Johnny Depp is using his musical talent to pay tribute to ‘sacrificial hero’ George Floyd. He shared video performing a Bob Dylan protest song, which the star says applies to what the nation is now going through.
Johnny Depp is best known for his decades-long acting career, but what he really loves to do is perform music. The soon to be 57-year-old Hollywood Vampires guitarist has shared an Instagram video performing the Bob Dylan classic, “The Times They Are A-Changin” and says that it “very strongly applies to the life altering image of George Floyd, forever seared to our brains.” Johnny called George a “sacrificial hero,” after the 46-year-old Black man’s horrific death following a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes during an arrest, as it has lead to Black Lives Matter rallies worldwide.
View this post on Instagram
Two months before the world was subjected to the shocking live coverage of the merciless, bloodthirsty and public daylight murder of JFK in Nov. 1963, Bob Dylan sat down to write a song… He had a particular idea in mind, which he recorded mere weeks before Kennedy’s tragic Assassination. Dylan had already achieved stratospheric acclaim from his treasure-producing workmanship and poetic abilities. He had already jacked up the bar of songwriting to an untouchable level. He also became a reluctant prophet, which can be quite an occupational hazard…Yet he remained himself while dodging all manner of con artists, bloodsuckers, angles, arrows, ignorance, injustices, and scrutinization of his life. His intentions remained pure. So he sat down and wrote the gold standard of protest songs, the seminal and most significant, mind boggling and staggeringly poetic, prophetic protest song the world will ever know: “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. Dylan’s song applies to Covid-19, it also, very strongly applies to the life altering image of George Floyd, forever seared to our brains… For me, it applies to the moment we are in, it applies to the moment they were in in 1963, it applies to everything before and everything since and everything that will be. I chose to perform this song live, for my friend @drbarbarasturm Covid benefit several weeks ago… I didn’t really know how to play it, but I figured I’d give it a shot, as it seemed to apply so well. And it applies now, more than ever. It was performed a couple of weeks before our collective paralysis was rendered complete by the images of our fellow human George Floyd being cruelly and brutally tortured to death on live TV. Let us take a moment to remember the sacrificial hero George Floyd and look with hope towards the changes that his tragic death will cause. And let’s salute the reluctant prophet Bob Dylan and the dream of change he inspired then, now, and onwards… His impact is that of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Hunter Thompson, Marlon Brando, Woody Guthrie, William Blake, Picasso, Bach and Mozart. Dylan’s song is to be kept near you, AT ALL TIMES!!! All love and respect, JD
The video was actually taped at Johnny’s home in France for a May 9 COVID-19 benefit, but he shared it with fans via his Instagram page on June 7. He wrote in a lengthy caption that he believes Dylan’s masterpiece of a song applies to both the coronavirus pandemic, and how the world is changing following George’s incredibly disturbing death.
Johnny began in the caption by describing the history of Dylan’s song and how it heralded from another time when American society was undergoing a seismic change due to another public tragedy. “Two months before the world was subjected to the shocking live coverage of the merciless, bloodthirsty and public daylight murder of JFK in Nov. 1963, Bob Dylan sat down to write a song…He had a particular idea in mind, which he recorded mere weeks before Kennedy’s tragic assassination.”
“So he sat down and wrote the gold standard of protest songs, the seminal and most significant, mind boggling and staggeringly poetic, prophetic protest song the world will ever know: ‘The Times They Are A-Changin.’ Dylan’s song applies to COVID-19, it also, very strongly applies to the life altering image of George Floyd, forever seared to our brains,” Johnny explained. Bystanders took cellphone video of handcuffed George desperately pleading that he couldn’t breathe, as Officer Derek Chauvin continued to kneel on his neck. Derek was fired and has since been charged with second degree murder in George’s death.
George Floyd in an undated selfie. Photo provided by Ben Crump Law.
“For me, it applies to the moment we are in, it applies to the moment they were in in 1963, it applies to everything before and everything since and everything that will be,” Johnny continued when describing what the Dylan song means to him. He went on to explain that, “I chose to perform this song live, for my friend @drbarbarasturm Covid benefit several weeks ago…I didn’t really know how to play it, but I figured I’d give it a shot, as it seemed to apply so well.”
“And it applies now, more than ever. It was performed a couple of weeks before our collective paralysis was rendered complete by the images of our fellow human George Floyd being cruelly and brutally tortured to death on TV.” Johnny then asked, “Let us take a moment to remember the sacrificial hero George Floyd and look with hope towards the changes that his tragic death will cause. And let’s salute the reluctant prophet Bob Dylan and the dream of change he inspired then, now, and onwards.”
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
