141-529: The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–76 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who was a major recording artist and concert performer, to play in smaller auditoriums in less populated cities where he could be more intimate with his audiences. Some of the performers on the tour were Joan Baez , Roger McGuinn , Joni Mitchell , Ronee Blakely and Ramblin' Jack Elliott . Bob Neuwirth assembled backing musicians from
282-495: 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
423-490: A compressor , you get that long sustain . To be honest, I found this by accident. The engineer , Ray Gerhardt, would run compressors on everything to protect his precious equipment from loud rock and roll. He compressed the heck out of my 12-string , and it sounded so great we decided to use two tube compressors (likely Teletronix LA-2As ) in series, and then go directly into the board . That's how I got my 'jingle-jangle' tone. It's really squashed down, but it jumps out from
564-485: A bestseller titled Parents Can't Win . He attended the Latin School of Chicago . He became interested in music after hearing Elvis Presley 's " Heartbreak Hotel " (a song that he frequently covers as a part of his autobiographical live shows), and asked his parents to buy a guitar for him. Around the same time, he was also influenced by country artists and/or groups such as Johnny Cash , Carl Perkins , Gene Vincent and
705-466: A country/folk milieu, Patti Smith amicably declined Dylan's invitation. Bruce Springsteen also turned down an invitation "because he had plenty of touring commitments of his own and was on a roll" following the breakthrough success of Born to Run , released that August. However, Dylan did add one surprising element to the Rolling Thunder Revue when Mick Ronson agreed to join the tour. Ronson
846-461: A cover version of " Anna (Go to Him) ". He contributed two tracks, "Banjo Cantata" and "Ramblin' On", to a compilation of banjo pieces released by Davon as Banjo Greats (Volumes 1 & 2), re-issued on CD by Tradition in 1996 as Banjo Jamboree . He has also performed the songs " It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) " and " Ballad of Easy Rider " which were included on the soundtrack of the film Easy Rider . Another soundtrack that features McGuinn
987-620: 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
1128-471: A different folk song each month on his Folk Den site. The songs are made available from his Web site, and a selection (with guest vocalists) was released on CD as Treasures from the Folk Den , which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Traditional Folk Album. In November 2005, McGuinn released a four-CD box set containing one hundred of his favorite songs from the Folk Den. When McGuinn started with
1269-532: A documentary about the Rolling Thunder tour had been in development for years and could be released relatively soon. In June 2019, Netflix released a pseudo-documentary about the tour, directed by Martin Scorsese , titled Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese . According to Netflix, the film "captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during
1410-460: A fascination with airplanes, gadgets and science fiction, he sent names like "Rocket", "Retro", "Ramjet", and "Roger", the last a term used in signalling protocol over two-way radios, military and civil aviation . Roger was the only "real" name in the bunch, and Bapak chose it. McGuinn officially changed his middle name from Joseph to Roger and has used the name Roger professionally from that time on. McGuinn married Susan Bedrick in 1963; however,
1551-820: 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
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#17328583991841692-427: A few songs, joined by poet Allen Ginsberg ; afterwards, Dylan extended her an invitation to join the Rolling Thunder Revue. She initially declined due to prior commitments but eventually changed her mind and appeared at rehearsals two days later. She later recalled, "Oh I loved him, right away, just loved him. He was exactly what I thought he would be like. Funny and mysterious and shy and dear and vulnerable." However,
1833-515: 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
1974-538: A group of friends took over Gerde's Folk City as the main show was ending. Dylan and Joan Baez sang " One Too Many Mornings ", followed onstage by Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Eric Andersen , Patti Smith, Arlen Roth , Bette Midler , Buzzy Linhart , Phil Ochs and others. Dylan and his group brought in lights and cameras and filmed the session, which began well after midnight; a brief scene of Phil Ochs trying to tune Eric Andersen's guitar from open to regular tuning made it into Renaldo and Clara . A week later, on October 30,
2115-555: 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
2256-496: 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 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
2397-405: A largely negative critical reception. For many years, it was the only official release documenting the live shows from the fall 1975 leg. However, a majority of the film consisted of the haphazard, fictional drama filmed during the tour. Later in 1978, an edited version of the film appeared that omitted many of the dramatic scenes in favor of focusing more on the performances. Most performances from
