Lyrics Neighborhood Bully (Infidels Alternate Take) - Bob Dylan

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's trespassing on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully

Well, the neighborhood bully just lives to survive
He's criticized for just being alive
Not supposed to fight back, supposed to have thick skin
Supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully

Well, he neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him, he was supposed to feel bad
He's the neighborhood bully

Well, the odds are against it, the chances are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him
There's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him given out to every maniac
Neighborhood bully

He got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must buy, he don't get it out of love
He's supposed to buy weapons, that can't be denied
No one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
Neighborhood bully

He's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly, to hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for the bully to go asleep
Neighborhood bully

Every empire enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
Made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In a computerized world, he makes his last stand
Neighborhood bully

What's anybody indebted to him for?
"Nothing", they say, "he just likes to cause war"
Pride and prejudice, superstition indeed
Wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
Neighborhood bully

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Can he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully