Gnosis journal article

Bob Dylan, the Voice of the “Other”:Dylan a Mouthpiece of the Black People

Abstract

Bob Dylan is the perdurable icon of the 1960’s idealism, artistic commitment and rugged individualism. He is the icon of western pop

culture for more than five decades. He won Nobel Prize in literature in 2016

for having created new poetic expressions in the great American song tradition. He restored the time honoured link between music and

poetry. His songs like ‘Blowing in the wind’ and Times they are a-changing” became anthem for Civil Rights Movement and anti-war

movement. His calibre lies in the successful combination of the political urgency of Woody Guthrie and the suggestiveness of French

Surrealist Poetry. It was Suze Rotolo who urged him to perform in the rallies and thus he took interest in the Civil Rights Movement. He

was immensely inspired by the Beat writer Allen Ginsberg. Soon he became the messiah for the marginalized people who were tagged as

the ‘other’. In December 1963, in the award ceremony for the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, in Washington, Dylan alienated the

white audience to defend the cause of the black Americans. In this article, the role of Dylan’s songs in reconstructing the mindset of the

people of contemporary era will be accessed. Another major objective of the article is to ascertain Dylan’s contribution and influence on

Black community and to demonstrate his contribution in decolonizing the mindset of people across the world.

Keywords: protest songs, Black people, The Civil Rights Movement,

Bob Dylan is a poetic songwriter, a literary artist, who left an indelible mark in American Popular music and culture. His songs are of

superior and lasting artistic merit. His songs like “Blowing in the wind” and “Times they are a-changing” became anthems for the anti-

war movement and the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.His role was instrumental in the revival of the American Folk Music.

The themes of Dylan’s songs were justice, freedom, oppression, and inequality of any kind.His lyrics incorporated a wide range of issues

like, political, social, philosophical, racism and war. Moreover, use of words and easeful and less ornamental language of his songs on

the one hand makes it easily comprehensible, and the vague suggestiveness typical to his songs like the French surrealist poets provides

ample scope for multiple interpretations on the other. In Bob Dylan as a Songwriter, Anthony DeCurtis opines that Dylan’s success lies

in the art of combing the political urgency of Woody Guthrie with the verbal energy and excitement and the suggestiveness of the French

surrealist poetry, like the use of the second person interrogative power of the illustrious political ballad; Like a Rolling Stone, ‘How does

it Feel?’Dylan is also referred to as “the spiritual twin of William Blake” In the words of the Nobel Nominating letter, his caliber lies in

the successful reunion of poetry and music and creating a new musical expression in the great American song tradition.

“ His words and music have helped restore he vital time-honoured link between music and poetry and have so permeated the world as to

alter its history.’

In the middle of 1950’s, a demeaning and pervasive definition of Blacks was popularized by the Southern Whites, ‘the three stock

assumptions that black were barbaric ,immoral, and incapable of self-government’. This derogatory notion that categorized the Blacks as

subhuman, deeply influenced the later generations of African-American people, who began to believe in their impotency after long being
denied access to proper education, decent jobs and to be the part of the democratic processes. In the years of the Civil Rights Movement,

they determined the extent to which they would adopt the ‘White definition, in spite of the limitations it placed on them.’ With a leader

like Martin Luther King, the African Americans, apparently voiceless people attained a strong voice to speak about their dreams, as

mentioned in his illustrious speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Moreover the new White generation with their abhorrence for racial discrimination

came along with their active support vindicating the decolonized mindset of the new generation. A new group of aspirant folk singers

emerged to the scene with their counterculture spirit and antiestablishment songs. Bob Dylan was one of them who genuinely supported

their cause.The songs Dylan wrote for the sake of the African-American people were basically protest songs or finger pointing songs to

support the cause of the black people in the Civil Rights Movement. Dylan’s songs expressed brief but intense bursts of inspiration.

Mentionable songs are, Times they are a-changing, The Death of Emmett Till, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, George Jackson,

Oxford Town, The Ballad of Hollis Brown, Hurricane . Times they are they are changing is offers lyrics like

For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Ever since its release the song has been influential to people's views on society, with critics noting the general yet universal lyrics as

contributing to the song's lasting message of change.

 Emmett Till is a narration of a gruesome incident happened to a young black boy. The brutal abduction and murder of 14-year-old

Emmett Till on August 28, 1955, galvanized the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.

They said they had a reason, but I disremember what.

They tortured him and did some evil things too evil to

repeat.

The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll is another protest song describing the murder of the innocent Black woman,

Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.

And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.

"Ballad of Hollis Brown" is a folk-style song written by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 on his third album The Times They Are A-

Changin'. The song tells the story of a South Dakota farmer who, overwhelmed by the desperation of poverty, kills his wife, children and

then himself.
He looked for work and money

And ya' walked a ragged mile

Your children are so hungry

That they don’t know how to smile

"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It

compiles acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction.

