Category: 19 October: Bob Dylan’s Songs

Last week in class, we learned about Bob Dylan’s recent achievement, the Nobel Prize. We also listened some of Bob Dylan’s music. I had never heard of Bob Dylan before last week’s class and even thought Professor Kahan was talking about the candy store, Dylan’s Candy Bar, at first, which I quickly learned was not the topic of that day’s class. Bob Dylan is a very famous musician that sings songs of the folk genre. I enjoyed listening to Bob Dylan’s songs in class because I like listening to acoustic music. I especially like the sound of guitars and I also really like it when artists incorporate the harmonica into their music. One of the songs we listened in class, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” is an example of that. The moment the harmonica joins in during the breaks, you do not realize that the singing is gone. To me, it is as if he is having a duet with the harmonica. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” is currently my favorite song of Bob Dylan’s right now.

Another song we listened to in class was “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Although, this song has a really catchy melody, doesn’t really catch my attention in the beginning of the song. The lyrics, on the other hand, are very meaningful. Unlike the lyrics of songs nowadays, Bob Dylan’s songs are very thoughtfully written. Questions like “How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man,” “How many times can a man turn his head pretend he just doesn’t see,” and “How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people died,” were used as lyrics in the song, which were then answered in another part of the song with “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.” This sounds weird, but the lyrics of this song really resonates with something inside me.

The other songs that we listened to in class, “Girl From the North Country,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” and “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” did not sound as nice to me as the previous two songs. That is, however, only my opinion. Everybody has different tastes in music and I just happen to not like those three. I really like how Bob Dylan’s songs have such nice, meaningful lyrics that people can relate to. No matter how much time has passed since the time the song was released, people can remember and relate to the lyrics.

I had only ever heard a few Bob Dylan songs before the last class.  My parents both listen to him, but I had always leaned more towards music ranging from rock to show tunes.  Last weekend I listened to all of the songs that were assigned on the same day as the opera.  The song that stood out to me the most was “Mr. Tambourine Man.”  While listening to it I recognized that the Tambourine Man was a symbol for something else.  The lyrics sounded desperate and pandering; lonely and searching for something specific.  It then hit me that it could be a message for something addictive like drugs or alcohol.  I researched the song and found out that many people speculate that this Bob Dylan song is describing the feeling of withdrawal from drugs.  I thought that this song was extremely strong and powerful.  I related it to a song that I was more familiar with, “The Familiar Taste of Poison” by Halestorm.  I noticed that I got the same feeling when listening to both songs.  In the song Bob Dylan sings “Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, I’m not sleepy and there ain’t no place I’m going to” give off an air of tiredness with the world and a need to escape.

Another one of Bob Dylan’s songs that I found extremely powerful was “Shelter From the Storm.”  This song spoke of sadness as well as a large fault of humanity.  Many people never realize what they have until its gone.  In this case, after some research, I discovered that Bob Dylan was speaking to his then soon to be ex-wife Sara Dylan.  The stanza of the song that specifically spoke to me was “Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there, with silver bracelets on her wrists and, flowers in her hair, she walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of, thorns, come in, she said, I’ll give ya shelter from the storm.”  Its describing how Bob Dylan’s wife took away all of his worries and anguishes and saved him from the evils of the world that he could not himself escape.  It also portrays a sort of sadness because Bob Dyan only then saw how much Sara really did for him until he had lost her.  All of those evils that pulled him towards the darkness had access all over again because there was no one left to ward them off; he is now alone.

In class this past week, we studied Bob Dylan and some of the work he has done. In my household, the name is well known and I actually had a conversation about the award he got with my father without mentioning that we talked about it in class. Bob Dylan is a country folk singer who was revolutionary for his time when he used an electric guitar for folk music instead of acoustics. With powerful songs that discussed extreme topics like the Vietnam War, Bob Dylan proved he earned his award with most of his songs, with lyrics like “how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free” and “how many ears must one man have before he can hear others cry”.  I have never been a fan of Bob Dylan’s.  There are may other artists who we heard in class including Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Simon and Garfunkel.  I know many songs by Peter Paul and Mary, including If I had a hammer, Lemon Tree, and Leaving on a Jet Plane, and I like Peter Paul and Mary’s music better than Bob Dylan’s.  One of the things we discussed in class was how well liked Peter Paul and Mary was to the normal population and how Bob Dylan stood out in a bad way making many people dislike his music.  I believe this is why I don’t like Bob Dylan.  I like the harmonies of Peter Paul and Mary compared to Bob Dylan’s raspy voice, and I think that his songs are too serious for me to listen to.  If I were to compare his messages to another artists I would compare him to Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.  With lyrics like “emancipate yourself from mental slaver, none but ourselves can free our mind.”  I think that Bob Dylan makes his lyrics the way Bob Marley does, but Bob Marley’s singing is much more pleasing to the ear.

