Bob Dylan
Group 5: Joshua Jansen, Alexandra Puls,
Jake Parenteau, & Jared Larson
Why Bob Dylan?
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Bob Dylan is one of the
greatest lyricists to have
ever lived.
He has been an influential
figure in music and culture
for more than five
decades.
He won a special citation
from the Pulitzer Prize jury
because of his
compositions of poetic
power.
So... why else?
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Bob Dylan is more than
just a figure of rock
music's developmental
history - he is a figure of
societal development
through his use of, as
mentioned: poetry!
Utilizing his uniquely
intelligent lyrics, Dylan's
music often surrounded
deeper topics such as
depression, victory, the
supernatural, and
countless others.
"The thing about rock'n'roll
is that for me anyway it
wasn't enough ... There
were great catch-phrases
and driving pulse rhythms
... but the songs weren't
serious or didn't reflect
life in 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." - Bob Dylan
Early Life
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Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth,
Minnesota on May 24, 1941.
Throughout his early years and teen years, Dylan spent
most of his time listening to blues, country, and rock 'n'
roll radio stations - with a particular musical affinity for
those genres of country, rock 'n' roll, and traditional folkmusic.
By age 10 he was a self-taught guitarist and also learned
how to play harmonica.
He created and performed with many different bands
during high school; doing covers of Danny and the
Juniors, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard.
Early Life Continued
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1959 Bob Dylan moved to
Minneapolis and enrolled at
the University of Minnesota.
He performed at a local
coffeehouse known as the
Ten O'Clock Scholar.
He lived in an apartment
above Gray's Campus Drug,
which is now called The
Loring Pasta Bar.
It was during his Dinkytown
days that Robert Zimmerman
began introducing himself as
Bob Dylan.
The Beginning
• In May 1960, Bob Dylan dropped out of college and by
January of '61 he was moving to New York City.
• The reasoning for this:
o He was hoping to perform there
o Dylan wanted to visit his idol and biggest influence during his
early days, Woody Guthrie (Guthrie was terribly sick with
Huntington's Disease).
• Dylan achieved both his hopes within only a short time.
• He performed at various clubs in the Greenwich Village
area.
About Bob Dylan
• Unlike anybody else at the time, regarded as the rock ‘n’
roll “poet-singer”
• Has an innate ability to connect his words and songs
with everybody who listens to his music
• "[I] don't call myself a poet." - Bob Dylan
About Bob Dylan
• Likes speaking from the heart which, while poetic in
nature, it is dissimilar by the lyrical value in conjunction
with the “background music”
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That is to say, Bob Dylan values the music as much
as the lyrics - and points out the obvious error in
saying one form of expressive art is more important
than the other (which is the case with poetry; implying
that heartfelt, poetic emotions are solely words, which
is wrong in Bob Dylan’s eyes as it completely
disregards the valuable emotional capabilities that
come from musical compositions)
Record Deal
• October 1961, John Hammond signed Dylan to
Columbia Records
• March 1962 Bob Dylan was released. The
album consisted of folk, blues, and gospel
material.
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The album only sold a whopping 5,000 copies
• August 1962 Bob Dylan signed a management
contract with Albert Grossman.
• That same month he legally changed his name
to Bob Dylan.
Records Continued
• May 1963, Dylan's
second album The
Freewheelin' Bob
Dylan was released.
• He had started to
make his name as a
singer and a
songwriter.
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This album included
many protest style
songs.
Early Albums
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“The Times They Are a-Changin'” was released, which
was far ahead of its time through its stylistic quality that
was recognized later on as mixing protest songs with
personal lyrics.
By this time, Dylan was playing around 200 concerts a
year!
“Another Side of Bob Dylan” was recorded in a single
evening.
“Bringing It All Back Home” had a very different sound
than the folk style Dylan was known for, the beginning of
Bob Dylan's revolution
Life Changes
• 1965 Dylan married 25 year old model Shirley Noznisky.
• 1966 Bob Dylan is involved in a terrible motorcycle
accident with several broken neck vertebrae, a
concussion, and lacerations of the face and scalp.
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He was in critical condition for a week and bedridden for a month.
The accident left him amnesia and mild paralysis.
• This accident hurt Dylan mentally as much as it did
physically. He spent nine months in seclusion after the
accident.
• In 1968 Bob Dylan made his public re-entry with the
release of another album
Later On
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Bob Dylan continued making many more albums, all
having powerful and meaningful lyrics.
He has numerous achievements and has done many
things in the music industry.
He is alive and well today and is still writing, producing,
and selling his music.
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Dylan has also published 3 books of drawings and
paintings.
Musical Analysis of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
The song that
we have chosen
to analyze is:
"Like a Rolling Stone"
We chose this
piece of music
because it was
one of Bob Dylan's
most successful hits,
and had an interesting array of instruments for a folk
song of that time period.
