"But you who philosophize disgrace/and criticize all fears/take the rag away from your face/now ain't the time for your tears."
Quite possibly my favorite of Dylan's many songs because he just comes out and says something about America that the rich establishment would want to stay buried.
The actual story of William Zantzinger has him hitting Hattie Carroll with a toy cane, not a heavy walking stick. She died as a result of the harassment more than any severe blow as she was overweight and suffered from hypertension. I didn't know this until recently and I think it changes one's perception of the song at least somewhat. Is it artistic license on Dylan's part or an outright misperception of a contemporary event in 1963? It also someone mitigates the 6 month sentence outrage as it wasn't exactly a murder but a battery that resulted in the victim's death due to other causes. In more recent times, we have police using excessive force in trying to restrain and apprehend a suspect and the suspect dies as a result. How accountable is a police officer in trying to subdue a potentially dangerous suspect who is either fleeing or resisting arrest? While society cannot and should not accept 'death by cop' events, we do empower the police to use force when necessary. This all strays from the Hattie Carroll discussion, but to bring it all back home, she was not exactly 'slain by a cane'.
"But you who philosophize disgrace/and criticize all fears/take the rag away from your face/now ain't the time for your tears."
Quite possibly my favorite of Dylan's many songs because he just comes out and says something about America that the rich establishment would want to stay buried.
The actual story of William Zantzinger has him hitting Hattie Carroll with a toy cane, not a heavy walking stick. She died as a result of the harassment more than any severe blow as she was overweight and suffered from hypertension. I didn't know this until recently and I think it changes one's perception of the song at least somewhat. Is it artistic license on Dylan's part or an outright misperception of a contemporary event in 1963? It also someone mitigates the 6 month sentence outrage as it wasn't exactly a murder but a battery that resulted in the victim's death due to other causes. In more recent times, we have police using excessive force in trying to restrain and apprehend a suspect and the suspect dies as a result. How accountable is a police officer in trying to subdue a potentially dangerous suspect who is either fleeing or resisting arrest? While society cannot and should not accept 'death by cop' events, we do empower the police to use force when necessary. This all strays from the Hattie Carroll discussion, but to bring it all back home, she was not exactly 'slain by a cane'.