First Listen To Bob Dylan's Debut Album (part 1)

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  • Опубліковано 28 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 226

  • @georgecoventry8441
    @georgecoventry8441 11 місяців тому +1

    The way he holds the lone soft harmonica note at the start of each instrumental break in "Man of Constant Sorrow"....and holds it....and holds it...building tension...and then the full harmonica and guitar come crashing in and break that tension. Just beautiful! It's a technique Dylan often employs with both his voice and harmonica to build musical tension and expectation in a phrase and then release it. This was some fine playing for a 20 year old kid on his first professional recording session.

  • @lgpsan
    @lgpsan Рік тому +6

    On Man of Constant Sorrow, the long harmonica and vocal notes are meant to sound like the train whistle and the guitar mimics the clicks and clacks of the train track. Especially after he mentions the train. That’s the rhythmic style that you were referring to in that hobo train riding type folk song.

  • @UncleErnie71
    @UncleErnie71 Рік тому +60

    This album has a few strong points, but (his second album) Freewheelin' is where he really turned on the juice. Hope you enjoy this journey!
    edit: The fact that you're digging this album makes me so excited to see you tackle the rest from here. Freight Train Blues will give you a kick lol. Good stuff, bro!

    • @stevedahlberg8680
      @stevedahlberg8680 Рік тому +2

      💯 agree.

    • @MrHobo71
      @MrHobo71 Рік тому +5

      Freewheelin' is so good. This album is only a notch lesser, but still great.

    • @citizenghosttown
      @citizenghosttown Рік тому +2

      Agreed. Even on this album, you can tell that there is something special -- he stands out from the other folk artists of the era. But Freewheelin' is the album that takes it to another level. I especially look forward to the reaction to "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall".

    • @Trotskyification
      @Trotskyification Рік тому +2

      I haven't heard this album for years - great to hear it again. I usually only go back as far a Freewheelin' for my very early Dylan fix.

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому

      @@citizenghosttown
      I don't understand some people not including this album in their Dylan rabbit hole...some leave out Self-Portrait which I also happen to love.
      Bob is an awesome vocalist, his phrasing, inflections, the emotion he's able to convey.
      (what I don't like is the increased helium level in his later work, it's not always there which says he Does have vocal control)
      In the 4 years of being a fan I listened to Bob exclusively for the first 2.
      Spotify has a playlist *All Bob Dylan Albums* which includes Whitmark Demos
      Apologies for rambling.
      I have no one IRL that share my musical interests ✨🕯️✨

  • @ronreynolds1610
    @ronreynolds1610 Рік тому +9

    You are getting a great lesson on the ''roots'' of Rock n' Roll ... early Blues, folk, Country in raw forms crash together and make it happen ....

  • @lunadyana3330
    @lunadyana3330 Рік тому +25

    The Freewheeling Dylan is his first album of mostly originals and features his masterpiece “masters of war.” As for Woody Guthrie, he’s an absolute god, his guitar has the phrase “this machine kills fascists” on it and he sung for the IWW and supported all their strikes

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +3

      Don't think Twice, It's Alright" is a standout.

  • @helenespaulding7562
    @helenespaulding7562 Рік тому +14

    Wow…it’s been literally probably almost 60 years since I listened to this album, which I had in my collection. I remembered it as folk, but I had forgotten how much blues there was on it. It was fun to hear it again

  • @woodbelly48
    @woodbelly48 Рік тому +18

    The fountain pen line comes from Woody Guthrie, from his song about Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw;
    Yes, as through this world I've wandered
    I've seen lots of funny men
    Some will rob you with a six-gun
    And some with a fountain pen
    And as through your life you travel
    Yes, as through your life you roam
    You won't never see an outlaw
    Drive a family from their home

    • @Macdiz
      @Macdiz 3 місяці тому

      Thanks for making this comment. It led me into a search of Woody then into the Dillards then down a memory lane for a few hours then a friend of my own who plays music and then back here to thank you for making my his comment. I had no idea that one line could end up changing me and introducing me
      To so many different feelings. What a powerful experience.

