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Hello im a new subscriber since i saw you had a reaction on eminem songs, pls can you a full album reaction on his newest album "The Death of Slim Shady" pls🥺🙏 i bet a lot of people want to watch it
In short, he pissed off the communists by abandoning the incessant & perpetual bull crap that is American politics by abandoning them. Allen Ginsberg, a big, huge lefty & Marxist, defended Dylan 100% tho. But Bob just got tired of being pressured to write politically, & tired of doing what was “expected” of him, he was too much of an artist for that.….it was pretty much (98%) love songs (or hate songs), for Dylan from then on out, from then until present……..Anyway, great research, I’d say however that “blowing in the wind” from 1963 was the first song that brought him to mass exposure, it just wasn’t “rock n roll”, so, the fame was a little bit more low key….but, tons of big artists covered “blowing in the wind” & he got big money & fame as a songwriter from it, with the publishing….if this one is “bigger” (which it was) it was because of the controversy of electric instruments & the dazzling surreal words, & it did chart really high, I think it hit #2, which his songs had done up til then, but not *his* studio versions, just others’ covers….but, ppl knew bob, his early, heartfelt political stuff (protest songs) changed the world….many didn’t like his voice, but *many* knew him before “like a rolling stone”.
Sam Cooke had, I think, the best quote about Dylan: "From now on it’s not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It’s going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth.”
I never understood the haters back then when he made the change from acoustic to electric because with Dylan it wasn't about the sound, it was about the message, the WORDS! The focus was all wrong,he wanted a broader sound, but it still is classic Dylan
Keep in mind that folk music had been since the 30s a vehicle for political protest. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seger were avowed communists who often performed in union halls. And so the move away from political to personal songs seemed like a sellout. This, of course, was back when America had a hard left. In a sense, this prefigured the mass sellout of rock music in the late 70s. The punk revolution, in fact, was a return to this kind of DIY ethic and rabble rousing.
@@lipby Aside from the political history, I think it's more about the feckless young folkies, more fashion than function, who conveyed a self-righteous sense of betrayal. Notably, the particularly pitiful young fans recorded in documentaries at the Newport and Manchester shows. Certainly there was a professional growth for Dylan that the politicos perhaps didn't entirely love, but this specific period was more about entitled white kids crying abandonment.
In 1963, our English teacher will the record player into the classroom, pulled an album out of his briefcase, and said “You guys are gonna love this“ and he started playing Dylan‘s “Blowing in the Wind“ We straightlaced teens, who were used to Elvis, all looked at each other, as the music started, having no idea that we were listening to history. It took me a couple of years to figure it out. I was slow back then too.
My mom thought Elvis was a bad influence - but she really liked Duane Eddy. Needless to say I got some mixed messages as a teen. My dad liked everything(he played the accordion) he just didn't tell my mom. Electric guitar did seem a bit too harsh as a kid - now its my favorite.
That’s very interesting. My mom graduated high school in 1962 and she was as well into Paul Anka, Johnny Mathis and that sound. My older uncles, were more into the Beatles, Beach Boys, The Doors, The Stones, Hendrix etc.😎
Dylan is a lyrical genius, he is a one off, unique, irreplaceable, the likes of whom we will never see again. To follow Dylan including all his genres, albums, live performances, bootlegs, outtakes, would take a life time to explore, no one comes close to Dylan, once you "get" Dylan, there is no going back, you are truly hooked .. he was awarded The Pulitzer prize in 2008 with the special citation on Monday, April 7, making history as the first rock and roll artist to be honored. Singer, songwriter, author, musician, and poet, was recognized for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” and The Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016
This song is approximately where rock and roll began to shed the dance party teen role and grow up. 1965-1970 was a time of amazing development in popular music.
@@michaelway7936 Yup! Sounds of Silence, '65, and Rubber Soul from the Beatles. Satisfaction from the Stones. My Generation by the Who. All among the earliest of the changes.
Emotion and intensity and imagery exploding across a canvas of time, not space; if a picture is worth a thousand words, then many of Dylan's performances of his songs are works of art, each one unique and priceless, but fortunately are free to all who choose to hang them in their own galleries for perpetual enjoyment.
You have to read about Dylan's recording process. The musicians usually only practiced for two times and then recorded the song. He didn't like to waste studio time. He used some very talented musicians who didn't agree with that, but they showed up anyways. Some of those musicians thought that with some practice they produce a much better recording. Bob Dylan has been recording for over 60 years and us Dylan fans love him anyways. Great reaction Maggie.
This song changed pop music and music as a whole pretty much. Gave pop a little poetry and substance. Before Dylan rock/pop songs really weren't anything but toe tappers, hip twisters and heart pullers. Dylan changed that, gave the songs more depth and everybody like the Beatles were so influenced and it's because of that influence we got so many great songs that still hold today. I don't think people realize how important Dylan is to not just pop but music in general he opened the door for so many others to do the same.
Another classic artist and song from my younger days. I was a little young at the time to fully appreciate his style, but he was very popular. Good reaction, Maggie.
