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87-550: Harold Leventhal (May 24, 1919 – October 4, 2005) was an American music manager. Leventhal's career began as a song plugger for Irving Berlin and then Benny Goodman . While working for Goodman, he connected with a new artist, Frank Sinatra , booking him as a singer for a Benny Goodman event. Leventhal later managed The Weavers , Woody Guthrie , Pete Seeger , Alan Arkin , Judy Collins , Theodore Bikel , Arlo Guthrie , Joan Baez , Mary Travers , Tom Paxton , Don McLean and many others, and promoted major concert events in

174-495: A Triumph Tiger 100 , near his home in Woodstock, New York . Dylan said he broke several vertebrae in his neck. The circumstances of the accident are unclear since no ambulance was called to the scene and Dylan was not hospitalized. Dylan's biographers have written that the crash offered him the chance to escape the pressures around him. Dylan concurred: "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth

261-450: A Time , was released in 2004. Leventhal may have been defined best in the program notes for that concert, as embodying the definition of the Yiddish word, mensch , meaning "man" in the sense of "an upright, honorable, decent person, someone of noble character". American singer-songwriter, Guthrie Thomas, stated, "Harold Leventhal was an instrumental key in keeping the art of folk music alive in

348-620: A damn". By the end of 1963, Dylan felt manipulated and constrained by the folk and protest movements. Accepting the " Tom Paine Award" from the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy , an intoxicated Dylan questioned the role of the committee, characterized the members as old and balding, and claimed to see something of himself and of every man in Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald . Another Side of Bob Dylan , recorded in

435-820: A few film festivals. Secluded from public gaze, Dylan recorded over 100 songs during 1967 at his Woodstock home and in the basement of the Hawks' nearby house, " Big Pink ". These songs were initially offered as demos for other artists to record and were hits for Julie Driscoll , the Byrds, and Manfred Mann. The public heard these recordings when Great White Wonder , the first " bootleg recording ", appeared in West Coast shops in July 1969, containing Dylan material recorded in Minneapolis in 1961 and seven Basement Tapes songs. This record gave birth to

522-515: A folk artist with his mind wandering towards Elvis Presley and Sun Records ". In May 1963, Dylan's political profile rose when he walked out of The Ed Sullivan Show . During rehearsals, Dylan had been told by CBS television's head of program practices that " Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues " was potentially libelous to the John Birch Society . Rather than comply with censorship, Dylan refused to appear. Dylan and Baez were prominent in

609-483: A furniture and appliance store. In the early 1950s Dylan listened to the Grand Ole Opry radio show and heard the songs of Hank Williams . He later wrote: "The sound of his voice went through me like an electric rod." Dylan was also impressed by the delivery of Johnnie Ray : "He was the first singer whose voice and style, I guess, I totally fell in love with… I loved his style, wanted to dress like him too." As

696-555: A hostile response from the folk music establishment. In the September issue of Sing Out! , Ewan MacColl wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time ...'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers ... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel". On July 29, four days after Newport, Dylan

783-837: A knack for producing big shows that could focus the energy of an era. A birthday benefit concert for Martin Luther King Jr. , at Carnegie Hall in January 1961, helped King appeal to the white general public. He produced fund raising tribute concerts for Phil Ochs , Paul Robeson , the Spanish Civil War 's Abraham Lincoln Brigade and, most memorably, for Woody Guthrie in March 1956 and then again, after Guthrie's death, in 1968 and 1970. After Guthrie's death in 1967, Leventhal virtually adopted Woody's son Arlo , who worked in his office before making his hit record Alice's Restaurant . He helped produce

870-430: A management contract with Albert Grossman . Grossman remained Dylan's manager until 1970, and was known for his sometimes confrontational personality and protective loyalty. Dylan said, "He was kind of like a Colonel Tom Parker figure ... you could smell him coming." Tension between Grossman and John Hammond led to the latter suggesting Dylan work with the jazz producer Tom Wilson , who produced several tracks for

957-475: A minor industry in the illicit release of recordings by Dylan and other major rock artists. Columbia released a Basement selection in 1975 as The Basement Tapes . In late 1967, Dylan returned to studio recording in Nashville, accompanied by Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and Pete Drake on steel guitar. The result was John Wesley Harding , a record of short songs thematically drawing on

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1044-477: A new label, David Geffen 's Asylum Records , when his contract with Columbia Records expired. His next album, Planet Waves , was recorded in the fall of 1973, using the Band as his backing group as they rehearsed for a major tour. The album included two versions of "Forever Young" , which became one of his most popular songs. As one critic described it, the song projected "something hymnal and heartfelt that spoke of

1131-615: A raucous confrontation between Dylan and his audience at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England on May 17, 1966. A recording of this concert was released in 1998: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966 . At the climax of the evening, a member of the audience, angered by Dylan's electric backing, shouted: " Judas !" to which Dylan responded, "I don't believe you ... You're a liar!" Dylan turned to his band and said, "Play it fucking loud!" During his 1966 tour, Dylan

1218-430: A realistic way. 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, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings. During this period, he began to introduce himself as "Bob Dylan". In his memoir, he wrote that he considered adopting the surname Dillon before unexpectedly seeing poems by Dylan Thomas , and deciding upon

1305-593: A revelation to Dylan and influenced his early performances. He wrote of Guthrie's impact: "The songs themselves had the infinite sweep of humanity in them... [He] was the true voice of the American spirit. I said to myself I was going to be Guthrie's greatest disciple". In addition to visiting Guthrie, Dylan befriended his protégé Ramblin' Jack Elliott . From February 1961, Dylan played at clubs around Greenwich Village , befriending and picking up material from folk singers, including Dave Van Ronk , Fred Neil , Odetta ,

1392-399: A single evening on June 9, 1964, had a lighter mood. The humorous Dylan reemerged on " I Shall Be Free No. 10 " and "Motorpsycho Nightmare". " Spanish Harlem Incident " and " To Ramona " are passionate love songs, while " Black Crow Blues " and " I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) " suggest the rock and roll soon to dominate Dylan's music. " It Ain't Me Babe ", on the surface

1479-794: A small studio in Greenwich Village. These sessions resulted in " Watching the River Flow " and a new recording of " When I Paint My Masterpiece ". On November 4, 1971, Dylan recorded " George Jackson ", which he released a week later. For many, the single was a surprising return to protest material, mourning the killing of Black Panther George Jackson in San Quentin State Prison . Dylan's surprise appearance at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971, attracted media coverage as his live appearances had become rare. In 1972, Dylan joined Sam Peckinpah 's film Pat Garrett and Billy

1566-480: A song about spurned love, has been described as a rejection of the role of political spokesman thrust upon him. His new direction was signaled by two lengthy songs: the impressionistic " Chimes of Freedom ", which sets social commentary against a metaphorical landscape in a style characterized by Allen Ginsberg as "chains of flashing images," and " My Back Pages ", which attacks the simplistic and arch seriousness of his own earlier topical songs and seems to predict

1653-461: A song plugger. Later, the term was used to describe individuals who would pitch new music to performers, with The New York Times describing such examples as Freddy Bienstock performing a job in which he was "pitching new material to bandleaders and singers". In 1952, Ernest Havemann wrote: There are about 600 song-pluggers in the U.S.; they have their own union; they are powerful enough to bar all outsiders; and they command fees up to $ 35,000

1740-463: A songwriter who at that time worked as a song plugger for Irving Berlin, got Harold an opportunity to work as an office boy for Berlin. Soon Harold was working as Berlin's "plugger" as well, taking his songs around the nightclubs to be bought by bandleaders such as Harry James , the Dorsey Brothers and Benny Goodman . He then joined Goodman's Regent Music Company, before enlisting in the army when

1827-456: A songwriter. Janet Maslin wrote of Freewheelin ' : These were the songs that established [Dylan] as the voice of his generation—someone who implicitly understood how concerned young Americans felt about nuclear disarmament and the growing Civil Rights Movement : his mixture of moral authority and nonconformity was perhaps the most timely of his attributes. Freewheelin ' also included love songs and surreal talking blues . Humor

