There's Something Happening Here

It has always been common for artists to respond to a political situation or event in the form of song, these 'protest' songs are usually topical, situational or connected to a wider movement. The message in songs of this nature does not need to be explicitly stated, below is Bob Dylan's "All along the watchtower" from 'The John Wesley Harding" album (1967).

This song then is essentially a song wanting change to the society, and is based around the image of "flatland"where everything is neutral, and without any value, as modern thinkers like Ken Wilber would say.

    The first line of the song itself gives immediate connotations of drama, "There must be some kind of way out of here" telling us he needs to get out of something, without pointing directly to war or other political situations, and again without naming anyone, this conversation is between the joker and thief, two types of figures that have always been around, and will probably continue stand the test time of time. These two characters then begin to talk about how the values of life in society are wrong, "business men, they drink my wine, Plow men dig my earth. None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth."

  We can stop at this point of the song, as you can now see the message behind the song beginning to unfold, and the skill in Dylan's writing which makes this message not so obvious unless you go looking for it.