Musical Aspects of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Instrumentation:
Electronic keyboard/synthesizer
Harmonica Vocals (singular vocalist)
Electric guitar
Basic folk drum kit (kick, snare, & ride/crash)
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Meter:
Binary-Strophic Form
Quadruple Metered; but, certain parts of the song are best
described as Duple Meters
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Musical Aspects of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Beat Subdivision:
Main vocal beats are 1 & 3
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Syncopating drums on 2 & 4
•Mezzo-Forte ([mf]) verses; crescendos into choruses at [f];
decrescendos back to [mf] for next verse
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This notes one of the musical elements, which will be discussed
shortly, regarding "dynamics" of this composition
Texture:
Polyphonic Imitative
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Musical Form of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Verse-Chorus Song Form
[ABABABAB song format - 4 verses]
*(A) Verses 1-4 change lyrics, each verse
**(B) Chorus in-between each of the verses
Chorus ("How does it feel? ...")
4/4 time; 10 measures the first time;
12 measures in choruses 2-4 (*);
[AAABC form]
Verse (new lyrics for each new verse)
4/4 time; 20 measures each; [AABCD form]
Musical Structure & Elements of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Rhythm:
o Syncopation from drums
Melody:
o Vocals are conjunct mainly, but become disjunct
approaching the verse-chorus changes
o Guitar riffs and harmonica fills take charge of the
melody intermittently throughout the course of the
song, using a soloistic approach to keeping the
verses different from one-another (solos seem
improvised, which impressions the listener to mark a
change within the song's format)
Musical Structure & Elements of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Harmony:
o The guitar and keyboard often are within
consonance, but the song employs a "Call &
Response" tactic within the verses and choruses;
calling for major-minor (and vice-versa) transitions
between instruments, with the adjacent vocal melody
Tone:
o The range and register of this song stays mostly
within the bass and treble-clef area, with exceptions
from vocals approaching changes in verse to chorus
transitioning
Analytical Discussion of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Overall, from an analytical standpoint, I believe that this
song follows a pretty standard approach to folk-music;
however, it takes an atypical twist (which is quite
characteristic for Bob Dylan to do in his music) that starts
with the instrumentation and carries on throughout the
piece. The instruments used are mainly electronic, which is
very different from the folk-music of the time. Most songs
were acoustic, as it was customary of the genre to contain
those sounds - but this music showed a challenge to
normative culture in all aspects; including the simplest,
most "key" element of all: instrumentation.
Continued Analytical Discussion of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
To follow that analysis of the base-layer for the song, it
can also be noted that the form is very simplistically typical,
yet cleverly unique to this genre of music. [ABAB] format is
one of the most easily composed types of arrangements: it
is the use of an initial verse, followed by a chorus, then
followed by a lyrically new verse, succeeded by the same
and unchanging chorus - so on, and so forth. While this is
widely used in the folk-music style, the intricacies of Bob
Dylan can be found in the way that he augments the song's
structure.
Continued Analytical Discussion of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
The song structure, technically, follows a format of
[ABACACAC] because the first chorus only contains 10
measures, while the other three contain 12 measures. This
simple twisting of this streamlined musicality style, from
which the generic backbone of this time period's folk-music
is based upon, created many forces for change; thus, the
beginnings of "crossing-over" from folk-music to
contemporary rock 'n' roll!
Continued Analytical Discussion of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
Intricacies are also found within each of the verses and
choruses. The patterns in the verses consist of [AABCD]
form, which is used for soloing and availability for lyrical
changes. The patterns following those are the choruses,
which use an oddly effective [AAABC] form.
The reason that I call this structure "odd" is because it is
atypical for this style to try to change the "call & response"
progression between the melody and harmony. This
composition, however, uses a form that is more like: "call,
call, call... respond, and, uh... just kidding?" This allows the
chorus to conjure up a psychologically appealing type of
sound that draws in the listener and makes them "want" to
continue the song.
Continued Analytical Discussion of
"Like a Rolling Stone"
To conclude the discussion, I believe that this masterpiece of
a composition is truly a fine example of a uniquely complex
musical ability, merged with an artistic musicality and influential
nature, that transpired as our chosen lyricist: Bob Dylan; a
genuine pioneer of both musical and societal history. The song,
"Like a Rolling Stone", provides a zenith-like signaling of what
we know to be the "crossing-over" effect that occurs between
genres. This key piece of music was one of the most significant
songs of its generation which, alongside other equally important
songs, came together to provide a basis for what has become
one of the biggest sociological changes in history - the changing
of folk-music, alongside other genres, to pave the way for the
creating, shaping, and establishing of contemporary Rock 'n'
Roll!
Conclusion to
Bob Dylan's Legacy
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True rock star status, Bob
Dylan began touring full-time in
the 1980's; usually alongside
Tom Petty
1994 won a Grammy for best
Traditional Folk Album for his
album: World Gone Wrong
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Noteworthy for speaking at the
award ceremony, Bruce Springsteen
was quoted:
“Bob [Dylan] frees
the mind, as Elvis
frees the body.”
