Video: “Obama Pastorale 2″
posted at 10:05 am on April 28, 2008 by Allahpundit
A fine idea, but … it never quite comes off, does it? Starts strong, hits a few good lines — grandma under the trolley car is nice — but otherwise, it’s flat and overlong.
I’ve never been a Dylan fan, though, so I may be missing all sorts of allusions and rewritten lyrics here. (I missed at least one.) Any disciples of Bob want to challenge the verdict?
Blowback
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Is that Stan Lee holding the cards?
p40tiger on April 28, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Made it to 4:06 before I had to turn it off. I was never a Dylan fan either. Can I have my 4:06 back?
jdog on April 28, 2008 at 10:17 AM
A play on “you don’t need a Weatherman to know which…” candidate realy blows.
But Obama probably likes Phil Ochs better.
(Who published Mao Tse Tung’s pseudo-Li Po-ish “poetry” on one the back of this album covers and added: “The enemy?”
As if a psychopathic despot couldn’t also write some lousy, derivative, “Cranes voices mingle in the red-dawn; the sky opens like a banner of golden silk; the muddy shoots are rising” type of crypto-commie tripe.
Ochs killed himself.
profitsbeard on April 28, 2008 at 10:18 AM
I’m an original Dylan fan from the early ’60s and, no, this didn’t do anything for me. I cut away before the second sign was tossed.
rivlax on April 28, 2008 at 10:23 AM
The chords aren’t even right.
spmat on April 28, 2008 at 10:25 AM
ugh, shut it down at 50 seconds. can’t bear it longer than that.
Midas on April 28, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Am I the only one who watched it all? Then again, I have listened to some of Dylan’s epic ballads.
Pretty good as a Dylan ripoff, better as a poke at Obama.
–fluffy, stuck inside of Massachusetts with the New Hampshire blues again
fluffy on April 28, 2008 at 10:31 AM
“God Bless America!” –Kate Smith. Thank you, Kate!
Travis1 on April 28, 2008 at 10:36 AM
I’m not a Dylan fan either but I kinda liked it. But, what do I know?
TooTall on April 28, 2008 at 10:47 AM
It’s play on a different song: “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.” “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is 2:21, while “Stuck” is 7:07. I bet lots of people watching this wished they’d stuck with the shorter song.
calbear on April 28, 2008 at 10:50 AM
i cant watch anymore. sorry. singing is killing me
custer on April 28, 2008 at 11:13 AM
hahahah…you bet true believer!!!
spacekicker on April 28, 2008 at 12:25 PM
The “oooh…bama” bit would be funny (I’m assuming that was the joke, I couldn’t make it past the first 10 seconds). You can’t do Dylan with a drum machine, that’s just wrong.
RightOFLeft on April 28, 2008 at 1:10 PM
yes, a good idea that is too long.
jimmer on April 28, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Awful, and I say that as a Dylan fan. Couldn’t even make it through long enough to see grandma under the bus.
Buy Danish on April 28, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Slow internet in Afghanistan means no watching this, but riffing on Dylan is almost counterproductive, since most Dylan fans are already voting for hope and change, and the rest just see this as a thinly veiled pile of garbage hoping to get people to embrace the feeling of change that Dylan did through the substance of his music. I’m a Dylan fan, so I’m kind of biased.
Exit thought: The answer if blowin’ in the wind….because it sure as all Hell ain’t Obama.
Spc Steve on April 28, 2008 at 3:33 PM
Eh, was all right. The lyrics were pretty great, but the length needed to be cut in half, and it definitely needed a dude who could impersonate Dylan better. Like Weird Al or something, amirite?
emmaline1138 on April 28, 2008 at 5:24 PM
only made it to 2:16
Alla was kinder than he should have been when he wrote about this piece.
USBB on April 28, 2008 at 7:13 PM
There’s a reason why Top-40 songs are (or maybe I should say used to be) 2 minutes long. If you haven’t said it by then, pack it up, and take it home.
Sorry–it’s just the Al Gore in me–but is somebody going to pick up all those placards?
smellthecoffee on April 28, 2008 at 11:59 PM