When someone tries to assure themselves they're not part of something wrong or evil or immoral, Bob Dylan's 'Who Killed Davey Moore' (lyrics below) is one of the best songs to understand the often unwitting role people can play in that thing that's wrong or evil or immoral. He wrote it after boxer Davey Moore died in the ring and everyone from the referee to the crowd to the reporters to his opponent claimed they had nothing to do with it.
By disavowing their responsibility to the nation, Congress captures the essence of the song.
At first, establishment Republicans (who had established themselves as protectors of their own power) guarded their position by denouncing Trump. When that didn’t work, their protests grew smaller until, eventually, they acquiesced and have since remained hidden under their desks and everything they had professed to believe — honesty, integrity, law and order, American values, a strong stance on Russia — was exposed as a hoax. No praise of Nazis, no conspiracy with Russia, no payoffs, no admission of guilt, no self-penned medical report is enough to get them to look up and take a backward glance at the receding shadow of their dignity.
Each and every one who cowered before a bully is responsible for the crisis we’re in; a crisis they would question if it were happening in Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, or any Third World nation. Having allowed this and every other criminal and immoral act to occur unchecked, it is clear they are not ready to stand up. So we have to. In great numbers.
The only thing that will change the direction we’re on is voting. Voting, voting, voting. Republican leaders believe if they blow up the dam and flood the nation with broken traditions, broken alliances, and a broken government voters feel powerless to change the tide. I guarantee you we’ll feel a hundred times more powerless if we don’t work together, sprint to the finish line, and regain control of Congress in November.
I hope you do your part by getting involved. I’m doing my part here in Florida by running for the Florida State Senate. If not, I’d be just one of the characters who absolved myself of sin in Dylan’s subtle masterpiece.
Who Killed Davey Moore?
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not I,” says the referee
“Don’t point your finger at me
I could’ve stopped it in the eighth
An’ maybe kept him from his fate
But the crowd would’ve booed, I’m sure
At not gettin’ their money’s worth
It’s too bad he had to go
But there was a pressure on me too, you know
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not us,” says the angry crowd
Whose screams filled the arena loud
“It’s too bad he died that night
But we just like to see a fight
We didn’t mean for him t’ meet his death
We just meant to see some sweat
There ain’t nothing wrong in that
It wasn’t us that made him fall
No, you can’t blame us at all”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not me,” says his manager
Puffing on a big cigar
“It’s hard to say, it’s hard to tell
I always thought that he was well
It’s too bad for his wife an’ kids he’s dead
But if he was sick, he should’ve said
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not me,” says the gambling man
With his ticket stub still in his hand
“It wasn’t me that knocked him down
My hands never touched him none
I didn’t commit no ugly sin
Anyway, I put money on him to win
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not me,” says the boxing writer
Pounding print on his old typewriter
Sayin’, “Boxing ain’t to blame
There’s just as much danger in a football game”
Sayin’, “Fistfighting is here to stay
It’s just the old American way
It wasn’t me that made him fall
No, you can’t blame me at all”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not me,” says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist
Who came here from Cuba’s door
Where boxing ain’t allowed no more
“I hit him, yes, it’s true
But that’s what I am paid to do
Don’t say ‘murder,’ don’t say ‘kill’
It was destiny, it was God’s will”
Who killed Davey Moore
Why an’ what’s the reason for?