Did Bob Dylan Write A Protest Song About Robert Moses?

[kurumi]

http://gothamist.com/2015/06/26/bob_dylan_robert_moses.php

Betteridge's law of headlines may apply here, and some scholars are not convinced of the evidence. But there is a set of lyrics, dated 1963, titled "Listen, Robert Moses" and credited to Bob Dylan. The opening verse:

Listen, Robert Moses, listen if you can
It's all about our neighborhood that you're trying to condemn
We aren't going to sit back and see our homes torn down
So take your superhighway and keep it out of town.

The superhighway was the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and the "town" was, well, Manhattan.

From the article:

Unfortunately, those are two of the only references to the song available online. Historians I spoke to were incredibly skeptical about the material: "I don't believe this for a second!" said Stephen Petrus, the curator for the "Folk City" exhibit currently showing at the Museum Of The City Of New York. "I've done extensive research and writing on both topics and have never come across this song. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe this is a hoax."

The New York Public Library has no record of any recording of the song as well. But it's entirely possible Dylan wrote the lyrics and never actually sang it–he was writing a hell of a lot of songs during that time period, many of which were getting sent around to other songwriters.

[Henry]

That was an interesting read, and might've been the ultimate song of opposition for cities everywhere, from San Francisco to Atlanta, and Baltimore to Portland. It would be even better if he recorded it at the time.

[roadman]

I'm not convinced this is authentic.  While I'm hardly an expert on the music business, I can't recall ever seeing where somebody who wrote both their own lyrics and music (as opposed to a lyricist who has somebody else write the music) would type out (as opposed to writing out) just the lyrics themselves.  And, if Dylan intended to set the lyrics to the music of one of his other songs, one would think there would be at least a reference to that other song with the lyrics.

[Alps]

I looked into it at one point. There's no consensus, but it's either Dylan himself tossing out a piece he didn't like that happened to be found, or (much more likely IMO) someone writing in his style wanting to believe they are as good as Dylan.

[ixnay]

http://gothamist.com/2015/06/26/bob_dylan_robert_moses.php

In kurumi's link, scroll down about halfway to "richie_poor"'s comment about Tuli Kupferberg and read the comment and the responses.

ixnay

[ixnay]

I'm not convinced this is authentic.  While I'm hardly an expert on the music business, I can't recall ever seeing where somebody who wrote both their own lyrics and music (as opposed to a lyricist who has somebody else write the music) would type out (as opposed to writing out) just the lyrics themselves.  And, if Dylan intended to set the lyrics to the music of one of his other songs, one would think there would be at least a reference to that other song with the lyrics.

You'll have a hard time convincing "franzdavis" in the comments with kurumi's link (towards the bottom) that this was authentically Dylan's.

ixnay