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Seminararbeit
Englisch

Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz - KFU

1, Pelzer-Karpf, 2016

Simon L. ©
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Linguistics PS: Language, music & the brain WS 2015/16


Bob Dylan

and his


Influences on the baby boomers and subsequent generations



13 10 725

Table of content:

Introduction 3

Historical Background: The Vietnam Era & The Protest Movement 3

Dylan’s Early Period / The Baby Boomers 4

Masters of War” 5

The Times They Are A-Changin’” 7

Blowin’ in the Wind” 9

Conclusion 11

References 13

Appendix: Lyrics 14-17


Introduction

Pop-lyrics are usually overlooked when it comes to literature and its messages. Music is often considered to be mere entertainment, lacking any deeper sense or meaning. However, there are numerous artists who composed great songs with thought-provoking lyrics that found large influence among many generations. Bob Dylan is often considered to be the living idol of the baby boomer generation, providing anti-war lyrics and talking about the generation gap.

Nonetheless, Bob Dylan eschews categorisation and transcends the popularity he gained among this generation, and his influences find repercussion in contemporary societies as well. For more than five decades, he has been popular in various media reaching from music to film and literature. Moreover, he is one of the only songwriters to be repeatedly considered for Nobel laureate, not least because of his outstanding and thoughtful lyrics.

In this paper, I will give a thorough analysis of selected Bob Dylan songs; I will contextualise them and provide historical background, trying to categorise Bob Dylan as a spokesman of the post-war generation. It is the goal then, to reveal the influences he has had on the baby boomers as well as on subsequent generations heretofore.

Historical Background: The Vietnam Era & The Protest Movement

The Vietnam War was the first war that experienced an enormous public discussion and protests all across the USA were the consequence (Kampus, 2010). In 1965 the US engaged in this war because they feared that communism would spread among the rest of Asia and the world if Vietnam became a communist country. Until 1973 the US were engaged in the conflict and – contrary to the government’s expectations that they would win soon – they had to suffer vast losses.

Consequently, the public more and more changed its attitude towards the war, and a series of protest movements began to immerse throughout the country. During this era protest songs blossomed and many musicians took the opportunity to express their doubts and concerns about war.

One of them was Bob Dylan, who is one of the most famous American singer/songwriter of all time. He was born Allan Zimmermann in 1941 (Sweers, 2005). His lyrics often deal with political and social issues such as war and civil rights and the songs’ melodies were often inspired by old folk ballads. He even played at the Civil Rights March on Washington, where Martin Luther King held his famous I-have-A-Dream speech.

Dylan’s Early Period / The Baby Boomers

In the 1960s, Dylan raised awareness to topics such as aging and the generation gap. To a great number of people, songs such as “The Times They Are A-Changin” and “Ballad Of A Thin Man” (“There’s something happenin’ here / But you don’t know what it is, / Do you Mr Jones?”), made him the “Voice of a Generation” (Wirnsperger, 2011). Indeed, the emotions that are being expressed in these lyrics are indicative of the generation conflict of that time.

This gives the impression that Bob Dylan and his music were typical of his time. On the contrary, Dylan expressed his dissatisfaction with the idolisation by the baby boomers. Despite the obvious cultural significance Bob Dylan has had on 1960s society, he has to be understood in a broader context. Dylan “is decidedly not the story of a baby boomer” (Wilentz, 2010).

Sean Wilentz argues that Dylan’s music was mainly influenced by the post-war atmosphere of the 1940s and 1950s (cf. 297). This is not really a contradiction, however, Dylan may have drawn different conclusions than his peers did; Wirnsperger (2011) argues that the boomers had a higher life expectancy than any previous generation and they benefitted from the economic growth in the post-war years.

As a consequence, the affluent young people of the 1960s were able to make revolutionary contributions to culture. Their pop-music celebrated the cult of youth, and the elder were not held in high esteem. In “The Times They Are A-Changin’” it is obvious that it is directed towards the younger generation. Nonetheless, Bob Dylan denied trying to turn them against the older generation; the celebration of youth does therefore not exclude the celebration of old age.

Dylan has also been held in high regard by music journalists as an active musician in his late sixties. Since he released his Album Time out of Mind in 1997 when he was 56 years old, he continued to produce and release albums (cf. Wirnsperger, 2011). Therefore, Bob Dylan is one of the few representative musicians of the 1960s who continues to influence contemporary generations.

Masters of War

The first song I am analysing is “Masters of War”. It is a rather aggressive and very powerful song. It was written in 1963, and its melody as based on an English folk song called “Nottamun Town”. (cf. wikipedia.org; “Nottamun Town”). It contains eight stanzas with four lines each. The song is a disdainful accusation of the war industry. It is not about war itself, however, it harshly criticises the people who are in power and who run the military industry with a profit oriented mind-set.

The speaker directly addresses these people (“Come you masters of war / You that build all the guns / You that build the death planes / You that build all the bombs”) and expresses his indignation very explicitly. The song opens in a traditional folk-song manner (“Come you masters of war”). Bob Dylan stated that, “It’s speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military-industrial complex as he was making his exit from the presidency.