Acoustics folk music you mean. They hated the electric sound like the Byrds. it was especially the English audience who first heard this live, it;s on film.
his breakthrough electric and rock hit apparently about a woman who has become homeless and which may or may have not have led to the the biggest music/counterculture magazine being named after the song's title⚛
When its all said and done, this song is a pop classic with poignant lyrics from a very creative songwriter that will stand the time. I first heard this song as a kid in ;65. Even then, this song felt different, important, and somehow special. I'd get a smile and feel like a kid again whenever I hear it. Even today, my reaction to this song is the same. It was a song of its day. It will still have it's day a hundred years or more from now. IMHO
Dyjan's "Like a Rolling Stone": the first pop-rock song ever in music history; (jul, 1965) Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever": the second pop-rock song ever in music history; (feb,1967) Beatles': "A day in the life": the third pop-rock song ever in music history; (jun, 1967) That's it: the beginning of modern music!
In my opinion, this is the most important song in the history of rock music. When most song were about love and were 2 minutes long, this happened. The lyrics were confrontational and the song was over 6 minutes long. And they still played this on the AM radio stations. 65 was the summer before my sophomore year in high school and I listened to this constantly laying on the beach on the shores of Lake Erie in Ashtabula, Ohio.
All vocals are unique to a degree, Dylan's vocal was VERY unique to the point it was an acquired taste. If I had a nickel for every time I heard somebody say Dylan's vocal is awful, I would be rich many times over. I happen to have acquired an affinity for his vocal and I would even call it beautiful, to me anyhow! I love me some Bob Dylan music! Very much enjoyed your analysis of Dylan's vocal..... very technical and, I think, accurate. TY.
oh my... the album this was on is (IMO) the best album he made. Also don't pay any mind to the haters. Dylan was (is) more than a protest singer. People need to chill and dig the music. Great reaction as always! Have a great weekend!
You don’t get to be a Nobel Laureate without breaking eggs. Dylan and Lennon had some deep conversations about lyrics. Dylan: Why don’t you write about real important shit? Lennon: You’re right, I will, but love is real, too. Just Give Me Some Truth. Maggie you may be interested in the YT video where Leonard Bernstein is talking in the 60’s about the Beatles. (Reaction not necessary but have a peek.)
He had a touring band back in the 60s that started recording their own albums, and they had the most original name for any band in the history of the universe. I would strongly recommend that you check out some of the songs from music from big pink or the song cripple Creek.
I really appreciate the lucidity of your comparison of Dylan to The Beatles; both of whom are musical phenomena of the twentieth century. As a totally untalented person who loves music, I’m in awe of those who create it. When I discovered opera after watching a PBS documentary of Pavarotti warming up before a performance forty years or so ago, I still get chills and tear up when I see and hear him in videos. Keep up the good work you do with your analysis!
He is practically the first artist to truly change his style. Made a lot of artists think about that and then do it. I think he influence the Beatles to become more experimental and everybody in the folk music world realized they could do different things.
He NEVER abandoned the protest movement. But he did expand on it. Whiners gonna whine. Dylan was the artistic bridge between the Beat poets and the hippie movement
I suppose for some Dylan was the bridge between the "Beats" and the "Hippies". I was there before "Hippies" with Mark Twain. Too much is made of the "Beats," and by those who don't know literature because that's how they avoid knowing.
@@jnagarya519 I was making a comment about literature. You made a comment about what literature I may or may not know. You have no idea what knowledge I have of great literature. "The trouble ain;t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right"
@@lawrencesmith6536 I'm saying my values, equivalent of "Hippy," were informed by reading Mark Twain. I read the "Beats" later, and appreciate a few, but mostly they stagnated.
The only reason why Dylan is or was a protest singer is that he always spoke his mind and never compromised. He always did what he felt was the best for him. He never really joined the protest movement, he just sang what was in front of him, what he saw in front of him. He couldn't bear to be channaled or pushed from other people.
@@alberto-os1bx Dylan was a protest singer because that was the zeitgeist in the politically-Left New York folk music scene. In order to advance in his career he simply adopted that and did it better than anyone else. Then when he got to the top at Newport -- the empowered folk scene -- and as encouraged by "The Beatles" success he moved to travel from relatively marginalized folk music to the mainstream. Despite all the starry-eyed and obscuring mythification, Dylan was single-mindedly ambitious; he didn't necessarily politically believe all the protest stuff he was writing and singing.
His way of saying ideas and things made me and others in the 60s want to hear those messages, I lived in the village from Dec 1965 on through Aug1966 and for the next 4 years in between my travels as a merchant seaman. Dylan used to go to the Kettle Of Fish on Bleecker Street. This piece still talks to youth, every one of us hanging out from back then, even back to the beats then all the way up to now., there were always those who looked, and seemed cool, but there were the users and abusers wearing masks to get what they wanted by deception. I think is was Bob Marley who said ' Dreadlocks don't make you a Rasta.
I remember the people freaking out over this song. I personally love Dylan whatever way he plays and sings. I've always wondered who he was talking about in this song. Love your take on him and his music. Always considered him a storyteller.
@@michaelkeefe8494 I never particularly cared for the specific backstories. It's hard to escape them sometimes, particularly the Sara songs. But they belong to the world once he's released them, and it's the universality of the sentiment which carries the listener. I mean, "Scorpio sphinx in a calico dress" evokes a particular person recognizable to *_ME_* , though most of the specific words have no relation.
You should really listen to his first public performance of this song which can be found here on yt. The audience started booing him when he brought out the electric guitar...Bob turned around and told the band to turn up the sound and make it loud.
Great story, and video on YT, about how Al Kooper blagged his way into the studio and ended up playing organ on this track. Turned up as a guitarist. Told to get lost. Just skulked in the studio hoping nobody would notice. Took over the organ. Totally unintended. Ended up being a hugely important aspect of the final sound of the piece.
