I had no intention of watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics but like the rest of the nation I got caught up in the fever. I think in truth I got so fed up with the press knocking everything about the Olympics such as the traffic, tickets and cost, that belligerently I decided I would openly support the entire event.
Not a good reason I admit, but why is it the media want to attack everything that is Great about Britain and always look at the negative no matter how small?
Well I have to take my hat off to one Mr D. Boyle as I thought the ceremony was just fantastic. Not a corny or jingoistic portrayal of Empires lost with marching bands and London buses but a study of this country's success and humour.
One part that has been little reported, (which I think should have been), was the stunning performance by Emeli Sande. Her rendition of 'Abide With Me', totally unaccompanied, was haunting and breathtaking. I will always remember it.
Music is one of our greatest gifts to the world and it shone on a night of stars. This set me thinking about songs and their words. I will not bore you with how I got there but I ended up with Bob Dylan and 'Blowin’ in the wind'.
I have heard the song hundreds of times and, in the privacy of my own car, have been known to sing along. Unfortunately I had never studied the words or their meaning. Bob Dylan has to have been one of the world’s most gifted song writers. The sadness is that his 1962 words are perhaps even truer today than they have ever been.
As I looked up the lyrics on Google and then read them for the first time I started to feel what Dylan must have felt some fifty years ago. I thought of Syria, Iraq, Bankers, Media Moguls, Greedy Politicians of all Parties and all Countries - even the financial scandals that beset the greatest sporting events in the world.
Take a few moments out from a hectic life and enjoy Dylan’s mastery: -
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.