That spirit was in the air, and I picked it up.” (Bieri, 2007). Whilst Eisenhower warns people to be cautious of the power and influence of the so-called military-industrial complex, Dylan accuses the representatives of playing “with my world like it’s your little toy”. We find evidence that he addresses these people in lines 2-4 (sup.) as well as in lines 5-6 (“You that hide behind walls, / You that hide behind the desks”).

Dylan repeatedly remarks that he can see through these people’s “masks”. In other words, he accuses them of deceiving their own people by pretending to do certain things while doing otherwise. I lines 21-24 he states, “I see through your eyes, / And I see through your brain, / Like I see through the water, / That runs down my drain”. These lines are especially interesting because Dylan compares these people’s brain with water that runs down his drain.

Water that runs down a drain is filthy and polluted, and he therefore draws comparison to these people’s loathsome minds. In the song, we find two references to the bible. The third Stanza opens with “like Judas of old, / You lie and deceive” (lines 17-18). This is a really strong (Christian) image. Judas is the archetype of a traitor as it is depicted in the Bible. He does so in order to express that the people who are in power of the military-industrial complex are the ultimate betrayer of the American society.

They deceive for their sole profits and benefits the same way Judas did with Jesus. Furthermore, Dylan explains that “Even Jesus would never, / Forgive what you do” (lines 47-48). Normally – from a baptised person’s viewpoint – Jesus forgives every sin in the end, but in this case Dylan claims that regardless of that they would face eternal damnation. Using biblical references in a song is an interesting way of emphasising certain statements; most people in the Western World would understand the statements, even if they do not believe in Christ.

In stanza seven Dylan raises to question whether all the money the accused people own will help them when they die. His answer is that it will most likely not buy them back their soul when they die. Stanza seven, therefore, draws a strong connection to the meaning of lines 47-48 (sup.).

The last stanza is outstanding; Dylan wishes that the “Masters of War” die soon, and that when the day comes he will wait until he is sure that they are dead indeed. This is an extremely explicit statement, and it really concentrates the emotions the singer feels. In the booklet of the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan we can find the following comment:

(Hentoff, 2003)

From this passage we can get evidence that not only the speaker of the song, but Bob Dylan himself is the person that expresses the way he feels. “Masters of War” is a cold, dark and especially serious song. The only instrument that is used is Dylan’s guitar, and it perfectly suits the mood of the song. Throughout the song Dylan’s voice gains more anger and it powerfully turns into rage towards the end, accompanying the lyrics in a perfect manner.

The Times They Are A-Changin

The Times They Are A-Changin” was written in the fall of 1963, and was inspired by old British and Irish ballads (Margotin & Guesdon, 2015). Contrary to “Masters of War”, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” does not deal with any specific topic. Instead, the song expresses a general feeling about the changes and the transformation of the 60s society. The song is made up of five stanzas, containing eleven lines each.

The song, again, opens in a traditional folk-song manner (“Come gather ‘round people”). We can find biblical references in this song as well, in order for him to convey his universal message. According to Margotin and Guesdon (2015) the title of the song refers to chapter 1, verse 3 of the book of Revelation where it says, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” The words “For the times they are a-changin’” close every stanza and constitute the leitmotif of the song (inf.). We can also draw connection between lines 21-22 (“For the loser now / Will be later to win”) and chapter 10, verse 31 of the Gospel of Mark where it says, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.” Importance should be payed to the fact that the song is not exclusionary; Dylan composed a song that is directed towards the youth, but in 1965 he clarified that it is not a request for them to turn against their elders: “That’s not what I was saying.

In stanza two and three, Dylan expresses his wish for “writers and critics” and “senators and congressmen” to gather and to engage in their actions. Whilst he warns the former against speaking too soon, he summons the latter to engage without hesitation. Margotin and Guesdon (2015) furthermore argue that:

Beyond this, it was a poetic invitation to gather “writers and critics,” “senators and congressmen,” “mothers and fathers,” as Dylan sang in the first verse, hoping his call would be heard. We know, however, that Bob Dylan was not heard: less than one month after the recording, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and soon afterward, large numbers of GIs left for Vietnam.
(Margotin & Guesdon, 2015)

The last stanza then opens with “The line it is drawn / The curse it is cast”; These are idiomatic expression that determine the fate and the conclusion, which is also the leitmotif, of the song, namely “the times they are (inevitably) a-changin’”. Lines 47-48 as well as lines 53-54 repeat the biblical reference to the Gospel of Mark, emphasising its meaning. Line 55: “The times they are a-changin’” eventually closes the song.

