Blowing in the Wind of the Sixties
Copyright © 2016
In Memory of my Dad, Harry Benjamin Rosenberg, 1926-2016
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When we find the courage to let go of what we are,
we become what we might be.
-Brian Collins
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Do you have a favorite Dylan song? Here’s mine:
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Don’t think twice it’s alright, lyrics
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If I were to pick a date on which sixties music started, it wouldn’t be January first, 1960. There was some great music in 1960 but for the most part pop music sounded something like this.
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The music of the sixties involved a collision between two icebergs:
Bob Dylan and the Beatles. They met physically in the late summer of 1964, but were well aware of one another.
“On Friday 28 August 1964, in a room in the Delmonico hotel … in New York City… the Beatles encountered Bob Dylan for the first time.“
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The Beatles meet Dylan
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So if I had to pick a day on which sixties music was born, it would be Friday, November 22nd, 1963.
It is a day that the world remembers.
The Beatles, who are already getting very big in the UK, are featured on a CBS TV segment in the morning.
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CBS segment – can you identify the anchor?
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The very same afternoon: John Kennedy is assassinated less than three years after he becomes President.
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Inaugural Address, 1961 – What were his famous words?
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The very next evening, Bob Dylan performs a song that he had just written. It calls out to American youth to rebel, to ignore their parents and the politicians. A song of revolution. The Times they are A Changin’.
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Lyrics – The Times They are a Changin’
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Bob Dylan’s agent is Albert Grossman. He also manages Peter, Paul and Mary.
In late 1963 they are big. Dylan is on his way to mega-stardom. In the meantime, he is a prime songwriter.
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Blowin’ in the wind
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Dylan borrowed his name from someone else.
“My name it is nothing, my age it means less”
“You’re born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free.”
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“The country I come from is called the Midwest”
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He borrowed his early musical persona from someone else.
Woody Guthrie, leader of the folk/protest movement. The music has:
Simple lyrics and melodies (sometimes ‘borrowed’).
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So was Dylan a cheat?
Kirby Ferguson – Everything is a remix
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In February, 1964, the Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan show with 70 million viewers (me among them) and take the US by storm. Their two-four beat is infectious and will soon infect folk music.
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Sixties (rock) music was born out of the collision between folk/protest and early rock. Here’s a prime example:
In early 1964 Dylan writes “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man“. He records it with the producer Tom Wilson. It has an acoustic folk feel.
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Dylan singing Hey Mr. Tambourine Man at Newport Folk Festival in 1964
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But when the Byrds got hold of it…. “In an attempt to make it sound more like The Beatles, the band … elected to give the song a full, electric rock band treatment, effectively creating the musical subgenre of folk rock. Dylan was impressed, enthusiastically commenting, “Wow, you can dance to that!”
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Hey Mr. Tambourine Man tribute with lyrics
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Beatles and Dylan had collided. At first through the music, then in person. They rubbed off on one another. The Beatles would go on to write more introspective music. John would sing with a somewhat Dylanesque voice and approach. Dylan, for his own part went electric in 1965. Popular music would never be the same.
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As an extra bonus, here is an amazing recording of a very young Donovan performing a very young song in front of the slightly older Dylan, who (at Donovan’s own request?) shows him up. A very telling video. Someone commented that if Phil Ochs were there he would have shown them both up. Enjoy!
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Thank you for reading my book!
If you like it, you might also want to read:
Simon and Garfunkel Succumb to the Sixties
Do you Know your Sixties Music?
Read more about me and see ALL my books on Ourboox (I have many)
Or even better, create a book of your own!!!
Here is a tutorial to help you get started on your own voyage as an Ourboox contributor! And finally, you can always write me at [email protected]
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Published: May 31, 2016
Latest Revision: Jun 15, 2016
Ourboox Unique Identifier: OB-159938
Copyright © 2016
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