Bob Dylan

Prof. Sean Latham

sean-latham@utulsa.edu ENGL 3783 Mon 1-2, Th 2-3

@seanplatham x2857 Tyrrell 1050

Description
Who is Bob Dylan? A political activist with a guitar signing about peace and civil rights?
A strung-out rocker in Ray Bans and a leather jacket with the “tombstone blues” who
nearly dies in a motorcycle crash? The inventor of “roots” music who discovered “old,
weird America” in his basement? A travelling minstrel who dons “white face” as he
reworks old blues songs? Or a wandering historian on an “endless tour” through venues
large and small? This course will explore the life, music and cultural context of this
iconic figure, ranging from the folk era through the turbulence of the mid-60s to the
songwriter’s reinvention of American popular music. We will look not only at the
albums, but at Dylan’s social, historical, and artistic influences, including the Beat poets,
the Bible, modernism, western cinema, and Delta Blues.

Graded Assignments
Blog (20%/15%)
Most weeks, respond to the prompts on the syllabus by posting a short
meditation, question, or provocation on the course blog. These should be
concise yet argumentative and should be approximately a paragraph or so in
length. I will grade these portfolio-style at the end of the semester; you will be
assessed on the quality and consistency of our your contributions. All posts are
due by 11:00pm on Wednesday. In addition to posting your own comments, I
also expect you to respond to the comments and postings of others. Your final
grade will be divided between your own posts (20%) and your comments on the
posts of others (15%).

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Topical Song (10%)
Write a topical song of your own based on the models you find in Broadside
magazine and in early work by Dylan. Pick a simple, familiar tune for the musical
base and create at least three original verses. In addition to the song, provide at
least two “clippings” to place in it context and write a 150-word liner note about it.

Rock Essay (15%)

Select a single song from the 1965-66 rock albums (Bringing It All Back Home,
Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde) and write a one-page (no more, no
less), thesis-driven essay about its structure, meaning, performance, and
contexts.

Performance Essay (15%)

Select a single song from any of Dylan’s studio albums and write an original,
thesis-driven essay of two single-spaced pages (no more, no less) comparing it
to a concert version (either an official release or a bootleg).

Album Essay (25%)

Select one of Dylan’s albums and write a thesis-driven research paper of
approximately 10 pages that develops an original argument about its structure,
meaning, and contexts.

Submitting Papers
You can submit papers to me either in hardcopy or as attachments to an email message
sent to sean-latham@utulsa.edu. All papers are due by 5:00pm.

Late Papers and Revisions

Late papers will be penalized 5% per day for the first two days and 10% per day
thereafter with a maximum deduction of 50%. All papers submitted on time can be
revised and the final grade will be an average of the two marks weighted toward the
revision. Late papers cannot be revised.

Writing Center
I urge you to take early drafts of all your graded papers (and especially your research
paper) to the Wallace Writing Center, located in McFarlin Library. The tutors in the
center can help you refine your ideas, sharpen your arguments, and improve the clarity
of your prose. They are not proofreaders, but they will help you strengthen your writing.
To make an appointment, book online at https://utulsa.mywconline.com/.

Attendance

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Attendance and active participation are essential to this seminar’s success and you will
be expected to attend every class meeting. More than three unexcused absences will
lower your final grade 10% for each missed session; extended, unexcused absences
will lead to a failing mark in the course.

Academic Honesty
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged borrowing of ideas or quotations from other authors.
Whenever you paraphrase another's work or quote directly from it you must document
your sources and use quotation marks properly. Plagiarism will result in a grade of “0”
for the assignment and it cannot be revised or resubmitted. I thus strongly encourage
you to contact me with any questions, problems or doubts. You should also consult
TU’s official statements and policies on academic misconduct.

Mature Content
In this course we will read, view, and discuss sensitive materials including sometimes
graphic representations of violence and sexuality. Our discussions will be scholarly and
critical in nature, but some students may find the topics offensive, upsetting, or
distasteful. If you object to such materials then please speak with me so I can help you
find another course.

Required Works and Resources

● Dettmar, Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan
● Dylan, Chronicles
● Ginsberg, HOWL and Other Poems
● Heylin, Behind the Shades Revisited (recommended)
● Spotify Subscription
Additional Resources
● bobdylan.com (for official lyrics and set lists)
● expectingrain.com (a daily listing of Dylan-related links)

Critical Listening
We will be studying pop music rigorously in this course, which means that I expect you
to listen critically to the tracks and albums on the syllabus. You should plan to listen to
each song at least twice (preferably more)--and to have a notebook or Word document
open the second time. For each album, you should also do a little bit of basic research:
look up the official lyrics on bobdylan.com, examine the cover art, and read through the
liner notes. This is not a Dylan appreciation course, so come to the seminar with
questions, ideas, and arguments at the ready.

