Comments in Response to Dylan Singing Hard Rain at Town Hall, 1963

Painting by the author. Acrylic on panel, 36"x 24" $300

For sheer entertainment value, one of the best features of many online publications is the "Comments" section that follows many articles we read. Reason magazine, The Unherd and others have some pretty invigorating tussles. 

YouTube likewise enables comments as well. Reading them can tell you a lot about an an artist and his work. Last night I was listening to a few of Dylan classics from the early 60s and reading the comments. Here are some comments I gleaned from the 1148 comments on the video A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall {Live at Town Hall 1963}, one of Dylan's most significant concerts from his early career.

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I'm a 17 year old from England and I think Dylan is simply the greatest and no one will ever come close to him in terms of song writing. I saw him live back in November and it was one of the best experiences of my life (see a video on my channel). Long live Bob

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73 years old and I still get chills listening to his lyrics and the comfort knowing that there are people who actually see what is in front of them.

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"I met one man who was wounded in love, I met another man who was wounded in hatred." My favorite lyric of all time.

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I was there in Newport sitting on the wall at Freebody Park in '63 when he sang "Blowin' in the wind" for the first time on stage. Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seger and all accompanied him. It turned out to be so monumental. He dedicated it to Megar Evans. I was 12.

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the most visionary song ever and fifty years later it's still one of the greatest poems ever sung

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He was only 22 years old... How can you write such a masterpiece this young ? Definitely one of his top work in terms of poetry.

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My Gosh. I love some of Bob Dylan's later stuff but his early stuff is so raw and soulful. His voice is amazing. I don't know why people say he can't sing. Gives me shivers.

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The first time I heard the last verse from "And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it.." to the end it gave me chills down my spine to the tips of my toes. The clarity and vividness of his vision takes my breath away every time. The song up to that point is like waves slowly building, one greater than the one before, until it all comes crashing down as Dylan brings us from the past into the present, him standing in front of us "reflecting from the mountain."

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No matter when this song was written, its significance is residual and always relevant. Bob is such a genius.

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When i hear the applause at the end of this song, those folks had witnessed an event. Not an event like a concert or other gathering of people, but an historical event. A summary point in time usually reserved for great leaders to give a needed oratory of inspiration. Instead a young poet/troubadour steps up and delivers a performance so important they just don't clap, they are cheering. I can hear incredulity in their voices as not believing what they have just seen and heard they go bananas.

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It never fails to amaze & send shivers down my spine when i hear this recording, amazed that Bob wrote this at such a tender young age, it's no wonder that the force of nature that was/is Jimi Hendrix held him in such awe, Peace.

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Related Link 51 Years of Hard Rain

There's an immense quantity of Dylan material on YouTube. If you've never scanned the comments, this aim here is to prod you to do so. I especially enjoy seeing both teens and seniors sharing the same enthusiasm for Dylan's work.

EdNote: I do not know the protocol with regards to sharing other peoples' comments, whether I am supposed to identify them or leave them anonymous. I hotlinked the name of the video when I identified it above. Fwiw, it was posted by Jack Frost's alter ego Elston Gunn.

Why I Moderate Comments (With Examples of Comments Unshared)

Nearly anyone who has ever had a blog, or published articles online where the door is open for comments, has had to wrestle with the issue of comment moderation. The most common kind of deleted comments are those submitted by trolls whose only aim is to link to their website or some other site they were no doubt paid to promote. Here are some examples.

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Hey there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to look it over. I'm definitely loving the information. Guess what the secret is on my page LINK REDACTED

Hi would you mind letting me know which web host you're using? I've loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Looking forward to special sharing at LINK REDACTED

Sometimes the comment is not relevant to the blog post. For example, this comment was in response to my review of Bob Dylan's Malibu:

FROM THE GAZA of Goyathlay The great American resistance fighter of Sinai southwest Arizona and Mexico North America had an American name spelled in English of "Goyathlay" or "Goyathle". His humanly popular name Geronimo or Jeronimo was a Kathlick translation to Saint Jerome and was often assigned to Americans of both South and North America under Spanish Kathlick tyranny. He was stuck in captivity within a certain portion of the GAZA of North America OKLAHOMA (Red People Home) by Federal Union military forces. It was in this area, near what is now called Lawton OK and Fort Sill OK, that 911 Chernobyl Space Shuttle Explosion Current COVID World Plague were witnessed in September 1973 in a simultaneous Vision given by a UFO Intelligence over a 2-3 hour period. It accompanied a massive UFO flap in this area. Was unable to reveal this at time because American medicine ceremonies are VERBOTEN by the Invasion Government Over America. There is a Law of Nature. Human Deviationi$m is ALWAYS within the Borders of the Law of Nature Under $urveillance by $CIA$KGB$ $FBI$FSB$ $NSA$NKVD$ $MI6$MIB$ STASIO (STASI ASIO) the past 49 years for Pro Peace Anti War Pro Environment Anti Nuclear sentiments and activities. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv intelligence.atspace.com ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Americans are a COMPLETELY SEPARATE Race, a COMPLETELY SEPARATE Culture from those who invaded and destroyed America.

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A LOT of comments are left by trolls who say "Great Post" and then post a link to some site they are getting paid to promote. Here are examples.

--Great post I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this interesting and knowledgeable article. Timelie Crack Resident Evil    LINK REDACTED

--Hi, love this post and this sites stories!, I like the ideas and creativity! I also have my own blog and portfolio! It would help me out a lot if you would take a look! thank you! LINK REDACTED

Some anonymous person seems to leave a lot of messages with all caps. Sometimes it's one word, and sometimes a whole sentence. Not sure who he or she is, but my heart goes out to this troubled individual.

