It’s in the news today that Fidel Castro has tendered his resignation as dictator of Cuba. On the clearinghouse site for Dylan-related news, Expecting Rain, a line from Motorpsycho Nightmare was quoted without comment: “I like Fidel Castro and his beard.” That’s Dylan’s comedic song from Another Side of Bob Dylan — a tale of the farmer’s daughter and related matters.

More recently, Dylan made a reference to Fidel Castro on his “Theme Time Radio Hour” show. It was the Christmas episode, and Bob said the following:

Before Pope John Paul the Second’s January nineteen and ninety-eight visit, Fidel Castro, as a show of good will, gave Cubans the day off for Christmas, for the first time in nearly three decades. He had originally canceled the holiday, hoping that an extra day of work would help bring in a record sugar harvest. It didn’t help enough, and he never brought Christmas back, for nearly three decades.

Right now we’d like to say “Feliz Navidad” to all of our Cuban friends.

It kind of says it all: Fidel, the workers’ savior, banning Christmas to boost the sugar harvest.

Here’s hoping that the long real nightmare of the Cuban people comes to an end sooner rather than later.

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