Album Interpretation: Summer of Love

         Although it occurs after Dylan writes the album, we believe many of the songs and lyrics in Bringing It All Back Home coincide with the mentality of the youth at ‘Summer of Love’ in 1967. The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that conformed San Fransisco into the center of the hippie revolution, a “melting pot of music psychoactive drugs, sexual freedom, creative expression, and politics”, all of which are subtext in Dylan’s songs.

        In 1965, kids in particular were very hung up about running away from home and finding themselves. Bob Dylan’s Album Bringing It All Back Home speaks directly to the younger generation about their new excitement in escaping their homes. In songs such as “It’s alright , Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), he expresses how he understands what the younger generation is feeling. The pent up anger about so many social issues that caused the generations to clash caused many of teenagers to run away as they saw it as their only solution. In songs such as “Maggie’s Farm” he channels the mentality of the teenagers into the lyrics of the song. The rebelling against the government and organized corporations was a popular trend and the lines “I aint gonna work for…. No more” are repeated through out the song . While Dylan appears to be mainly reaching out to the younger generation with the album, some of his songs were also directed towards the older generation. Not in the sense that he was sympathizing with their reasoning, but more in trying to get them to understand what the younger generation was feeling. Bringing It All Back Home was one of Dylan's only albums that was considered two genres, folk and rock. His easy and  familiar folk theme was directed towards the older generation. It was a sound that they were used to and could understand. THe rock style speaks to the younger generation with its revolutionary sound and unique rythm. In “Mr. Tambourine Man” the song is sung in the voice of a teenager who has run away from home and although they are tiring of their ‘adventure’ they are still hard headed and will refuse to go home. The sad continuous melody “Mr. Tambourine Man” describes certain aspects of the “psychedelic” 60's. Speaking of “weariness”, the “ancient streets… dead for dreaming”, have been stripped. Dylan assures parents that as much as their children may insist they are having the time of their lives, at the end of the day they are only human and the drugs and sleeping on the streets will tire them out. In the song “On the Road Again” Dylan sings to the parents and the kids about how the kids think their family life is crazy. Describing the family members in the song, Dylan exaggerates how insane the ideals of the parents seem to the kids by personifying ideals into crazy mannerisms (Mother hiding in the ice box and the father wearing a napoleon mask).
   Ultimately, this album works to bridge the widening generational gap between the older and younger generations. Rather than side with a particular age group, Dylan sympathizes with adults and young adults because his lyrics express his own personal thoughts rather than conforming to the ideas of others. This peaceful attitude was desparately needed by a country that was struggling to work through a time of significant change.