verbs - What does “Watch the plain clothes” account for in terms of “Cheap liquor nationalism”?

International Herald Tribune (September 30) introduced a commentary of Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami who is regarded as a favorite for this year’s Nobel Prize in literature on Japan’s dispute with China over the territorial issues of the Senkaku Islands, which appeared in the Asahi Newspaper on September 28. Murakami wrote:

After your drunken rampage you are left with nothing but an awful
headache the next morning. We must be careful about politicians and

polemicists who lavish us with this cheap liquor and fan this kind of
rampage.

After the analogy of ‘Cheap liquor’ of nationalism, the writer, Marc McDonald adds:

Put another way, by the possible Nobel laureate Mr. Bob Dylan: “Keep
a clean nose / Watch the plain clothes / You don’t need a weatherman /
To know which way the wind blows.

I can understand 'just literally' the implication of “Keep a clean nose. You don’t need a weatherman. To know which way the wind blows.” But I don’t understand what “Watch the plain clothes” implies?

To me, the line, “Keep a clean nose and so on” doesn’t relate to cheap liquor nationalism at all, thanks to the lack of my imagination.

I think this is a lyric of Bob Dylan’s popular song, but I’m curious to know how it comes that “Cheap liquor of nationalism” could be paraphrased or accounted for by “Keep a clean nose / Watch the plain clothes / You don’t need a weatherman / To know which way the wind blows.”?

Answer

Yoichi, I wonder if, when you read "plain clothes," you thought of ordinary clothes, as opposed to fashionable attire.

I think Dylan was referring instead to plain clothes police officers, meaning those who don't wear a uniform. That, coupled with keep a clean nose, essentially means, "stay out of trouble," as does much of the rest of that song, with mention of the springtime arrests ordered by the district attorney, and getting bailed out of prison. Of course, Dylan made it rhyme better than I just did.

As to how this all relates to the dispute over the islands, I think the author is simply saying that it's easy to let your emotions get the best of you, and land into serious trouble, over something that is rather petty in the larger scheme of things. Better to just keep your wits about you.