I wonder if Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was a easily readable to his contemporaries. It must have been, or why else would the folks from the SDS have appropriated the name.
But I am struck by the playful clarity of the opening lines of the third verse, which are all clearly ways to avoid the draft. "Get sick, get well, hang around an inkwell," that is, receive a deferment for higher education.) "Ring bell" took me a while, until I stumbled across an early 60s PSA for mental illness, whose symbol, in those days, was a hand-rung school bell. Avoiding the draft by faking insanity. "Get barred" i.e., use (or perhaps become) a lawyer. "Write braille," would be a medical deferment for vision. "Get jailed," speaks for itself. Easy to see why this appealed to the "Weathermen."
And their symbol -- well, at least some others have noticed its similarity to Obama's corporate logo.
But I am struck by the playful clarity of the opening lines of the third verse, which are all clearly ways to avoid the draft. "Get sick, get well, hang around an inkwell," that is, receive a deferment for higher education.) "Ring bell" took me a while, until I stumbled across an early 60s PSA for mental illness, whose symbol, in those days, was a hand-rung school bell. Avoiding the draft by faking insanity. "Get barred" i.e., use (or perhaps become) a lawyer. "Write braille," would be a medical deferment for vision. "Get jailed," speaks for itself. Easy to see why this appealed to the "Weathermen."
And their symbol -- well, at least some others have noticed its similarity to Obama's corporate logo.
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