Who Knew? Bob Dylan Wrote A Zionist Anthem, ‘Neighborhood Bully’
Did you know that Bob Dylan wrote a song about Israel? Image by Wikimedia Commons
By Adrianna Chaviva Freedman May 23, 2019
Happy birthday Bob Dylan!
The legendary musician turns 78 this year. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan once lived on a kibbutz. He’s toured with the Rolling Stones, performing in Tel Aviv. He’s played his own shows in Israel, three times over the last thirty years.
But… did you know he also wrote an anthem about Israel?
On Dylan’s album, “Infidels,” Dylan sings the song “Neighborhood Bully,” released just after the 1982 Lebanon War. Dylan’s reference to Israel as “the bully” is satirical:
“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.”
“The neighborhood bully has been driven out of every land / He’s wandered the earth an exiled man.”
“Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone / Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.”
“He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth / Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.”
Adrianna Chaviva Freedman is the Social Media Intern for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ac_freedman
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
