One Saturday, Gerald and I had gone to see Dylan in concert and the following Monday, at lunch time, I was standing by our department secretary Patty's desk. She and I were discussing my love of Dylan as she cannot stand what she termed his "A-tonal wheeze." To goad her I started to do my imitation of Bob by singing "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Chuck, one of my favorites at work, heard my "singing" and he came over and said, "So it WAS you at the Dylan concert!" He continued, "I told my wife that it looked like you down there in the good seats, but I told her I couldn't believe you were a Dylan fan!" I asked, "Why would you think that I'm not a Dylan fan? I'm the biggest Dylan fan; that's my generation!" Chuck said, "Well, you're so, well, uh, well, uh." His voice trailed off and I could tell he was struggling for an appropriate word. I said, "Spit it out--what am I?" He grimaced and said, "Well, conservative." I told him, "I get that "conservative" thing a lot!" He said, "Well, I actually used the word "square" to my wife." Patty said, "She's the most liberal person I know, but I can't believe this normally intelligent person could be a Dylan fan!"
Chuck said later, "If I hadn't seen you at that Dylan concert and heard you singing to Patty I would never have gotten to know how much fun you are!"
I get that a lot too!
2 comments:
Why am I not surprised that you know all the words to "Subterranean Homesick Blues"?
FROM PATTY BURCH via e-mail:
That's a lie. I would have called you a SUPREMELY intelligent person! You should hear me defending Bob Dylan to my daughters. They can't stand him. How do you explain the whole 60's/troubadour/folksinging patriotic thing to people who weren't even born yet?
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