Neglected Gems By Big Names #83:
Bob Dylan - "You've Been Hiding Too Long"
Dylan has always attacked hypocrites, racists, conservatives, establishment toadies and the like. In the "protest" era, except when discussing specific incidents (often racially-motivated murders and/or miscarriages of justice) he generally did this through humour and mockery, or by veiled references. (The song When The Ship Comes In is said to be inspired by an incident when he was refused a room in a posh hotel because his slightly bohemian appearance made the desk clerk doubt that he could pay for it, no matter how much proof he could offer of how rich he was.)
This song, though, is a direct, vicious, bitter and undisguised attack on the misappropriation of patriotism: the people who've been "hiding" are hiding behind the American flag. It was too much for his record company, who supposedly abandoned a planned live album because Dylan wouldn't agree to withdraw it from the tracklist. It has still not been released, or acknowledged in the list of songs on his official website, and the lyrics have not been published.
Mind you there was more than one plan for a Dylan live album in the early days - Columbia used to release lots of them by its folk-based artists - and the story goes that the one commonly regarded as "the" unreleased official live album was shelved because of a different track: Last Thoughts On Woodie Guthrie is an 8 minute poem/talk that most would regard as a waste of some vinyl that could have accommodated two or three extra songs; and again, reputedly Dylan refused to withdraw it. As a result some of his greatest songs, that weren't included on studio albums, remained unreleased for over 20 years because these versions stayed in the vaults. (Percy's Song and Lay Down Your Weary Tune, to name but two.)
NB the song contains racist language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDYrEgaw0hc