This version was astonishing for its quality and the sentiment it carried. The harmonies were slightly richer but, unfortunately he did not officially record it. In 1965, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” came out as a single in the UK, where it reached ninth place on the hit parade on March 25.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” in ten minutes on April 16, 1962 (Margotin & Guesdon, 2015). He was in a coffee shop in Greenwich Village together with Blue. In an interview with Ed Bradley in 2004, when asked about the speed with which he wrote, Dylan replied: “It came from . that wellspring of creativity.”(All Dylan A Bob Dylan Blog, 2004). Furthermore, he explained that regardless of where he was – a coffee shop, in the subway, “sometimes talking to someone” – he could be hit by inspiration.

According to Blue, Dylan asked him to play the chords of the song so he could fool around with some lines he had written for a song, and after about an hour Dylan was satisfied. They decided to play the song at Gerde’s Folk City for Gil Turner. After playing the song during an intermission, Turner was stunned and immediately asked Dylan to show him the chords for the song.

The song features three verses, each of which consists of three ambiguous rhetorical questions that address contemporary issues concerning warfare, oppression, and other social injustices. The answers to these questions can be found in the concluding lines of each verse which also function as the chorus; it is always the same phrase, namely “blowin’ in the wind”.

By providing such a vague answer, Dylan invites or rather challenges his audience to draw their own conclusions. The songs opens with the question: “How many roads must a man walk down / Before you call him a man?” It asks how much a person has to suffer before he or she becomes an accepted member of society. The second question of the verse includes the metaphors of the “white dove”, clearly symbolising peace.

Dylan might ask here how long it will take until there will be peace on earth. The last question of the first stanza is “How many years must the cannonballs fly / Before they’re forever banned?” This question has quite an obvious meaning: Dylan refers to the ongoing fighting (particularly the Vietnam War) and wants to know when it will finally be over. The second stanza is mainly dedicated to the issue of racism, which becomes particularly obvious in the second question “How many years can some people exist / Before they’re allowed to be free?”, a question that alludes to the misery of black people in the time of slavery.

Dylan admitted that the melody was musically based on “No More Auction Block“. “I didn’t really know if that song was good or bad,” he told Scorsese. “It just felt right . I needed to sing it in that language, which is a language that I hadn’t heard before.” (cf. Margotin & Guesdon, 2015) The song was sung by Peter, Paul and Mary on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King held his famous I-Have-A-Dream speech.

The song continues to carry his message of hope beyond the sixties.

Blowin’ in the Wind” is the first song on the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which went on sale on May 27, 1963. In 2004, the Rolling Stone magazine listed it on rank fourteen among the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

The song is written in D and only consists of three chords. There is no reverb on the voice or the guitar whatsoever. The recording is an exemplar of simplicity and efficiency. All aggressiveness has disappeared, and his communicative, soft, calm voice prevails, giving the song its spiritual philosophic character.

In this paper, we find evidence that Bob Dylan does not only address the youth culture of the baby boomers but, his extraordinary and powerful lyrics prove to transcend the context of the post-war era and they find repercussion unto contemporary societies in the Western World; the fact that he has been prominent for more than five decades underpins this thesis.

Not only does he talk about the conflicts between generations, but his anti-war lyrics find application in any present country affected by war. His rhetorical questions in “Blowin’ in the Wind” offer an ambiguity that eludes our conception of answering questions with regards to social injustices. He discusses universal themes such as equality, racism, violence and selfishness; as an artist Dylan does not propose any answer to his questions, thus, raising awareness to these dreadful topics.

The song became an anthem of hope and peace and it carries its message beyond the sixties, giving it its timeless character. In “Masters of War”, Bob Dylan does not criticise war per se, but he makes a disdainful accusation of the war industry, or what Eisenhower called the military-complex industry. In other words, it is speaking against the profit-oriented people, who run the military industry and favour war to peace in order to maximise their gaining. “The Times They Are A-Changin’” is addressed to the younger generation without trying to turn them against their elders.

References:
Bibliography:

Bieri, Guido.
Life on the Tracks: Bob Dylan's Songs. Basel: G. Bieri Moondance Private, 2008. Print.

Hentoff, Nat. The Freewheelin‘ Bob Dylan (CD Booklet). Sony Records.

Kampus, Roman Wilhelm.
Anti-War Lyrics of the 1960s and 1970s, with Special Emphasis on Country Joe McDonald. Thesis. KFU, 2010. Graz: n.p., 2010. Print.

Margotin, Philippe, and Jean-Michel Guesdon.
Bob Dylan: All the Songs: The Story behind Every Track. N.p.: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2015. Print.

Sweers, Britta. Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Wilentz, Sean.
Bob Dylan in America. New York: Knopf Doubleday Group, 2010. Print.

Wirnsperger, Lukas.
Pop Music and Old Age. Thesis. KFU, 2011. Graz: n.p., 2011. Print.


Webliography:

Dylan, Bob. "Blowin in the wind."
Azlyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Dylan, Bob. "Masters Of War"
Azlyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Dylan, Bob. "The Times They Are A-Changin'"
Azlyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

"Bob Dylan, 'The Times They Are A-Changin' | 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." Rolling Stone. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

"Nottamun Town."
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

Blowin’ in the Wind”

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.


Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.
You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.


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