  • @helenespaulding7562
    @helenespaulding7562 Рік тому +18

    Man of Constant Sorrow was covered by almost every folk singer in the 60’s. A real standard. Baez did a beautiful cover

    • @phillipharrison7283
      @phillipharrison7283 Рік тому

      Even Rod Stewart did a cover

    • @reggy_h
      @reggy_h Рік тому

      I like the George Clooney version as well.

    • @sirslice7531
      @sirslice7531 Рік тому

      But it wasn't written by Dylan. It was written around 1915.

    • @w.geoffreyspaulding6588
      @w.geoffreyspaulding6588 Рік тому

      @@sirslice7531 I never said it’s was written by Dylan, since it wasn’t. I said it was a “standard”, in other words, it had been around forever and its origins, as far as I know, are lost in time. You know who a wrote it? Personally, I thought it was a very old folk song that might have even been brought over from Britain by immigrants.

  • @shyjoshi7158
    @shyjoshi7158 Рік тому +8

    I think you would love Dylan's Poem "Last thoughts on Woody Guthrie". He narrates it so beautifully, and it's just as good as any of his songs. A great homage to his idol. Love the channel :)

  • @robertmarlow255
    @robertmarlow255 Рік тому +2

    As an accompaniment to your travels through early Dylan you might like to check out Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust" which gives her reflections on how she guided him at that time and which Dylan has acknowledged as a great song in which he's honoured to be the subject of.

  • @jerichothegrey
    @jerichothegrey Рік тому +10

    Can't wait for the other parts!! Loving the fact that you are getting so deep into Dylan. I see he has really gripped you, like he gripped me when I first heard him. Your interpretations of his lyrics really give me a point of view I've never thought of as well. Great stuff, man!

    • @thejoelrooganexplosion2400
      @thejoelrooganexplosion2400 Рік тому

      Dylan blew my little 15 yr old mind open. I love this deep dive series idea. I want more fo sure

  • @nathanwolfshohl8377
    @nathanwolfshohl8377 Рік тому +4

    i love that your doing this brother

  • @TrekBeatTK
    @TrekBeatTK Рік тому +8

    People really sleep on this album. Yes, his more major originals debut on the next album and yes he was reportedly holding back better songs for his live sets. But the vocals are great on here and the death themes are very strong, and the raw recording nature is charming! So glad you’re digging it.

  • @hongfang2348
    @hongfang2348 Рік тому +6

    I've listened to the next album many times. I own it. But I never purchased the first or even listened to it all. I'm enjoying this. I've been a fan of Dylan's for a long time but you are introducing me to this first album.

  • @hlawrencepowell
    @hlawrencepowell Рік тому +4

    Fountain pen line and forks and knives is a reference to the song Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie.

  • @dignity0327
    @dignity0327 Рік тому +4

    Another great Reaction Syed!! I don't know if you realize the public service you are doing by letting a new generation know about Dylan. So good that you are going way back to the beginning. He is so raw in this first album. He is trying so hard!! You can hear it in his voice. You can hear the mistakes along the way.... The guitar is out of tune...He over sings... he moves close to and away from the mic... His rhythm is his own... he slows down... speeds up, etc.... Amazing to think that that guy would eventually be probably the most influential musician and writer of the 20th century!!! But you can also start to see signs of his greatness... The way he made those songs he didn't write his own.... you start to see the greatness in his phrasing in the few songs he does write on the album. By the time he gets to his second album, he is not that young "boy" kid anymore.. He writes songs like "Blowing in the Wind" and "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall," in his second album at just a little over 20 years old!!!!!! Who can do that even to this day? His third album continues that trajectory to greatness with "The Times They are a Changin," and all those beautiful songs on that album.. I hope you can see why the folkies were so upset when he went electric. They thought he was going to write folk songs forever, but he had different ideas, and he blew the music world apart. He has evolved and changed and morphed so many times over his long career. What a lesson to us all that change and progress are key ingredients in living a more enriching and meaningful life. All my best you!!!

