About the song
Released in 1965 on the groundbreaking album Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” stands as a powerful and complex commentary on American society. The song marks a significant shift from Dylan’s earlier, more optimistic protest anthems. Here, he dives headfirst into a world of disillusionment and cynicism.
Background:
Composed in the summer of 1964, the song reflects a turning point in Dylan’s career. He had become increasingly disillusioned with the folk revival movement and the expectations placed upon him as a protest singer. The title itself, with its comforting address to his mother (“Ma”), hints at a deeper struggle – a desperate attempt to maintain some sense of normalcy amidst a growing sense of alienation.
Themes:
Disillusionment with American Culture: The lyrics paint a scathing portrait of American society, filled with hypocrisy, commercialism, and violence. Lines like “Advertising signs they con / You into thinking you’re the one” and “Money doesn’t talk, it swears” expose the manipulative nature of consumerism and capitalism. References to war (“pointed threats, they bluff with scorn”) and religious hypocrisy (“flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark”) further fuel Dylan’s critique.
Existential Anguish: Beyond societal issues, the song delves into deeper existential questions. The line “He not busy being born is busy dying” captures the fleeting nature of life and the ever-present threat of mortality. The fragmented and surreal imagery throughout the song reflects a sense of confusion and disorientation in a rapidly changing world.
Loss of Innocence: “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” can be seen as a lament for lost innocence. Dylan, once a voice for a generation, now grapples with the complexities and contradictions of the world. The repeated refrain, “It’s alright, Ma, I’m only bleeding,” expresses a weary resignation, a sense of acceptance in the face of overwhelming negativity.
Legacy:
Despite its bleak outlook, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” remains a powerful and influential song. Its raw honesty and poetic imagery resonate with anyone who has ever questioned the world around them. The song’s exploration of disillusionment and existential anxieties continues to speak to listeners across generations.
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Lyrics
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel the moan but unlike before
You discover
That you’d just be
One more person crying.
So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
And goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
And though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Ensure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
But though the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destiny
Speak jealously of them that are free
Do what they do just to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptize
To strict party platforms ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And say “God Bless him”.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him.
Old lady judges, watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False goals, I scoff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only.