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Song Parodies -> "Like a Dream That's Flown"
Original Song Title:
"Like a Rolling Stone"
(MP3)Original Performer:
Bob Dylan
Parody Song Title:
"Like a Dream That's Flown"
Parody Written by:
Wandlimb
The Lyrics
When Bob Dylan recently turned 65, I remarked to a friend that the singer could now collect Social Security. My friend replied that he probably couldn't collect any, because hippies didn't pay into the system. And so the idea for this parody was born. Respectfully dedicated to all the old hippies with no pensions.
Once upon a May, back in the day,
You made a buck or two, singin' blues, didn't you?
Hippies'd say, there's just no way, I'm paying today
For old age, are y'all kiddin' me?
They used to laugh, but now
Can't afford drugs, got old somehow,
Lyrics would freely flow,
While you raked in their dough,
By stirring lofty dreams they'd never see in their day...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
You dropped from the labor pool back when, you radical,
While the problems of the world, you protested it.
With your body in the way to block dozers down on the street,
And paid cash for drugs when you know you should've invested it.
You said you'd never compromise
With the Establishment, but now you realize
Life's not a chorus of Kum-bah-yahs.
The ghost of mortality shines in your eyes,
And you are forced to beg, borrow and steal...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
You never found a day to make your words convey why this is a better way,
Still you wanted to make them all live like you.
You never understood that it ain't no good,
You shouldn't force other people from their ruts for you,
Their right to cling to the status quo of the fat cats
Who shouted the wisdom of the Generation Gap.
Ain't it hard when you discover that
They knew exactly where it's at
After they undermined everything you held dear...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
Hippies out in the Hashbury and all the freaky people,
They're smokin', token' all that ganja weed,
Exchanging all kinds of psychedelic dope,
But you'd better fill your water bong, you'd better smoke it, babe.
You thought it was well deserved
That Spiro Agnew was in rags and the cronies that he served
Got impeached, but now they've thrown you a curve,
'Cuz you got nothing; bet that's left you unnerved.
They've got it all -- you're left with nothing but ideals...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
You made a buck or two, singin' blues, didn't you?
Hippies'd say, there's just no way, I'm paying today
For old age, are y'all kiddin' me?
They used to laugh, but now
Can't afford drugs, got old somehow,
Lyrics would freely flow,
While you raked in their dough,
By stirring lofty dreams they'd never see in their day...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
You dropped from the labor pool back when, you radical,
While the problems of the world, you protested it.
With your body in the way to block dozers down on the street,
And paid cash for drugs when you know you should've invested it.
You said you'd never compromise
With the Establishment, but now you realize
Life's not a chorus of Kum-bah-yahs.
The ghost of mortality shines in your eyes,
And you are forced to beg, borrow and steal...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
You never found a day to make your words convey why this is a better way,
Still you wanted to make them all live like you.
You never understood that it ain't no good,
You shouldn't force other people from their ruts for you,
Their right to cling to the status quo of the fat cats
Who shouted the wisdom of the Generation Gap.
Ain't it hard when you discover that
They knew exactly where it's at
After they undermined everything you held dear...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
Hippies out in the Hashbury and all the freaky people,
They're smokin', token' all that ganja weed,
Exchanging all kinds of psychedelic dope,
But you'd better fill your water bong, you'd better smoke it, babe.
You thought it was well deserved
That Spiro Agnew was in rags and the cronies that he served
Got impeached, but now they've thrown you a curve,
'Cuz you got nothing; bet that's left you unnerved.
They've got it all -- you're left with nothing but ideals...
How does it feel?
Strange and surreal,
Stuck in the old folks home,
And quite dementia prone,
Like a dream that's flown.
Bits 'o trivia: the reference to May in the first line harkens back to the fact that "Like a Rolling Stone" was introduced to the world at a concert performed in May 1965. And "Hashbury," of course, is the '60s nickname for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco.
Your Vote & Comment Counts
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Voting Results
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Voting Breakdown
The following represent how many people voted for each category.
| Pacing | How Funny | Overall Rating | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| 5 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
User Comments
Comments are subject to review, and can be removed by the administration of the site at any time and for any reason.
