neighborhood bully

Singer:bob dylan

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 he 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 could 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 licence to kill him is given out to every maniac

he's the neighborhood bully. well

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 that he signed was worth that 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?

nothing

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.