Bob Dylan recently earned a Nobel Prize in Literature for his poetry and iconic song lyrics.  He is an icon of his time period because he was one of the first musicians to introduce the genre folk rock.  Folk music was typically performed using acoustic instruments.  Bob Dylan is one of kind because he combines the electric guitar with classic folk instruments such as a harmonica.  He emerged when America was split between wanting to go into the Vietnam War and not wanting to go to war.  His music appealed to a liberal and young adult audience because of his lyrics and style of singing.  His voice was not soft and delicate like other artists.  He sang as if he was having a conversation with the audience and telling them about the message in his lyrics.  This style appealed to a young adult and liberal audience because it was different from classic folk music and because the messages were blunt.  His music is iconic and timeless because the messages in his songs could be applied to America in 2016.  Anti-war and civil rights are relevant topics in the news, but Bob Dylan has been singing about them since the 1960s.

My family, immediate and extended, enjoys listening to a wide range of genres and artists.  I grew up going to family parties and listening to folk rock singers such as Bob Dylan.  In class we listened to “Blowing in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A Changin.’”  Both songs felt very familiar, but before class I never knew they were Bob Dylan’s songs.  “Blowing in the Wind” stood out to me because the questions he asks are very relevant to society in 2016.  “How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?” implies that a person’s self-worth is measured by the significance of their actions or experiences.  “Yes, and how many times must the cannon balls fly/Before they’re forever banned?”  refers to war and violence (especially the Vietnam War).  “Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head/And pretend that he just doesn’t see?” is the most important lyric in my opinion because it represents the indifferent Americans who let the issues of violence, racism, and injustice continue.  The lyric “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind” is significant because the answers seem simple, but no one takes action.

Bob Dylan

Last class my classmates and I talked about, and listened to some songs written by Bob Dylan and I found them very interesting. The first song we listened to was called Blowing in the Wind. The main idea of the song was obviously all the tragic things going on overseas during the Vietnam War. The thing I was trying to figure out during the song was what he meant was “blowing in the wind”. Finally, it came to me that what he meant was probably the=at dust was blowing in the wind, playing on the popular phrase that all we are at the end of the day is dust in the wind. In other words, what he meant was that if the war continues many more people are going to die, and become dust in the wind. The strange thing about this song is apparently when it first came out it was popular, but not with Bob Dylan, with other singers. Apparently some people did not consider Bob Dylan a great artist because he did not embody what many people believed a classy singer to look like. Instead they got straight arrow squeaky clean singers to sing this song on shows like the Ed Sullivan Show. Another Dylan song we listened to was Hard rains are gunna’ fall. This song warns that if people don’t start to make peace then we could be in for nuclear war and possibly the end of times. This song fit right into what people were thinking around this time. Many schools would participate in Bomb drills just in case the United States had a bomb dropped on us. Kids would practice hiding under their desks, obviously the adults knowing that would not save them. Instead this was more of comfort thing, if these kids had to die at least let them go out thinking they would survive. Finally, the thing that strikes me the most about Bob Dylan is different from what other people might say. Although many people probably can’t see his impact in modern music I disagree. The way Dylan “sings” his songs, isn’t singing at all instead the songs are almost talked. This gave the song more of an edge, but also contributed to people really not accepting Dylan’s style. All this being said I believe, as hard as it may be to believe, that Bob Dylan influenced many rappers today. Not only did he talk his music, but he also wrote songs about social issues like many rappers do today.