Giving credit where credit is due: Without the artistic and moral support of the illustrious Merry & Pippin, this parody would never seen the light of day. And thanks especially to Merry, for the "Kum-bah-yah" line! --Wandlimb
A real nice job of writing here, even though the premise has a really shaky foundation. Uh...Bob Dylan? Not earning enough to collect Social Security? Uh...what Drugs were YOU huffing on? Mr. Zimmerman nee "Bob Dylan" has made many-plenty tons of money in his long, illustrious career. And actually, if he was classified as a "Self-employed" person, which an Artist might well be, he would have paid in a higher percentage of his earnings than "Regular" folks. As for the other "hippies" or whatever you want to call them, well, quite a few have actually gone on to become...whatever you want to call "Regular Citizens" - eventually most got "Real" jobs...paid in "Real" Taxes...maybe raised "Real" families, etc. I realize we aren't writing "documentaries" here, but your generalizations seem to be based on stuff you don't actually know anything about. Actually, from re-reading your comment it's your FRIEND who needs this lecture...but I hate to tear down this comment so I'll leave it up...maybe 'FRIEND' will read it and get some sense. Suggestion: Next time you post a well-written parody like this make sure your "Pre-comment" doesn't undercut your story-line. I'm gonna give ya' 5-4-4 here. I don't believe that people then...'hippies' or 'squares' or whatever label folks want to pin on them now...were all that much different from people today. If you tossed all the changes that were occurring then...RIGHT THEN...onto today's young people...and they didn't have any special "hindsight" into the past, well, you might come up with a strikingly similar division of lifestyles. Class dismissed...Peace...
Ah, controversy! You've brought some gratification to *this* old hippie's heart. An old hippie WITH a pension, by the way. This parody is in no way meant to generalize about all former flower children, but is dedicated to those who aren't very well off in their old age because they refused to become a cog in the system. Some of my friends fit into this category and will appreciate the self-deprecating humor that I intended. I also found it amusing to turn the target of Dylan's song into the moralizer. Art for art's sake, if you will. Chill, man. It ain't that serious. And thank you for taking the time to comment and vote. :)
OK - BTW - I ended up voting '5-5-5' after all that 'speechifying'. As to those who "aren't well off because they refused to become a cog in the system"...well, as they have doubtless learned since then, the choices we make throughout life continue to resonate and "ripple" long after the initial decision. I think one of the hardest lessons for THAT generation (and any generation, really) is that all those "principled" stances taken in the service of demonstrating moral superiority and integrity would have a real-life consequence at a later date...It doesn't necessarily mean it was wrong to adopt the stance, but hopefully they considered the potential costs down the line...sounds like a few folks you know didn't do that way back when...that's kind of sad. BTW - Since I'm a Tax Analyst I might mention that a lot of folks today THINK they are quite smart by failing to report income today...say from a Self-Employment business or maybe by working "under the table" are going to fall into the same sorry boat you describe in your comments - I don't know how much money they save NOW by not paying taxes, but I DO know that they won't be very happy if they end up not qualifying for Social Security Benefits or only qualifying for the minimum Benefit. We could be talking about $15,000-$25,000 or money per year here. OK...scolding session temporarily over...lol...
Great parody, although most of the hippies of yesteryear are today's neocons.... Funny how that happened, eh? Kind of scary, really....
You would have to convince me that *most* of the hippies are now neocons, although I'd agree that *most* of them have swung more toward the middle or even farther in their old age. The one thing that hasn't changed...we are all still absolutely convinced of the sheer righteousness of whatever we've decided to believe in. Thanks for your comment! :)
I enjoyed this !
I took this more as an interesting commentary on what I (now) see as the folly of youth, the bullet-headed belief that everything is (nay, MUST be) so terribly black and white with absolutely no grey areas in between. And I saw Dylan being used as an ironically suitable vehicle.
To that end, I loved this part :
Ain't it hard when you discover that
They knew exactly where it's at
After they undermined everything you held dear...
But you have to get there first to appreciate it ! I am still laughing. Wish I had thought of it.
I took this more as an interesting commentary on what I (now) see as the folly of youth, the bullet-headed belief that everything is (nay, MUST be) so terribly black and white with absolutely no grey areas in between. And I saw Dylan being used as an ironically suitable vehicle.
To that end, I loved this part :
Ain't it hard when you discover that
They knew exactly where it's at
After they undermined everything you held dear...
But you have to get there first to appreciate it ! I am still laughing. Wish I had thought of it.
Thanks, Peregrin! The lines you quoted came to me in one of those divine flashes of inspiration...you know how that goes. Wanted to say again -- your encouragement (and Merry's) is what took this little number beyond the first verse. Keep smiling. :)
So Dylan was really trying to expound profound pronouncements to inspire and influence a generation...?
I always thought he was just trying to make the words rhyme... ;-)
I always thought he was just trying to make the words rhyme... ;-)
Why is the chorus the same after each verse? It may have been funnier if the chorus were different after each verse.
You know - looking back this still looks pretty good; you ought to do a bit more parody writing!
Thanks, Meriadoc.
Concur! Reads as well now as it did originally (and why would it not)?
I really enjoyed re-reading this, KT
I really enjoyed re-reading this, KT
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