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1914-510: A teenager, Dylan heard rock and roll on radio stations broadcasting from Shreveport and Little Rock . Dylan formed several bands while attending Hibbing High School . In the Golden Chords, he performed covers of songs by Little Richard and Elvis Presley . Their performance of Danny & the Juniors ' " Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay " at their high school talent show was so loud that

2001-526: A year [worth $ 401,579 today] plus unlimited expense accounts. Their job is to persuade the record companies to use songs, put out by their publishing houses, and the radio station disk jockeys to play the records." Song plugging remains an important part of the industry. Record labels and managers will actively search for songs that their artist can record, release and perform, especially in the case of those performers who don't write their own material. Notes Bibliography This music-related article

2088-450: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan ; born Robert Allen Zimmerman , May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60-year career. He rose to prominence in the 1960s, when songs such as " The Times They Are a-Changin' " (1964) became anthems for

2175-703: The American West and the Bible . The sparse structure and instrumentation, with lyrics that took the Judeo-Christian tradition seriously, was a departure from Dylan's previous work. It included " All Along the Watchtower ", famously covered by Jimi Hendrix . Woody Guthrie died in October 1967, and Dylan made his first live appearance in twenty months at a memorial concert held at Carnegie Hall on January 20, 1968, where he

2262-584: The Brechtian " The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll " the death of Black hotel barmaid Hattie Carroll at the hands of young White socialite William Zantzinger. " Ballad of Hollis Brown " and " North Country Blues " addressed despair engendered by the breakdown of farming and mining communities. The final track on the album contained Dylan's angry response to a hostile profile of the singer that had appeared in Newsweek magazine. As biographer Clinton Heylin puts it,

2349-587: The Mesabi Range west of Lake Superior . Dylan's paternal grandparents, Anna Kirghiz and Zigman Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in the Russian Empire (now Odesa , Ukraine) to the United States, following the pogroms against Jews of 1905. His maternal grandparents, Florence and Ben Stone, were Lithuanian Jews who had arrived in the United States in 1902. Dylan wrote that his paternal grandmother's family

2436-531: The New Lost City Ramblers and Irish musicians the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem . In September, The New York Times critic Robert Shelton boosted Dylan's career with a very enthusiastic review of his performance at Gerde's Folk City : "Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk-Song Stylist". That month, Dylan played harmonica on folk singer Carolyn Hester 's third album, bringing him to the attention of

2523-671: The Newsweek journalist wrote a story about "the way the Bar Mitzvah boy from Hibbing, Minnesota, had reinvented himself as the prince of protest", emphasising his birth name Robert Zimmerman, his attendance at the University of Minnesota and his close relationship with his parents whom he claimed to be estranged from. The day after the article appeared, Dylan returned to the studio to record " Restless Farewell " which ends with his vow to "make my stand/ And remain as I am/ And bid farewell and not give

2610-991: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman ( Hebrew : שבתאי זיסל בן אברהם Shabtai Zisl ben Avraham ) in St. Mary's Hospital on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota , and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota , on

2697-637: The Upper West Side of New York City . After the war, while working for his brother Gabe's business, Youthcraft Foundations, Leventhal continued to be active in left-wing causes. Through reading Woody Guthrie's column in the Daily Worker , "Woody Sez," he became enamoured of folk music. His commitment to Pete Seeger and the Weavers and Woody Guthrie led to his representing more and more artists. Two concerts in particular sealed Leventhal's fame. While working on

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2784-510: The Woodstock Festival closer to home. In the early 1970s, critics charged that Dylan's output was varied and unpredictable. Greil Marcus asked "What is this shit?" upon first hearing Self Portrait , released in June 1970. It was a double LP including few original songs and was poorly received. In October 1970, Dylan released New Morning , considered a return to form. The title track

2871-509: The civil rights and antiwar movements. Initially modeling his style on Woody Guthrie 's folk songs , Robert Johnson 's blues and what he called the "architectural forms" of Hank Williams 's country songs, Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to