--you are UNCARING

--people are FAKE and UNCARING

--everybody is LYING to me

--my parents are LYING TO ME about my lung disease

--i wish my mother was DEAD

--none of you care none of you care none of you care none of you care

--EVERYBIODY IS LYING TO ME

--you are UNCARING

--I DISPISE (Sic) BEING TOLD TO BE GRATEFUL BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE TELLING ME I DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING

The last statement above was in response to my blog post last week about The Broken Windows Theory.

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The following is evidently from a disciple of Lord Bubuza... if not from Bubuza himself.

Lord Bubuza has done it for me, His predictions are 100% correct, He is real and can perform miracles with his spell. I am overwhelmed because I just won 336,000, 000 million Euro from a lottery jackpot game with the lottery number lord Bubuza gave me. I contacted lord Bubuza for help to win a lottery via WhatsApp: +phone number redacted, he told me that a spell was required to be casted so that he can predict my winning, I provided his requirements for casting the spell and after casting the spell he gave the lottery numbers and a website where I played and won 336,000,00 euros. How can I thank this man enough? His spell is real and like a God on Earth. Thank you for changing my life with your lottery winning numbers. Do you need help to win a lottery too? contact lord Bubuza 

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--Good post, and thanks for sharing such an adorable post. I would love to see more articles / blogs. I am also writing about LINK REDACTED you can read this article.

--Unknown commented on "Did a Post-Modernist Philosopher Write Songs for the Beatles?"

This is absurd! How shallow! It's all over your head. I followed them to the end and I served my country and brought up a family. You are Evil!

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I suspect that a lot of these comments are from people who were paid on Fiverr to promote something on ten websites or blogs. Here's a typical comment example, posted on my blog post titled Juarez: City of Blood

--To write a beautiful post it is very important to write a beautiful container and have prepared a very good design and I got a lot of inspiration from your post and I would also like to post like you in my life. (REDACTED then lists a bunch of links to bhiwadi escorts, sector 20 escorts, gurugram call girls etc.)

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Let's close with these:

GG commented on "In Defense of the 1%"
HI BEEN ALONG TIME SINCE ANYONE COMMENT OF THIS BLOG~ SO HOWDY  

And one more:

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Meantime, life goes on... 

Don't be a stranger. 
Feel free to leave a comment.

Just a Few Comments About the Dylan Allegations

Adam Swanson painting based on opening scene in 
D.A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back

By now nearly everyone has heard the story. An unnamed woman has filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court stating that Dylan sexually abused her at his New York apartment over a six-week period between April and May 1965. She was 12 years old at the time.

What's silly about these allegation is that Bob Dylan is probably the most documented human being on the planet. In May he was on tour in England, filmed endlessly by documentarian D.A. Pennebaker whose epic Dont Look Back is considered by many to be the best rockumentary ever.

Dylan's whereabouts and activities have been observed and recorded from the earliest days of his career. ExpectingRain.com has links to a year by year summary of his entire career...  concerts, recording studio activities, album releases and other significant whereabouts. 

Here's an outline of Dylan's 1965 calendar. 1965 was an incredible year for Bob. It began with the recording of Bringing It All Back Home, the first of a trio of albums that is unmatched in the history of music. In June he would record Highway 61 Revisited, following up with Blonde On Blonde in the first half of 1966.

There are still more details about that spring at ThreadReaderApp. 

Still from Dont Look Back

In March 1965, Bob Dylan had left his home in New York for an American concert tour with Joan Baez. At the end of March, he played Santa Monica and Berkeley, with a second Berkeley show on April 3. On the 9th, he was in Vancouver, British Columbia, and played Portland, Oregon on the 23rd. In the intervening month, he was in California most of the time with Sara Lownds. On April 26th, Dylan arrived in London for an English tour. For the first two weeks of May, 1965, he was on tour in England. The Guardian reported they were asked to leave their Sheffield hotel on May Day. Bob didn't like any misbehavior on the tour. The tour was being filmed by D.A. Pennebaker. In mid-May, Dylan went to Portugal with Sara on holiday — "drinkin' white rum in a Portugal bar." Returning to London on the eve of his May 24th birthday, Bob was sick enough to be hospitalized. He and Sara, and his film crew and fellow musicians, stayed in London through June and perhaps into July (experts disagree). 

The civil lawsuit says Dylan sexually abused her at his New York apartment over a six-week period between April and May in 1965, “leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day”. 

It doesn't make sense. Most of April he was on the West Coast, a long ways from New York. He was preparing for his concert tour in England that would be fully documented. He was also preparing to marry and start a family with Sara, a beautiful woman he would soon take as his bride. 

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It's fairly well known that Bob Dylan was into magic. In his new book Bob Dylan: On a Couch & 50 Cents a Day, Peter McKenzie tells about Bob showing him some magic tricks with a deck of cards. I've also shared here how much Dylan was into the magic of Harry Houdini. 

It's a given that Bob Dylan has performed miracles when it comes to songwriting and performing. Yet no matter how skilled he was as a magician, it is highly unlikely he was able to be two places at one time. Whether the other side of the Continent or the other side of the ocean, simultaneous appearances in New York City do not add up.

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ExpectingRain.com has plenty of stories about this if it matters to you. Personally, I think it's silly.