Watch the DVD "No Direction Home". It will give you much more insight into Bob's upbringing and influences, as well as the events going on around him during this time in his career. Very interesting film! 🤙😎
A quote from what happened when Dylan went electric, "Towards the end of Bob Dylan ‘s second set on May 17, 1966 at Manchester, England’s Free Trade Hall, played electric with the Hawks (later known as The Band), an audience member shouts out “Judas” after “Ballad of a Thin Man.” Dylan actually responded, saying, “I don’t believe you… you’re a liar.” ".You can hear this on the live recording.
Thanks for the great reaction. I agree with your entire take on this and felt it was very apt. And yeah, in retrospect, it’s hard to understand. I got into Dylan in the 70’s. By that time, I had already heard a few Dylan songs covered by rock artists like The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix. So, I didn’t experience the big change he made at the time when this song came out. So even for me, it was, as you put it, “madness”. But having now done deep dives, seen some of the various documentaries, I get it more. As you read, he as a solo folk performer, playing his acoustic guitar, harmonica and singing. And his audience were all “folkies”. And when he showed up at folk festivals and concerts where his audience were expecting one thing and got this loud electric band thing, it shocked them. And they got angry. There’s film and audio records of this. And many people who were there wrote about it. And Dylan, being the artist he is and has pretty much always been, basically said “screw you. This is who I am.”
Dylan has had many distinctly different vocal periods, most due to his own choices of how to use his instrument rather than to any inherent limitations in his singing ability. From the Woody Guthrie/Rambling Jack Elliott imitation he started with, to his "Voice of a Generation" protest voice, to this voice here, to the wry psychedelia of Blonde on Blonde, the mellowness of John Wesley Harding to the country crooning of Nashville Skyline, the impassioned heartache of Blood on the Tracks, the blues shouting of the Rolling Thunder Revue, the pinched nasal whine of the '80s, and the last 30 years of his voice settling into a deeper, rougher groove (minus his three albums of Sinatra covers). He's probably one of the most interesting singers of the last 100 years.
Up to 1965 Bob Dylan was purely acoustic and folk singing. When he decided to go electric, a lot of his fans felt that he had sold out and some even walked away from him completely. The album "Highway 61 Revisited" was Bob rediscovering his career and style. To the chagrin of his former fans, he created a much bigger fanbase with this album and never looked back.
Folk music was once predominant for a short time, and all the folkies saw Dylan going electric as a threat. They were right, but as Dylan sang "the times they are a changing" he was just growing as a musician as all groups and individuals do. It's amazing to me how small minded people can become when attaching themselves to a club or genre. I just love to see people with an old cheap camera win photographic competitions, proving once again that it's not the size or value of the thing you're wielding, it's the way you use it. I am in full agreement with Groucho Marx on this one, " I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member".
Dylan would emphatically say he wasn’t part of a protest movement. Sure he wrote songs with great political significance but first and foremost Dylan was a poet.
Real fans of Dylan never had any issue with his changes, it was part of the adventure with each album he released. Give a listen to Nashville Skyline if you want to hear a difference. Great reaction!
A good thing to do to understand this song and the reaction to it and its influence on the music culture of the times is watch Martin Scorcese’s documentary “No Direction Home”. You’ll also get a good perspective of pop music and culture in the 50’s and 60’s.
As someone else has mentioned, there are a lot of reasons for the whole "Dylan going electric" controversy. There was a view in the folk music world back in the day that any sort of use of modern pop sounds or production was "impure" and "selling out". In 1965 rock & roll was still viewed by many as dumb pop music for teenyboppers, so Dylan's embrace of it actually disillusioned many folkies. Also, to 1965 ears (especially those over 30), Dylan's electric music, as well as that of The Beatles and other bands of the time, sounded loud and in-your-face, so that also worked up the older folk fans - times have definitely changed in terms of what's considered "loud". As another commenter mentioned, the Martin Scorsese documentary on Dylan does a pretty good job of explaining the whole controversy - and you get to hear Al Kooper tell the story of how he came to play organ on that song, which he's told so many times that he charges money for it.
The thing about Dylan is not the vocal talent. It's the ability to convey the sarcasm and wit and to thumb his nose at how things had always been through the combo of that talent and his impeccable writing. Remember when he came along... Up until that time popular music had largely been doowop groups, Righteous Brothers types, and crooners. Imagine how fresh and new he must have sounded and how you would have felt hearing this kind of rebellion in music having been held down by society and the lack of choices up until then. He is to be credited as the one of the most influential leaders of pop culture in modern history. A real example is Ballad of a Thin Man. It drones on, but man the message is soooo good. I am biased as it is my favorite Dylan track.
Just stumbled on your channel because I really wanted to hear what an opera singer thought of Bob Dylan who's voice is as far from opera as it gets. Now, full disclosure, I really don't care for the traditional operatic voice though I do appreciate the years of practice and work it takes to get that sound. I prefer character voices like in the off Broadway production of Hair and in this case, Bob Dylan, who frankly can't sing his way out of a paper bag but his sound is nonetheless appealing. Love your take on this song! 🙂
This was the ULTIMATE put-down song in 1965 -- and for years thereafter until 1974 when he surpassed himself with "Idiot Wind" on his "Blood On the Tracks" LP.
