Bob Dylan's Influence On The Youth Folk Movement

Up until the 1960’s, Music tended to focus more on content about the woes and excitement of growing up to the love and heartache that accompanied along the way, but it never really alluded to the social and political issues plaguing the nation. That is until Bob Dylan entered the scene and would go on to lead a youth folk movement with his compelling poetic style and revolutionize the face of rock while influencing generations to come. Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota as Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941. Like many music artists, he started doing music at a young age where he learned to play both the guitar and harmonica. Influenced by many of the greats before him including Hank Williams and most notably Woody Guthrie, Dylan formed his own band in high school named the Golden Chords. While in college, he then began performing folk music in various coffee houses and college campuses under the name Bob Dylan in which he adapted the last name Dylan from a poet named Dylan Thomas. Eventually he dropped out and decided to peruse music as a career. Making his rounds in the coffee houses, Dylan later moved to New York and started performing as opening acts and performing in concerts where he gained
the attention of John Hammond, a Columbia A&R. In 1961, John signed Dylan to Columbia. Unlike other professional musicians, Dylan crafted numerous songs that included content about the political and social unrest currently going on, or in short protest pieces. Dylan changed the way people viewed folk music as a whole and music lyrically. Of the several albums Bob Dylan recorded, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is one of his earlier impactful albums that questioned the state of U.S.
society, and showcased his skillful writing talent with 11 of the 13 tracks being original content. It was his second album that highlighted themes such as the civil rights movement and nuclear warfare, but still featured content such as love songs. Complimenting his folk style, almost the entire album is acoustic with with the exception of one song that uses electric instrumentation. The remaining instrumentation included the guitar and harmonica. Dylan sings over each track with his smoky somewhat monotone vocals against his gritty guitar playing. His style allowed the lyrical content to be the focal point of the
music. Although the album heavily included protest music, he still included more lighthearted fun content to create a balance. Originally a song by country blues singer Henry Thomas, the cover song “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance” shows Dylan’s softer side as he jokingly pleads for one more chance to his woman. Opened with a harmonica solo, the quick tempo 4 bar phrased song in 2/4 time is filled with witty nuances of high pitched inflections. In between each verse, the song is contrasted with his harmonica solos. The song sticks to a strict AAAC rhyming structure, and is of the contrasting verse-chorus form. Lyrically, Bob Dylan uses a lot of metaphors such as “allow me one more chance to ride your aeroplane” followed by “allow me one more chance to ride your passenger train.” The lyrics are pretty simple and straight forward, where they do not hold the same depth as Dylan’s protest song, but it is a fun song that itself provided a contrasting change on the album. One of his most profound protest songs is “Masters of War.” This song protested against the Vietnam war and conflict. The song takes on a simple verse form, which help emphasize the message of the lyrics. Written in ¾ time signature, only after a brief guitar introduction of 3 mm. Dylan starts singing the compelling lyrics “Come your Masters of War, you that build the big guns, you that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs…” You can see how he poetically builds the song with imagery and repetition of “You” embedded in the lyrics. I think he did this to evoke guilt in the those responsible for perpetuating the war in any way and exploiting soldiers for profit. Because of the repetitive structure, again the focus is on the lyrics where he contrasts both negative images and positive images such as guns, Judas, lie and deceive then turns around and states words like Jesus and forgive. Dylan continues condemning the “Masters of war” and ends by wishing death on them. Overall, I liked the record. It is definitely something I am not familiar with, but I really enjoyed the creativity Dylan put into in his music, and can see just how significant and prolific he is to rock and pop music today.