2538-405: A major music star, saying, "Bob's just an ordinary fucking guy, a great songwriter who got swept up in this whole fame thing and was smart enough to know how to control it, who rode with it and was shrewd, damn shrewd. And now he's just paying everyone back with this tour. It's like a family scene." Dylan named the tour after hearing the continuous sounds of thunder one day. He conceived the tour in
2679-430: 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
2820-475: 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
2961-430: 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
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#17328583991843102-615: 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
3243-552: A relatively obscure cult figure, to work as the film's screenwriter. He was closely associated with several figures in Dylan's circle, including Jacques Levy, who directed many of Shepard's 1960s Off-Off-Broadway plays; Patti Smith, who was Shepard's former lover and dramatic collaborator; and Allen Ginsberg, who had worked with Shepard on Robert Frank 's Me and My Brother in 1969. Dylan asked Shepard if he had seen Marcel Carné 's Les Enfants du Paradis or François Truffaut 's Shoot
3384-478: 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 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
3525-593: 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 ,
3666-399: 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
3807-794: 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
3948-608: 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 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
4089-465: A solo singer-guitarist. In 2018 he embarked on a tour with Chris Hillman, a fellow original Byrd, backed by Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, after which McGuinn returned to touring solo. In 1987, McGuinn was the opening act for Dylan and Tom Petty and he performed at Farm Aid . In 1991 he took part in
4230-480: 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
4371-456: 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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4512-637: 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 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
4653-716: Is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds . He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a solo artist he has released 10 albums and collaborated with, among others, Bob Dylan , Tom Petty and Chris Hillman . The 12-string Rickenbacker guitar is his signature instrument. McGuinn was born and raised in Chicago , Illinois , son of James Joseph McGuinn Jr (b. 1909) and Dorothy Irene (b. 1911), daughter of engineer Louis Heyn. His parents worked in journalism and public relations, and during his childhood, they had written
4794-584: The Hard Rain live album containing selections from that and another late May date was released simultaneously. The television special garnered poor reviews and disappointing ratings, despite a TV Guide cover of and interview with Dylan. Sales of the album were relatively modest in the United States, where it peaked at No. 17. Dylan and Shepard's completed film, now the symbolist-romance-cum-concert-film Renaldo and Clara , would not be released until 1978 to
4935-703: 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
5076-584: 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,
5217-483: The Desire sessions for the rehearsals. Joining them were T-Bone Burnett ( electric guitar , piano ), Steven Soles ( acoustic guitar , electric guitar, backing vocals) and David Mansfield ( dobro , mandolin , violin , pedal steel guitar ). Although the trio had been dismissed during the Desire sessions in an attempt to focus the overall production, Dylan yielded to his original instincts and decided to rehire them for
5358-531: 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
5499-671: 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
5640-510: 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
5781-711: 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 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
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5922-530: The solar energy industry, of which McGuinn is a longtime advocate) and endorsed Florida Amendment 2 (2016) (a medical marijuana legalization initiative). McGuinn contributes electric 12-string to one track ("Captain Video") on Skip Battin 's 1972 self-titled solo album. McGuinn appears on Willie Nile 's 1991 Places I Have Never Been album. McGuinn also appears on the 1994 Arthur Alexander tribute album Adios Amigo: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander , performing
6063-415: The "accompaniments" as "often so trashy they sound like mere practice takes". In Rolling Stone , Jon Landau wrote that "the record has been made with typical shoddiness". Over the years critics came to see it as one of Dylan's masterpieces. In Salon , journalist Bill Wyman wrote: Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn / m ə ˈ ɡ w ɪ n / (born James Joseph McGuinn III ; July 13, 1942)
6204-426: The 1960s, when songs such as " The Times They Are a-Changin' " (1964) became anthems for 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
6345-681: The 30th Anniversary Concert for Bob Dylan with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Tom Petty, G.E.Smith, and others. On July 11, 2000, McGuinn testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that downloading music from the Internet causes artists to not always receive the royalties that (non-Internet based) record companies state in contracts and that, to date, the Byrds had not received any royalties for their greatest successes, "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn"; they only received advances, which were split five ways and were just "a few thousand dollars" per band member. He also stated that he
