The Ideas of an Influential Song Writer

Born as Robert Albert Zimmerman in May of 1941, Bob Dylan grew up in an era of despair and hatred, were predigest filled the air with the civil rights movement. Dylan’s love for music revolved around one of his favorite idols which drew him into the music industry. Woody Guthrie influenced Bob Dylan to succeed and endeavor new beginnings as a singer and song writer. Guthrie was known as a true poet of the Left movement and was loved for authenticity. When Bob moved to Greenwich Village he moved into coffee house seen, in which he endeavored himself as the latter-day Woody Guthrie. During this time the folk revival was starting in the music scene and soon enough it would produce one of the most influential musicians who would become an activist and change the political movement of the 1960’s.
Used old tunes to comment on current political realities At a time when television screens were filled with the images of Birmingham, Alabama were thousands of black people were attacked by police, Bob Dylan wrote his new song entitled “Blowin’ in the Wind” from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album in April of 1962 while he was in Greenwich Village. Dylan saw the song as a challenge to the movement and emphasized in the song the white people of that era who turned their heads away from the segregation, knowing that it was wrong. “But in context its glancing reference to the great social challenges of the day-racism and war-carried a powerful topical punch.” (Marqusee 59) Mike Marqusee emphasizes the political drama that occurred from writing “blowin’ in the Wind” because at the time the civil rights movement had conjured many different outlooks on what was right and what was wrong. The song is based on the idea of hope and the impatience of the African Americans at the time who had to go through so much to fight for their freedom. If one listens to the song he or she could easily depict what Dylan was referring to from the “cannon balls” to the verse that stated “some people… are allowed to be free”. When musician and artist tried to record the song they were defiled by the political controversy the song carried with it. Dylan never saw his lyrics to “blowin in the Wind” as an opportunity to write a protest song but rather he wrote it as a challenge to the movement. A song of terror that had an influence from the Cuban missile crisis is most notable known as “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna-Fall” from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album. During the 1962 missile crisis in which the soviets where secretly building nuclear missiles on the coast of Cuba, there was an uproar of terror throughout the U.S. because the nuclear missiles could reach almost all the U.S.’s major cities. It was a negation between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev that almost caused a heart attack between the citizens of both countries. People sat around wondering if it was the end. A couple weeks prior to the missile crisis Dylan had already written “Hard Rain” but to this day people resemble the song as a face of what the ordinary people in the American society felt during that time of fear. “the song is an attempt to describe atomic death from the standpoint of living” (Capel 106) Maurice Capel depicts Dylan’s meaning of this song by the way he sings it which leaves a tone that makes a listener believe that Dylan was singing for the last time. Dylan’s rhythm of the song is driven by a tough and hard outlook which emphasizes his lyrics even more. As a listener one would portray the lyrics in this song in a way that Dylan is saying he can’t avoid the bomb but he can avoid accepting it. The song portrays Dylan as a man gathering what he loves in the wake of an approaching disaster. “The song of a man who intoxicates himself with a proliferation of cares in which he loves himself to forget the unbearable actuality of the threat.” (Capel 115) Moving just shy of the missile crisis Dylan decided to touch on the idea of war and its influence on a country’s society. During a time were war was extremely imminence one song that caught a lot of attention with its lyrics was “Masters of War” from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album. It struck listeners with a tune that meant it was time to stand up against the idea of going to war. The lyrics point straight at the government with verses that shoot, “You fasten the triggers/for the others to fire/Then you set back and watch/ when the death count gets higher.” Dylan is pointing his finger right in the face of the war makers in which he tells the truth about their story and how they make war with no regret of the discouragement and the loss that people involved with the war gains. The guitar chords picture the tragedies that have come and are still to come with a rhythm that is hard not to get caught up in. When writing this song Dylan had a desire to submerge social interest and the system that strains wars. “The song is dry, sparse, and unwavering in its indictment and its anger” (Marqusee 75). As one listens to this song he would easily feel the anger that Dylan possess in his voice and meaning he has behind his lyrics. “Only a pawn in their game” (Capel 110) Capel’s phrase which depicts the idea of a pawn in a game basically argues the idea that the leaders that run the government and make the wars, use their countries soldiers as pawns. A voice needed to stand up for the anti-war cause during that time period and Dylan was the one who raised his voice. After Dylans depiction of the anti-war campagn, he decided to move his ideas toward a more sensitive topic at the time, which was the racism of the nineteen sixties.
A song for a new generation was bound and in 1964, in which during his third album Bob Dylan wrote “The Times They are A-Changin”. “I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song…” (Bob Dylan) Dylan wrote this song for the new generation as a theme to their upbringing and new ways. He presented the change and the new justification that the new generation brings, which is unavoidable to the public. “The purpose of this song is to define a newley revealed strength to create a mood of defiant readiness” (Capel 106) This song is pushing toward the vanquishing of authority and the assertion of a movement. Dylan wrote this song for his own generation and made it clear with verses that conclude lyrics like , “Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command”. This lyric has been the start of many generations for years because in our households today when your son and daughters stop listening to you, they go off and do their own thing starting a new way, which in the end leads to a new generation. “Dylan had dared to envision an all-encompassing change, a historic vindication of the oppressed and their movement” (Marqusee 89) “The Times They Are A-Changin” blends self-importance with blamelessness and an independent moral appeal that makes for a cooperative action in the new generation.