ground.
Terrorists win when they instill terror on the people they are out to terrorize. I refuse to be terrified that the subway or the building I'm in will suddenly be blown up. My death is left to the fate of God anyway. But, the only thing I have to carry until death is by remaining true to my ideas of freedom and liberty I will have refused the fear that terrorism creates in hopes of compromising me. I would rather literally die in my footsteps than live continually looking over my shoulder.
# posted by James Karkoski @ 5:04 AM 