2958-726: The Byrds , Sonny & Cher , the Hollies , the Association , Manfred Mann and the Turtles . " Mixed-Up Confusion ", recorded during the Freewheelin' sessions with a backing band, was released as Dylan's first single in December 1962, but then swiftly withdrawn. In contrast to the mostly solo acoustic performances on the album, the single showed a willingness to experiment with a rockabilly sound. Cameron Crowe described it as "a fascinating look at

3045-471: The Flood , was released on Asylum Records. Soon, according to Clive Davis , Columbia Records sent word they "will spare nothing to bring Dylan back into the fold". Dylan had second thoughts about Asylum, unhappy that Geffen had sold only 600,000 copies of Planet Waves despite millions of unfulfilled ticket requests for the 1974 tour; he returned to Columbia Records, which reissued his two Asylum albums. After

3132-695: The Kid , providing the soundtrack and playing "Alias", a member of Billy's gang. Despite the film's failure at the box office, " Knockin' on Heaven's Door " became one of Dylan's most covered songs. That same year, Dylan protested the move to deport John Lennon and Yoko Ono , who had been convicted for marijuana possession, by sending a letter to the US Immigration Service which read in part: "Hurray for John & Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!" Dylan began 1973 by signing with

3219-599: The Lower East Side, where she worked as the tenement's janitor to provide for her children. They then moved to the Bronx , where in 1935, at James Monroe high school, Leventhal, already a member of the Young Communist League , was arrested for organizing an " Oxford Pledge " strike, aimed at persuading students to refuse to fight further wars. He lost his first factory job for union organizing, but his brother Herbert,

3306-468: The North Country " appeared on the album. The album influenced the nascent genre of country rock . In 1969, Dylan was asked to write songs for Scratch , Archibald MacLeish 's musical adaptation of " The Devil and Daniel Webster ". MacLeish initially praised Dylan's contributions, writing to him "Those songs of yours have been haunting me—and exciting me," but creative differences led to Dylan leaving

3393-523: The Ten ;O'Clock Scholar, a coffeehouse a few blocks from campus, and became involved in the Dinkytown folk music circuit. His focus on rock and roll gave way to American folk music , as he explained in a 1985 interview: The thing about rock'n'roll is that for me anyway it wasn't enough ... There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms ... but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in

3480-625: The Town Hall in New York City in April 1963. Denied a passport until 1955 because of his Communist sympathies, Leventhal organized world tours for folk singers that the U.S. state department forbade from taking part in official cultural exchanges. In the era of McCarthyism and the flowering of the American civil rights movement , folk music became a voice of the country's conscience, and Harold Leventhal

3567-557: The Troubadour , Les Cousins , and Bunjies . He also learned material from UK performers, including Martin Carthy . By the release of Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan , in May 1963, he had begun to make his name as a singer-songwriter. Many songs on the album were labeled protest songs , inspired partly by Guthrie and influenced by Pete Seeger 's topical songs. " Oxford Town "

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3654-680: The U.S. joined the Second World War . Assigned to India with the Signal Corps , Leventhal sought out the Congress movement , meeting Nehru and Gandhi . He later founded American Friends of India, and, at a 1954 party hosted by the Indian delegation to the United Nations , Leventhal met Nathalie Buxbaum, a UN guide, who was to become his wife. Leventhal and Buxbaum had two daughters and raised them in

3741-562: The US and Canada for six months, backed by the five musicians from the Hawks who became known as The Band . While Dylan and the Hawks met increasingly receptive audiences, their studio efforts foundered. Producer Bob Johnston persuaded Dylan to record in Nashville in February 1966, and surrounded him with top-notch session men. At Dylan's insistence, Robertson and Kooper came from New York City to play on

3828-462: The US and UK. " It's All Over Now, Baby Blue " and " It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) " were two of Dylan's most important compositions. In 1965, headlining the Newport Folk Festival , Dylan performed his first electric set since high school with a pickup group featuring Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on organ. Dylan had appeared at Newport in 1963 and 1964, but in 1965

3915-417: The album's producer John Hammond , who signed Dylan to Columbia Records . Dylan's debut album, Bob Dylan , released March 19, 1962, consisted of traditional folk, blues and gospel material with just two original compositions, " Talkin' New York " and " Song to Woody ". The album sold 5,000 copies in its first year, just breaking even. In August 1962, Dylan changed his name to Bob Dylan, and signed

