1971

     The topic of boxing keeps coming to my attention lately:  on Hardball, Chris Matthews compared Pres. Trump to Sonny  Liston -- no one wanted to fight him because he seemed brutal and crazy, and he frightened everybody.

     I noticed that because I remember reading someplace (don't know where) that Esquire magazine featured Mr. Liston on a cover in the 1960s, wearing a Santa hat.  It was ironic because he was scary.  (Where did I read that?  Cannot remember.)


     And then I was reminded of middleweight fighter Rubin Carter when Rolling Thunder Revue was playing on Netflix and Bob Dylan performed "Hurricane."

     In my life, I can go a long time without thinking about boxing at all.  So this flurry of Boxer Awareness is kind of unusual.  (I hope it doesn't become one of those psychological tricks where you buy a pink Cadillac and then you start seeing them everywhere...)

     Reading in online encyclopedia:  Sonny Liston was born in Arkansas, but was uncertain of the date of his birth, as Arkansas didn't require birth certificates until 1965.

     He died at the age of either 39 or 40, in January 1971 or December 1970....

Oh, the streets of Rome -- are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think -- that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece
Yeah she promised -- that she'd be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece


Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wastin' time
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb
Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory
As the daylight hours do increase
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece


I left Rome -- and landed in Brussels
With a picture of a tall oak tree by my side
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' mussels
Everyone was there and nobody tried to hide
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
Someday, everything is gonna be different
When I paint my masterpiece

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{"When I Paint My Masterpiece" -- Bob Dylan, released November 1971.  From the album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II}

"When I Paint My Masterpiece" is a song with country
 influences -- a medium-to-slow-tempo song with the energy and command of a fast song.  It can be listened to from the album, on Amazon Prime.

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