Dylan in Greenwich Village, NYC

His relocation from Minnesota to New York City is immortalized in the song “Talkin’ New York”, off his first album. He struggled but persisted,  to get gigs in Greenwich  Village at various folk clubs and coffeehouses in his first year in New York City. At this time he would befriend many folk artists such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, Odetta, the New Lost City Ramblers and Johnny Cash as well as The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem.

Dylan had the ability to absorb all that he heard whether it be other artists live or records played on the radio or on the record player which he listened to incessantly.  He claimed that he needed to hear a song once or twice to be able to play it. Dylan would often base his original lyrics around earlier folk songs, a practice employed by many of the other folk artists of the time. Much of Dylan’s early material was sung with an almost laughing giggle that he would continue to employ on his subsequent albums.

In September 1961, Bob Dylan got a great gig, a two week run at the famous Gerde’s Folk City, in West Greenwich Village and garnered positive reviews and write-ups in the New York Times by Robert Shelton. This would help open the doors for him to become a recording artist with Columbia records.

At this time Dylan went on to become “Woody Guthrie’s greatest fan (disciple)”, incorporating Guthrie’s styles of singing while playing with only his guitar and harmonica. Bob Dylan went to visit Woody Guthrie at Greystone Psychiatric Hospital after Guthrie became seriously ill with Huntington’s disease.

Bob Dylan first recordings and the Album “Bob Dylan”

After being invited to play harmonica on a recording by Carolyn Hester on September 14, 1961, the producer for Columbia records John Hammond having heard Bob Dylan performing in the session,  signed Dylan “on the spot” and arranged a formal audition recording soon after in October. He was recommended by several key music industry professionals based on his live performances at Gerde’s Folk City

Bob Dylan was a seasoned live performer with a hard edge but he was accused of being very difficult because of his undisciplined ignorance of the recording business in his first time in the recording studio. Regardless of this, he managed to cut many of the songs in one take.

Bob Dylan’s first four acoustic albums contained a lot of American traditional blues and folk songs that he would arrange on the album. He would often borrow a melody or chord progression from previously written songs that he would either re-write or write brand new original lyrics not related to the originals songs theme of topics.

His first album ‘Bob Dylan’ released on March 19th, 1962, did not even chart and was virtually ignored by the critics. As an album, it was a sleeper in America selling about 5,000 copies upon its initial release- just enough to cover the recording costs. Some of the Columbia records non-believers dubbed Bob Dylan as “Hammond’s Folly”.

This is just another example, like the Beatles, of certain people being totally wrong about an artists’ potential. Despite the slurs, John Hammond defended Dylan and did not have him dropped from the label. It is notable that John Hammond had support for his decision from an early fan of Dylan’s, Johnny Cash.

In the UK, the album eventually reached #13 in 1965. In retrospect, the album is a favorite one of mine, with all its diverse styles, as good as anything he would put out. The album is strong in its topics, its variety and its analysis of Americana. In some ways, Dylan sounds like an experienced older man with his style of singing, prompting the lyrics “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now” to my mind.

“Mixed-Up Confusion”, was Dylan’s first single released December 14, 1962, recorded with a full electric band during the Free Wheelin sessions but was left off the album. The band consisted of Bob Dylan – guitar, harmonica, vocal; George Barnes – guitar; Bruce Langhorn – guitar; Dick Wellstood – Piano; Gene Ramey – bass; Herb Lovelle on drums produced by John Hammond. Corrina, Corrina was the b-side.

Dylan’s rise as a Folk artist through his live performances

Dylan changed his birth name of Robert Zimmerman to Bob Dylan in August of 1962, inspired by his favorite writer poet Dylan Thomas. He had already been using the name since his days at the University of Minnesota. This represents the amazing change he would undergo, evident in his mastery of poetry and the lyric.

His live performances would become absolutely amazing and stunning to a hungry intellectual audience that many of the baby boomer generation(s) accepted and digested. If you were tired of love found, love lost, foaming at the mouth, drooling, nonsensical primitive rock & roll songs then with Dylan and the folk crowd in general, would satisfy your taste for more, and then some.

Dylan  signs with the artist manager Albert Grossman

Back in 1961, Dylan signed an agreement with Ron Silver, an agent Bob hoped would secure booking, rather than signing with only a manager. However, later in August of 1961, Dylan signed a management contract with the sometimes confrontational Albert Grossman as his manager. Albert Grossman would buy out Ron Silver for $10,000.