Best way to see how people were getting mad at the difference is to listen to The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4. It was recorded on a tour of the UK in 1966 in support of this album. Two set show, and the first was Dylan, his guitar, and his harmonica, the way it had been since he became a folk hero. Second set, he's backed by a full-on electric rock band, who would eventually become their own thing, titled, conveniently, The Band. Crowd at this show, actually recorded in Manchester and not London, as the legend would have it, turned on him for playing "pop" and "rock 'n roll" and no longer being authentic (heard that before, hear that today, and will hear it tomorrow). If you listen to the full show, a crowd member shouts "JUDAS!!!" Dylan hears it and says, "You're a liar. I don't believe you." He then turns to his band and audibly says "Play fucking loud." Pretty amazing moment.
Lyrically the best song ever written. Most people never get what this song is about. It’s about LIBERATION. She’s ( Eddie Sedgwick) has been living in a gilded cage, now that her 15 minutes of fame are over she’s free to live her life despite being devastated it’s over. It starts off sounding vitriolic, but it ends subtly that Dylan is happy for her. Dylan himself is the “mystery tramp,” Andrew Warhol is “the diplomat “ and some short average New Yorker guy who doesn’t wear designer cloths is “ Napoleon in rags”. Amazing that a 24 year Dylan could write this masterpiece.
i always laughed when people got upset because he used an electric guitar for 'like a rolling stone'. but never had a problem when he used electric guitar for 'corrina, corrina' on his second album 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' from 3 years before.
My brother was a huge Dylan fan. The first song of his that ticked him off was "Watchin' The River Flow"; he thought that it was simplistic fluff that didn't rise to the level of his previous works and much too repetitive. I think he got over it. 😂
The thing is that his his early work was straight down the line American Folk Blues a la Woody Guthrie, a few albums worth of only acoustic instruments and it was surprisingly popular. He was the new young saviour of real traditional American Folk, a hero to the cause. And then he went all electric. Folk didn't go electric and a Hammond organ is not even a folk instrument. It was like putting a Moog synthesizer into Mozart - it might sound great but no one wants it. Until they do.
For a change of pace, I strongly recommend (and would love to see and hear) reacting to Tom Waits "Chocolate Jesus," Live on Letterman -- great performance and great performance art. I promise you a good time!
Wasn't this the big surprise for the British fans when Dylan went there? This was actually a great moment. Dylan inspired the Beatles to write more meaningful lyrics.
I never did understand the people saying Dylan sold out by doing electric music. Hell all of the artists that came after him were electric. He evolved and some of his later music was much better than his early stuff. This is one of those songs. This is a song about a debutant he met at and Andy Warhol party. Dylan obviously didn't care too much about her. It's more about his story telling and lyrics than what instrument he's playing. He is just a great story teller.
Although the genre switch is not a big deal today, you should have heard the song and its reactions when it came out. Literally a high-powered earthquake in the music scene.
Who should I react to next: www.maggierenee.com/book-me/sponsor-a-reaction-live What should I sing next: www.maggierenee.com/book-me/sponsor-a-song-liveAnd just for you: ‘Sing Better Instantly" my FREE Singing Course: skl.sh/3aHdSuy and for EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AND PERKS: www.patreon.com/MaggieRenee
Hello im a new subscriber since i saw you had a reaction on eminem songs, pls can you a full album reaction on his newest album "The Death of Slim Shady" pls🥺🙏 i bet a lot of people want to watch it
In short, he pissed off the communists by abandoning the incessant & perpetual bull crap that is American politics by abandoning them. Allen Ginsberg, a big, huge lefty & Marxist, defended Dylan 100% tho. But Bob just got tired of being pressured to write politically, & tired of doing what was “expected” of him, he was too much of an artist for that.….it was pretty much (98%) love songs (or hate songs), for Dylan from then on out, from then until present……..Anyway, great research, I’d say however that “blowing in the wind” from 1963 was the first song that brought him to mass exposure, it just wasn’t “rock n roll”, so, the fame was a little bit more low key….but, tons of big artists covered “blowing in the wind” & he got big money & fame as a songwriter from it, with the publishing….if this one is “bigger” (which it was) it was because of the controversy of electric instruments & the dazzling surreal words, & it did chart really high, I think it hit #2, which his songs had done up til then, but not *his* studio versions, just others’ covers….but, ppl knew bob, his early, heartfelt political stuff (protest songs) changed the world….many didn’t like his voice, but *many* knew him before “like a rolling stone”.
Sam Cooke had, I think, the best quote about Dylan: "From now on it’s not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It’s going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth.”
very few songs had as much importance in history of modern music - an absolute masterpiece.
when you got nothing , you got nothing to lose brings tears to my eyes because thats where i,m at now.
Dylan has made his whole career giving his audience what they don't want. That's art!!
Or giving them what they didn't know they wanted.
Sometimes it's art. Sometimes it's just pseudo-intellectual posing as a contrarian.
@@dragon-ed1hz Yes. that's the point!!
Or giving them what they need.
Dylan was not indifferent to commercial success.
I never understood the haters back then when he made the change from acoustic to electric because with Dylan it wasn't about the sound, it was about the message, the WORDS! The focus was all wrong,he wanted a broader sound, but it still is classic Dylan
Keep in mind that folk music had been since the 30s a vehicle for political protest. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seger were avowed communists who often performed in union halls. And so the move away from political to personal songs seemed like a sellout.
This, of course, was back when America had a hard left. In a sense, this prefigured the mass sellout of rock music in the late 70s. The punk revolution, in fact, was a return to this kind of DIY ethic and rabble rousing.