6486-726: 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
6627-637: The Byrds in Los Angeles, McGuinn was working as a studio musician in New York, recording with Judy Collins and Simon & Garfunkel . At the same time, he was hearing about the Beatles (whose first American appearances would come in February 1964) and wondering how Beatlemania might affect folk music. When he saw George Harrison play a 12-string Rickenbacker in the film A Hard Days Night , it inspired McGuinn to buy
6768-401: The Byrds sliding still further in the charts, while maintaining their musical excellence, with “ So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star ” which peaked at no. 29. “ My Back Pages ”, another Bob Dylan cover, was released later the same year and was to be their last top 40 hit. In 1969, McGuinn's solo version of the "Ballad of Easy Rider" appeared in the film Easy Rider , while a full band version
6909-491: The Byrds, he used the name Jim, which he thought to be too plain. He became involved in the Subud spiritual association in 1965 and began to practice the latihan , an exercise in quieting the mind. He changed his name in 1967 upon advice from Subud's founder Bapak . Telling McGuinn that it would better "vibrate with the universe", Bapak sent the letter "R" to Jim and asked him to send back ten names starting with that letter. Owing to
7050-499: The Byrds. During his time with the Byrds, McGuinn developed two innovative and very influential styles of electric guitar playing. The first was " jingle-jangle " – generating ringing arpeggios based on banjo finger picking styles he learned while at the Old Town School of Folk – which was influential in the folk rock genre. The second style was a merging of saxophonist John Coltrane 's free-jazz atonalities, which hinted at
7191-552: The Chad Mitchell Trio, McGuinn was hired by Bobby Darin as a backup guitarist and harmony singer. Darin wanted to add a folk roots element to his repertoire because it was a burgeoning musical field. Darin opened T.M. Music in New York City 's Brill Building , hiring McGuinn as a songwriter for $ 35 a week. About a year and a half later, Darin became ill and retired from singing. During 1963, just one year before he co-founded
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#17328583991847332-566: The Everly Brothers . In 1957, he enrolled as a student at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music , where he learned the five-string banjo and 12-string guitar. After graduation, McGuinn performed solo at various coffeehouses on the folk music circuit where he was hired as a sideman by the Limeliters , the Chad Mitchell Trio , and Judy Collins and other folk music artists in the same vein. In 1962, after he ended his association with
7473-471: 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
7614-603: The Guitar Legends concerts in Seville, Spain as part of the Expo '92 Seville. After a decade without a recording contract, he released his comeback solo album, Back from Rio i n 1991. It included the hit single "King of the Hill", written together with, and featuring, Petty. He returned with a live band featuring John Jorgenson , George Hawkins and Stan Lynch . In 1992 McGuinn performed at
7755-608: The Jewish-centric fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu house, Dylan began to perform at 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
7896-521: The Juniors ' " Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay " at their high school talent show was so loud that 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
8037-695: 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
8178-468: 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
8319-507: The Piano Player , and told him that those were the kinds of films he wanted to produce on the tour. While Ginsberg accompanied the tour for most of its 1975 run, his planned recitations, as well as some performances by other Revue members, were cut before the opening date to keep the concerts at a manageable length. He [Dylan] was electric during those tours, and had boundless energy and incredible strength of performance. When he sang "Along
8460-461: The Rick's slim neck and low action let me explore jazz and blues scales up and down the fretboard , and incorporate more hammer-ons and pull-offs into my solos. I also translated some of my banjo picking techniques to the 12-string. By combining a flat pick with metal finger picks on my middle and ring fingers, I discovered I could instantly switch from fast single-note runs to banjo rolls and get
8601-521: The Rolling Thunder Revue played its first concert. Sometime in October, Dylan also contacted an old friend and filmmaker, Howard Alk . Dylan's ambitions apparently included a film of the tour, and Alk accepted Dylan's offer to shoot the film. When the tour rehearsals were still in progress, Alk reportedly began filming scenes in Greenwich Village for possible inclusion in the film. Dylan contacted actor/playwright Sam Shepard , then considered to be
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#17328583991848742-557: 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 "
8883-511: 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
9024-462: 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
9165-460: 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 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