This past week in class we talked about the recent achievement of Bob Dylan, winning a Nobel Peace Prize, and also listened to some of his music that got him that award. I myself have never listened to more than 30 seconds of his music so this was a first time for me and there were some interesting connections that I made. One was that his music almost reminded me of some music, such as country music, today. I could see a somewhat close comparison in the way the songs are sung and the lyrics are made. It makes me think that probably many musicians today do draw their inspiration and ideas from music from years ago, just like Bob Dylan’s. His music was something that inspired millions and started actual movements. Both him and the music he sang had that impact on the world.

Another interesting note that I made was when when listening and watching him perform you also see something different between the way he performed and the way that performers perform today. His music was all natural and genuine. No back up singers, no auto tune, no added background sounds; just Bob Dylan, his guitar and a microphone in a sound room. This to me showed the natural and real side to him. This, I believe, is why he had such a profound impact on the world. He created a celebrity status to himself but kept no other-worldly barrier between him and his followers. Also when you watch him it looks like it comes natural, and he is performing something that he really enjoys and believes the words he saying. Sometimes when I watch and listen to music of today the singers either look nerved, unnatural and like they are just saying words and not meaning them. They are forcing words out of there mouth to make a song, but when Bob Dylan sang he made it flow so easily due to the meaning the words had to him.

When comparing music from today to music of years past I think Bob Dylan is a great comparison due to the impact he had. He had millions of fans, started rally’s, and even some may say stopped wars. He was the true definition of a change agent. Wherever he went his words were valued so much and they had such impact. That’s why when you compare modern music to music’s past he is a perfect comparison due to the “gold standard” that he set not only in the world but also in the music industry.

Before the last seminar class, I’ve never really listened to Bob Dylan. I may have heard his songs somewhere before but I’ve never taken the time to listen specifically to him. Many millennials today have this stigma towards music that our parents listened to. Today, millennials tend to opt for more contemporary music because it’s perceived as the “cool” thing to listen to. However, many young people today gloss over musicians such as Bob Dylan simply because his music isn’t as modern as Fetty Wap or Kayne West. Music today is meant to be catchy, upbeat, and auto tuned. Music today can fall in the trap of simply being made to be put on the radio. Some musicians today are looked at as “sellouts” because either they don’t write their own songs, or their songs all sound similar just to be made popular. Take Katy Perry for example. She has people write songs for her simply because her producers want her to sing songs that will inevitably be made popular and be put on the radio.

Recently I’ve been getting more and more into older music. This past year I’ve been listening to more bands like Neil Young, The Who, Pink Floyd. I think Pink Floyd’s critique of the music industry in the song “Welcome to the Machine” summarizes this idea that some music isn’t genuine. Repetitive, catchy music, sometimes takes priority over more creative and risky songs in the music industry.

That’s what I think is my favorite part of older music, it’s more genuine. Bob Dylan seems more enjoyable to listen to when all he has is his voice and an acoustic guitar. There’s something more enjoyable about listening to his songs because they all have some kind of deeper meaning. For example, I found the song “The Times They Are A-Changin” so much more enjoyable because there was a clear meaning and impact. The reason why I loved it was because it, at one time in history, changed people’s thoughts. In the line, “There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changin’,” Bob Dylan inserts his views on the Vietnam War. It’s so interesting that music can be used for something other than entertainment. This song challenges the old thought that the Vietnam War was a just war, and tells listeners that isn’t the case anymore. I also thoroughly enjoyed the song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” and I’m glad it was the last song played in the class. The fear of a nuclear fallout was a prominent thought of the time and I think it’s very interesting to hear these in a song. Songs can also be looked at as windows into history and a prime example is that song.

This week in class, we listened to Bob Dylan. I have heard his name before, but have never listened to him since I’m not really into his type of music. It was interesting to me that he won the Nobel Prize for literature, not for music. However, towards the end of class and after having heard some of his songs, it’s evident why.

One thing I liked about his music is that whatever there is to hear, it’s right there for you. There’s nothing  extraordinarily spectacular about his lyrics or his voice, but you can tell him apart from others and his message was there loud and clear. His singing doesn’t appear to be singing, but rather him speaking into the microphone at times. That was another thing I liked about his music. He makes a few subtle changes from what we now consider to be “the norm”, and what everyone else is doing, but he’s special for that. His performances were simple, just him and 2 other instruments, opposed to singer now a days, who use their voices and a million other effects/instruments/featurings. I liked the more toned down effects, and more focus on the lyrics and voice of the singer. The lesser the amount of editing and distracting effects/unnecessary sounds, the better you can hear and understand what the singer is trying to convey.

