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Chronicles

Book by Bob Dylan · 21 quotes · Ifs, Might, Song

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AllIfsMightSongWayBigsCreativityFeltFolk SongsFolksIdeasImaginationLife IsLongLyingMenNew OrleansSongwritingWantWellsAble

Chronicles Quotes

“Folk songs are evasive-the truth about life, and life is more or less a lie, but then again that's exactly the way we want it to be. We wouldn't be comfortable with it any other way. A folk song has over a thousand faces and you must meet them all if you want to play this stuff. A folk song might vary in meaning and it might not appear the same from one moment to the next. It depends on who's playing and who's listening.”

IfsWayWantPlayMomentsMightFacesLife IsLyingSongNextStuffListeningDependsThousandComfortableFolksVaryFolk SongsTruth About Life
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“[In 1951] we were also told that the Russians could be parachuting from planes over our town at any time. These were the same Russians that my uncles had fought alongside only a few years earlier. Now they had become monsters who were coming to slit our throats and incinerate us. It seemed peculiar. Living under a cloud of fear like this robs a child of his spirit. It's one thing to be afraid when someone's holding a shotgun on you, but it's another thing to be afraid of something that's just not quite real.”

YearsChildrenRealSpiritOne ThingTownsCloudsMonstersPlanesThroatPeculiarUnclesSlitsShotgunsOur Town
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“The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay - ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time”

MenTryingFirstsLongMadePastOrderSleepColdQuietLong TimeMen And WomenDiedGhostSymbolsBest ThingsGreekDecayPropositionsNew OrleansTombsPassing AwayCemeteryBuryingMausoleumSigns And Symbols
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“I was headed for the fantastic lights. No doubt about it. Could it be that I was being deceived? Not likely. I don't think I had enough imagination to be deceived; had no false hope, either. I'd come from a long ways off and had started from a long ways down. But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else.”

ThinkingWayLongEnoughLightFeltImaginationDestinyDoubtFantasticNo DoubtManifestLong WayDeceivedHad EnoughFalse HopeBeing DeceivedLong Way Down
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