4002-576: The album, Dylan was booked for two US concerts with Al Kooper and Harvey Brooks from his studio crew and Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm , former members of Ronnie Hawkins 's backing band the Hawks . On August 28 at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, the group was heckled by an audience still annoyed by Dylan's electric sound. The band's reception on September 3 at the Hollywood Bowl was more favorable. From September 24, 1965, in Austin, Texas, Dylan toured

4089-403: The backlash he was about to encounter from his former champions. In the latter half of 1964 and into 1965, Dylan moved from folk songwriter to folk-rock pop-music star. His jeans and work shirts were replaced by a Carnaby Street wardrobe, sunglasses day or night, and pointed " Beatle boots ". A London reporter noted "Hair that would set the teeth of a comb on edge. A loud shirt that would dim

4176-543: The burgeoning counterculture . Dylan was born and raised in St. Louis County, Minnesota . Following his self-titled debut album of traditional folk songs in 1962, he made his breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). The album featured " Blowin' in the Wind " and " A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall ", which adapted the tunes and phrasing of older folk songs. He released the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and

4263-589: The civil rights movement, singing together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dylan performed " Only a Pawn in Their Game " and " When the Ship Comes In ". Dylan's third album, The Times They Are a-Changin' , reflected a more politicized Dylan. The songs often took as their subject matter contemporary stories, with " Only a Pawn in Their Game " addressing the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers , and

4350-454: The doomed 1948 presidential campaign of the progressive Henry Wallace , Leventhal met folk singer Pete Seeger , and soon became the manager of Seeger's group, The Weavers . After tremendous initial success with record selling songs such as " Goodnight Irene " and " Tzena, Tzena, Tzena ," the group was Blacklisted as communists , and then had such difficulty finding a place to perform that they disbanded in 1952. But Leventhal’s commitment to

4437-557: The early 1980s. Dylan's Time Out of Mind (1997) marked the beginning of a career renaissance. He has released five critically acclaimed albums of original material since, most recently Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). He also recorded a trilogy of albums covering the Great American Songbook , especially songs sung by Frank Sinatra , and an album smoothing his early rock material into a mellower Americana sensibility, Shadow Kingdom (2023). Dylan has toured continuously since

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4524-401: The effect was dramatic and electrifying". Many early songs reached the public through more palatable versions by other performers, such as Joan Baez , who became Dylan's advocate and lover. Baez was influential in bringing Dylan to prominence by recording several of his early songs and inviting him on stage during her concerts. Others who had hits with Dylan's songs in the early 1960s included

4611-726: The energy of beat poetry and as a forerunner of rap and hip-hop . The song was provided with an early music video, which opened D. A. Pennebaker 's cinéma vérité presentation of Dylan's 1965 British tour, Dont Look Back . Instead of miming, Dylan illustrated the lyrics by throwing cue cards containing key words on the ground. Pennebaker said the sequence was Dylan's idea, and it has been imitated in music videos and advertisements. The second side of Bringing It All Back Home contained four long songs on which Dylan accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. " Mr. Tambourine Man " became one of his best-known songs when The Byrds recorded an electric version that reached number one in

4698-576: The event, Dylan denied he was married. Writer Nora Ephron made the news public in the New York Post in February 1966 with the headline "Hush! Bob Dylan is wed". Dylan toured Australia and Europe in April and May 1966. Each show was split in two. Dylan performed solo during the first half, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. In the second, backed by the Hawks, he played electrically amplified music. This contrast provoked many fans, who jeered and slow clapped . The tour culminated in

4785-625: The eyes of many thousands of listeners of the folk music style throughout the world and, equally as well as Alan Lomax." Song plugger Although the terms are often used interchangeably, those who worked in department and music stores were most often known as "song demonstrators", while those who worked directly for music publishers were called "song pluggers." Musicians and composers who had worked as song pluggers included George Gershwin , Ron Roker , Jerome Kern , Irving Berlin and Lil Hardin Armstrong . Movie executive Harry Cohn had been