@@lipby Aside from the political history, I think it's more about the feckless young folkies, more fashion than function, who conveyed a self-righteous sense of betrayal. Notably, the particularly pitiful young fans recorded in documentaries at the Newport and Manchester shows. Certainly there was a professional growth for Dylan that the politicos perhaps didn't entirely love, but this specific period was more about entitled white kids crying abandonment.
The song was rated number one all time by Rolling Stone magazine
fantastic artist from the 60's a legend
In 1963, our English teacher will the record player into the classroom, pulled an album out of his briefcase, and said “You guys are gonna love this“ and he started playing Dylan‘s “Blowing in the Wind“
We straightlaced teens, who were used to Elvis, all looked at each other, as the music started, having no idea that we were listening to history.
It took me a couple of years to figure it out. I was slow back then too.
My mom thought Elvis was a bad influence - but she really liked Duane Eddy. Needless to say I got some mixed messages as a teen. My dad liked everything(he played the accordion) he just didn't tell my mom. Electric guitar did seem a bit too harsh as a kid - now its my favorite.
That’s very interesting. My mom graduated high school in 1962 and she was as well into Paul Anka, Johnny Mathis and that sound. My older uncles, were more into the Beatles, Beach Boys, The Doors, The Stones, Hendrix etc.😎
"Positively 4th Street" is an even harsher putdown.
Dylan is a lyrical genius, he is a one off, unique, irreplaceable, the likes of whom we will never see again. To follow Dylan including all his genres, albums, live performances, bootlegs, outtakes, would take a life time to explore, no one comes close to Dylan, once you "get" Dylan, there is no going back, you are truly hooked .. he was awarded The Pulitzer prize in 2008 with the special citation on Monday, April 7, making history as the first rock and roll artist to be honored. Singer, songwriter, author, musician, and poet, was recognized for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” and The Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016
This song is approximately where rock and roll began to shed the dance party teen role and grow up. 1965-1970 was a time of amazing development in popular music.
@@SG-js2qn about the same time frame when Simon and Garfunkel graced the airwaves
@@michaelway7936 Yup! Sounds of Silence, '65, and Rubber Soul from the Beatles. Satisfaction from the Stones. My Generation by the Who. All among the earliest of the changes.
Emotion and intensity and imagery exploding across a canvas of time, not space; if a picture is worth a thousand words, then many of Dylan's performances of his songs are works of art, each one unique and priceless, but fortunately are free to all who choose to hang them in their own galleries for perpetual enjoyment.
Maggie bobbing her head and smiling through some of the most scathing lyrics ever written was too funny.
She does seem a bit oblivious.
"you have no secrets to conceal" she's just smiling. I love it 💕
The "Folk" purists looked down on electric guitars . He debuted this at the Newport Folk Festival. It wasn't met warmly.
The greatest poet of the 20th century - and he's staked a pretty good claim to the 21st as well. There's simply no-one else like Dylan :-)
For sure dude. Dylan. There’s no one like the dude ❤
Greatest songwriter, yes, but I wouldn't say greatest poet. There is a difference between the two.
You have to read about Dylan's recording process. The musicians usually only practiced for two times and then recorded the song. He didn't like to waste studio time. He used some very talented musicians who didn't agree with that, but they showed up anyways. Some of those musicians thought that with some practice they produce a much better recording.
Bob Dylan has been recording for over 60 years and us Dylan fans love him anyways.
Great reaction Maggie.
This song changed pop music and music as a whole pretty much. Gave pop a little poetry and substance. Before Dylan rock/pop songs really weren't anything but toe tappers, hip twisters and heart pullers. Dylan changed that, gave the songs more depth and everybody like the Beatles were so influenced and it's because of that influence we got so many great songs that still hold today. I don't think people realize how important Dylan is to not just pop but music in general he opened the door for so many others to do the same.
Amazing song and really enjoyed your reaction! His skill as a poet and storyteller definitely makes his Nobel Prize for Literature perfectly sensible.
Dylan is awesome.
Another classic artist and song from my younger days. I was a little young at the time to fully appreciate his style, but he was very popular. Good reaction, Maggie.
Maggie - The only people who were mad at Dylan's change... were the ones who loved folk music and did not want him to do anything different.
Acoustics folk music you mean. They hated the electric sound like the Byrds. it was especially the English audience who first heard this live, it;s on film.
I'm impressed by your voice and vocal training. Wishing you much success!
This song is the Holy grail
He wasn't on the pop charts until he went electric. And it was "The Beatles" who opened the door, and John Lennon who told him to get a band.
I have this album on vinyl, the whole record is amazing!
even his part of the Traveling Wilburys was great
Greatest Rock and Roll song.
his breakthrough electric and rock hit apparently about a woman who has become homeless and which may or may have not have led to the the biggest music/counterculture magazine being named after the song's title⚛
When its all said and done, this song is a pop classic with poignant lyrics from a very creative songwriter that will stand the time. I first heard this song as a kid in ;65. Even then, this song felt different, important, and somehow special. I'd get a smile and feel like a kid again whenever I hear it. Even today, my reaction to this song is the same. It was a song of its day. It will still have it's day a hundred years or more from now. IMHO
Dyjan's "Like a Rolling Stone": the first pop-rock song ever in music history; (jul, 1965)
Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever": the second pop-rock song ever in music history; (feb,1967)
Beatles': "A day in the life": the third pop-rock song ever in music history; (jun, 1967)
That's it: the beginning of modern music!
