In 1983, the American Jewish musician, who turned seventy-five yesterday, composed and recorded a song about the Jewish state, entitled “Neighborhood Bully.” While the song was written in the context of Israel’s war in Lebanon, the lyrics remain relevant. Gabe Friedman writes:
The [song] equates Israel with an “exiled man,” who is unjustly labeled a bully for fending off constant attacks by his neighbors. Dylan released the song on his second studio album, Infidels, in the wake of his brief born-again-Christian phase during the late 1970s and early 1980s . . . :
Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one.
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He’s the neighborhood bully. . . .
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized.
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Read more on Times of Israel: http://www.timesofisrael.com/bob-dylans-forgotten-pro-israel-song-revisited/