Bob Dylan - 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 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 should 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 license to kill him is given
out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.


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 he signed was worth
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?
Nothin', 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


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 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 should 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 license to kill him is given
out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.


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 he signed was worth
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?
Nothin', 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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