"Murder Most Foul"

It was a dark day in Dallas, November '63
A day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was a-ridin' high
Good day to be livin' and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"
"Of course we do, we know who you are!"
Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
Was a matter of timing and the timing was right
You got unpaid debts, we've come to collect
We're gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect
We'll mock you and shock you and we'll put it in your face
We've already got someone here to take your place

The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing

It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul

Hush, little children, you'll understand
The Beatles are comin', they're gonna hold your hand
Slide down the banister, go get your coat
Ferry 'cross the Mersey and go for the throat
There's three bums comin' all dressed in rags
Pick up the pieces and lower the flags

I'm goin' to Woodstock, it's the Aquarian Age
Then I'll go over to Altamont and sit near the stage
Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
There's a party going on behind the Grassy Knoll

Stack up the bricks, pour the cement
Don't say Dallas don't love you, Mr. President
Put your foot in the tank and then step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Blackface singer, whiteface clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
Up in the red light district, they've got cop on the beat
Living in a nightmare on Elm Street
When you're down on Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoe

Don't ask what your country can do for you
Cash on the barrelhead, money to burn
Dealey Plaza, make a left-hand turn
I'm going down to the crossroads, gonna flag a ride

The place where faith, hope, and charity died
Shoot him while he runs, boy, shoot him while you can
See if you can shoot the invisible man
Goodbye, Charlie! Goodbye, Uncle Sam
Frankly, Miss Scarlett, I don't give a damn
What is the truth, and where did it go?
Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know
"Shut your mouth," said a wise old owl
Business is business, and it's a murder most foul

Tommy, can you hear me? I'm the Acid Queen
I'm riding in a long, black Lincoln limousine
Ridin' in the back seat next to my wife
Headed straight on in to the afterlife
I'm leaning to the left, I got my head in her lap
Hold on, I've been led into some kind of a trap
Where we ask no quarter, and no quarter do we give
We're right down the street, from the street where you live
They mutilated his body and they took out his brain
What more could they do? They piled on the pain

But his soul was not there where it was supposed to be at
For the last fifty years they've been searchin' for that
Freedom, oh freedom, freedom over me
I hate to tell you, mister, but only dead men are free
Send me some lovin', then tell me no lie
Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by
Wake up, little Susie, let's go for a drive
Cross the Trinity River, let's keep hope alive
Turn the radio on, don't touch the dials
Parkland Hospital, only six more miles
You got me dizzy, Miss Lizzy, you filled me with lead
That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
I'm just a patsy like Patsy Cline
Never shot anyone from in front or behind
I've blood in my eye, got blood in my ear
I'm never gonna make it to the new frontier
Zapruder's film I seen night before
Seen it thirty-three times, maybe more
It's vile and deceitful, it's cruel and it's mean
Ugliest thing that you ever have seen

They killed him once and they killed him twice
Killed him like a human sacrifice
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son
The age of the Antichrist has just only begun"

Air Force One comin' in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at 2:38
Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
It is what it is, and it's murder most foul

What's new, pussycat? What'd I say?
I said the soul of a nation been torn away
And it's beginning to go into a slow decay
And that it's thirty-six hours past Judgment Day
Wolfman Jack, he's speaking in tongues
He's going on and on at the top of his lungs
Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
Play it for me in my long Cadillac
Play me that "Only the Good Die Young"
Take me to the place Tom Dooley was hung
Play "St. James Infirmary" and the Court of King James
If you want to remember, you better write down the names
Play Etta James, too, play "I'd Rather Go Blind"
Play it for the man with the telepathic mind
Play John Lee Hooker, play "Scratch My Back"
Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
Guitar Slim going down slow
Play it for me and for Marilyn Monroe