Course Schedule

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 <reading marked “*” are in Harvey; those marked “CC” are in the Cambridge
Companion to Bob Dylan>

Tangled Up in Dylan
1/12
Introduction:
“Tangled Up in Blue”

1/14
Read:
Broadside 1.6 (*)
Listen:
“Blowin’ in the Wind” (Dylan; Peter, Paul and Mary; Odetta; The Staple Singers;
Stevie Wonder)
Odetta, “No More Auction Block for Me”
Write:
Blog: Dylan covers

From the Popular Front to the Newport Folk Festival

1/19
Read:
Woody Guthrie, from Bound for Glory (*)
Pete Seeger, “HUAC Statement” (*)
Listen:
Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads
Pete Seeger, “If I Had a Hammer”
The Weavers, “Rock Island Line”

1/21
Read:
Chronicles, chap 1
Liner Notes, Bob Dylan
Smith, Anthology of American Folk Music (*)
Listen:
Dylan, Bob Dylan
Lead Belly, “Black Girl,” “Rock Island Line,” “C.C. Rider”
Robert Johnson, “Cross Road Blues,” “Me and the Devil Blues,”
Write:
Blog: The Blues

1/26

4
Read:
Liner Notes, The Times They Are A-Changin’
“Bob Dylan as Songwriter (CC)
Listen:
The Times They Are A-Changin’

1/28
Read:
From Petrus and Cohen, Folk City (*)
Visit:
Woody Guthrie Center
Write:
Blog, Guthrie Center

1/29 Topical Song Assignment Due

Interlude: Art and Politics

2/2
Read:
Walter Benjamin, “ The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (*)
Listen:
Concert at Philharmonic Hall (1963)

2/4
Read:
From Reds, Whites, and Blues (*)
Listen:
Concert at Philharmonic Hall (1963)
Write:
Blog, “Hard Rain”

1965: Stratocasters, Amphetamines, and Ray Bans

2/9
Read:
From Wald, Dylan Goes Electric (*)
Listen:
Bringing It All Back Home
Paul Butterfield Blues Band, “Born in Chicago”
Watch:

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 Dylan performing “Maggie’s Farm” at Newport, 1965

2/11
Read:
Ginsberg, “Howl”
Listen:
Bringing It All Back Home
Write:
Blog, Songs or Poems?

2/14 Arlo Guthrie Concert

2/16
Read:
Rimbaud, selections (*)
Silber, “Open Letter” (*)
Cash, Letter to Broadside (*)
Listen:
Highway 61 Revisited

2/18
Listen:
Highway 61 Revisited
Marty Robbins, “El Paso”
Write:
Blog, Country or Rock?

2/23
Read:
From Dylan, Tarantula (*)
Listen:
Blonde on Blonde

2/25
Read:
Sean Wilentz from Bob Dylan in America (*)
Listen:
Blonde on Blonde
Napolean XIV, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away”

Write:

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 Blog, Desire

Interlude: Stardom
3/1
Read:
“Bob Dylan as Cultural Icon” (CC)
Chronicles, chap 2
Watch:
Don’t Look Back

3/3
Listen:
Royal Albert Hall Concert (1966)
Watch:
Don’t Look Back
Write:
Blog, Stardom

Old, Weird America

3/8
Read:
Heylin, chaps 14-15
Listen:
The Basement Tapes Sampler
3/10
Read:
Greil Marcus, from Old, Weird America (*)
Listen:
The Basement Tapes Sampler

3/11 Rock Essay Due

Spring Break

3/16 Special Event

3/22
Read:
Jackson, from 1965, The Most Revolutionary Year in Music (*)

Listen:

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 Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit”
The Rolling Stones, “Paint It Black,” “Lady Jane”
The Beatles, Sgt Pepper’s (tracks 1-3 “A Day in the Life” )
James Brown, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “Out of Sight”

3/24
Read:
Zak, “Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix”
Listen:
John Wesley Harding
Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower”
Write:
Blog, Folk Traditions

Faith, Failure, and Invention

3/29
Read:
“Blood on the Tracks” (CC)
“Bob Dylan and Gender Politics” (CC)
Listen:
Blood on the Tracks

3/31
Read:
Lesser, “Dancing with Dylan” from The Rose and the Briar (*)
Listen:
Blood on the Tracks
Baez, “Lily of the West” (1961)
Hurt, “Stagolee”
Write:
Blog, Murder Ballads
4/5
Read:
Denning, “Bob Dylan and Rolling Thunder”
Listen:
Rolling Thunder Revue (1975)
“Abandoned Love” (1975)
4/7
Read:
From Dylan’s Vision of Sin (*)
“Bob Dylan and Religion” (CC)

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Listen:
Slow Train Coming
“Sara”

4/8 Performance Essay Due

Love and Theft

4/12
Read:
Wilentz, from Bob Dylan in America
Listen:
Time out of Mind
“Blind Willie McTell”

4/14
Listen:
Theme Time Radio Hour, “Rich Man, Poor Man”
Write:
Blog, Theme Time Radio Hour

4/19
Read:
“Love and Theft” (CC)
Listen:
Love and Theft

4/21
Read:
Rolling Stone Interview with Mikal Gilmore (*)
Listen:
Love and Theft

4/25 Self-Assessment Due

4/25 Blog Closes
4/27 Album Essay Due