Bob Dylan – Neighborhood Bully

He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in

He’s the neighborhood bully.

Welcome to Bob the Punk in this song. He does away with traditional choruses…and just gets down to business. I’ve been wanting to post this for years and it’s been languishing in my draft folder. My friend Matt posted it a little while back.

I bought Infidels back in the 80s and it remains my favorite Dylan album of that decade. It had quite a few songs that made it to our radio stations in Nashville. Jokerman, Sweetheart Like You, and Union Sundown. This is the one is the one that I focused on. Ex Rolling Stone member Mick Taylor played guitar on this and the song is a rocker.

It also was the most controversial song on the album. It drew criticism from some people and others loved it. The song is clearly a pro Israel song and he sings the song with passion. It was banned from YouTube and other platforms in 2020 for “hate speech.” After articles came out in defense of the song…youtube reversed its decision. It was also recalled from the record company for a while. Hard to believe a 37-year-old song could cause so much trouble when it’s been out there since 1983.

People say Bob’s voice is this or that…but it’s made for songs like this. It fits this song perfectly. I’ve seen where some Dylan fans hate it but it’s been a favorite of mine. It’s not Masters of War or Like A Rolling Stone and it’s repetitive but I like it. The lyrics flow great in this one.

The album peaked at #20 in the Billboard Album Charts, #14 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK in 1983.

Bob Dylan:  “I’m not a political songwriter. “‘Neighborhood Bully,’ to me, is not a political song, because if it were, it would fall into a certain political party. If you’re talkin’ about it as an Israeli political song—in Israel alone, there’s maybe 20 political parties. I don’t know where that would fall, what party.”

Neighborhood Bully

Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He’s the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He’s always on trial for just being born
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he could apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him
‘Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a licence to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command
He’s the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He’s the neighborhood bully.

What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
He’s the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

27 thoughts on “Bob Dylan – Neighborhood Bully”

  3. His statement that he’s not a political songwriter seems to echo his criticism of Phil Ochs as “not a folksinger, you’re a journalist”. To call the song not political because it didn’t refer to a “certain political party” is a pretty limited definition of the word “political” and one that I would guess Dylan wouldn’t agree with in other contexts. Was “Hurricane” therefore not a political song? “The Times They Are a-Changin'”? “Masters of War”? “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”? “Blowin’ in the Wind”? etc

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    1. Oh it’s a political song without a doubt… that is why I added that quote…I knew he would not fess up to it. It’s obvious…I know he doesn’t like labels but a rose is a rose.

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      1. I didn’t know it had been banned temporarily. Talk about cancel culture. Geez. I know how much you love this album. I think Neighbourhood Billy,, Lenny Bruce and Hurricane are his most polemic songs. I found a ton of hate on Dylan’s main fan page over ‘Bully’ years ago. But I always loved it and the guitar is superb as you implied.

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      2. Oh that pissed me off…that is the reason I didn’t post it back then in 2020…I could not find the video.
        Oh yea…I see a lot of hate for it also with people reviewing it on youtube.

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      3. In light of the inexplicable suffering and mutilation of Israel’s most vulnerable on Oct 7 (many of whom were Palestinians supporters even employing Palestinian workers), Dylan was on the money as far as I’m concerned.

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      5. What happened Oct 7 wide scale is unlike anything ever seen before. Douglas Murray spoke about seeing a young man butchering the head of a man with a spade and then calling home to them he had killed 10 Jews and they were all elated. Lets not mince words here. This depravity is beyond hate.

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      1. I was part of a show where we used this as one of the tunes. As far as the words go, Bob had something to say. Wrote them down, got the band together and let it rip. World’s in a tangle man. Let’s you and me help untangle it.

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  7. Max, I wouldn’t expect any less from Dylan in writing a potent song for his people. He’s written a winner here, but yes, it is controversial. Just like his other political songs were controversial. Too bad this is the first time hearing it, which means the Overlords have been successful in censoring it.

    It’s relevant to the current situation over there. That said, as long as the blame game continues there will be no meeting of the minds for peace. We have to stop letting rotten history sully the potential for peace in the present.

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    1. Those words and the way he phrases things make it really powerful. That album Infidels is my favorite of the 80s hands down.
      Oh yes it is relevant….you know what is sad? It’s been relevant too many times. Yea it’s time for a solution and peace.

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