Play "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
Play it for the First Lady, she ain't feeling any good
Play Don Henley, play Glenn Frey
Take it to the limit and let it go by
Play it for Carl Wilson, too
Looking far, far away down Gower Avenue
Play "Tragedy", play "Twilight Time"
Take me back to Tulsa to the scene of the crime
Play another one and "Another One Bites the Dust"
Play "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In God We Trust"
Ride the pink horse down that long, lonesome road
Stand there and wait for his head to explode
Play "Mystery Train" for Mr. Mystery
The man who fell down dead like a rootless tree
Play it for the reverend, play it for the pastor
Play it for the dog that got no master
Play Oscar Peterson, play Stan Getz
Play "Blue Sky," play Dickey Betts
Play Art Pepper, Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker and all that junk
All that junk and "All That Jazz"
Play something for the Birdman of Alcatraz
Play Buster Keaton, play Harold Lloyd
Play Bugsy Siegel, play Pretty Boy Floyd
Play the numbers, play the odds
Play "Cry Me a River" for the Lord of the gods
Play Number nine, play Number six
Play it for Lindsey and Stevie Nicks
Play Nat King Cole, play "Nature Boy"
Play "Down in the Boondocks" for Terry Malloy
Play "It Happened One Night" and "One Night of Sin"
There's twelve million souls that are listening in
Play "Merchant of Venice", play "Merchants of Death"
Play "Stella by Starlight" for Lady Macbeth

Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way
[b]Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay
Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell?
Tell them, "We're waiting, keep coming," we'll get them as well
Love Field is where his plane touched down
But it never did get back up off the ground
Was a hard act to follow, second to none
They killed him on the altar of the rising sun[/b]

Play "Misty" for me and "That Old Devil Moon"
Play "Anything Goes" and "Memphis in June"
Play "Lonely at the Top" and "Lonely Are the Brave"
Play it for Houdini spinning around in his grave
Play Jelly Roll Morton, play "Lucille"
Play "Deep in a Dream", and play "Driving Wheel"
Play "Moonlight Sonata" in F-sharp
And "A Key to the Highway" for the king on the harp
Play "Marching Through Georgia" and "Dumbarton's Drums"
Play darkness and death will come when it comes
Play "Love Me or Leave Me" by the great Bud Powell
Play "The Blood-Stained Banner", play "Murder Most Foul"

Since some now have extra time on their hands as a result of the shut down, I'd love to hear what deep thinkers and inquiring minds might answer to the following questions?

1. Why did Bob Dylan release this now?
2. Why is it 17 minutes long?
3. Does anyone really know why Kennedy was killed or even more interesting his brother.
4. Remember the cute little boy walking beside and saluting his father's casket. Why did he come to such an untimely death?
5. What office was he running for before he died?
6. Who actually ran for that office?
7. Who was one of his best friends in New York?
8. Why are all the Kennedy kids singing on You-Tube?
9. What are they singing about?

I'll be interested in anyone up for the challenge. You can also PM me if you would like. Good luck!!

I have loved hearing reactions to this slightly odd and undeniably epic song from all my friends and family who are really into Dylan.

I can't answer all your questions, but my History major girlfriend, who is a huge Kennedy nerd, will help me out later.

For now:

1. Because he knows everyone is way more likely to listen to all 17 minutes now that they're stuck at home. Otherwise there's no way people would have the attention span.

Also, he released it on March 26th, which is the same day that Walt Whitman died. It is widely known that John F. Kennedy was the reincarnation of Walt Whitman. And it is also well known that Keira Knightly is the reincarnation of JFK. She was born on March 26th. These things go in cycles.

Ok, that second part might not be true.

2. He's trying to branch out from the Folk crowd to the Prog Rock, Doom Metal, Experimental Jazz, and Classical crowd. That's where all the money is these days.

3. My girlfriend will have more well thought out things to say about this but... I think some who see progress as a threat to their ideals can be quick to violence. The Kennedys, especially Bobby, represented both the sweeping societal progress of the 60s as well as the old-money establishment, both of which can make you a lot of enemies. If there was more to it, well, old money or new ideas was probably the root cause.