9306-500: The Watchtower," it was just riveting. The words were like staccato bullets, and every song had a peak energy. It was such a powerful and magical experience . . . We received outrageous reviews worldwide and the tour was an enormous sensation. . . It was confirmed for me that I was with a living genius, on the level of Shakespeare of our time. Just profound, prolific and profound. tour violinist Scarlet Rivera Scarlet Rivera, Roger McGuinn, and Bob Dylan On October 30, Dylan held
9447-483: 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 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
9588-855: The album Cardiff Rose where he worked with Mick Ronson. In 1977, he released an LP titled Thunderbyrd , which was also the name of his contemporaneous band. Other members included future John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Rick Vito , future Poco bassist Charlie Harrison and drummer Greg Thomas. In 1977, McGuinn joined fellow ex-Byrds Gene Clark and Chris Hillman to form McGuinn, Clark & Hillman . The trio recorded an album with Capitol Records in 1979. They performed on many TV rock shows, including repeated performances on The Midnight Special , where they played both new material and Byrds hits. McGuinn's "Don't You Write Her Off" reached No. 33 in April 1979. While some believe that
9729-417: 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
9870-576: 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
10011-444: The audience (now a thing of the past). He lights into a biting electric version of 'It Ain't Me, Babe,' and then a thoroughly convincing rock take of 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'...and an 'Isis' that makes the Desire take sound like a greeting card." There is a critical consensus that the tour failed in one regard, the making of the film Renaldo and Clara . Shepard soon discovered that his nominal function as screenwriter
10152-403: 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
10293-497: The best of both worlds." Another sound that McGuinn developed is made by playing a seven string guitar , featuring a doubled G-string (with the second string tuned an octave higher). The C. F. Martin guitar company has even released a special edition called the HD7 Roger McGuinn Signature Edition , that claims to capture McGuinn's "jingle-jangle" tone which he created with 12 string guitars, while maintaining
10434-589: 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
10575-559: The concert, Carter was an inmate at Trenton State Prison , where he reacted after learning of the benefit on his behalf and the song dedicated to him: "Wow, man. I mean, he took this case, this nine years of whatever, and put it together, wop, like that, and covered every level, every facet of it. I said "Man, this cat's a genius. He's giving the people the truth." And it was inspiring to me. I told myself, "Rubin, you got to keep pushing, 'cause you must be doing something right, you got all these good people coming to try and help you." Dylan made
10716-560: The concluding concerts in the New York metropolitan area , the tour's itinerary was entirely confined to New England . However, the secrecy surrounding the Revue's intended destinations, the new material Dylan was premiering, and the inclusion of Joan Baez on the same bill as Dylan for the first time in a decade ensured prominent media coverage. On November 2, 1975, the tour stopped at the University of Lowell . Dylan's inspiration for playing Lowell
10857-452: The curtain rose to an incredible sight, Bob and Joan, together again after all these years." Dylan and Baez often opened the second half of the show duetting in the dark on " Blowin' in the Wind ". Then Baez would take center stage with a dynamic six-song set, followed by a solo set from Dylan. He was joined by the band for a few numbers, until the finale song, Woody Guthrie 's "This Land Is Your Land," featuring everyone on stage . The spirit
10998-418: The droning of the sitar – a style of playing, first heard on the Byrds' 1966 single " Eight Miles High ", which was influential in psychedelic rock . While "tracking" the Byrds' first single, " Mr. Tambourine Man ", at Columbia studios, McGuinn discovered an important component of his style. "The 'Ric' [ 12 string Rickenbacker guitar ] by itself is kind of thuddy," he notes. "It doesn't ring. But if you add
11139-525: The ease of playing a 6-string guitar. After Mr. Tambourine Man in 1965, " Turn! Turn! Turn! ", written by Pete Seeger with the lyrics drawn from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, was the Byrds' second Number One success in late 1965. In 1966, “ Eight Miles High ” peaked at no. 14 on the U.S. charts, achieving enduring classic status, even though the song was subject to a U.S. radio ban due to its alleged reference to recreational drug use. 1967 found
11280-401: 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
11421-726: 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
11562-635: The ensemble as featured performers, essentially replacing the former two, while percussionist Gary Burke replaced Rix. New guests included Dennis Hopper , who recited Rudyard Kipling 's "If" at The Warehouse in New Orleans . Joni Mitchell returned to preview two songs ("Black Crow" and "Song for Sharon") from Hejira in Fort Worth . The penultimate show of the tour took place on May 23 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado . Comments about it typified
11703-576: 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
