Not I, Not Us, Not Me

Hello Human,

The ‘festive season’ is upon us, the end of 2023 is lurking - a change of pace this month feels right.

I’ll get to ‘Who Killed Davey Moore?’ shortly.

If you are a regular reader and follower of yours truly you’ll already know that I have a little musical streak woven into my DNA. If you’re not - fyi - I have a little musical streak woven into my DNA. I play some guitar and belt out a few tunes, at times for fun, at times for therapy.

My ‘go to musician’ my ‘musical hero’ is the one and only Robert Allen Zimmerman, aka Robert Dylan, aka

BOB DYLAN.

Like A Rolling Stone; Mr Tambourine Man; Blowin In The Wind; A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - THAT Bob Dylan.

Spotify informed me yesterday that my 2023 (and it's not done yet) had me in the top 0.5% globally of Dylan listeners and we spent over 2000 minutes together in the first 11 months of the year.

Dylan has been described as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, musically and culturally. He was ranked by Rolling Stone at number one in its 2015 list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, and at number 15 on its 2023 list of the Greatest Singers of All Time.

In 2004, Richard F. Thomas, Classics professor at Harvard University, created a freshman seminar titled "Dylan", which aimed "to put the artist in the context of not just popular culture of the last half-century, but the tradition of classical poets like Virgil and Homer". And let’s not forget that Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

Loving the Dylan trivia quiz answers Mark, but…

Who Killed Davey Moore?

I’ll get to Davey Moore Human - keep reading.

In ‘A Man Without a Country’ in 2005 Kurt Vonnegut wrote:

“No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.”

Music, particularly Dylan’s music for me, is often a source of comfort, of solace, of inspiration. Music asks questions, and provides answers. It’s reflective, contemplative, descriptive, and instructive.

Music is - ‘wonderful’.

C’mon Mark - DAVEY MOORE?????

Patience Human patience - read on.

Digressing from music ever so briefly, another of my heroes-without-a-cape is Marty ‘What’s your part in the Mess’ Linsky from Harvard.

‘A Survival Guide For Leaders’ -

THAT Marty Linsky.

I spent time with Marty at Harvard in 2014. Enough said about Marty, the mess, and 2014 for now.

Let me end your suspense -

Who Killed Davey Moore?

- Not I, Not us, Not me.

Who Killed Davey Moore? is a Bob Dylan song written in 1963. There’s a refrain that runs through it:

"It wasn't me that made him fall.

No, you can't blame me at all."

In each verse of Dylan’s ‘Who Killed Davey Moore?’ the defensive party gives its reasons why it is free from culpability.

Not I, Not us, Not me.

No one at fault, nothing to see here, nobody owning the mess. Everyone is free from culpability. Dylan in 1963 sounded a little prophetic about organisational life in 2023.

Of course, there’s no chance that Dylan back then was connected to Vonnegut in 2005 and Linsky in 2014.

In 1963 Dylan couldn’t see the ills that pervade and infect organisational life today:- the litany of ‘leaders’ that are free from culpability; the organisers of organisations that have (apparently) no part in the mess to own; the gods of greed, the creators of corruption; the anti-heroes of heartlessness.

Dylan couldn’t see them, but his lyrics had a predictive and futuristic aspect to them.

“No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.”

Go on have a listen to the words of Dylan and reflect on how we humans deny our part in the mess.

Human - find some wonderful music to get you through December and the festive season and on and strong into 2024.

I’ll see you on the other side.

Go well.