4872-501: The father in Dylan", and Dylan said "I wrote it thinking about one of my boys and not wanting to be too sentimental". Columbia Records simultaneously released Dylan , a collection of studio outtakes, widely interpreted as a churlish response to Dylan's signing with a rival record label. In January 1974, Dylan, backed by the Band, embarked on a North American tour of 40 concerts—his first tour for seven years. A live double album, Before

4959-634: The film based on that song, and later co-produced the Oscar -winning Bound for Glory starring David Carradine as Woody Guthrie. Among his other films was the Pete Seeger documentary A Song and a Stone (1972), the Weavers documentary Wasn't that a Time! (1984) and the Emmy -winning We Shall Overcome (1988). Leventhal also produced theatre, starting with his fellow blacklister Will Geer performing Mark Twain 's America off-Broadway in 1952. Harold Leventhal

5046-468: The genre, thus playing a significant role in the popularization and influence of American folk music in the 1950s and 1960s. He died in 2005 at the age of 86. Born in Ellenville, New York , to Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Lithuania , Leventhal was eight weeks old when his father, Samuel, died in the 1918 influenza pandemic at the age of 34. His mother, Sarah, moved her five children to

5133-451: The given name spelling. In a 2004 interview, he said, "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free." In May 1960, Dylan dropped out of college at the end of his first year. In January 1961, he traveled to New York City to perform and visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital . Guthrie had been

5220-432: The group and their audience persisted, and in 1955 he organized a Christmas Eve Weavers reunion concert at New York City 's Carnegie Hall , persuading the members to take part by convincing each one that the others had already agreed. The concert ignited the folk music boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which in turn led to Leventhal recognizing the talent of a 19-year-old Bob Dylan , and promoting his first concert, at

5307-422: The late 1960s and early 1970s, Dylan explored country music and rural themes on John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969) and New Morning (1970). In 1975, he released Blood on the Tracks , which many saw as a return to form. In the late 1970s, he became a born-again Christian and released three albums of contemporary gospel music before returning to his more familiar rock-based idiom in

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5394-474: The late 1980s on what has become known as the Never Ending Tour . Since 1994, Dylan has published nine books of paintings and drawings , and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 125 million records, making him one of the best-selling musicians ever . He has received numerous awards , including the Presidential Medal of Freedom , ten Grammy Awards , a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award . Dylan has been inducted into

5481-672: The leading female folk singers, including Judy Collins , Miriam Makeba , Odetta , The Simon Sisters (Carly Simon), Buffy Sainte-Marie , Mary Travers, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez . He represented Ireland 's Clancy Brothers , Britain's Ewan MacColl , Donovan and Pentangle , and also had an eclectic international roster including Jacques Brel , Nana Mouskouri , Mercedes Sosa and Ravi Shankar . Leventhal produced concerts at venues such as Carnegie Hall for artists such as Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, Peter, Paul and Mary , Neil Diamond, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and many others. He had

5568-422: The mix became more complex. His six-minute single " Like a Rolling Stone " (1965) expanded commercial and creative boundaries in popular music. In July 1966, a motorcycle accident led to Dylan's withdrawal from touring. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band , who had previously backed him on tour. These recordings were later released as The Basement Tapes in 1975. In

5655-455: The more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan drew controversy among folk purists when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home , Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde . When Dylan made his move from acoustic folk and blues music to rock,

5742-663: The neon lights of Leicester Square . He looks like an undernourished cockatoo ." Dylan began to spar with interviewers. Asked about a movie he planned while on Les Crane 's television show, he told Crane it would be a "cowboy horror movie." Asked if he played the cowboy, Dylan replied, "No, I play my mother." Dylan's late March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home was another leap, featuring his first recordings with electric instruments, under producer Tom Wilson's guidance. The first single, " Subterranean Homesick Blues ", owed much to Chuck Berry 's " Too Much Monkey Business "; its free-association lyrics described as harking back to

