By Gary Berton
The only reference to Thomas Paine made by Bob Dylan is the 1967 “As I Went Out One Morning”, on the John Wesley Harding album. I started reading Paine after I heard that song.
However, every analysis I read about the song only confused me. After researching Paine for 50 years, I can shed some light on it. And the reviews of the song are making even less sense now than then.
The woman in the song is America, and he took responsibility for her. He apologized to her, saying he was “sorry for what she’s done”. This was in the height of the Vietnam War, also the height of the civil rights upsurge. Paine prophesied later in life that if America loses its morals of equality and justice, that it would be a sad day for all of humanity.
The heart of Paine was equality and justice; he also condemned offensive war as the most heinous crime that can be committed. I commend Dylan for grasping Paine’s essence, and for putting it to use.
He did a much better job than most historians in that time.