In my opinion, this is the most important song in the history of rock music. When most song were about love and were 2 minutes long, this happened. The lyrics were confrontational and the song was over 6 minutes long. And they still played this on the AM radio stations. 65 was the summer before my sophomore year in high school and I listened to this constantly laying on the beach on the shores of Lake Erie in Ashtabula, Ohio.
I was listening to it in Cincinnati Ohio....pretty sure we are the same age.
I like the unpolished beatle idea. That's what the time called for. A voice that came from the every day person. and he delivered it fantastically.
You might enjoy Joan Baez Diamonds and Rust written about her relationship with Dylan.
Before Dylan a vocal performance was rated by how the singers voice sounded. After Dylan it was rated by whether or not you believed him.
Love having the great classic artists on the channel!! WTG Maggie!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your support! 🙏💖🙏
The very beginnings of Folk/Rock.
Nothing but raw talent 💯🔥
All vocals are unique to a degree, Dylan's vocal was VERY unique to the point it was an acquired taste. If I had a nickel for every time I heard somebody say Dylan's vocal is awful, I would be rich many times over. I happen to have acquired an affinity for his vocal and I would even call it beautiful, to me anyhow! I love me some Bob Dylan music! Very much enjoyed your analysis of Dylan's vocal..... very technical and, I think, accurate. TY.
For a laugh I sometimes try to sing other songs using Dylan's voice and cadence 😂😂😂
oh my... the album this was on is (IMO) the best album he made. Also don't pay any mind to the haters. Dylan was (is) more than a protest singer. People need to chill and dig the music. Great reaction as always! Have a great weekend!
Three times the length of the average single.. amazing on all levels..
You don’t get to be a Nobel Laureate without breaking eggs.
Dylan and Lennon had some deep conversations about lyrics.
Dylan: Why don’t you write about real important shit?
Lennon: You’re right, I will, but love is real, too.
Just Give Me Some Truth.
Maggie you may be interested in the YT video where Leonard Bernstein is talking in the 60’s about the Beatles. (Reaction not necessary but have a peek.)
Great song, great reaction.
He had a touring band back in the 60s that started recording their own albums, and they had the most original name for any band in the history of the universe. I would strongly recommend that you check out some of the songs from music from big pink or the song cripple Creek.
I really appreciate the lucidity of your comparison of Dylan to The Beatles; both of whom are musical phenomena of the twentieth century. As a totally untalented person who loves music, I’m in awe of those who create it. When I discovered opera after watching a PBS documentary of Pavarotti warming up before a performance forty years or so ago, I still get chills and tear up when I see and hear him in videos. Keep up the good work you do with your analysis!
Thanks Mike.
He is practically the first artist to truly change his style. Made a lot of artists think about that and then do it. I think he influence the Beatles to become more experimental and everybody in the folk music world realized they could do different things.
Dylan continued to change his style over and over and over again.
His music was the background of my childhood. Foreground was Beatles. He was always there though
THANK YOU MIKE.
On behalf of our Mike because I know he would do this himself.
On behalf of Mike, YOU ROCK DORKY!! 🙏💖🙏
He NEVER abandoned the protest movement. But he did expand on it. Whiners gonna whine. Dylan was the artistic bridge between the Beat poets and the hippie movement
I suppose for some Dylan was the bridge between the "Beats" and the "Hippies". I was there before "Hippies" with Mark Twain.
Too much is made of the "Beats," and by those who don't know literature because that's how they avoid knowing.
@@jnagarya519 I was making a comment about literature. You made a comment about what literature I may or may not know. You have no idea what knowledge I have of great literature. "The trouble ain;t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right"
@@lawrencesmith6536 I'm saying my values, equivalent of "Hippy," were informed by reading Mark Twain. I read the "Beats" later, and appreciate a few, but mostly they stagnated.
The only reason why Dylan is or was a protest singer is that he always spoke his mind and never compromised. He always did what he felt was the best for him. He never really joined the protest movement, he just sang what was in front of him, what he saw in front of him. He couldn't bear to be channaled or pushed from other people.
@@alberto-os1bx Dylan was a protest singer because that was the zeitgeist in the politically-Left New York folk music scene. In order to advance in his career he simply adopted that and did it better than anyone else.
Then when he got to the top at Newport -- the empowered folk scene -- and as encouraged by "The Beatles" success he moved to travel from relatively marginalized folk music to the mainstream.
Despite all the starry-eyed and obscuring mythification, Dylan was single-mindedly ambitious; he didn't necessarily politically believe all the protest stuff he was writing and singing.
His way of saying ideas and things made me and others in the 60s want to hear those messages, I lived in the village from Dec 1965 on through Aug1966 and for the next 4 years in between my travels as a merchant seaman. Dylan used to go to the Kettle Of Fish on Bleecker Street. This piece still talks to youth, every one of us hanging out from back then, even back to the beats then all the way up to now., there were always those who looked, and seemed cool, but there were the users and abusers wearing masks to get what they wanted by deception. I think is was Bob Marley who said ' Dreadlocks don't make you a Rasta.
I remember the people freaking out over this song. I personally love Dylan whatever way he plays and sings. I've always wondered who he was talking about in this song. Love your take on him and his music. Always considered him a storyteller.
Song is allegedly about model Edie Sedgwick who got caught up in Andy Warhol's crowd and it didn't end well.