Albert Grossman had a reputation as a ruthless business man; he would generate more income for himself and his clients through aggressive negotiations. He would influence Dylan to transfer publishing rights from Duchess music to Witmark publishing (a division of Warner music publishing), Unbeknownst to Dylan, Grossman had an agreement with Witmark where he would receive 50% of Witmarks share of publishing income from all the artists Grossman could sign to Witmark.

Producer John Hammond and manager Albert Grossman would have much animosity over Bob Dylan’s business agreements, prompting Grossman to push Hammond out of producing Dylan to be replaced by the great Jazz producer Tom Wilson.

At the end of 1962, Bob Dylan would tour the UK playing many of the popular folk venues, such as the Troubadour, Les Cousins and Bunjiles, absorbing many European folk styles from various folk UK artists including Martin Carthy who would be a big influence on Dylan’s songwriting. He would unveil one of his most famous songs “Blowing in the Wind” on the BBC’s drama Madhouse on Castle Street. After this he would return to New York in January of 1963 to resume recording his 2nd album.

Suze Rotolo

In January of 1962 Bob Dylan moved in with his girlfriend in an apartment on West 4th Street, He would be influenced by his new girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, who was into equality, civil rights, freedom and anti-war sentiments. Suze Rotolo’s  family were left wing in their political points of view and both of Suze’s parents were members of the American Communist party. Dylan’s involvement with Suze would influence the emotional dynamic in his lyric and poetry writings.

After six months of living together, Suze left New York to study art in Italy. She would postpone her return several times, causing Bob Dylan distress and loneliness which was heavily evident in his original lyrical writings on his 2nd Album. Suze has since spoken out in her biography that she was not happy about being Bob Dylan’s “chick”. A smart and strong woman that she was, she was reacting to the lack of women’s rights and respect that were prevalent in the early and mid sixties. This attitude would only start to change in the last three years of the sixties, continuing in the seventies with the formation of the National Organization of Women (NOW).

Bob Dylan – Rock’s Poet, Philosopher and Master Lyricist

Poet, prophet, preacher, philosopher, master lyricist, word man and walking Americana musicologist, Bob Dylan exemplified the thinking man with a brain, a heart and most of all a soul. His early life is draped in mystery and exudes the Jack Kerouac beat poet lifestyle as being a traveling troubadour.

He is one of the most important, if not the most important figure in Rock music, up there with Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. No one individual has come even close to the impact that he had on popular music except for maybe Elvis or Lennon.

He ultimately would go on to achieve selling over 100 million records worldwide, winning countless awards including Grammys, Golden Globes and Academy awards etc., making him one of the best selling artists of all time.

After the release of his first album (which flopped commercially), Bob Dylan would immediately start work for the next album. He would spend the next year profusely listening and absorbing as much music and lyrical styles as he could for new material for his second album.

“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”

On September 22, 1962, Dylan played Carnegie Hall as part of an all-star hootenanny where he unveiled his masterpiece “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” musically based on the traditional British ballad “Lord Randall”.  It was said by Bob Dylan that each line of the song could have been a title and a topic of new song but that Dylan thought they couldn’t all be written down and perfected in one lifetime.

On May 27, 1963, Dylan released “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, a very deep and telling song, it re-emphasizes just how ahead of his time and how advanced Bob Dylan had become since his last album. Many of Bob Dylan’s songs, like this one, would be in many ways therapeutic to the masses. One could find truth, justice, gentle therapy, the questions of life in the many songs Bob Dylan wrote in the decade of the 60’s, in particular, his first four acoustic albums.

“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Many thought the title referred to nuclear fallout after a nuclear explosion. Dylan has said it refers to anything that might befall a person, a group of people, a nation or even the whole world. This just goes back to the contention that the songs have many layers and it is up to the listener to grasp the meanings according to their points of views. They depend on what kind of goggles you are looking through.

Dylan’s Star begins to rise

Inspired by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez (who became romantically involved with Dylan), he was writing songs that were considered protest songs and was showing up at a lot of the organized public civil rights events. Baez and Dylan would go on to the memorable August 28, 1963 at the march on Washington in front of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King gave his iconic speech “I Have a Dream”.

Joan Baez would help Dylan become well known in the civil rights activism side of folk music by covering many of his tunes and performing alongside him at many events.  In the early 60’s Bob would be nationally visible in the civil rights movement (culminating in his famous performance at the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial), before his disillusionment or rather his flat out refusal to be used as figurehead by the various civil rights and anti-war movements.

