Bringing It All Back Home (short biography on Bob Dylan)

Bringing It All Back Home

    ‘“There must be some way out of here,”' said the joker to the thief…’ A simple but mysterious line of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” quotes, while four simple chords are strummed in the background. The line resonates with many, but why? People have often theorized about the meaning of the line and the song in general. Some even say the song itself could go in an unending circle, because that line could both end and begin a song. We will never truly know the meaning because Dylan himself refuses to disclose the meaning of his songs. They are always ambiguous, and up to you, the listener, to interpret what they may mean. One could compare the mystery of this song itself to the life and success of Bob Dylan. Dylan was not just a wordy folk singer, but a pioneer in the genre of folk-rock, an important figure in the counter-cultural movement of the ‘60s, an influence on many artists of his time, and even a Nobel Prize winner, yet, he did not go without controversy. 

    How could one man, some simple chords, and a singular guitar go on to accomplish so much? Well, first we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Dylan’s life, all the way in the year 1941. Dylan was born in the northern state of Minnesota, in Duluth, and grew up during a time where the big musical inspirations were early rock stars such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Little Richard.  He was inspired by artists like this, and around the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, he began performing folk and country songs in local bars and cafes.

    In 1960, Bob Dylan moved to New York City, a hotbed for folk music at the time. Folk was especially apparent in a place known as Greenwich Village, which was sometimes referred to by people of the time as just, ‘The Village’. In these early years in New York, Dylan still performed there from place to place, but mainly it was only cover songs. He was not yet showcasing his songwriting abilities. One of the most notable songs he covered in the time was, “The House Of The Rising Sun'', and just like many folk songs, the origins of it are rather untraceable. The song tells of troubled times down in New Orleans, and truly became a staple of music with the 1964 cover by the British rock band The Animals. 

    When things truly started to come to fruition for Dylan was around 1961-1962, when he was first inspired to write original songs. But why then? Why not earlier? Well, we can look at the happenings in the world of the time. Troops were starting to go to Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement was continuing to come on strong, and the Cold War could have easily heated up quickly. Dylan was influenced by his girlfriend at the time, Suze Rotolo, who came from a very political family, to write songs influenced by politics. A couple of songs that he wrote that were inspired by politics were, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Masters Of War”. Some also interpret, “Blowin’ In The Wind” as a protest song.

    Dylan’s initial climb to fame was from 1960 to 1964. His first album was released on March 19, 1962, and it was self-titled Bob Dylan. The album went under the radar. In fact, it wasn’t until Dylan released his third record in 1964, The Times They Are a-Changin’, that people were starting to notice him. Whether a coincidence or not, this was the same album that those earlier written politically charged songs appeared on. It was number 20 on the U.S. charts, and eventually number 4 on the U.K. charts. It was his first album to feature all original songs. Also, it is important to note that in these early years much of Dylan’s exposure came from the audiences of the 1963-1964 Newport Folk Festival, where he performed songs from these earlier albums.

In 1965, (in fact, it was just the year after The Beatles first took the stage on the Ed Sullivan show and the British Invasion began) after Dylan started to become a familiar name in the folk genre, a big controversy happened. This controversy may seem quite odd to us now, but we must look back and put our shoes in the people of the time. What were they thinking then? Was the outrage reasonable for these people? Or, was it just an overreaction by a possessive crowd?
It was July 25 of 1965, and it was Dylan’s third-or-so appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. The audience was immediately confused with the setting up of electric sound equipment and an electric guitar. Dylan was introduced by a member of the band The Weavers, Ronnie Gilburt, who famously said, “And here he is...take him, you know him, he’s yours.” Dylan would later comment about these words from Gilburt in 2004, noting that he, “...failed to sense the ominous forebodings in the introduction…”.