11844-414: The fall 1975 tour were professionally recorded (in addition to wide bootlegging). The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue , incorporating performances from a number of the fall shows, saw issue in 2002. As the first official release to capture the Revue at its peak, it was warmly received by fans and critics. In August 2010, a source close to Dylan told Rolling Stone that
11985-469: The fall of that year. Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, 'Rolling Thunder' is a one of a kind experience, from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese." 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
12126-453: 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
12267-528: The feeling about the spring tour: "Although the band has been playing together longer, the charm has gone out of their exchanges", wrote Tim Riley. "The Rolling Thunder Revue, so joyful and electrifying in its first performances, had just plain run out of steam", wrote music critic Janet Maslin for Rolling Stone . The final Rolling Thunder show took place in Utah on May 25, at Salt Palace in Salt Lake City . It
12408-625: The finest music Dylan ever made with a live band", wrote Clinton Heylin. "Gone was the traditionalism of The Band. Instead he found a whole set of textures rarely found in rock. The idea of blending the pedal-steel syncopation of Mansfield, Ronson's glam-rock lead breaks, and Rivera's electric violin made for something as musically layered as Dylan's lyrics...[Dylan] also displayed a vocal precision rare even for him, snapping and stretching words to cajole nuances of meaning from each and every line." According to Riley, "These are rugged and inspired reworkings of many Dylan standards—[Dylan] even talks casually to
12549-595: The first Rolling Thunder Revue show at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts . Intended to contrast with the bombast of his 1974 tour with The Band , the first leg of the tour was small, spanning only thirty shows. The majority of the first Revue was booked at intimate venues, including smaller arenas, theaters and gymnasia; aside from two shows in Upstate New York , a four-show Canadian leg and
12690-451: 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
12831-457: The groundbreaking album Sweetheart of the Rodeo , to which many attribute the rise in popularity of country rock . McGuinn originally conceived the album as a blend of rock, jazz, folk and other styles; but Gram Parsons 's and Chris Hillman 's bluegrass-western-country influences came to the forefront. After the break-up of the Byrds, McGuinn released several solo albums throughout the 1970s. In 1973 he collaborated with Bob Dylan on songs for
12972-492: The intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to 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
13113-574: The marriage was subsequently annulled. From December 1966 to November 1971, he was married to Dolores DeLeon. A fellow adherent of Subud, DeLeon changed her name to Ianthe in 1967 but reverted to her original name after the dissolution of their marriage. With DeLeon, McGuinn fathered two sons, filmmaker Patrick McGuinn and Henry McGuinn. Immediately following their divorce, McGuinn married a third time, to Linda Gilbert in November 1971; this marriage also ended in divorce in June 1975. McGuinn left Subud in 1977,
13254-454: 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, 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
13395-663: 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
13536-515: 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
13677-403: The purpose for these jams was, except we were being invited to jam." According to Lou Kemp, a friend of Dylan's who eventually organized the tour, the Rolling Thunder Revue "would go out at night and run into people, and we'd just invite them to come with us. We started out with a relatively small group of musicians and support people, and we ended up with a caravan." Uninterested in performing in
13818-488: The radio. With compression, I found I could hold a note for three or four seconds, and sound more like a wind instrument. Later, this led me to emulate John Coltrane's saxophone on " Eight Miles High ". Without compression, I couldn't have sustained the riff's first note." "I practiced eight hours a day on that 'Ric,'" he continues, "I really worked it. In those days, acoustic 12s had wide necks and thick strings that were spaced pretty far apart, so they were hard to play. But
13959-516: The recording sessions for Dylan's Desire album, including violinist Scarlet Rivera , bassist Rob Stoner , and drummer Howie Wyeth , plus Mick Ronson on guitar. The tour included 57 concerts in two legs—the first in the American northeast and Canada in the fall of 1975, and the second in the American South and southwest in the spring of 1976. The release of Desire in January 1976 fell between
14100-447: The same day Blakley showed up for rehearsal, Dylan returned to the recording studio to re-record "Hurricane" (due to legal concerns involving the song's original lyrics). Employing Blakley as a substitute for Emmylou Harris (who had prior engagements to attend to), Dylan quickly recut "Hurricane", the last recorded work done for Desire before its release in January 1976. On October 23, 1975, owner Mike Porco 's 61st birthday, Dylan and
14241-401: The same instrument. By the time Doug Weston gave McGuinn a job at The Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles, he had begun to include Beatles' songs in his act. He gave rock style treatments to traditional folk tunes and thereby caught the attention of another folkie Beatles fan, Gene Clark , who joined forces with McGuinn in July 1964. Together they formed the beginning of what was to become