His vocal style has been criticized as raw, untrained, coming from the streets, nasally and as “if sandpaper could sing”. Yet these aspects are what attract many to his music, including myself.  At first I had problems listening to his voice, but after repeated listening to the poetry of his lyrics, topics and themes, his vocal intonation, I have come to prefer his style of singing one of his songs over the musically correct and “pleasing to the ear” covers of his songs by other artists. Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan especially that great sneer in his voice as he sings “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “Highway 61”, “Motorspycho Nitemare”, “Rainey Day Women #12 & 35  or “Tombstone Blues” to the infectious laughing fit of “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”.

At this point in time (1962 to 1963) he was comfortable with the civil activism of the day but he would later distance himself following the JFK assassination. The songs were worlds beyond the 50’s love, blues and nonsensical scat (Doo Wop) feel good songs. Many songs tackled very controversial and sensitive subject matter that many artists would not touch for fear of ending their careers.

In May of 1963, Dylan took a stand against censorship when he refused to omit the song “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” on the Ed Sullivan show. He would continue to oppose censorship and support artists who took stands to preserve art and not to be dictated as to what was acceptable and what wasn’t (First Amendment). He would continue to inspire many rock groups and artists who had messages and activism in things that the “establishment” was nervous to downright oppressive towards.

Around this time Bob Dylan and Joan Baez became musically as well as “romantically” intertwined. Joan Baez would take many of Dylan’s songs to upper charts

He became a reluctant figurehead and political activist thanks in large part to the press. He has admitted many times that he never really wanted to be the spearhead of the voices of dissent and social unrest in the early 60’s. His songs became anthems for the civil rights, anti war, anti-greed, anti-establishment commentary of the monstrous military socio-industrial complex. He considered himself more an artist/poet/musician rather than the activist everyone wanted and pushed him to be.

Blowing In the Wind

This song is one of Dylan’s most famous songs and was the song that introduced him to the folk music scene as a superstar. The song has a gentle guitar riff sung is a soft manner with words that sound as if they were paraphrasing the Old (Ezekiel) and new Testaments. The topics are very serious and seem to have a spiritual connotation to them. The song quickly became an anthem to the civil rights movement. The song was praised by many black people who were amazed that a young white man could express the sentiments of an oppressed people so eloquently. One unexpected fan of Bob Dylan was Huey P. Newton, the leader of the Black Panther party.

The songs on “The Freewheeling Bob Dylan” reflect a new direction in modern music songwriting where an imaginative conjuring up of images in the mind that mix with the stream of consciousness tuneful recitation, especially in folk music and later folk rock, psychedelic rock and on into hard rock, and then crossing over to soul, funk and of course hip hop and beyond.

Several weeks after Dylan released the song “Blowin’ In The Wind”, Peter Paul and Mary would bring the hit song to #2 on the Billboard charts. This version of the song sold 300,000 copies in its first week ultimately selling more than one million copies. The song is ranked #14 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time.

The Freewheeling Bob Dylan

On May 27th, 1963, Bob Dylan released “The Freewheeling Bob Dylan” album, this time around too much commercial and critical success. The album went to #22 on the American Billboard album charts, #1 in the UK and eventually went platinum. The album was ranked 97 on the Rolling Stone greatest 500 albums of all time. He also launched the folk anthem “Blowing In the Wind”.

Many of the songs on this album were protest and social commentary songs. Bob Dylan’s original songs touched on many subjects such as lost loves “Girl from the North Country”, “Don’t Think Twice About It”, “Corrina Corrina”, “Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance”; traveling “Down the Highway”, “Bob Dylan’s Dream”;  on civil rights “Blowing In the Wind”, “Oxford Town”; anti war “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s A-gonna Fall”, “Talking World War III Blues”; as well as many fun jokey ditties “Bob Dylan’s Blues”, “I Shall Be Free, No. 10”.

Dylan had many types of songs that he would frequently work on and progress with, such as his “yearning” songs (Girl from the North Country, ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Bob Dylan’s Dream) where he is yearning for a girl wherever she is, then there are the “talky” songs “Talkin New York”, “Talking World War III”, where Dylan does a narration or speaks the words rather than sing or attempt to sing. Then there are songs that are definitely “protest” songs and “social commentary” “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, “Oxford Town” the “jokey” songs “Bob Dylan’s Dream”, “I Shall Be Free No. 10” where Dylan laughs a little giggle or breaks out in laughter the there are the “philosophical” songs and several are just masterpieces based on artistically, philosophical and spiritual levels  LIST SONGS Of Dylan Analysis.

