Althouse: On the evening the same-sex marriage opinion was announced, Justice Scalia "suddenly got up onstage and sang" the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are A-Changin."

October 9, 2015

On the evening the same-sex marriage opinion was announced, Justice Scalia "suddenly got up onstage and sang" the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are A-Changin."

According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

He opted to start swimmin’ lest he sink like a stone and to keep his eyes wide, the chance wouldn't come again, for the loser once had come around to win....

24 comments:

traditionalguy said...: A Hebrew prophet's word does not pass away.; 10/9/15, 7:36 AM
Curious George said...: “Some will rejoice in today’s decision, and some will despair at it; that is the nature of a controversy that matters so much to so many,” Scalia wrote. “But the Court has cheated both sides, robbing the winners of an honest victory, and the losers of the peace that comes from a fair defeat. We owed both of them better.”

The left doesn't care. Including those that reside on the court.; 10/9/15, 7:38 AM
Static Ping said...: Wait, Ginsburg was awake?; 10/9/15, 7:47 AM
rhhardin said...: Any cost turns out to be pretty large.; 10/9/15, 7:49 AM
David Begley said...: Who sang, "On the Eve of Destruction?"; 10/9/15, 7:57 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Early Bob Dylan, is there anything he didn't do?

Myself, I like to look at the cover of"The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" at the iconic photo of Dylan and Suze Rotolo walking arm-in-arm in the snow.

Especially when you realize that Suze then aborted Bob's baby.

I am Laslo.; 10/9/15, 8:04 AM
Static Ping said...: David Begley: Who sang, "On the Eve of Destruction?"

Ooo! Ooo! I know! (raises hand)

The Turtles!

Yes, really the band that is famous for the song "Happy Together" was the original band to record "Eve of Destruction." This type of song was not really suited for the Turtles; the single crested at #100 on the Billboard Hot 100. I'm sure that there are other examples, but I do not know of any other song that managed to barely scratch the Top 100 and then drop off. Usually failed singles at least get into the 90s or fail to chart altogether.

The version that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (US) was by Barry McGuire. As far as I know he never had another significant single, making him a one-hit wonder. He later became a born again Christian and released some Christian Contemporary albums.; 10/9/15, 8:33 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "Critic Andy Gill refers to "a fascinating, albeit slightly tenuous, interpretation of the song as 'outing' a homosexual". Gill writes that this interpretation is based upon "the cumulative inference of references" to a series of images in the song: "pencil in your hand", "hands you a bone", "contacts among the lumberjacks", "sword swallower", "he clicks his high heels", "he says, 'Here is your throat back, thanks for the loan'", "one-eyed midget" and "give me some milk"."

It's too good to be not true.

I am Laslo.; 10/9/15, 8:38 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "On the evening the same-sex marriage opinion was announced, Justice Scalia "suddenly got up onstage and sang" the Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are A-Changin."

When the Supreme Court rules on some Transgender Issue will Scalia sing the Kinks' "Lola"?

I am Laslo.; 10/9/15, 9:06 AM
Sebastian said...: “But the Court has cheated both sides, robbing the winners of an honest victory"

Scalia is wrong. For Progs, there's no such thing as an "honest" victory. Only victory matters. In fact, as Matt Yglesias has said explicitly, the Left likes its leaders dishonest. Tony K fits right in.

The same "cheating" is coming on the 2nd Amendment. Battle prep now by the community organizer and his minions, fifth vote just a matter of time. Because, after all, one's conception of the meaning of the universe could not possibly include owning a gun.; 10/9/15, 9:12 AM
jr565 said...: And its a hard, hard, hard, hard,
Hard Rain is gonna fall.; 10/9/15, 9:28 AM
jr565 said...: When the Supreme Court rules on some Transgender Issue will Scalia sing the Kinks' "Lola"?

Maybe Blur's Girls and Boys?
Girls who are boys
Who like boys to be girls
Who do boys like they're girls
Who do girls like they're boys
Always should be someone you really love; 10/9/15, 9:30 AM
BudBrown said...: I wonder what stage.; 10/9/15, 9:36 AM
mccullough said...: Ginsburg and Scalia hanging out at a karaoke bar; 10/9/15, 9:55 AM
David Begley said...: Static Ping:

My post was poorly written.

I should have wrote, "What Justice went on stage and sang, 'We're on the Eve of Destruction'"?

Did not know of The Turtles' version.; 10/9/15, 10:02 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: BudBrown said...

I wonder what stage.

Sounds like acceptance to me.; 10/9/15, 11:11 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I like the Turtles version. But then I like the Turtles "Mud Shark."; 10/9/15, 11:31 AM
mikee said...: The Dylan version of "This Old Man Went Rollin' Home" is also apposite here.; 10/9/15, 12:19 PM
Static Ping said...: The Turtles version of "Eve of Destruction" is competently done, but in my opinion Barry McGuire has this sort of desperation in his voice that sells the song. Sometimes the singer makes all the difference.

David Begley: I get it now. I presume not Ginsburg because she would have nodded off mid-verse and tumbled off the stage. It's a tough call. The person who probably be most justified besides Scalia is Thomas, someone who knows what hard times are all about. However, the more likely option would be someone in the permanently aggrieved left wing. Kagan, maybe?; 10/9/15, 2:06 PM
n.n said...: The times are not a-changin. They merely recycle history.

The construction of politically favored congruences under the State-established pro-choice doctrine are evidence of a progressive, but semi-stable condition.; 10/9/15, 2:19 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: The times, they aren't a-changin
Yeah, England's still shit, and it's still raining.

Frank Turner - Once We Were Anarchists; 10/9/15, 2:46 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Do this, do that, because the times are changing?

Bob, when did times not change, and for whom?

Certainly, without doubt, we can all understand that other people perceive differently than us, yet time's changes are provable regardless of the mindset of the person who might claim time doesn't change.

Just the idea, like in the following Tupac, that you notice things are not changing is a self-refuting concept if you also believe times don't change because circumstances are belated.

"Changes"

[1]
Come on come on
I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,
"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.
Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.
First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers.
Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.
"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.
I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.
Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that's the way it is

[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]
Come on come on
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
aww yeah
[Repeat]

I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.
'Cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight.
And only time we chill is when we kill each other.
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.
And although it seems heaven sent,
we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.
But some things will never change.
Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.
Now tell me what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.
You gotta operate the easy way.
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.
Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is.

[Bridge]

[Talking:]
We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty,
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.
But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.
You gotta learn to hold ya own.
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.
But tell the cops they can't touch this.
I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.
That's the sound of my tool. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped and I never get to lay back.
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback.
Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh

[Bridge 'til fade:]
Some things will never change; 10/10/15, 12:34 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I don't remember the Righteous Brothers singing "Time (sometimes, or even mostly) goes by..."

They said time goes by and have the supreme authority irrefutable.; 10/10/15, 12:35 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Fields_Forever; 10/10/15, 4:19 AM