The Decade of Bob Dylan

Undoubtedly, no one has defined a generation as much as Bob Dylan did in the sixties and beyond. His lyrics evoke the feelings of an American Society torn up by war, violence, drugs and other unexpected social changes.
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, during his college years at the University of Minnesota, he began to introduce himself as Robert Allen. But he discovered there was already a musician by this name, as Dylan wrote in his autobiography "I'd seen some poems by Dylan Thomas. Dylan and Allyn sounded similar. Robert Dylan. Robert Allyn. The letter D came on stronger." And thus a 60's icon was born.
After he dropped out of school, Dylan moved to New York City where he began to perform in clubs throughout Greenwich Village. Dylan's raspy voice and unruly curly hair (later known as the Dylan Fro) left an impression on many, but it was his performance that captivated the audience. With a guitar in hand and harmonica attached, he sung ballads with lyrics that spoke to audiences like poetry. By 1962, he was singed to Columbia Records, and released his first self titled album. The album sold barley 5,000 copies and inspired many critics at Columbia to say that Dylan just didn't have it. It was his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" which helped make his name an artist and a songwriter. The album contained a plethora of songs about the developing American society; racial relations, war and politics One song of the album titled "Oxford Town" chronicled the experience of James Meredith ordeal as the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. "A Hard Rain's- A-Gonna -Fall" was which warned of a "nuclear apocalypse" was performed by Dylan only weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis

I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

The most infamous song of this album is undoubtedly "Blowin In The Wind" The inspiration for the song came from an old slave narrative called "On the Auction Block" and was used as a protest song during the civil rights movement. Many African Americans were shocked as to how a white man so perfectly captured the frustrations of the Black Community. The song was and is one of the most widely used anti-war songs. While it questions war it also ponders as to how we can have peace.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

That one simple statement: The answer is blowin' in the wind, was as ambiguous as the wind itself and therefore a perfect statement. The answer to war and violence, according to the song, either blows right in front of us or is as intangible as the wind. The album contained another widely used protest song, "Masters of War." Although, thought by many to be an anti-war song against the military and government, the song targets companies who sell and distribute weapons of war and labels them as the "masters of war." Thus, with lyrics like " Come you masters of war, you that build all the guns, you that hide behind desks..." Dylan alludes that the businesses who put the guns in the hands of armies are the true criminals. Simply one statement cannot be isolated from the song, as each line contains a meaning.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Dylan's third album was appropriately titled "The Times They Are A Changing" which somes up the mid sixties in the simplest way possible. The most infamous song of this record held the same name, and is an apt reflection of the generation gap and consequential difference in beliefs present in America at the time. Lyrics such as "come senators, congressmen, please heed the call" appealed to the young who were struggling to get their elders to understand their cause.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

Dylan later said in an interview that, ""I can't really say that adults don't understand young people any more than you can say big fishes don't understand little fishes. I didn't mean 'The Times They Are a-Changin'' as a statement... It's a feeling."
Dylan's contribution to the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement and to society as a whole, whether intentional or not cannot be questioned and even Dylan himself acknowledges that the sixties were his decade. In a 2006 Rolling Stones Interview, Dylan was quoted as saying, "You know, everybody makes a big deal about the Sixties. The Sixties, it's like the Civil War days. But, I mean, you're talking to a person who owns the Sixties. Did I ever want to acquire the Sixties? No. But I own the Sixties -- who's going to argue with me?"


Audio of Masters of War
Audio of Blowin' In the Wind
Audio of The Times They Are a Changing