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night

Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall

She sees the bartender in a pool of blood

Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"… 

George Jackson" is a song by Bob Dylan, written in 1971, in tribute to the Black Panther leader, George Jackson, who had been shot

and killed by guards at San Quentin Prison on August 21, 1971, during an attempted escape from prison. The event indirectly provoked

the Attica Prison riot. As he later did with "Hurricane," Bob Dylan wrote this song about a convict who went through a controversial

trial.
George Jackson, born in 1941, was sent to a Catholic school but was soon running with street gangs. At the age of 18, he was sentenced

to one year to life for robbing a gas station. During his time in prison, Jackson set about furthering his education and joined the Black

Panthers. In 1970, his critically acclaimed book of prison letters, Soledad Brother, was published.

Jackson won himself an indictment (along with two other inmates) for the murder of a prison guard. Shortly before standing trial for that

alleged murder, and still only 29, he was shot dead in a bizarre escape attempt from the infamous San Quentin Prison in August 1971.

During this attempted break out, five people were murdered by other inmates: three prison guards and two inmates. Dylan recounts

Jackson's story in this song, singing that prison guards shot down Jackson because "they were scared of his love."

I woke up this mornin',

There were tears in my bed.

They killed a man I really loved

Shot him through the head

 In Chronicles :Volume One, Dylan attributes a lot of his success as a songwriter to the Delta Blues Musician, Robert

Johnson(282)Johnson’s style of lyrics which Dylan defines as “the construction of his old style lines and the free association…the

sparkling allegories, big-ass truths wrapped in the hard shell of nonsensical abstraction.”(285) immensely influenced his songs. Bulk of

the legendary songs on Freewheelin like, Blowing in the wind and he Hard Rain are allegories built from the scraps of free association.

The melody of the songs was borrowed from the traditional folk music and the blues. May be this connection with the blues attracted he

Black audiences because at times he sounded like a “blues man with a death rattle”

Bob Dylan started his career as a folk singer during the 1960s.Being inspired by Woody Guthrie, He imitated the Folk eke tone, even the

folk looks of Guthrie. It was Dylan’s girlfriend Suze Rotolo, who nudged him down the road as an political activist singer and volunteer

fir the Congress of Racial Equality. She encouraged Dylan to perform at the political rallies. The year of 1963 was Dylan’s active years

in politics. Eric Bulson in his The Freewheelin Bob Dylan narrated the initial journey of Dylan as a struggling singer. Dylan’s first

venture was with the Colombia Records in March,1962, when he was only twenty years old. He was a promising singer not only for his

talent but also for his appearance, for ‘he walked ,talked, dressed, and sang like a folkie’. Clearly his idols were Woody Guthrie and

Rambling Jack Elliot. Though his first album failed to create the response that Colombia Records anticipated, but it was John Hammond

who insisted on giving his a second chance. With his second album, his The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, in 1963, their expectations were

fulfilled and Dylan got his share of fame. By the time, he was already performing with Joan Baez at all the famous music festivals across
the country as a celebrity. During this time, when his career was taking off, that was sometimes a problem. The Civil Rights activists co-

opted Dylan early on and expected him to play along. But Dylan resisted, because he wanted to do it his own way. The time was also his

most disillusioning. Feeling co-opted by the White Movement leaders and despising their expectations of him to become its star

champion, he never stopped supporting the Black struggle. He almost became the pied piper for the liberal guilt stricken Whites. It was a

hypocritical role that he was unwilling to play. He lashed out the hypocrisies of the contemporary society on the Ed Sullivan

show,May12,1963 by playing ‘Talkin’John Birch Society’ a song that was meant to ridicule anti-communist right wing organizations,

comparing them to Hitler.In September,1962,a young black student ,James Meredith, won a federal court ruling that enable him to enroll

in the University of Mississippi. After a tensed standoff between President J.F.Kennedy and the governor of Mississippi, and the violent

clash of the angry mob of white students and federal marshals that left 300 wounded ,he was allowed to enroll for classes. Dylan didn’t

criticized them directly. In an indirect manner, he assumes the guise of a naïve observer who bafflingly tried to figure it out. In Oxford

Town, people are beaten and killed for the ‘colour of their skin’.

In December 19663, in an Award Ceremony for the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, when Dylan alienated mostly White

audiences in Washington, He said, ‘I looked around all the Negroes there and I didn’t see any Negroes that looked none of my Friends.

My Friends don’t wear suits.’( Lee Harvey Oswald)

Works cited:

Dettmar, Kevin J, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, Cambridge University Press, UK.2009, Print.

Dylan, Bob, Lyrics: 1962-2001,Simon & Schuster,USA,2004,Print

Sanger, l. Kerran, When the Spirit Says Sing!:The Role of Freedom Songs in the Civil Rights Movement, Routledge, Taylor and Francis,

London and NewYork,2015,ISBN-978-0-203-35772-9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan (accessed on 21.02.20)

Scorsese, Martin, No Direction Home-Bob Dylan-A Martin Scorsese Picture, AMSCO Publication, Newyork, 2006

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/emmett-till(accessed on 21.02.20)

https://www.metrolyrics.com/the-death-of-emmett-till-lyrics-bob-dylan.html(accessed on 21.02.2020)

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hurricane/(accessed on 21.02.20

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/ballad-hollis-brown(accessed on 21.02.2020)

Logue,Cal, Rhetorical Ridicule of Reconstruction, Blacks, Quarterly Journal of Speech,62,(1998),(401)