Obama, can this really be the end?

Despite being the so-called “voice of a generation” and paragon of the protest song, Bob Dylan really isn’t all that political. Of the 40,000 or so songs in the Dylan catalog, relatively few are explicitly about any type of political situation.

Lines pop up here and there, but he has always been too sharp and subtle to succumb to heavy handed political pinko claptrap like Don Henley or Jackson Browne.

A prophetic line like “Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked” from 1965’s “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” got big applause when played on the 1974 Watergate-era tour with the Band. But that song also touches on consumerism, the apocalypse, loneliness, paranoia and desperation.

So it’s quite something to read today that Dylan, in an interview with the UK paper the Times Online, has more or less endorsed Barack Obama for president:

“Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralising. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up... Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to. You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future."

Rock Turtleneck is throwing its hefty political influence behind the Junior Senator from Illinois as well. Now that the superdelegates of the rock blogosphere are falling in behind Obama, it should be smooth sailing from here to the White House.

Herewith, in keeping with the Obama campaign theme, some change-oriented Dylan mp3s.

Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” Live 1964: The Philharmonic Hall Concert

Bob Dylan, “Things Have Changed” Wonder Boys soundtrack (1999)

Bob Dylan, "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (Barack Obama video tribute)