Workingman´s Blues # 2

Bob Dylans återkomst på “Modern Times” (Columbia 82876 87606 2, distr Sony, 2006) till att skriva också politiska texter har väckt stort intresse. Framför allt gäller detta “Workingman´s Blues # 2″. Så här skrev jag om den, när jag nyligen recenserade skivan:

”Det # 2 syftar på är Merle Haggards `Working Man Blues´, den som i Thorstein Bergmans svenska version heter `Vår tids arbetarsång´; jag skrev om den för en tid sen. Här knyter Dylan an till countrygenrens grepp att skildra arbetaren som underdog i det amerikanska samhället; han använder till och med begreppet proletariat (`The buyin´ power of the proletariat´s gone down / Money´s getting shallow and week´).

Fortsättningen ger uttryck för en bitter insikt, giltig här lika väl som i USA: `It´s a new path that we trod / They say low wages are a reality / If we want to compete abroad.´

Och så nästa erfarenhet: `Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from / Creeping it´s way into my gut.´

Och det värsta av allt, att vara helt utanför, att inte längre behövas: `Gonna sleep off the rest of the day / Sometimes no one wants what we got / Sometimes you can´t give it away.´

Woody Guthrie kunde inte ha sagt de bättre.

Och den här mannen – Dylan alltså – påstår i sina memoararer, att han inte är politisk. Jag tror att han driver med oss ibland.”

Jag har genom min sitemeter sett, att rätt många har letat efter texten. På nätet har jag hittat följande text; det är bäst att säga att det är fråga om en oauktoriserad utskrift:

Workingman´s Blues # 2

Text och musik: Bob Dylan

There´s an evening haze settlin´ over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin´ power of the proletariat´s gone down
Money´s gettin´ shallow and weak
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory
It´s the new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad

My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf
Come sit down on my knee
You are dearer to me than myself
As you yourself can see
While I´m listening to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it´s way into my gut

Chorus:
Meet me at the bottom, don´t lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline
Sing a little bit of these workingman´s blues

Well, I´m sailin´ on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
I´ll drag ´em all down to hell and I´ll stand ´em at the wall
I´ll sell ´em to their enemies
I´m tryin´ to feed my soul with thought
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day
Sometimes no one wants what we got
Sometimes you can´t give it away

Now the place is ringed with countless foes
Some of them may be deaf or dumb
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come
In the dark I hear the night birds call
I can feel a lover´s breath
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall
Sleep in like a temporary death

(Chorus)

Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horse
I can´t save a dime
I got to be careful, I don´t want to be forced
Into a life of continual crime
I can see for myself that the sun is sinking
How I wish you were here to see
Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking
That you have forgotten me?

Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret
They waste your nights and days
Then I will forget
But you´ll rembember always
Old memories of you to me have clung
You´ve wounded me with your words
Gonna have to straighten out your tongue
It´s all true, eveything you´ve heard

(Chorus)

In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you
All across the peaceful sacred fields
They will lay you down
They´ll break your horns and slash you with steel
I say it so it must be so

Now I´m down on my luck and I´m black and blue
Gonna give you another chance
I´m all alone and I´m expecting you
To lead me off in a cheerful dance
I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife
I can live on rice and beans
Some people never worked a day in their life
Don´t know what work even means

(Chorus)