Bob Dylan
Music 1010 - 045
Ivy Christiansen
12
Biography
The famous singer we all know and love, Bob Dylan, was named Robert Allen
Zimmerman at birth. He was born on May, 24th 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota to Abe
Zimmerman and Beatty Zimmerman.
When Bob was six years old his family moved to Hibbing, Montana. When they
moved, Bob started teaching himself how to play several different instruments such as
the guitar, piano, and harmonica.
Bobs grandparents were immigrants from Odessa, Ukraine. In 1950 Hibbing
developed a small stable Jewish community. It consisted of approximately 300 people.
His parents were very active in the roles they played in the community. His father was
the president of B’nai Brith while his mother was the president of the Hadassah.
Dylan attended a religious school growing up. Bob spent his time attending camp
in Wisconsin. Zionist camp is where he played the guitar, harmonica, and piano with
fellow members of the camp. When Bob was 13 years old he had his Bar Mitzvah. He
had around 400 guests attend his party; which is said to be the largest Bar Mitzvah in
history of Hibbing.
When Bob was in high school he had several musical inspirations. Some of them
included Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee
Hooker. However, his favorite artist of all times was Woody Guthrie. Bob actually went
to spend time with Woody when he was in the hospital but we will talk about that a little
later.
It didn’t take very long for this inspirational musician to form his own band. When
he was in high school he formed his first band called the Golden Chords. This was his
opportunity to put his dedication of learning to play those instruments to use.
When the Golden Chords were in high school, they played in the school talent
show. It was said to be so loud the principal cut off the microphone. Robert
Zimmerman’s year book quote under his name said “To join Little Richard”. After the
talent show, The Golden Chords would spend their free time performing in local cafes.
This is right before Bob decided to change his name from Robert Zimmerman to Bob
Dylan.
Then Bob decided to leave college and move to New York. He spent most of his
time in the hospital with his idol Woody Guthrie. He was in the hospital suffering from
Huntington’s disease. And the rest of his time was spent performing at cafes just as he
did back at home while he was in high school and his beginning years of college.
But even with all of this success he had it didn’t keep him from getting into
trouble. After years of writing songs for himself and hundreds of other performers, Bob
kept his life secret for the most part. However, things have leaked out that would
surprise most people about this amazing person.
It has been said that Bob Dylan is a recovering alcoholic. He reportedly has
several children that have been kept a secret for many years. According to one website
he has at least four children and potentially two secret wives. Bob Dylan has also been
called a womanizer by a few of his past relationships. Carolyn Dennis, the mother of his
daughter Desiree, has been kept in secret for over 15 years, says that Bob is an
amazing father. He sees his daughter on a regular basis.
Bob is living proof that you can be whatever you want to be and the life you
choose is not always what you thought it would be. You can keep your life private
however every secret finds a way to get out.
Composition History
In his early years of attending college at the University of Minnesota majoring in
art, Robert started performing at cafes with the band that he formed; The Golden
Chords. The music they chose consisted of folk and country music. That is when he
took the name Bob Dylan.
In 1961only twenty years old Bob decided to leave college to move to New York
City. He began performing in coffee houses in New York just as he did in Minnesota it
was there that he met a host of other performers and started his song writing career. In
only four years (1964) Bob was playing 200 concerts annually.
Prior to 1964, in 1961 Bob was signed by Columbia records and released his first
album only a year later. This album contained two songs that Bob had originally written
for other performers. In 1962 Bob released another album that included all of his original
pieces.
Bob has written music for several other song artist such as Peter, Paul and Mary,
the Byrds, and many more between 1964 and 1966. Bob had written songs for over 100
artists. Bob has written over 458 songs.
In 1965 Bob made his break through with the pop audience. With “Like a Rolling
Stone” as a number two hit. Bob had several songs in the top 10 in 1965-1966. In 1966
Bob had sold over ten million records.
On July 29th 1966 Bob suffered injuries from a motorcycle accident. He was in
critical condition and suffered from Amnesia. In that time Bob secluded himself to his
home where he took some time to raise his family. Prior to the accident, Bob had
married Sara Lowndes in 1966.
In 1975 Bob released “Hurricane”. This was a protest song he had written for
Ruben Carter. Bob was never afraid to stand up for what he believed was right. He has
written several protest songs for civil rights and many more.
In 1997 Bob released his “Time out of mind” album. After that in May of 1997 Bob
was hospitalized due to a potential life threatening fungal infection. It caused swelling to
the sac around his heart. Bob had stated "I'm just glad to be feeling better. I really
thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon." In Bob’s younger days Elvis was said to be one of
Bob’s inspirations to his music. Bob had several other influences throughout his career
that he gives thanks to.
(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_songs_has_Bob_Dylan_written)
(http://www.brianhartzog.com/bob-dylan/bob-dylan-biography.htm)
(A+E Television Networks)
(http://www.edlis.org/twice/threads/dylan_hospitalization_update.html)
(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Bob_Dylan.html)
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1179512/Bob-Dylan-hid-marriage-daughter--15-years-Could-concealed-TWO-brides-FOUR-children.html)
Hurricane by Bob Dylan
At 0:05 instruments start
At 0:05 the guitar starts
At 0:14 the music ascends
At 0:14 the woodwind instruments start playing
At 0:14 the drums start playing
At 0:21 the voice starts
At 0:21 Bob Dylan sings Pistol shots ring out in the bar room night.
At 0:31 the course starts
At 0:43 Voice ascends
At 0:48 Voice descends
At 0:56 violins start
At 0:58 woodwinds ascend
At 1:30 voice ascends
At 1:35 violins ascend
At 1:35 woodwinds ascend
At 1:40 violins descend
At 1:40 woodwinds descend
At 1:56 drums and voice are the only ones playing
At 2:00 violin joins in
At 2:15 violins, drums, and guitar are playing with no voice
At 2:21 voice starts again
At 2:52 voice ascends
At 2:54 voice stops
At 3:02 voice continues
At 3:37 violins ascend
At 4:04 backup singers join
At 5:02 violins and drums ascend
At 5:04 violins and drums descend
At 5:44 violins have solo
At 5:46 violin solo ends
At 6:52 music slows and quiets
At 6:55 song ends
Tangled up in Blue By Bob Dylan
At 0:01 guitar starts playing
At 0:01 Drums start playing
At 0:10 Voice starts
At 0:10 Bob Dylan sings early one morning the sun was shining
At 0:32 Voice ascends
At 0:32 Guitar ascends
At 0:32 drums ascend
At 0:41 Voice slows
At 0:41 Guitar slows
At 0:41 Drum slows
At 0:44 voice stops
From 0:44 to 0:54 guitar and drums are playing alone
At 2:54 guitar and drums play a repetitive beat until 3:00
At 3:10 guitar ascends
At 3:23 drums speeds up
At 3:34 guitar speeds up
At 3:53 everything speeds up
At 4:15 music and voice slows
At 5:02 harmonica starts
At 5:35 music slows
5:42 comes to a complete stop