GF's thoughts:

People have a lot of ideas about why John F. Kennedy was killed. He sat in office from 1961-1963, during which he commanded some of the most fraught and complex foreign affairs endeavours in American history. Just a few examples of this are: his increase in American advisors in Vietnam (this was part of the ‘Americanization period of the Vietnam War, which would be subsequently vastly increased by Lyndon B. Johnson), the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Domestically, the sixties were arguably one of the most tumultuous periods of civil unrest. During his time in office he attempted to champion civil rights bills, but had little success in passing his New Frontier policies, and worked to further the Space Race. Americans were divided at the time, many of whom held deeply anti-Catholic attitudes towards him. While his approval rating was generally very high, I think part of this stemmed from some of his showings of brinkmanship, most notably his leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ultimately, we’ll never know why John F. Kennedy was killed, because his shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed just a few days after killing President Kennedy. The investigation found that Mr. Oswald had acted alone, and was not part of a conspiracy, but a huge percentage of the American public does not believe that, and thinks that there are deeper conspiracies here (I just read that in 1976, a Gallup pole showed that 81% of Americans believed that ‘others were involved’ besides Oswald). My historical knowledge ends at the conspiracy theories, but it’s a serious rabbit hole you can dive into. The Kennedy family’s involvement with the mafia, as well as the CIA (probably because of the Bay of Pigs invasion) are often cited as potential suspects. It’s easy to go down this hole of conspiracy theories, but ultimately who knows. There are a lot of reasons why JFK’s assassination is so iconic in American history, but I think the most lasting is that it signified the end of a very measurable time of growth, affluence, and discovery in American history. Following the Second World War, the things we think of as making up this ‘era of affluence’ seemed to exist up until this point: white flight to suburbia, the Space Race, candy-pink fridges, the baby boom, etc. I think people see JFK’s assassination as a turning point, out of which a period of even greater civil unrest grew, ultimately unleashing things like the anti-Vietnam War protests, Kent State, and the Berkeley Free Speech movement. In other words, because he embodied such a Camelot-esque image (heterosexual, white family with children running around in Nantucket), there’s an idea of ‘what if.’ And the same goes for Bobby: it is widely believed that, because of his political position at is death, he would have won the Democratic primary and gone on to hold office. When such an iconic figure dies and a country is rapidly thrown into social and cultural upheaval, maybe we look to that figure as an embodiment of a comfortable past that is now gone, too.

Congratulations David!!! So nice to hear from a deep thinker out there and tackling a very deep and complicated subject and your girlfriend's input as a Kennedy afficionado.

Good point about how persons now stuck at home would have the attention span to contemplate the message of this 17 minute epic song.

You answered Question #2 well, and I appauld you. Could be to reach a larger audience and stimulate deep thinkers to connect the dots from the 1960's to the present. It was a very logical application. Interesting you are talking about the dates of March and reincarnation there are other theories out there. I had never heard the Walt Whitman reincarnation but interesting to contemplate.

Question #3 We know what the government has told us, but who trusts the government? Deep thinkers do not. There are many experts of how bullets kill and how there may have been more than one bullet? How could a single crazy guy carry this out with all the security around? Why was a lone wolf shooter quickly silenced? Why was his brother killed after saying he was going to investigate his brother's death? I for one do not accept simple explanations from the government (not a sheeple) designed to cover up a crime.

There are many theories about Question #3 and #4. You can find opinions about what happened from many perspectives. All I can say is that hopefully the truth will come out sometime soon.

Thanks again David for your heroic attempt to address these questions. It's not for the faint of heart!!!

Questions # 5 and #6 Senator Moynihan's liberal Democratic politician of New York's senate seat was soon up for reelection. It is know that John F kennedy, JR was contemplating running for that seat. After his untimely death, Hillary Clinton became a resident of New York and obtained that Senate seat.

Question #7 It is well known that the upper crust in New York socialized with each other. John Kennedy JR knew our current President and did tweet that Donald Trump would make a great President if he decided to give up his billionaire lifestyle.

Question # 8 and #9 the Kennedy grandkids singing a song on You-Tube called It's Going Down Timber. What do they know that might be happening currently to address the three Kennedy's deaths. Were they killed by the deep state for going against the globalist bankers? Are we in fact at war with them again? You decide.

I would be interested anyone's reflection on why the Kennedy grandkids are singing and their message. What does that mean?


I think Bob Dylan felt comfortable releasing his song at this time. Our most recent upheaval of society may be the perfect time to allow deep thinkers to contemplate this most important message of the past. Bob is old now, has made his money and his career will go down in music history. I think he may now feel more free to report this huge social injustice. He always has had a leaning to do that with his songs.