5829-401: The principal cut the microphone. In 1959, Dylan's high school yearbook carried the caption "Robert Zimmerman: to join 'Little Richard ' ". That year, as Elston Gunnn, he performed two dates with Bobby Vee , playing piano and clapping. In September 1959, Dylan enrolled at the University of Minnesota . Living at the Jewish-centric fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu house, Dylan began to perform at

5916-421: The project. Some of the songs were later recorded by Dylan in a revised form. In May 1969, Dylan appeared on the first episode of The Johnny Cash Show where he sang a duet with Cash on "Girl from the North Country" and played solos of "Living the Blues" and " I Threw It All Away ". Dylan traveled to England to top the bill at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, after rejecting overtures to appear at

6003-506: The second album without formal credit. Wilson produced the next three albums Dylan recorded. Dylan made his first trip to the United Kingdom from December 1962 to January 1963. He had been invited by television director Philip Saville to appear in Madhouse on Castle Street , which Saville was directing for BBC Television . At the end of the play, Dylan performed " Blowin' in the Wind ", one of its first public performances. While in London, Dylan performed at London folk clubs, including

6090-510: The sessions. The Nashville sessions produced the double album Blonde on Blonde (1966), featuring what Dylan called "that thin wild mercury sound". Kooper described it as "taking two cultures and smashing them together with a huge explosion": the musical worlds of Nashville and of the "quintessential New York hipster" Bob Dylan. On November 22, 1965, Dylan quietly married 25-year-old former model Sara Lownds . Some of Dylan's friends, including Ramblin' Jack Elliott, say that, immediately after

6177-472: The sole exception, with Dylan alluding to figures in Western culture in a song described by Andy Gill as "an 11-minute epic of entropy, which takes the form of a Fellini-esque parade of grotesques and oddities featuring a huge cast of celebrated characters". Poet Philip Larkin , who also reviewed jazz for The Daily Telegraph , wrote "I'm afraid I poached Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (CBS) out of curiosity and found myself well rewarded." In support of

6264-442: The song: "that snare shot sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind." The song opened Dylan's next album, Highway 61 Revisited , named after the road that led from Dylan's Minnesota to the musical hotbed of New Orleans . The songs were in the same vein as the hit single, flavored by Mike Bloomfield's blues guitar and Al Kooper's organ riffs. " Desolation Row ", backed by acoustic guitar and understated bass, offers

6351-509: The tour, Dylan and his wife became estranged. He filled three small notebooks with songs about relationships and ruptures, and recorded the album Blood on the Tracks in September 1974. Dylan delayed the album's release and re-recorded half the songs at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis with production assistance from his brother, David Zimmerman. Released in early 1975, Blood on the Tracks received mixed reviews. In NME , Nick Kent described

6438-551: Was also a noted music publisher of folk songs including such titles as " Where Have All the Flowers Gone " and " The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ." Leventhal's tastes were eclectic, from Lightnin' Hopkins ' blues to jazz greats such as Duke Ellington and Dexter Gordon to folk traditionalists Cisco Houston , Theodore Bikel , Oscar Brand and Mahalia Jackson . His reputation for getting black and women artists fair deals with record companies led to his representing many of

6525-581: Was also integrally involved in the theatrical and film careers of both Alan Arkin as well as Theodore Bikel. Reflecting his political and musical interests, he produced, among others, Joseph Heller 's We Bombed in New Haven , Jules Epstein 's But Seriously , Rabindranath Tagore 's King of the Dark Chamber and Jules Feiffer 's The White House Murder Case . In 2003, Leventhal received his own tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. A film of that show, Isn't this

6612-441: Was among those most responsible for making that voice heard. Leventhal was a committed leftist whose music business acumen turned him into folk music's most successful promoter. He was the model for the character Irving Steinbloom , the impresario immortalized in the 2003 movie comedy A Mighty Wind . In 1988, Leventhal won a Grammy award for Folkways: A Vision Shared , a tribute to Woodie Guthrie and Lead Belly . Leventhal

6699-495: Was an account of James Meredith 's ordeal as the first Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi . The first song on the album, "Blowin' in the Wind", partly derived its melody from the traditional slave song "No More Auction Block", while its lyrics questioned the social and political status quo. The song was widely recorded by other artists and became a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary . " A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall "

