Idiot Wind

I read a short article concerning a comment made by the republican presidential candidate at a rally this past weekend. The comment that was quoted concerned the increase of Chinese illegal immigrants being encountered at the border. 

Since the demographics of those particular immigrants are mostly men in their twenties and thirties, the obvious conclusion must be that they are here to form an army to wage war against America, so said the candidate.

Notwithstanding the obvious fact that men of that age group are also more likely to be seeking work, being such an able bodied demographic, and that there is absolutely no evidence of such a conspiracy, one would think that such an observation would be greeted with a shake of the head.

One could say that, at best, it is just political rhetoric, although, at worst, one could say that it reflects the inherent racism that permeates that particular candidate.

For the last few years, my daughter and daughter-in-law have been hosting a mother-daughter Mother's Day weekend. Since we have only one car now, I drove my wife to the Harrisburg area where we met the other mom who drove the two of them to the celebration. 

It was on the way to pick up Nora on the return from the weekend that I played the Bob Dylan CD "Blood on the Tracks", which is one of my favorites.

I hadn't heard the album in a while, and while I remembered most of the songs, including the iconic "Tangled Up In Blue", I had forgotten about the song called "Idiot Wind".

Here are the lyrics

-------

Someone's got it in for me
They're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick
But when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray
And took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks
And when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky

People see me all the time
And they just can't remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas
Images and distorted facts
Even you, yesterday
You had to ask me where it was at
I couldn't believe after all these years
You didn't know me better than that
Sweet lady

Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the back roads headin' south
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I ran into the fortune-teller
Who said, "beware of lightning that might strike"
I haven't known peace and quiet
For so long I can't remember what it's like
There's a lone soldier on the cross
Smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done
In the final end he won the wars
After losin' every battle

I woke up on the roadside
Daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare
Shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best
And cover up the truth with lies
One day you'll be in the ditch
Flies buzzin' around your eyes
Blood on your saddle

Idiot wind
Blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

It was gravity which pulled us down
And destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage
But it just wasn't enough to change my heart
Now everything's a little upside down
As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good
You'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom

I noticed at the ceremony
Your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can't remember your face anymore
Your mouth has changed
Your eyes don't look into mine
The priest wore black on the seventh day
And sat stone-faced while the building burned
I waited for you on the running boards
Near the cypress trees, while the springtime turned
Slowly into autumn

Idiot wind
Blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I can't feel you anymore
I can't even touch the books you've read
Every time I crawl past your door
I been wishin' I was somebody else instead
Down the highway, down the tracks
Down the road to ecstasy
I followed you beneath the stars
Hounded by your memory
And all your ragin' glory

I been double-crossed now
For the very last time and now I'm finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast
On the borderline which separated you from me
You'll never know the hurt I suffered
Nor the pain I rise above
And I'll never know the same about you
Your holiness or your kind of love
And it makes me feel so sorry

Idiot wind
Blowing through the buttons of our coats
Blowing through the letters that we wrote
Idiot wind
Blowing through the dust upon our shelves
We're idiots, babe

It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves  

-----

Obviously, there is a lot to unpack in that song. And, of course, Bob Dylan was not referring to Donald Trump when he wrote it in 1974. When I researched the meaning according to Dylan, I found numerous comments and interpretations, but most center around the hurt and betrayal that occur when a relationship ends, and the words of one's ex-lover which blow forth "every time you move your mouth", every time you move your teeth". 

Still, as I cruised along the turnpike, I immediately thought of the ex-president's comment while the song played. It not just that he routinely makes extraordinarily virulent comments about the topics of the day, but that his words are accepted, even welcomed, by a swath of our electorate who are all too willing to bask in the hatred that prejudice creates, all in the name of making America great. 

The actual fact, that it is immigrants that made America great, seems lost on far too many people, many whom are only first and second generation Americans themselves. It general, it was immigrants who built our skyscrapers, highway system, and power generation network, and specifically, was Chinese immigrants who were instrumental in laying the tracks for our intercontinental railway system. 

Idiot Wind. 

At this point, I imagine that for the foreseeable future, I will think of this description every time I see Trump speaking. His remarks seem so preposterous, his words just so much wind whistling through his teeth. 

Yet it is just not him, as his words find willing receptacles in the ears of many Americans. 

Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press, or fake news, as Trump likes to say.

What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top, you're on the bottom, which is the calling card of an agent of chaos.

Blowing like a circle around my skull, from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol, which oozes even more meaning in light of January 6th.    

Whether time will pass and Trump's idiot wind will be mentioned with Joe McCarthy, is far from certain. But perhaps we can hope that in the not so distant future, those he has duped will echo the lines:

I been double-crossed now
For the very last time and now I'm finally free

-----

I referred to a Bob Dylan song once before, in a post from 2015. Here is a link to that post.

https://wurdsfromtheburbs.blogspot.com/2015/12/god-on-our-side.html