I never appreciated or really liked Bob Dylan, so I loaded up my ipod with his discography, and listened over and over again. I had an epiphany one day while listening to "Like a Rolling Stone", I glanced out a train window and saw a homeless man sleeping in an alley, I realized, incorrectly, that it was about being homeless, and poor... I mean the lyrics, Now you don't seem so proud About having to be scrounging for your next meal. Nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street. And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it. Of course napoleon in rags reference to the clothing of the homeless, i rewound it and listened to it with new eyes, and it all fell into place, what a genius.....
Then I read what it was really about, I found out that not only does the Napoloen in Rags line refer to Andy Warhol, but that the song in general is addressing Edie Sedgwick. Dylan & Sedgewick were involved, and he was criticizing her for being one of Warhol's girls.
You see dylans genius is that the way he plays with words, his songs can fit most situations and like true art, you can see it through your own eyes. So I did the same with 2PAC, Eminem, and others over the years listening for the genius, and have never been disappointed, it's there you just have to find it.
So here's to the search, the journey, after all "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose!"
Jim
