What makes this album so very innovative, is the way Dylan combined a driving blues-based style of music with a subtle touch of poetry in his lyrics, something as we know, Dylan was widely acclaimed for. The album’s critical appeal is mainly down to Bob’s skillful use of imagery in his lyrics created through metaphors, stories etc. Dylan uses the way of painting images to successfully communicate a story to the…
Bob Dylan had a different style to most of his songs. In his civil rights songs he obviously writes about civil rights issues affecting mainly America of that time. In this songs the thing he is mainly singing/ protesting about is civil rights. He said in an interview that he wanted to make an anthem of change for civil rights. Some different ideas presented in the poem would include: changing times, unity of people and asking for change.…
Pete Seeger is an extremely talented artist who is very well known for his contributions to folk music. Pete Seeger is an absolute inspiration to many people around the world today. Not only was Pete Seeger just a singer/songwriter, he was also an important political activist, the author of several dozen books, an environmentalist as well as a peace advocator. He plays a very significant role in terms of historical influences. As a man of many identities, Pete Seeger will always remain an influential individual in regards to American History. It is definitely worth discussing the many roles Pete Seeger acquired and how each of these roles assisted in impacting American History.…
October 9, 1940, a man was born in Britain that would one day take over the world. He was not a great ruler or dictator, nor was an activist or religious leader. He was a normal boy who grew to be one of the best singer song writers of our time. This is about the troubled personal life of one of America’s most beloved musicians, John Lennon.…
The influence of the Beats on Bob Dylan can be seen in Dylan’s mannerisms and the folk-style, poetic nature of his lyrics. Dylan fit right in with Ginsberg and others with his rough and wild hair, flannel button down shirts, and worn out tight leather jackets. In his early twenties, he was known as a tough kid from the Midwest, who sometimes even lacked proper hygiene (Times 1). As he matured, Dylan began to the share similar attitudes of the Beats towards social authority, politics, drugs, and even the rejection of social norms (Charters 370). Dylan tried to incorporate these thoughts and attitudes into his lyrics, in order to share his beliefs with his listeners. Later in his life he was even quoted as saying, “I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph… much deeper feelings" (Williams 1). Besides looking and acting like the Beats, Dylan’s music had a very poetic feel to it. His 1963 song titled “Blowin’ in the Wind” reads very much like the poetry of the Beats:…
She explains why this is important, through explaining how unique Dylan is. We will see how she explains this in four examples. The first is, “I smile at the characteristic ‘Dylanesque’”. This helps us understand exactly how unique the subject is. “You do you”, was a part of Dylan’s answer in one of the interview questions. This tells us exactly what the paper is about, individuality. The third example was, “what I love about Dylan is that he does not let others phase him”. This helps us understand that to be ourselves, we mustn't let hateful comments bring us down. The final example, “I've never met another Dylan”, ends this paper with a bold statement. There is no one that is exactly like someone else. We may have the some of the same attributes, but we are all different, like…
In 1960, Dylan dropped out of college and moved to New York City where he continued to perform in cafés and coffeehouses until he signed with Columbia Records in the fall of 1961. It was not until his second album, The Free-Wheelin’ Bob Dylan, that Dylan started to become recognized for his anti-war beliefs. Through the release of this album, Dylan raised the stakes of rock and roll music by moving from the typical slogans of rock and roll to lyrics that actually meant something. His lyrics were not so much so much a form of entertainment, but a way of making the public aware of what was actually going on in the world and in society. For example, in the song “Masters of War”, Dylan shows how morally wrong he finds war by saying…
People who write and share songs have an opportunity many of us only wish we had: a chance to share ideas with our communities and our society. Woody Guthrie was a songwriter, and he used his voice not only to entertain listeners, but also to share messages about many things he thought were important. Woody’s life was a roller coaster of tragedy and fun, difficult and slightly better times. Through his experiences he learned, saw, and thought many things about his country. Woody had ideas to share, and audience to share with, and a genuine, unique voice that helped him to stand out.…
Langston Hughes was an African American poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, and journalist. He was born Joplin, Missouri. His grandfather was a zealous abolitionist. His grandmother instilled in him great devotion for social justice. After his grandmother 's death, he lived a short time with his mother in Illinois and later with his father in Mexico. He enrolled in Columbia University in 1921, but dropped out and became a seaman and traveled to Africa and Europe. After returning to the United States, he worked in Washington, DC, then moved to Harlem. He was a great writer , but he was best known for his poems which express the anguish of unfulfilled…
His early life was traveling around from place to place. Then as he grew up and got his first guitar and played from his heart he started his own trend. Since his grandparents were possible ex-slaves and he was also still on a sharecropping farm. He had a lot of pain and sadness to sing about and that drove is the spirit in his songs. That was his early life.…
Bob Dylan’s life at the time had a massive influence on the song as it was based on that Edie Sedgwick and the nature of Dylan’s relationship with her at the time of its writing and recording. The song is about a rich girl that thought she could stay rich forever who went to the best school but wasted time doing drugs and partying but when she is faced with the harshness of poverty she is struggling to cope with her life because she had never been taught how to live on the street. The girl in the song is most likely Edie Sedgwick as Edie had come from a wealthy California family but a difficult home environment. She went to Cambridge University, which was one of the best schools, but wasted her time doing drugs. She went through all her…
“My whole musical success goes back to the time I was arrested…”(Old 28). Louis Armstrong started off as a normal kid who lived in a poor family and environment, but ended up as one of the most influential entertainers in history all because of one mistake he made as a child, which changed his life. Louis Armstrong’s life was filled with events that built his musical skills, fame, and his well-being even though he did not start off very well. The environment he lived in as a child was not well suited and he had family problems. He was arrested as a child and was sent to the Home for Colored Waifs which made an enormous impact on his life (“Louis Armstrong”). His fame and musical skills began to grow when he joined the Creole Jazz Band in his adulthood. He made recordings of his songs, which some of them became big hits, to expand his fame even more.…
A comparison of recordings of Bob Dylan's "All along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix offers a vivid case study of what Samuel Floyd characterizes as "the complementary oppositions of African- and European-derived musical processes and events." The song itself draws together elements of ballad and blues traditions; and the two recordings treat this synthesis in very different ways even as they share the common ground of late 1960s rock. Dylan's is a spare, acoustic folk-rock rendition, while Hendrix's is an opulent electric spectacle whose sonic and syntactic conception unpacks the latent drama only suggested by the original. In the process, Hendrix offers an alternative answer to the song's existential dilemma implied in its lyrics…
“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” Bob Dylan said this probably unknowing of its profound connection to the totalitarian society George Orwell depicts in his novel 1984. Nearly every aspect this society is controlled and everyone is always subject to observation. Even the most natural impulses of sex and love are encouraged to be suppressed by various forms of media that propagates mistrust so severe that even parents cannot trust their own kids-another supposedly natural bond and…
Bob Dylan has been one of the most influential singer/songwriter for decades, being well-known for his protest songs. “Masters of War” written by Dylan appeared on his album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan which was released in May of 1963. The song is about the military industrial complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the American people about during his Farewell Address. The song deals with social issue of those who profit from the war, and the anger many people felt at the time.…