Assessment of
Bob Dylan's Legacy
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Bob Dylan was a positive representation of folk-music and of the
crossing-over to rock 'n' roll, however he was met with criticism due
to his somewhat less-than-conventional musical style.
This composer's usage of new instrumental ideas, innovative
arrangements, and augmented lyrical-writing techniques; ultimately,
gave way to an evolutionary process for the time period's general
music-scene.
The piece of music selected, "Like a Rolling Stone", is deemed
significant - particularly for its content, as it is recognizably
expressing many definitive characteristics of an atypical, normchallenging, sociologically influencing piece of music.
Assessment of
Bob Dylan's Legacy
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Bob Dylan fit into the evolution of rock 'n' roll by not fitting in all.
o Changing instrumentation choices, definitions of musical format,
gave way to an extrapolation of those aforementioned structural
discontinuities... and, like anything else, one thing can only
change up to a certain point before it becomes something new
altogether.
o These points can be addressed easily within the content of our
chosen musical piece: "Like a Rolling Stone".
o Other composers at this time were, unlike Bob Dylan, producing
generic, strictly uniform, assembly-line types of music: following
rigid rules about what folk-music should sound like.
o In contrast, however, pioneers of rock 'n' roll; like Bob Dylan;
were looking for new ways to bring innovation and creativity to
their music - and, in this sense, Bob Dylan fit into the crowd quite
well.
Achievements
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Broke through what a recording artist could achieve
"Changed the face of Rock and Roll for ever"
1997 Bob became the rock star to ever receive the
Kennedy Center Honors, which is considered to be the
highest honors an artist can receive
1997 won three more grammys for his album Time out of
Mind
1997 performed for Pope John paul the second, he
played “Knockin’ on Heavens Door”
1999 won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for
best original song, for his song, "Things have Changed"
Additional Awards and
Achievements
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Grammy Awards
o Nominated 36 times - Won 10 times
Academy Awards
o Nominated 1 time - Won 1 time
Golden Globe Awards
o Nominated 1 time - Won 1 time
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6 songs in the Grammy Hall of Fame
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5 in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Honors and Inductions
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1963 - Received Honors for the Tom Paine Award
1970 - Honorary Doctorate of Music for Princeton
University, New Jersey
1982 - Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
1990 - Received honors for Commandeur Des Arts et
Des Lettres
1997 - Received Honors for the Kennedy Center Honors
1997 - Recipient for The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize
Honors and Inductions
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2000 - Winner for the Polar Music Prize
2002 - Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of
Fame
2004 - Honorary Doctorate of Music for St. Andrews
University, Scotland
2008 - Winner of Prince of Asturias Awards
2009 - Honors for National Medal of Arts
2012 - Recipient for Presidential of Freedom
Top Songs from
Bob Dylan
Like a Rolling Stone
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Positively 4th street
Desolation Row
The Times, They Are a-Changin’
Tangled Up in Blue
Mr. Tambourine Man
Just Like a Woman
Blowin' in the Wind
Visions of Johanna
References
Bob Dylan. (2010). retrieved 7-3-13, from Bob Dylan Biography Web Site: http://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-dylan/bio/
Bob Dylan. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:15, Jul 02, 2013, from
http://www.biography.com/people/bob-dylan-9283052.
Bob Dylan. (2013-01-15). retrieved 7-3-13, from last.fm Web Site: http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+Dylan
Erlewine, S. (June, 2004) Bob Dylan. Retrieved July 3, 2013. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-dylan-mn0000066915
Gilliland, J. (n.d.). Show 31 - ballad in plain d: An introduction to the bob dylan era. [part 1].University of North Texas Digital
Library, Retrieved from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19789/
Hartzog, B. (2006) Bob Dylan Information. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
http://www.brianhartzog.com/bob-dylan/bob-dylan-biography.htm
Kemp, M. (2001, March). Bob Dylan Biography. Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bob-dylan/biography
More References
Marcus, G. (2005, May 12). How does it feel? culture; music; bob dylan. The Guardian: UK. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/may/13/bobdylan
Unterberger, R. (2010). Great moments in folk-rock: Lists of author favorites. Retrieved from
http://www.richieunterberger.com/turnlists.html
Simmons, C. (2008, September 11). Hohner and Bob Dylan Announce Historic Collaboration - Music Industry Newswire.Music
Industry Newswire - a magazine covering artists, music and tech. Retrieved July 3, 2013, from
http://musicindustrynewswire.com/2008/0
Top 10 Bob Dylan Songs. (n.d.). Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved July 3, 2013, from
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/bob-dylan-songs/
University of Western Michigan. (n.d.). Elements of rock music. Retrieved from
http://www.wmich.edu/mus-gened/mus170/RockElements.pdf
Bob Dylan