Blog

Use the songs that I gave you for Dylan lyrics as the main focus to discuss his work as a songwriter. You don’t have to discuss them all. More details and ideas about one or two songs is better than superficial comments on all of them. You may also want to explore these: A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (he chose this one, performed by Patti Smith, for the Noble Prize ceremony), The Times They Are A-Changin, It’s All Right Ma I’m Only Bleeding, Like A Rolling Stone. Try to interpret the meanings of the songs or individual lines.Is he using rhymes, or other poetic devices? Do the songs speak to you on any level?Are there any songwriters today that will be thought of in the same way as Dylan 50 years from now, any future Nobel Laureates?To Get Started With six decades of experience and several hundred songs in his catalogue, Dylan has explored almost every possible technique in songwriting. While the songs that made him famous were written in the 60’s, his work in the last 20 years has also been very well received.Musically, he never strayed very far from basic folk, country, or blues. But the lyrics wereon a completely different level. Nobody had explored poetic imagery, social consciousness, or the ability for a song to make a very strong statement like Bob Dylan.Most of the songs in his huge catalogue fall into one of these groups:1) Love Songs The #1 topic for songwriters since the beginning of time.Dylan has explored this in every possible way, Positively 4th Street might be the most bitter breakup song every written. It has also been interpreted as Dylan’s response to folk music fansthat resented him for “going electric”. The song has a unique form in that it is all verses, no chorus, bridge, or B section. Also the title does not appear in the lyrics, unusual for songs but Dylan does it

quite a bit. 2) Finger Pointin’ Songs (Dylan’s Term) These are the songs that made him famous. Songs about injustice, social problems, things that are wrong and need to be changed. Unfortunately, many of these songs ring as true today as they did 50 years ago. Blowin in The Wind, written when Dylan was 21, is a brilliant commentary on the Civil Rights movement that was just getting started in 1962. It is so subtle that most of you would not get that the subject of the song was Civil Rights by just reading the words. The song is cast in “refrain” form, common for folk songs. There is no real chorus, just one line (in this case the title) that is repeated at the end of each verse.3) Experimental Songs Under the influence of Beat poets like Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsburg, Dylan started writing lyrics in the “stream of consciousness” style associated with the Beats; write fast, don’t edit yourself, use words for their sound and the way they flow. Not just what they mean. Tambourine Man and Subterranaen Homesick Blues fall into this category. SHB is, again, all verses. Dylan doesn’t really sing it as much as he speaks it. Early example of Rap style? Hard to say what the subject of the song is. There are several drug lines but I don’t think this is a “drug song.” It’s almost like he changes the subject of the song line by line.Finally, just speak these words out loud several times. It’s Verses 1&2 from which Bob Dylan song?Darkness at the break of noonShadows even the silver spoonThe handmade blade, the child’s balloonEclipses both the sun and moonTo understand you know too soonThere is no sense in tryingPointed threats, they bluff with scornSuicide remarks are tornFrom the fool’s gold mouthpieceThe hollow horn plays wasted wordsProves to warn that he not busy being bornIs busy dying