Bringing It All Back Home: Vh1 Coverage

Here famous musicians express how significant Bob Dylan's influence on the music industry was through this album. Stylistically it opened up a whole new door that led to a blending of rock and folk music, a genre that has become increasingly popular over the years. Additionally Bob Dylan acted as a voice for the people through his lyrics. They publicized social issues that many were too afraid to mention, and helped motivate every day American citizens to get involved in national issues. At the same time, Dylan did not promote a sense of violence or hatred that could have divided an already fracturing country. Bringing It All Back Home worked to improve and unite the United States, just as it bettered the music world.

Album Cover Analysis

·         'Fish Eye' Effect

o   Exaggerates Dylan’s almost critical look

o    As if observer is viewing scene through eye glass of door or key hole

§  Scene is like glimpse into private life/thoughts of Bob Dylan

·         Album is like glimpse into Dylan’s beliefs and thoughts

·         Fallout shelter sign next to Lindon B. Johnson

o   Society heading for destruction

o   People need to take shelter, or make peace/changes, in order to continue existing

§  Lindon B. Johnson escalated war with Vietnam à sparked a lot of anti war movements

·         Atmosphere of wealth

o   Room is made a mess by hodgepodge of papers, records, and seemingly random items

o   Woman in background has look of prominence – adds to regal surroundings

§  Juxtaposition of mess and wealth is a critique on society

·         There is a lot going on in the world and many people are content to sit with their wealth rather than get involved

o   The issues of society cannot be ignored

·         Scattered albums: LPs by The Impressions (Keep on Pushing), Robert Johnson (King of the Delta Blues Singers), Ravi Shankar (India's Master Musician), Lotte Lenya (Sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill) and Eric von Shmidt (The Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt)

o   All influenced Bob Dylan’s musical upbringing

§  Is tying his current success “back home”

·         Mixture of folk, soul, and even hindustani styles

·         Harmonica and Dylan’s other album Another Side of Bob Dylan

o   Harmonica is signature instrument of Bob Dylan

§  Keeps folk theme in songs

o   Dylan tying himself back to his previous work to show growth

·         On mantle is Lord Buckley album The Best of Lord Buckley who influenced Dylan greatly

o   “jingle jangle” line in Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man take from Lord Buckley

§  Buckley’s style was carefully enunciated rhythmic hipster slang. Occasionally performing to music, he punctuated his monologues with scat singing and sound effects

·         Opened up Dylan’s eyes to new way of approaching music

·         GNAOUA magazine on mantle

o   Lord Buckley’s style also influenced Beat Generation

§  Next to Lord Buckley is a copy of GNAOUA, a magazine devoted to Beat Generation poetry

·         Bob Dylan reading article: Jean Harlow’s Life Story

o   She was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s

o   Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde", Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute.

o   Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sex appeal and strong screen presence, before making the transition to more developed roles and achieving massive fame under contract

o   Harlow's enormous popularity and "laughing vamp" image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred by disappointment, tragedy

§  Shows distractions of Hollywood and pop culture when there are much more important issues to be concerned about in world

§  Criticism of superficiality of pop culture

Song Analysis: Subterranean Home Sick Blues

                The first song of Dylan’s album, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is sure to shock his devout folk music fans. The upbeat tempo, electric instruments, and ‘stream of consciousness’ lyrical styling used throughout this song is a far cry from Dylan’s previous works. He had largely been regarded as a folk musician armed with a harmonica and acoustic guitar, not some rock performer. Additionally, Subterranean Homesick Blues expresses Dylan’s negative views on American society. Drugs, political corruption, civil rights, and unequal wealth are topics that Dylan critiques throughout this song. His unique lyrical approach is itself a break from the norm and gives the effect that all these emotions were bottled up inside of Dylan, but are now being released.

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skip cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten.

In 1965 it was well known that many individuals experimented with drugs, and Dylan refers to this popular pastime through the line “mixing up the medicine.” It is as though drugs are acting as a medicine to ease the pain that society is inflicting on Johnny. The idea of a shady government system is synthesized upon in the next few lines. “The man in the trench coat/Badge out” can be seen as a corrupt government agent who is trying to get money by being “paid off.” The harsh scrutiny Dylan feels under American society is seen through the lines, “Look out kid/It’s somethin’ you did/God knows when/But your doin’ it again.” Dylan does not know what he did wrong, but the unfair nature of the government is making him a guilty man. The final lines of the song illustrate how Dylan feels there is an unfair wealth distribution amongst American citizens. Though much is asked of hardworking people, they do not make the money that they should. As a result, everyday citizens must live without.