Dylan recorded a lot of material that did not show up on “Freewheelin'”. There was a new song about fallout shelters, “Let Me Die In My Footsteps” and “Rocks and Gravel”, “Talking Hava Negiliah Blues”, “Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”, and “Sally Gal”. Dylan recorded cover versions of “Wichita”, Big Joe Williams’ “Baby, Please Don’t Go”, and Robert Johnson’s “Milk Cow’s Calf’s Blues”. Dylan’s songwriting talent was developing so rapidly that nothing from a session in April appeared on the “Freewheelin'” album and would be used for the next album “The Times They Are-A-Changin'”.

“Blowin’ in the Wind” – The song that launched Dylan’s career, the song that brought him to the attention of the folk, civil rights, antiwar protest communities. The moment Bob Dylan became a folk superstar. The song is based on an old Negro spiritual song “No More Auction Block”. This song struck a chord with the civil rights leaders. This song is an example of the genius in Dylan as he uses vague generalizations to make the song adaptable to many different issues or problems.

“Girl from the North Country” – A sad song about a love that once found, was lost. It paints the picture of a cold wintery landscape, like a passing thought in the night, the memories of a girl once known. The song is derived from Scarborough Fair which he learned from Martin Cathy in the UK. It is the first of his “yearning songs”

“Masters of War” –This song is very pointed, one of my favorites, a jagged spear that just cuts in and exposes the ugly truth. “Masters of War” was derived from a British riddle song “Nottamun Town” written by Jean Ritchie. At the time that this protest song was released, it was a strong one seething with disgust, there was not a song as strong as this since the days of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”.

“Down the Highway”- A catchy guitar riff, very off the rails, and barefoot; A vagabond’s tale of “gamblin’, drinkin’, guitar-playin'”; a song about traveling. Each verse has a guitar intro that Bob proceeds to play in an off-putting way, simulating street-ness or homelessness.

“Bob Dylan’s Blues” – Another traveling folk song, reflecting an original view of the American experience. A song that Dylan employed with fervor and poise, these little ditty songs sounded like you would hear them on a hobo’s train ride or campfire. Dylan has a little fun with the lyrics which are amusing, in his usual nasal sarcasm.

“A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” This masterpiece of a song has so many topics of injustice, of war, of miscommunication. This song, like “Blowin’ In The Wind”, also makes use of concepts vague enough to be applicable to many different issues. This is by far one of Dylan’s best-remembered songs as far as artistry, philosophy, and poetry. The song exudes many different references including the Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” veiled reference and more. The song is by far a groundbreaking song, where the artistic complexity is on a level so far ahead of its time. The song is also one of the first of his great sociological, philosophical songs with a heavy and frank social comment.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” A fingerpicking ditty about the girl that is lost. The song was adapted from the melody of Paul Clayton’s song “Who’s Gonna Buy You Ribbons (When I’m Gone)”. A masterpiece of self-pitying that captures the emotion of the lover who is hurt. It is a matter of fact song of happy memories with calm acceptance of the way things ended up. One of Dylan’s most beautiful songs about love loss but quiet acquiescence.

“Bob Dylan’s Dream” a sad song about remembering times past and old times, past fiends past conversations, times past and more sad complacency. The Melody is based on the traditional folk song Lady Franklins Lament

“Oxford Town”, a song about racism and how white sympathizers were just as hated, by the racist groups existing in both the US and the UK. One day in September, at the University of Mississippi, US Air Force veteran James Meredith enrolled, with the help of US Federal Troops. Mississippi’s state Governor Ross Barnett was against equal rights and the federal government had to step in.

“Talkin’ World War III Blues” was another joke-talking song which Dylan did spontaneously. Like Talking New York a song on his debut album. Dylan was able to sound like an old man, with the slurring of his words and his seemingly old man rants.

“Corrina, Corrina” Dylan treats this traditional song first made popular by Bo Carter back in 1928. Dylan has a nice low western swing with this version. Very nicely arranged using a country western feel with several acoustic guitars some drums but also that fabulous mandolin.

“Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance”-  A bit of a joke song with some vagabond humor, Dylan doing his Hill-Billy best, you can just picture the overalls, the hay, corncob pipe and his toothless grin.

“I Shall Be Free, No 10”, kind of a jokey song using his off the cuff style where he goes on with current American media culture. A re-write of Lead Belly’s “We Shall Be Free”, the song ends the album on a happy note. This song could have come off the debut.

Clearly, Bob Dylan was ahead of his time, possibly of all time. He single-handedly changed rock and pop music, even influencing The Beatles, who are often lauded as having changed rock and pop music as well. A debate can be made of who was more influential, such as when Lennon went through a period of writing and even singing like Dylan (i.e.: “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”) but I will leave that up to you the reader/listener.