She lived long enough to see America's first African-American president elected, but within a month of this historic election, she passed on. There are many people who have said that Bob Dylan "he had his finger on the pulse of his generation." Before he checked for a pulse, he put his ear up close to the speakers and listened to a musician who put singing, lyrics and political activism above all else. Her voice influenced a generation of musicians, and it will live on.
Because I am a huge Bob Dylan fan, my father took out one of his vinyl records that he had saved from the 60's and played it for me. It was a collection of Bob Dylan songs sung by Odetta, a folk icon who was scheduled to sing at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. She passed away Tuesday. I remembered the first time I heard her sing "Long Ago, Far Away," an unreleased Dylan song that captured the mood of those in the 60's generation who wanted to create a better world.
"And to talk of peace and brotherhood,
Oh, what might be the cost!
A man he did it long ago
And they hung him on a cross.
Long ago, far away;
Things like that don't happen
No more, nowadays"
Odetta believed that "the world hasn't improved, and so there's always something to sing about."
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