@@michaelkeefe8494 I never particularly cared for the specific backstories. It's hard to escape them sometimes, particularly the Sara songs. But they belong to the world once he's released them, and it's the universality of the sentiment which carries the listener. I mean, "Scorpio sphinx in a calico dress" evokes a particular person recognizable to *_ME_* , though most of the specific words have no relation.
@@Hexon66 all good. I only posted because @PatR2243 asked.
I have never liked his singing, but I do love his songs!
You should really listen to his first public performance of this song which can be found here on yt. The audience started booing him when he brought out the electric guitar...Bob turned around and told the band to turn up the sound and make it loud.
He brought the electric guitar to the folk scene.
Saw him live on his 50th anniversary concert tour at one of the casinos in Connecticut.
Been listening to a little Rap lately, and just realised that Bob's style laid some foundations for that and other later styles.
Bob Dylan influenced the Beatles' writing that gave us gems like Rubber Soul and Revolver. Great move going electric. Sounds of the time.
"big girl now" especially the live version from hard rain would an excellent choice for another dylan reaction
Great story, and video on YT, about how Al Kooper blagged his way into the studio and ended up playing organ on this track. Turned up as a guitarist. Told to get lost. Just skulked in the studio hoping nobody would notice. Took over the organ. Totally unintended. Ended up being a hugely important aspect of the final sound of the piece.
Watch the DVD "No Direction Home".
It will give you much more insight into Bob's upbringing and influences, as well as the events going on around him during this time in his career.
Very interesting film! 🤙😎
A quote from what happened when Dylan went electric, "Towards the end of Bob Dylan ‘s second set on May 17, 1966 at Manchester, England’s Free Trade Hall, played electric with the Hawks (later known as The Band), an audience member shouts out “Judas” after “Ballad of a Thin Man.” Dylan actually responded, saying, “I don’t believe you… you’re a liar.” ".You can hear this on the live recording.
Thanks for the great reaction. I agree with your entire take on this and felt it was very apt.
And yeah, in retrospect, it’s hard to understand. I got into Dylan in the 70’s. By that time, I had already heard a few Dylan songs covered by rock artists like The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix. So, I didn’t experience the big change he made at the time when this song came out. So even for me, it was, as you put it, “madness”.
But having now done deep dives, seen some of the various documentaries, I get it more. As you read, he as a solo folk performer, playing his acoustic guitar, harmonica and singing.
And his audience were all “folkies”. And when he showed up at folk festivals and concerts where his audience were expecting one thing and got this loud electric band thing, it shocked them. And they got angry. There’s film and audio records of this. And many people who were there wrote about it. And Dylan, being the artist he is and has pretty much always been, basically said “screw you. This is who I am.”
Maestro y genio universal
Please keep doing more Dylan. There's plenty more where that came from. Try "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts", or "Buckets of Rain".
It's about loss of innocence. I don't recall it being about an individual though there were many suggestions of "people on the scene".
Dylan has had many distinctly different vocal periods, most due to his own choices of how to use his instrument rather than to any inherent limitations in his singing ability. From the Woody Guthrie/Rambling Jack Elliott imitation he started with, to his "Voice of a Generation" protest voice, to this voice here, to the wry psychedelia of Blonde on Blonde, the mellowness of John Wesley Harding to the country crooning of Nashville Skyline, the impassioned heartache of Blood on the Tracks, the blues shouting of the Rolling Thunder Revue, the pinched nasal whine of the '80s, and the last 30 years of his voice settling into a deeper, rougher groove (minus his three albums of Sinatra covers). He's probably one of the most interesting singers of the last 100 years.
The second revolt against Dylan was when he announced his Christian faith with the album Slow Train Coming. He just kept writing and recording.
Abandon protest songs? Have you heard the words of this one and many others that followed. I lived that time and loved when he became electric.
Up to 1965 Bob Dylan was purely acoustic and folk singing. When he decided to go electric, a lot of his fans felt that he had sold out and some even walked away from him completely. The album "Highway 61 Revisited" was Bob rediscovering his career and style. To the chagrin of his former fans, he created a much bigger fanbase with this album and never looked back.
Hopefully with the new Dylan movie coming out "A complete unknown" it'll create a resurgence in interest in Dylan's music.
As you say, Maggie, artists grow and change, but many of their fans never do. Listen to some early live versions of this song and hear people booing.
Folk music was once predominant for a short time, and all the folkies saw Dylan going electric as a threat. They were right, but as Dylan sang "the times they are a changing" he was just growing as a musician as all groups and individuals do. It's amazing to me how small minded people can become when attaching themselves to a club or genre. I just love to see people with an old cheap camera win photographic competitions, proving once again that it's not the size or value of the thing you're wielding, it's the way you use it. I am in full agreement with Groucho Marx on this one, " I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member".
Have you ever heard his song, "You're Gona Have to Serve Somebody?"
Maggie needs to have her own sitcom playing herself lol. And I officially indoctrinate Maggie as a 1960's hippie girl, she's got it right.
Dylan would emphatically say he wasn’t part of a protest movement. Sure he wrote songs with great political significance but first and foremost Dylan was a poet.
Real fans of Dylan never had any issue with his changes, it was part of the adventure with each album he released. Give a listen to Nashville Skyline if you want to hear a difference. Great reaction!
A good thing to do to understand this song and the reaction to it and its influence on the music culture of the times is watch Martin Scorcese’s documentary “No Direction Home”. You’ll also get a good perspective of pop music and culture in the 50’s and 60’s.
