Yesterday, I spent time at the Whitman Birthplace and reading Walt Whitman. In “Song of Myself,” he wrote:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
Bob Dylan picked up on those lines when he wrote and performed the lead off song, “I Contain Multitudes,” on his pandemic album, Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). Here is one verse:
I sing the songs of experience like William Blake
I have no apologies to make
Everything’s flowin’ all at the same time
I live on the boulevard of crime
I drive fast cars and I eat fast foods . . . I contain multitudes
We’re human, all full of contradictions and surprises, and we all contain multitudes.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/pgEP8teNXwY?si=OH-nVvKrygO59Fqv
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5AJT2Tk8mnDEnCtsikWVu2?si=95739d015ae04b2f