Perpetual Ruminations

Bob Dylan

I grew up in northern Minnesota in a little town on the Mesabi Iron Range about ten miles from Hibbing Minnesota, home of Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman). Twenty miles in the opposite direction was Grand Rapids, birthplace of Judy Garland, you know, Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Although Judy was embarrassed by her birthplace, Dylan did acknowledge his hometown and even performed there a couple of times, one of which was an unscheduled concert at the high school in 1976. Our class was bussed over so we could enjoy the short concert he put on.

The school tried to censor which of his songs he could perform, but Dylan wasn't about to be censored, he did agree to play the songs the school didn't think appropriate for younger students at the tail end of the concert, after a short break. Only seniors and older people were allowed to stay in the auditorium for the second half, the rest of us were filed outside to hang out and wait for the older kids to join us for the bus ride back home.

A friend and I had slipped around the side of the building to smoke, and to our astonishment, there was the band! We stopped, but one of the band members signaled us over and asked what we were doing. Sheepishly we admitted our intentions, and to our surprise, he offered us a Marlboro and a light. We were in heaven getting to stand there and smoke with the band. Bob Dylan wasn't present, but shortly he opened the side door and called everyone back in.

We stood in awe, staring until he said, "What the hell, I'm not going to hold this door open all day. And, if anyone asks how you kids got in, lie!"

Without hesitation we ran in and found a spot close to the stage to sit and watch and hope like hell no one would notice us and chase us out. We enjoyed the rest of the concert and managed to be unnoticed until the middle of the last song, where we were herded out by one of our teachers tightly gripping an ear in each hand. We both got three days of suspension for sneaking back in, but after giving my reason, the principal added another two, stating I had a bad attitude.

Dylan's final song was a new one he had only released the year before, and to this day it remains one of my favorites. I quoted a line from his song when I had to face the principle for our crimes.  We tried to tell him we had stayed inside when everyone else left. After a pause to think about it, he asked, "Why didn't you exit with the rest of your class?"

I smiled and sang out to the best of my ability, "I was tangled up in blue."