6786-573: Was an important part of Dylan's persona, and the range of material on the album impressed listeners, including the Beatles . George Harrison said of the album: "We just played it, just wore it out. The content of the song lyrics and just the attitude—it was incredibly original and wonderful". The rough edge of Dylan's singing unsettled some but attracted others. Author Joyce Carol Oates wrote: "When we first heard this raw, very young, and seemingly untrained voice, frankly nasal, as if sandpaper could sing,

6873-571: Was back in the studio in New York, recording " Positively 4th Street ". The lyrics contained images of vengeance and paranoia, and have been interpreted as Dylan's put-down of former friends from the folk community he had known in clubs along West 4th Street . In July 1965, Dylan's six-minute single " Like a Rolling Stone " peaked at number two in the US chart. In 2004 and in 2011, Rolling Stone listed it as number one on " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ". Bruce Springsteen recalled first hearing

6960-420: Was backed by the Band. Nashville Skyline (1969), featured Nashville musicians, a mellow-voiced Dylan, a duet with Johnny Cash and the single " Lay Lady Lay ". Variety wrote, "Dylan is definitely doing something that can be called singing. Somehow he has managed to add an octave to his range." During one recording session, Dylan and Cash recorded a series of duets, but only their version of " Girl from

7047-467: Was based on the folk ballad " Lord Randall ". With its apocalyptic premonitions, the song gained resonance when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed a few weeks after Dylan began performing it. Both songs marked a new direction in songwriting, blending a stream-of-consciousness , imagist lyrical attack with traditional folk form. Dylan's topical songs led to his being viewed as more than just

7134-427: Was described as exhausted and acting "as if on a death trip". D. A. Pennebaker, the filmmaker accompanying the tour, described Dylan as "taking a lot of amphetamine and who-knows-what-else". In a 1969 interview with Jann Wenner , Dylan said, "I was on the road for almost five years. It wore me down. I was on drugs, a lot of things ... just to keep going, you know?" On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his motorcycle,

7221-539: Was from Dylan's ill-fated collaboration with MacLeish, and "Day of the Locusts" was his account of receiving an honorary degree from Princeton University on June 9, 1970. In November 1968, Dylan co-wrote " I'd Have You Anytime " with George Harrison; Harrison recorded that song and Dylan's " If Not for You " for his album All Things Must Pass . Olivia Newton-John covered "If Not For You" on her debut album and " The Man in Me "

7308-440: Was met with cheering and booing and left the stage after three songs. One version has it that the boos were from folk fans whom Dylan had alienated by appearing, unexpectedly, with an electric guitar. Murray Lerner , who filmed the performance, said: "I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric." An alternative account claims audience members were upset by poor sound and a short set. Dylan's performance provoked

7395-541: Was originally from the Kağızman district of Kars Province in northeastern Turkey. Dylan's father Abram Zimmerman and his mother Beatrice "Beatty" Stone were part of a small, close-knit Jewish community. They lived in Duluth until Dylan was six, when his father contracted polio and the family returned to his mother's hometown of Hibbing, where they lived for the rest of Dylan's childhood, and his father and paternal uncles ran

7482-579: Was prominently featured in the film The Big Lebowski (1998). Tarantula , a freeform book of prose-poetry, had been written by Dylan during a creative burst in 1964–65. Dylan shelved his book for several years, apparently uncertain of its status, until he suddenly informed Macmillan at the end of 1970 that the time had come to publish it. The book attracted negative reviews but later critics have suggested its affinities with Finnegans Wake and A Season In Hell . Between March 16 and 19, 1971, Dylan recorded with Leon Russell at Blue Rock ,

7569-491: Was that I wanted to get out of the rat race." He made very few public appearances, and did not tour again for almost eight years. Once Dylan was well enough to resume creative work, he began to edit D. A. Pennebaker's film of his 1966 tour. A rough cut was shown to ABC Television, but they rejected it as incomprehensible to mainstream audiences. The film, titled Eat the Document on bootleg copies, has since been screened at

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