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the DA
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try, 'No Doz'
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows.

Dylan’s distrust of America’s government is more deeply explored through the first few lines of the songs next stanza. “Maggie” can be interpreted as a common hardworking American because her face is said to be covered with “black soot.” She indicates that “the heat” (U.S government officials) put some sort of a bugging device in her bed, but the government already tapped her phone anyway. Dylan is protesting against the invasive nature of the government in citizens’ lives. It doesn’t matter who you are “what you did” because the government watches everyone, which is why you cannot afford to be unaware by taking “No Doz.” Dylan even touches lightly on civil rights when he mentions the “fire hose” that is inflicted upon innocent individuals who the government does not approve of. There is a clear idea of what every American should look and act like, and for this reason you don’t need to “know which way the wind blows” since the government controls it.   

Get sick, get well
Hang around an ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write Braille
Get jailed, jump bail Join the army, if you failed
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters.

The inability for many Americans to make a decent living is argued by Dylan through this stanza. First you “hang around an ink well,” or try to become an author. But then when the book doesn’t sell, and even writing Braille does not help, a life in jail or the army appears to be the only future available. It is as though Dylan is saying that American citizens cannot help but become trapped within a web of government agencies and officials. Many people therefore become “users, cheaters/Six-time losers” who wander aimlessly. Dylan thought it was important to tell his listeners to reject this lifestyle but instead do something distinctive with their lives.

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles.

Many young people become trapped living a life similar to their parents: attend school, get married, and work at a middle class job. This lifestyle is echoed by Dylan in the first 8 lines of this last stanza. He focuses on the idea of individuality for the conclusion of Subterranean Homesick Blues, continuing his closing thought from the last stanza. Dylan tells his listeners to “jump down a manhole” to escape a tedious life. To live a fulfilling life one must look presentable and be prepared at all times, even if less civilized vandals “took the handles.”

                Subterranean Homesick Blues starts Bringing It All Back Home with a bang. There is so much packed into this song that you have to listen to it multiple times to absorb it all. The dynamic lyrics, fast tempo, and rock instruments almost leave you winded. This is the first time Dylan engages in electric style music while also hinting toward being a protest musician. Even the music video for this song has received great acclaim. It is as simple yet memorable as the song; Dylan is merely holding up signs with key words from the lyrics scrawled across them. It is the basic style and significant words that make you stop, think, and listen.

Historical Context of Bringing It All Back Home

Bringing It All Back Home (March 1965): Historical Context

Major Events:

-          War in Vietnam escalates

o   U.S bombing North Vietnam

o   U.S combat troops begin fighting in South Vietnam

-          Feb. 21^st: Malcolm X assassinated in NYC

-          Civil Rights marches/demonstrations

o   Voting Rights Act (1965): makes it easier for southern blacks to register to vote (no more literacy tests)

-          Anti-war demonstrations/marches

o   Burning draft cards becomes illegal

-          President L. B. Johnson “Great Society”

o   Eliminate poverty and racial injustice

Society/Teenagers:

-          Parents training independence in children

o   “Adults who lived through a great depression, a shattering war, an anxious peace, and the whole onslaught of existentialism are less inclined than ever to proclaim what Margaret Mead calls "parental imperatives."

-          Parents maintain same social conduct

o   "I don't get authority at home," sighs Dana Nye, 17, a student at Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles. "We're just a bunch of people who go about our business and live under one roof. One of these days I'd like to sit down and find out from my parents what they really believe in."

-          School retention/graduation rates are up

o   Students showing self reliance

-          Teenagers forced to mature early on in life by making own decisions

o   "Their difficulty," says Harvard Historian Laurence Wylie, "lies not in living up to expectations, but in discovering what they really are." The result, according to University of California Sociologist Edgar Z. Friedenberg, is "the vanishing adolescent"—made to mature earlier, yet in many ways still engagingly immature. And since "part of the American dream is to live long and die young," many adults ambivalently relish and resent the teen-ager's freedom and spontaneity. "Our whole culture believes less in authority," snaps a Detroit priest. "Yet the teen-ager is the only one criticized for not recognizing it."

