In 1964, the Beatles and Bob Dylan met. At this point, they were both well-known and liked but still budding artists. Inspired by the meeting, they went their ways with some new ideas in mind. The Beatles started writing more thoughtful lyrics, and Bob Dylan started playing around with the electric guitar. For my project, I decided to rewrite Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" as if he were negatively effected by the visit. In other words, the song became more poppy, more shallow like the Beatles' songs at the time. Here was my write-up on the project:
Bob Dylan was (and is) a folk style singer-songwriter most famous for his songs from the 1960’s. He was originally very interested in Woody Guthrie’s music and decided he would become a Guthrie disciple. During the 1960’s, he was an icon for the protests against war and inequality. His lyrics were many times politically charged, thought-provoking, and often contained some ambiguity to allow different interpretations. Bob Dylan had a real honest, thoughtful, and natural way of writing lyrics. Often, they felt stream-of-consciousness but I also heard he would quote classic works and keywords of literature very intentionally. He sang about events happening at the time, and made them meaningful, often in contrast to the rock music one hears from the same period. According to our class model on folk music, Bob Dylan was an alternative to the commercialized folk musicians and the rigid purists of the day. He originally was more of a purist playing acoustic guitar and harmonica, as well as singing in a rough unpolished voice. However, he became more experimental in his music, even “plugging in” in 1965 which upset many of the purists, but it allowed for many other possible sounds and songs. He continued writing for the next 45 years.I also melded the Beatles with Bob Dylan in my project, and essentially looked at the lyrics from their earlier years. In 1964, they had written “Love Me Do,” “From Me to You,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” At this point, the Beatles were the new exciting young rockers from England. They brought a lot of energy to their performances, but their lyrics were essentially about love and girls without many new insights or twists. Girls loved them especially because they were a bit rebellious, charismatic, and genuinely likeable. Their career went a completely different route, however, soon after when they really began experimenting with different sounds, instruments, styles, and lyrics.
Dylan and the Beatles have had a huge impact on our society especially within music. I think folk music is often used today to protest or criticize society. Usually folk music is not the most popular, but it is almost seen as more intellectual with original and thoughtful lyrics. The Beatles also presented so many different styles of music, melodies, and harmonies that often get quoted in music today. They had a huge influence on popular culture. People followed their lives, saw their movies, and wanted to be like them. They were probably some of the first real big international rock stars.
The song I picked was “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which was a song about peace, love, politics, the war, and the Civil Rights Movement all rolled into one. The song made Bob Dylan popular among the anti-war scene. It is a really good example of a political song by Bob Dylan. Like his idol Woody Guthrie, Dylan also criticized government and American ideals through music. It was definitely a song anti-war activists could rally around. Right after it first came out, other artists started doing their own renditions of it. Peter, Paul and Mary for example, made their own version, but it feels much sweeter with full, lush harmonies. It kind of loses the original coarse or raw quality Dylan himself performed. “Blowin’ in the Wind” seems to be used today kind of as a historical document of the political unrest and flower child protestors from the 1960’s.
I actually did gain a better appreciation for Bob Dylan. I already liked him as an authentic musician (although I found out he changed his name, but I guess it was out of wanting to be his own person rather than following the name given him by his parents) and admired his ability for writing lyrics. However, when I was carefully studying his lyrics and the lyrics of the Beatles, it became so obvious how much more intriguing and thoughtful Dylan’s are. Although it is unfortunate I completely forgot the words halfway through my little performance (just a bit embarrassing), it took me a while to figure out how to blend this song with Beatles’ lyrics in a clever and hopefully funny way. I enjoyed taking a closer look at this song and its lyrics. I understand more about its politic messages and social criticism.
Lyrics
How many roads must a man walk down
before he can hold your hand?
How many seas must the white dove sail
before she loves you....yeah, yeah, yeah?
How many times must the cannonballs fly
before you'll let me be your man?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
the answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years must a mountain exist
before I can buy you a diamond ring?
How many years must some people exist
before they've got that something?
How many times must a man turn his head
to say you can't buy lovc with money?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
the answer is blowin' in the wind.
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