I think it’s true that Bob Dylan is sui generis, meaning he’s his own genre, and one of a kind. Although he falls into the category of folk music, he is clearly his own category within. He’s different from people of his time, before, and after as well. Being that many of his songs were anti-war and pro-civil rights, many of them stirred up controversy and got him into some trouble.

One song we listened to was “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are still battling American involvement in military conflict. Is sad to see how a song written not so recently discusses a problem we are still facing. We still have people constantly dying in warfare and people are fighting for this country all the time. “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” was also an interesting song to me because he sang about the nuclear threat. Although these songs were written many years ago, they are scarily still relevant to us.

Finally, I can see why Bob Dylan is such an icon, and there is no doubt in my mind that he deserved that Nobel Prize, but I personally wouldn’t listen to his music again since it isn’t my style.

Recently in class we learned about folk music because Bob Dylan had recently won a nobel prize in literature. I found it quite odd that a musician would win a prize that has to do with literature. The reason Bob Dylan won a prize in literature because in his songs he wasn’t really singing, in a way he was just speaking with the accompaniment of music. In each of Bob Dylan’s song rather than singing a song he was telling a story.  The music of Bob Dylan differs highly from popular music today in that music today typically is focused more on the music and less on the words. When looking at popular music today so many people can claim to hear songs say drastically different things because of the lack of clarity and focus on music. One such example of this is Fetty Waps song 679 where many believe him to be claiming that he is a devil worshiper when in reality he is saying “Ima do the worst to her.” Today there are musicians who have entire songs that are very indistinct where one can not even make out what the artist is saying such as Young Thug. Meanwhile, in Bob Dylan’s songs one can actually understand what he is saying which makes the message he is trying to send very clear. Bob Dylan wrote a lot of music in the 1960’s which focused on issues about the Vietnam war and about civil rights.

In class we listened to a few Bob Dylan songs. The music was enjoyable and catchy but it wasn’t really my thing. I never really listened to folk music before until class, because I didn’t think I would enjoy it.  The one song that stuck out to me was the song sung by his girlfriend “A hard rains gonna fall.” While listening to this song in class while she was singing it, I was kind of annoyed by it and felt like it was really long, but when I listened to it at home with Bob Dylan singing it the experience was much different for me. While listening to him sing it for some reason it seemed catchier to me and actually somewhat soothing. I particularly enjoyed the song because it talked about a whole bunch of struggles people in other nations may be experiencing and it just made me think and to be considerate of other people.

Last week in class we discussed Bob Dylan, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Literature. There have been critics of this nomination, but I think they are unjustified, as Dylan’s songs carry true weight and many of them tell a story. Bob Dylan came up from humble beginnings, having been born in Hibbing, Minnesota. He really isn’t like any other artist out there, as professor Kahan called him “sui generis”. He’s a folk singer, but his music is more upbeat than more traditional folk music. I’m listening to “Like a Rolling Stone” as I write this entry, and I really like that I can just tap my foot along to the beat and his voice definitely has a calming presence. In addition, this song features more instruments than Dylan typically uses, which is just his guitar and harmonica.

Bob Dylan most often sung of social unrest, particularly the Vietnam war. His time of prominence was during this era, the 60s and 70s. The songs “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” are most indicative of this. We listened to the Joan Baez cover in class of the first song, and while it was very long, it conveyed a message of impending possible nuclear fallout. The second song was more about the new generation coming of age and assuming a larger role in the country. The song “Don’t Think Twice It’s alright” has a really sad mood to it, sort of a breakup song. It just has Dylan strumming his strings and blowing into the harmonica, reminiscing on the relationship he had probably just ended.

I was pretty surprised how catchy some of these songs were. So little editing and chopping gives Dylan’s music a really raw sound that makes it that much better. I particularly liked “Like a Rolling Stone” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. This really contrasts with today’s popular music, with many people working on a single song and editing and sound effects and on and on.

Listening to this music for the first time has almost been like listening to The Beatles for the first time. My cousin always told me to listen to Bob Dylan, but I always just shrugged it off. I now realize this was pretty foolish of me, as this assignment has really let me appreciate Dylan as an artist. His Nobel in literature is well deserved for his meaningful tunes.