14382-410: The same time, Dylan was casually inviting others to join in with the band. According to Stoner, the group rehearsed "for like a day or two – it [was] not really so much a rehearsal as like a jam, tryin' to sort it out. Meanwhile, all these people who eventually became the Rolling Thunder Revue started dropping in. Joan Baez was showing up. Roger McGuinn was there. They were all there. We had no idea what
14523-618: The same year that he met his fourth and current wife and business manager, Camilla; they married in April 1978. Since that time, the McGuinns have practiced evangelical Christianity . A registered member of the Republican Party , McGuinn donated $ 2,000 to the Ben Carson presidential campaign in 2015 and refused to endorse Donald Trump , noting "I don't like Trump." He also opposed Florida Amendment 1 (2016) (an initiative pertaining to
14664-661: 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
14805-510: 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
14946-457: The slick production and disco rhythms didn't flatter the group, it sold well enough to generate a follow-up. McGuinn, Clark and Hillman's second release was to have been a full group effort entitled "City", but Clark's unreliability and drug problems resulted in the billing change on their next LP City to "Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, featuring Gene Clark". Since 1981, McGuinn has regularly toured (primarily playing clubs and small theaters) as
15087-522: 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
15228-442: 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
15369-482: The songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in 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
15510-536: The sound track of the Sam Peckinpah movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid including " Knockin' on Heaven's Door ". He toured with Bob Dylan in 1975 and 1976 as part of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue , cancelling a planned tour of his own in order to participate. In late 1975, he played guitar on the track titled "Ride the Water" on Bo Diddley 's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album. In 1976, he released
15651-470: The summer of 1975 while he was living in Greenwich Village , and began co-writing with his friend, Jacques Levy , with whom he wrote various songs, including " Hurricane ". In October 1975, soon after completing Desire , Dylan held rehearsals for his second tour in two years (following an eight-year hiatus) at New York City's midtown Studio Instrument Rentals space. Bassist Rob Stoner, drummer/pianist Howie Wyeth and violinist Scarlet Rivera were retained from
15792-453: The surprising theatrical choice of wearing whiteface make-up at many of the shows. In some shows, he walked on stage wearing a plastic mask, only to toss it aside after the first song to play harmonica on " It Ain't Me, Babe ". According to Rivera, one heckler asked Dylan "Why are you wearing a mask?" to which Dylan replied, "The meaning is in the words." A number of critics highly praised the tour. "The Rolling Thunder Revue shows remain some of
15933-535: The tour continued throughout April and May in the American South and Southwest . (Performances by Dylan and Baez during the Clearwater rehearsals were taped and aired on The Midnight Special .) Although most of the fall complement (including Baez, McGuinn, Ronson and the Neuwirth-led Guam) returned, Elliott, Blakley, Rix, Ginsberg and Shepard moved on to other endeavors. Kinky Friedman and Donna Weiss joined
16074-460: 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
16215-422: The tour, Dylan said, was to "play for the people," the people who never get good seats at his larger concerts due to higher ticket cost and inconvenient locations. Dylan chose to play in smaller auditoriums because, he said, "the atmosphere in small halls is more conducive to what we do." His New York musician friend David Blue felt that Dylan clearly wanted to get back to being closer to his audience after becoming
16356-564: The tour, with Dylan giving a strident performance. Dylan asked Flanzer to accompany him on the chartered flight to oversee these guest stars. Rehearsals for the spring leg were held in Clearwater, Florida during April, and the first show was on April 18 at the Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida . With an itinerary dominated by arenas and stadiums due to the ballooning budget of Renaldo and Clara ,
16497-470: The tour. Luther Rix (drums, percussion) was also added at an indeterminate point. I've known these guys for a long time and I love them dearly, but everybody is slightly unstable. But it's delightful working with Bobby again. He's relatively impossible to follow and that's a challenge, but I need that. Joan Baez Joan Baez kissing Bob Dylan When rehearsals began, many of the musicians were apparently uninformed about plans for an upcoming tour. At
16638-416: The tour. For this performance, Ringo Starr , Stephen Stills and Joe Vitale augmented the core band. Before the concert, Dylan chose to meet with the man that discovered him, Roy Silver, and Silver's partner, manager Richard Flanzer, for some advice. Flanzer and Silver quickly provided several stars (including Stevie Wonder and Dr. John ) to help make this concert the most commercially successful event of
