Talk:It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

First Line
The first line of the song, "Darkness at the break of noon", refers to a nuclear explosion.


 * i thought it was a reference to the book "darkness at noon", a novel about communism. --Progjunky 10:45, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I have read that this song "is to capitalism what Darkness at Noon is to communism." I have also read the nuclear interpretation. But as I don't have a good reference for either, I'll just take the line out. --ubiquity 12:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

THe "politicians" portion has to go...
It's unsubstantiated, and barely relevant to the song. The comment that Gore selected this quote as a method to distance himself from the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal is absurd and unverified. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Djcbuffum (talk • contribs) 04:18, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

The Sopranos: inconsistency?
Excuse me for watching too much television but I'm pretty sure it's the episode in Season 6 Part 1 (IIRC) where AJ and his girlfriend are making out and accidentally set the car on fire - and not the final episode - where this song is used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.13.128.101 (talk) 00:23, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

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In need of a re-write
In my opinion, the "It's Alright Ma" article is in need of a total re-write. Prior to the change I just made, all the lead had to say about the song was that it was the "penultimate" (2nd to the last) track and that it may have been performed as early as 1964, though it couldn't have been performed earlier having been written that year. Not having much else to say about Dylan and his song, the article jumps to two full paragraphs on the Byrds' cover. Then it brings things back home, declaring the song one of Dylan's most "verbose," which might have been significant if not for "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" on the album's flip side (667 words versus 774).

Though Clinton Heylin does work his way in (only to be followed by a clever but ultimately inane quote from an unnamed, unsourced critic), the problem is that the article largely ignores what Dylan's biographers have written about "It's Alright Ma", most of which is readily available through Google Books. I plan to remove some of the unsourced "information" that's currently here and incrementally re-structure and re-write the article, primarily based on these sources. Meanwhile, I'd welcome (be grateful for) feedback and contributions from others. Allreet (talk) 06:37, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Christopher Hitchens
I re-instated ref to the final essay of Christopher Hitchens, who quoted a verse from "It's Alright Ma" at the head of the essay. I found the fact that one of the outstanding polemical writers of our time should quote this verse in his final essay, written shortly before his death from cancer, to be at least as interesting and as relevant to this article as the fact that "During his campaign for President in 2000, Al Gore told talk show host Oprah Winfrey that this was his favorite quotation." Mick gold (talk) 15:22, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Concerns in song go beyond the socio-political
I added a passage (and a mention in the lead out) in the article that addresses concerns in the song which go beyond the mere socio-political aspects already discussed. I think the song's concerns (at a core level) are existential in nature above and beyond all else. The line which opens up the key to the whole deeper meaning is its most famous: "He not busy being born is busy dying." It is as if Dylan sees the whole existence of society and politics as a delusion--that the one possible note of hope to be found in the song is perhaps in one's personal quest and growth, however painful and difficult. It is as if he is challenging the human bieng to seek and try to find..."the answer is blowin' in the wind." Garagepunk66 (talk) 08:39, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

While it shares a sense of prevailing entropy
"While it shares a sense of prevailing entropy": this phrase is meaningless. Entropy is a scientific term that the writer (User:Rlendog has misused. "Disorder" is not equivalent to "entropy", but does this maintain the intended meaning? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:4011:1800:0:0:0:0:5 (talk) 21:08, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

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Rhyming scheme
I did this edit a few days ago : “...the intricate rhyming structure is often missed: AAAAAB CCCCCB DDDDDB in the verses and AAB in the chorus.” changed with : “...the intricate rhyming structure is often missed: AAAAAD BBBBBD CCCCCD in the verses and EED in the chorus.” with the explanation : “rhyming scheme corrected and clarified ("A" rhymes from the first verse do not appear in the chorus, and it's more logical to call the non reoccuring rhymes A, B, C, the one reoccuring in both the verses and chorus being D)”. It has been reverted with the following explanation : “You may well be right, but this rhyming scheme isn't supported by Heylins book. You'll need to find a reliable, 3rd-party source for this.” Now, I haven't access to the aforementioned book, I don't have a reliable 3rd-party source to backup my revision, I'm no english scholar, english isn't even my primary language, yet the fact that, on Wikipedia, being probably right is considered secondary to being able to provide a “reliable 3rd-party source” is quite puzzling to me. How reliable is a source that is shown to provide a bogus information ? And it's kinda circular logic : a source is considered reliable just because it has been published on a supposedly reliable network by a presumably reliable author... Yet even the best authors make mistakes and even the most prestigious publishers fail to correct mistakes. Well, in this particular case, could someone with a college level education in english litterature, or at least a serious interest in the matter, tell what this notation should be, and provide a trustworthy source to back it up ? Normally that source shouldn't have to be specifically about that song, or even Bob Dylan – or should it ? --Abolibibelot (talk) 18:00, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi! It was me who reverted your edit. No offence was meant, but, even though you might well be correct, a reliable third party source will be needed. On Wikipedia the threshold for inclusion should be verifiability, not truth (more details on this can be found here). As I say, I'm totally prepared to believe that you're right and the rhyming scheme should be AAAAAD BBBBBD CCCCCD, but you need to find a reliable, third-party reference to support it if you want to change it. As for what constitutes a reliable source, you can find the answer to that question at WP:V. --Kohoutek1138 (talk) 18:22, 1 January 2018 (UTC)