Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Robert Zimmerman, Bob Dylan, Dylan -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AugustWest who wrote (154)	2/3/1999 12:02:00 AM
From: Rainy_Day_Woman	Respond to of 2695

My Life in a Stolen Moment Duluth's an iron ore shipping town in Minnesota It's built up on a rocky cliff that runs into Lake Superior I was born there - my father was born there - My mother's from the Iron Range Country up north The Iron Range is a long line a mining towns that begin at Grand Rapids and end at Eveleth We moved up there to live with my mother's folks in Hibbing when I was young - Hibbing's got the biggest open pit ore mine in the world Hibbing's got schools, churches, grocery stores an' a jail It's got high school football games an' a movie house Hibbing's got souped-up cars runnin' full blast on a Friday night Hibbing's got corner bars with polka bands You can stand at one end of Hibbing's main drag an' see clear past the city limits on the other end Hibbing's a good ol' town I ran away from it when I was 10, 12, 13, 15, 151/2, 17 an' 18I been caught an' brought back all but once I wrote my first song to my mother an' titled it "To Mother" I wrote that in 5th grade an' the teacher gave me a B+ I started smoking at 11 years old an' only stopped once to catch my breath I don't remember my parents singing too much At least I don't remember swapping any songs with them Later I sat in college at the University of Minnesota on a phony scholarship that I never had I sat in science class an' flunked out for refusin' to watch a rabbit die I got expelled from English class for using four-letter words in a paper describing the English teacher I also failed out of communication class for callin' up every day and sayin' I couldn't come I did OK in Spanish though but I knew it beforehand I's kept around for kicks at a fraternity house They let me live there an' I did until they wanted me to join I moved in with two girls from South Dakota in a two-room apartment for two nights I crossed the bridge to 14th Street an' moved in above a bookstore that also sold bad hamburgers basketball sweatshirts an' bulldog statues I fell hard for an actress girl who kneed me in the guts an' I ended up on the East Side a the Mississippi River with about ten friends in a condemned house underneath underneath the Washington Avenue Bridge just south a Seven Corners That's pretty well my college life After that I thumbed my way to Galveston, Texas in four days tryin' to find an ol' friend whose ma met me at the screen door and said he's in the Army - By the time the kitchen door closed I was passin' California - almost to Oregon - I met a waitress in the woods who picked me up an' dropped me off in Washington someplace I danced my way from the Indian festivals in Gallup, New Mexico To the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana With my thumb out, my eyes asleep, my hat turned up an' my head turned on I's driftin' an' learnin' new lessonsI was making my own depression I rode freight trains for kicksAn' got beat up for laughsCut grass for quarters An' sang for dimesHitchhiked on 61 - 51 - 75 - 169 - 37 - 66 - 22 Gopher Road - Route 40 an' Howard Johnson Turnpike Got jailed for suspicion of armed robberyGot held for four hours on a murder rap Got busted for looking like I doAn' I never done none a them things Somewheres back I took time to start plain' the guitar Somewheres back I took the time to start singin'Somewheres back I took the time to start writin' But I never did take the time to find out why I took the time to do those things - when they ask Me why an' where I got started, I gotta shake my head an' weave my eyes an' walk away dumfounded From Shreveport I landed in Madison, Wisconsin From Madison we filled up a four-door Pontiac with five people An' shot straight south an' sharp to the East an' in 24 hours was still hanging on through the Hudson Tunnel - Gettin' out in a snowstorm an' wavin' goodbye to the three others, we swept on to MacDougal Street with five dollars between us - but we weren't poor I had my guitar an' harmonica to playAn' he had his brother's clothes to pawn In a week, he went back to Madison while I stayed behind an' Walked a winter's line from the Lower East Side to Gerde's Folk City In May, I thumbed west an' took the wrong highway to Florida Mad as hell an' tired as well, I scrambled my way back to South Dakota by keepin' a truck driver up all day an' singin' One night in Cincinnati I looked up a long time friend in Sioux Falls an' was let down, worried blind, and hit hard by seein' how little we had to say I rolled back to Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, lookin' up ol' time pals an' first-run gals an' I was beginnin' to find out that my road an' their road road is two different kinds a roads I found myself back in New York City in the middle part a summer staying on 28th Street with kind, honest hard-working people who were good to me I got wrote up in the Times after playin' in the fall at Gerde's Folk City I got recorded at Columbia after being wrote up in the Times An' I still can't find the time to go back an' see why an' where I started doing what I'm doing I can't tell you the influences 'cause there's too many to mention an' I might leave one outAn' that wouldn't be fair Woody Guthrie, sureBig Joe Williams, yeahIt's easy to remember those names But what about the faces you can't find again What about the curbs an' corners an' cut-offs that drop out a sight an' fall behind What about the records you hear but one time What about the coyote's call an' the bulldog's bark What about the tomcat's meow an' milk cow's mooAn' the train whistle's moan Open up yer eyes an' ears an' yer influenced an' there's nothing you can do about itHibbing's a good ol' town I ran away from it when I was 10, 12, 13, 15, 151/2, 17 an' 18I been caught an' brought back all but once