16779-411: The two legs of the tour, with many of the songs performed in the first leg taken from that yet-to-be-released album. The tour was thoroughly documented through film , sound recording, and in print. A documentary about the tour, directed by Martin Scorsese , titled Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese , was released by Netflix and in select theaters in June 2019. The idea behind
16920-403: The unifying and uplifting presence of the Rolling Thunder band. Long may it roll. The show in Utah would be Dylan's last performance for twenty-one months (save for a short set backed by The Band at The Last Waltz in November 1976), and it would be another two years before Dylan recorded another album of new material. I've been seeing Bob perform since 1966. I've never seen him as good as he
17061-549: Was Jack Kerouac , a pivotal influence on his oeuvre who was born and raised in the city. Dylan, Beat Generation colleague Ginsberg and various band members visited Kerouac's gravesite. According to Larry Sloman , who documented the tour in On the Road with Bob Dylan (1978), "Onstage it was like a carnival. Bobby Neuwirth and the back-up band [dubbed 'Guam'] warmed up the audience. Next, Dylan ambled on to do about five songs. After intermission,
17202-556: 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 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 &
17343-443: 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 "
17484-523: 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,
17625-801: 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 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
17766-520: 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
17907-420: 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
18048-467: 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
18189-585: Was considered extremely warm, leading to Joni Mitchell , who only intended to play one concert, to stay on for the remaining three nights of the tour. The dramatic finale of the tour took place on December 8 in Madison Square Garden , where, to an audience of 14,000, Dylan performed a benefit concert for imprisoned boxer and Dylan's latest cause, Rubin Carter . The concert was titled "The Night of The Hurricane," in reference to Dylan's song, "Hurricane" , which
18330-427: 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,
18471-412: Was during the Rolling Thunder tour, night in, night out. He was just amazing, phenomenal energy, and incredible passion. They tried to go out and do something unique and they succeeded. It was just amazing music every night--the most incredible conviction and spirit. Larry Sloman , Rolling Stone writer The May 23 Colorado show was filmed for the September 1976 NBC television special Hard Rain ;
18612-539: 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 "
18753-440: 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
18894-579: 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 ,
19035-428: Was receiving 50 percent royalties from MP3.com . He was also part of an author/musician band, Rock Bottom Remainders , a group of published writers doubling as musicians to raise proceeds for literacy charities. In July 2013, McGuinn co-authored an interactive ebook, Hard Listening , with the rest of the group. Roger McGuinn has used the Internet to continue the folk music tradition since November 1995 by recording
19176-463: Was released in November 1975. Among those appearing on stage were Muhammad Ali and Coretta Scott King , wife of slain civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. Performers included Roberta Flack , Robbie Robertson , Ronee Blakely , Joan Baez , Joni Mitchell and violinist Scarlet Rivera . In the audience were a number of key political figures, boxers, and movie stars. And at the time of
19317-499: Was somewhat superfluous, for most of the film's dramatic sequences would be entirely improvised with little guidance or direction from Dylan. Shepard elected to record his impressionistic divagations in a journal eventually published as The Rolling Thunder Logbook (1977). A second Hurricane Carter benefit was held at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas on January 25, bridging the two legs of
19458-491: 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
19599-488: Was the first time Dylan had ever performed in Utah. News journalist David Beck, who came to the show, wrote that "in ensemble, they are, if anything, even better than alone. Put together by Dylan with rigid professionalism, the show is quick, well-paced, varied, funny and exciting. . . it was as good as you would expect it to be, with artists of this caliber; better, because of the time these people have spent together, because of their obvious admiration for one another, because of
19740-549: Was the lead guitarist and arranger in David Bowie 's former backing band, The Spiders from Mars . Another musician invited on the tour was introduced to Dylan on October 22, when Dylan went to see David Blue perform at The Other End . It was there that he met Ronee Blakley , the actress/singer who had recently starred in Robert Altman 's celebrated film Nashville . At the end of Blue's show, Blakley joined Dylan on-stage for
19881-476: Was the title track for the album released later that year. McGuinn also performed a cover of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" for the Easy Rider soundtrack . 1970's Untitled album featured a 16-minute version of the Byrds' 1966 hit "Eight Miles High", with all four members taking extended solos representative of the "jam-band" style of playing during that period. In 1968, McGuinn helped create
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