-          Adolescents cut off from adult world

Dumped into a society of their peers where they all develop certain tastes and values that contrast from their parents’

Bob Dylan history leading up to Bringing It all Back Home

Bob Dylan: History Leading up to Bringing It All Back Home

• Dropped out of college during freshman year 

•  Traveled to New York City in 1961 to perform and visit idol Woody Guthrie

o   Guthrie was major influence on Bob’s early music

§  "The songs themselves had the infinite sweep of humanity in them ... [He] was the true voice of the American spirit. I said to myself I was going to be Guthrie's greatest disciple." - Bob Dylan

• From February 1961, Dylan played at various venues around Greenwich Village

o   Picked up and learned a lot about folk music

• Earned positive reviews in New York Times of show at Gerde’s Folk Theater

o   Played harmonica on folk singer Carolyn Hester’s third album

§  Brought his talent to attention of producer John Hammond

• Hammond signed Dylan to Columbia Records in October and released album titled Bob Dylan in 1962

o   Album only sold 5,000 copies in a year

§  Columbia considered dropping him, but Hammond defended Dylan

• March 1962, Dylan played harmonica and sang back-up vocals to album Three Kings and a Queen

o   Dylan used the pseudonym Bob Landy to record as a piano player on the 1964 anthology album, The Blues Project, issued by Elektra Records

o   Under the pseudonym Tedham Porterhouse, Dylan contributed harmonica to Ramblin' Jack Elliott's 1964 album Jack Elliott

• Legally changed name to Bob Dylan in 1962 and signed management contract with Albert Grossman

• From December 1962 to January 1963, Dylan made his first trip to the United Kingdom

o    He had been invited by TV director Philip Saville to appear in a drama, The Madhouse on Castle Street, which Saville was directing for BBC Television

§  Dylan performed Blowin’ in the Wind at end of play

·         Song partially derived its melody from the traditional slave song "No More Auction Block

o   Dylan performed in several clubs whilst in London

• Dylan began making a name for himself in 1963 with the release of his 2^nd album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan which was filled with protest songs inspired by Guthrie

• Blowin’ in the Wind blended blending a stream-of-consciousness, imagist lyrical attack with a traditional folk form

• Freewheelin' also included a mixture of love songs and jokey, surreal talking blues

o    Humor was a large part of Dylan's persona and the range of material on the album impressed many listeners, including The Beatles

§  George Harrison said, "We just played it, just wore it out. The content of the song lyrics and just the attitude—it was incredibly original and wonderful.”

• The rough edge of Dylan's singing was unsettling to some early listeners but an attraction to others. Describing the impact that Dylan had on her and her husband, Joyce Carol Oates wrote: "When we first heard this raw, very young, and seemingly untrained voice, frankly nasal, as if sandpaper could sing, the effect was dramatic and electrifying."

• In May 1963, Dylan's political profile was raised when he walked out of The Ed Sullivan Show

o    During rehearsals, Dylan had been informed by CBS Television's "head of program practices" that the song he was planning to perform, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", was potentially libelous to the John Birch Society. Rather than comply with the censorship, Dylan refused to appear on the program

• Dylan was prominent figure in Civil Rights Movement

o   Sang at March On Washington on August 28^th, 1963

• Dylan's third album, The Times They Are a-Changin' reflected a more politicized and cynical Dylan

o   By the end of 1963, Dylan felt both manipulated and constrained by the folk and protest movements

§  Another Side of Bob Dylan, recorded on a single June evening in 1964,had a lighter mood than its predecessor

• In the latter half of 1964 and 1965, Dylan's appearance and musical style changed rapidly, as he made his move from leading contemporary songwriter of the folk scene to folk-rock pop-music star

o   His scruffy jeans and work shirts were replaced by a Carnaby Street wardrobe, sunglasses day or night, and pointy "Beatle boots"

§  A London reporter wrote: "Hair that would set the teeth of a comb on edge. A loud shirt that would dim the neon lights of Leicester Square. He looks like an undernourished cockatoo."

• Dylan's April 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home was yet another stylistic leap

o   Featured his first recording with electric instruments

§  The A side of Bringing it All Back Home is considered to be the rock/protest side of the album

§  The B side of Bringing It All Back Home consisted of four long songs on which Dylan accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica