The Power of Music

Last night I was cleaning shelves in ye old druggy store. An old classic by Bob Dylan snuck its way on the radio. The song is one of those rare gems that comes along and just knocks you off your feet. I like it most when i don’t hear it for a really long time and then suddenly it appears. I get goose bumps, the shivers, all of it. It’s amazing how a song can sound cool or powerful when heard the first time. I know for certain i was surprised when i heard Bob Dylan’s version as a kid. I thought it was a silly little acoustic version of the same song by Guns n Roses. I was just an uncultured listener then. Finally after years of listening, watching, and reading I’m able to accept the two versions as great in their own right. GNR use Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door to represent their own “living on the edge” lifestyle, whereas Dylan’s has meaning, vision, and purpose. Go watch Peckinpah’s “Pat Garret and Billy the Kid.” A beautiful film. It touches all senses. I get goose bumps just thinking about the movie. To this day I’m still in awe after the first time i saw it a few years ago. The scene where KOHD comes on is magnificent and terrible. Pat Garret requests the help of an old friend a sheriff in a quiet town. He knows Billy the Kid is coming for him and no one else will help. They hold up at a barn, just the two of them. Billy the Kid shows up with his posse and it all goes downhill. The old sheriff gets shot a dozen times. He exits the barn riddled with bullets, blood oozing out of his body. The sun is low and hot, reddish orange in color. The old sherriff kneels down and pulls of his badge, and unclips his gun. He is ready to go. His body hangs lifeless in a kneeling position. Honor, good, truth, and justice are knocking on heaven’s door. What good they did this man. You never know something like that is possible. There are so many films out there that are just movies. They were made to make money and that’s it. Peckinpah made films that will never be forgotten and Dylan wrote lyrical ballads that still shock us with their truth and insight today.