As someone else has mentioned, there are a lot of reasons for the whole "Dylan going electric" controversy. There was a view in the folk music world back in the day that any sort of use of modern pop sounds or production was "impure" and "selling out". In 1965 rock & roll was still viewed by many as dumb pop music for teenyboppers, so Dylan's embrace of it actually disillusioned many folkies. Also, to 1965 ears (especially those over 30), Dylan's electric music, as well as that of The Beatles and other bands of the time, sounded loud and in-your-face, so that also worked up the older folk fans - times have definitely changed in terms of what's considered "loud". As another commenter mentioned, the Martin Scorsese documentary on Dylan does a pretty good job of explaining the whole controversy - and you get to hear Al Kooper tell the story of how he came to play organ on that song, which he's told so many times that he charges money for it.
He sort of invented folk rock that’s why you’re getting that vibe from him
You should watch the movie A Mighty Wind, which is a parody of folkies' passion.
The thing about Dylan is not the vocal talent. It's the ability to convey the sarcasm and wit and to thumb his nose at how things had always been through the combo of that talent and his impeccable writing. Remember when he came along... Up until that time popular music had largely been doowop groups, Righteous Brothers types, and crooners. Imagine how fresh and new he must have sounded and how you would have felt hearing this kind of rebellion in music having been held down by society and the lack of choices up until then. He is to be credited as the one of the most influential leaders of pop culture in modern history. A real example is Ballad of a Thin Man. It drones on, but man the message is soooo good. I am biased as it is my favorite Dylan track.
Just stumbled on your channel because I really wanted to hear what an opera singer thought of Bob Dylan who's voice is as far from opera as it gets. Now, full disclosure, I really don't care for the traditional operatic voice though I do appreciate the years of practice and work it takes to get that sound. I prefer character voices like in the off Broadway production of Hair and in this case, Bob Dylan, who frankly can't sing his way out of a paper bag but his sound is nonetheless appealing. Love your take on this song! 🙂
Mike Bloomfield playing lead guitar.
The word you were looking for is busker.
This was the ULTIMATE put-down song in 1965 -- and for years thereafter until 1974 when he surpassed himself with "Idiot Wind" on his "Blood On the Tracks" LP.
Best way to see how people were getting mad at the difference is to listen to The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4. It was recorded on a tour of the UK in 1966 in support of this album. Two set show, and the first was Dylan, his guitar, and his harmonica, the way it had been since he became a folk hero. Second set, he's backed by a full-on electric rock band, who would eventually become their own thing, titled, conveniently, The Band. Crowd at this show, actually recorded in Manchester and not London, as the legend would have it, turned on him for playing "pop" and "rock 'n roll" and no longer being authentic (heard that before, hear that today, and will hear it tomorrow). If you listen to the full show, a crowd member shouts "JUDAS!!!" Dylan hears it and says, "You're a liar. I don't believe you." He then turns to his band and audibly says "Play fucking loud." Pretty amazing moment.
Lyrically the best song ever written. Most people never get what this song is about. It’s about LIBERATION. She’s ( Eddie Sedgwick) has been living in a gilded cage, now that her 15 minutes of fame are over she’s free to live her life despite being devastated it’s over. It starts off sounding vitriolic, but it ends subtly that Dylan is happy for her. Dylan himself is the “mystery tramp,” Andrew Warhol is “the diplomat “ and some short average New Yorker guy who doesn’t wear designer cloths is “ Napoleon in rags”. Amazing that a 24 year Dylan could write this masterpiece.
Artist didn’t change and grow before him or all living in his shadow now. he even said it he killed Tin Pan Alley
More DYLAN
i always laughed when people got upset because he used an electric guitar for 'like a rolling stone'. but never had a problem when he used electric guitar for 'corrina, corrina' on his second album 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' from 3 years before.
My brother was a huge Dylan fan. The first song of his that ticked him off was "Watchin' The River Flow"; he thought that it was simplistic fluff that didn't rise to the level of his previous works and much too repetitive. I think he got over it. 😂
A hippie anthem. Al Kooper on the organ.
This song is where Rolling Stone magazine got their name
Nope, Muddy Watters. Way before Dylan.
The thing is that his his early work was straight down the line American Folk Blues a la Woody Guthrie, a few albums worth of only acoustic instruments and it was surprisingly popular. He was the new young saviour of real traditional American Folk, a hero to the cause. And then he went all electric. Folk didn't go electric and a Hammond organ is not even a folk instrument. It was like putting a Moog synthesizer into Mozart - it might sound great but no one wants it. Until they do.
For a change of pace, I strongly recommend (and would love to see and hear) reacting to Tom Waits "Chocolate Jesus," Live on Letterman -- great performance and great performance art. I promise you a good time!
My favorite Dylan song aside from Mr. Tambourine Man. And he is amazingly able to come up with great rhymings! P.S. I sang this song in high school!
Wasn't this the big surprise for the British fans when Dylan went there?
This was actually a great moment. Dylan inspired the Beatles to write more meaningful lyrics.
I never did understand the people saying Dylan sold out by doing electric music. Hell all of the artists that came after him were electric. He evolved and some of his later music was much better than his early stuff. This is one of those songs. This is a song about a debutant he met at and Andy Warhol party. Dylan obviously didn't care too much about her. It's more about his story telling and lyrics than what instrument he's playing. He is just a great story teller.
Although the genre switch is not a big deal today, you should have heard the song and its reactions when it came out. Literally a high-powered earthquake in the music scene.