MAGISTER

OPOSICIONES AL PROFESORADO Inglés Secundaria

LISTENING

05 HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY, BOB DYLAN

(ANSWERS AND TRANSCRIPT)

Listen to the recording and answer the following questions.

a. What was Bob Dylan’s real name and where was he born?
He was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Minnesota.

b. What “titles” aimed at categorise or analyse him did Dylan reject?

He rejected being called the voice of his generation and the conscience of the world.

c. What’s the title of the song we hear in the recording?

“My Back Pages.”

d. Complete the following extract of the song with the adequate words.
Crimson flames tied through my ears rollin’ high and mighty traps , pounced with
fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps. We’ll meet on edges soon, said I, proud
beneath heated brow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth. Rip down all hate, I screamed. Lies that life is black
and white, spoke from my skull , I dreamed. Romantic facts of musketeers
foundationed deep, somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

Girls’ faces formed the forward path from phony jealousy to memorizing politics of
ancient history, flung down by corpse evangelists unthought of, though, somehow. Ah,
but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor’s tongue too serious to fool spouted out that liberty is just equality
in school. Equality, I spoke the word as if a wedding vow . Ah, but I was so much older
then. I’m younger than that now.

In a soldier’s stance , I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach . Fearing not
that I’d become my enemy in the instant that I preach. My existence led by confusion
boats, mutiny from stern to bow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that
now.
 Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect deceived me
into thinking I had something to protect. Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no
doubt, somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

e. Summarise the main ideas of the recording.

This recording is from a radio programme and celebrates Bob Dylan’s 70 th birthday. Bob Dylan
is not his real name, for he was born Robert Allen Zimmerman and is one of the most distinctive
musicians of his era. The host of the programme says that “he has been and still is a disturber of
the peace, his as well as ours.” Then, he plays one of Bob Dylan’s song.

f. What is Bob Dylan’s song about?

This song is about being indoctrinated at a young age and thinking that you knew it all and that
there was nothing left to learn. Later you realise that you have a lot more to learn i.e. “But I was
so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”

TRANSCRIPT
Happy 70th Birthday, Bob Dylan
May 24, 2011

NEAL CONAN, host:

Bob Dylan turns 70 years old today. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Minnesota, he may be the
most distinctive musician of his era. In The New York Times, critic A.O. Scott wrote: The scope
of his historical imagination stretches from before the flood to the end of days. And the man
himself can sometime seem to dwell outside of time altogether.

In 1991, as he presented Bob Dylan with a Grammy for lifetime achievement, Jack Nicholson
said, he’s been called everything from the voice of his generation to the conscience of the world.
He rejects both titles and any others that try to categorize him or analyze him.

He opened the doors of pop music wider than anybody else, yet returned, time and again, to the
simplicity of basic chords and emotions to express himself. He has been and still is a disturber of
the peace, his as well as ours. Nice, but as usual, the man himself put it better.

(Soundbite of song, “My Back Pages”)

Mr. BOB DYLAN (Musician): (Singing) Crimson flames tied through my ears rollin’ high and
mighty traps, pounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps. We’ll meet on edges
soon, said I, proud beneath heated brow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that
now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth. Rip down all hate, I screamed. Lies that life is black and
white, spoke from my skull, I dreamed. Romantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep,
somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.
Girls’ faces formed the forward path from phony jealousy to memorizing politics of ancient
history, flung down by corpse evangelists unthought of, though, somehow. Ah, but I was so
much older then. I’m younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor’s tongue too serious to fool spouted out that liberty is just equality in
school. Equality, I spoke the word as if a wedding vow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m
younger than that now.

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach. Fearing not that I’d
become my enemy in the instant that I preach. My existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from
stern to bow. Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect deceived me into thinking I
had something to protect. Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.

CONAN: Bob Dylan, 70 today, “My Back Pages.” Tomorrow, political junkie Ken Rudin joins
us. This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News, I’m Neal Conan broadcasting from
Washington.