  • @markhodge7
    @markhodge7 Рік тому +7

    Talkin New York introduced us to one of Bob's iconic, sardonic, styles of writing. Juxtaposition of images that magically frames both images clearer then when left alone in a statement. I often wondered if he put deep thought into his lyrics, or if they just popped out of intuitive observations of the world around him. Only Bob knows, and he never told.

  • @stevewebster973
    @stevewebster973 Рік тому +6

    Last thoughts on Woody Guthrie is a great spoken poem that doesn’t feature on any of Dylan’s official albums

  • @savannah7020
    @savannah7020 Рік тому +4

    It’s crazy that he was just a kid making these songs.

  • @dyl-annfan6
    @dyl-annfan6 Рік тому +2

    I've been following Dylan since more or less the beginning, haven't listened to this album for a long time, thanks for reminding me of it, keep on keeping on with Dylan ...

  • @stevedahlberg8680
    @stevedahlberg8680 Рік тому +19

    I guess I forgot It In My Time of Dying was on his very first album. I mean Led Zeppelin notoriously killed the hell out of this as a cover, but I grew to love this raw version of it by Bob Dylan. This is just so intense to me. It's just so intense.

    • @matthewashman1406
      @matthewashman1406 Рік тому

      Zeppelin gave it life

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому +1

      @@vincentvancraig
      Seeing 'beauty' in music is subjective just like any type of art.
      I don't care for post modern art unlike others willing to pay small fortunes for some pieces.

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому +2

      @@vincentvancraig
      No need to apologise, really. You were sharing your honest opinion.
      Enjoy the rest of your
      day 🌻

    • @mattjohn4731
      @mattjohn4731 Рік тому +1

      Yeah! I'm versed in Dylan and this album ranks very high for me. Possibly top because his vocals are hard AF and also amusing on certain ones. And wrenching on others. Genius

    • @DogFish-NZ
      @DogFish-NZ Рік тому +2

      such a great cover.
      You know the greatest artist of all time when so many people can do amazing unique covers.
      this is one of my top 3 Dylan albums. this, time out of mind and oh mercy. not your usual top three I guess but so many choices.

  • @michele-33
    @michele-33 Рік тому +6

    I began listening to Dylan about 4 years ago. I love this album too.
    The dude definitely has great breath control !

  • @Lexwell_Lavers
    @Lexwell_Lavers Рік тому +4

    Great album. Great reaction. Bob's got fresh vocal chords and a young hunger.

  • @chrisp8579
    @chrisp8579 Рік тому +4

    Love seeing you react to authentic music, real gut wrenching emotion music.

  • @TrekBeatTK
    @TrekBeatTK Рік тому +5

    In a way, good folk music is like old school hip hop - simple rhythmic track and a vocal spitting rhymes over it.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      There's nothing simple about the guitar playing. And how many "Hip-Hop" over-rhyming prancing egos actually play instruments?

    • @DogFish-NZ
      @DogFish-NZ 7 місяців тому

      ​@@jnagarya519tbh , Dr Dre is a master of making three second loops
      😂

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 7 місяців тому

      @@DogFish-NZ There is no comparison between talking blues and so-called "Rap" which for unknown reasons -- perhaps image -- was renamed "Hip-Hop".
      The stark difference is that talking blues as produced by Woodie Guthrie, and by Dylan, were about social justice. "Rap" and "Hip-Hop" are all about greed and raking in the money.
      According to the "Bible," greed is one of the "seven deadly sins". And how many rival "Rap"/"Hip-Hop" gangsters have been murdered over out-of-control competition and greed?

  • @aaronhaupert3015
    @aaronhaupert3015 Рік тому +4

    Great job, keep it up... can't wait for more!

  • @zappafan3473
    @zappafan3473 Рік тому +14

    A guy called Guthrie! If you really have no context for Woody Guthrie's influence on Dylan's body of work, then search out Dylan's poem 'Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie' and you can thank me later.

    • @lgpsan
      @lgpsan Рік тому +5

      Yes this would be a great thing to listen to before the second album!
      Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie- a spoken word masterpiece.

    • @zenhaelcero8481
      @zenhaelcero8481 Рік тому +3

      I second the motion for Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie!

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      @@lgpsan Get over the idea that everything Dylan did was a "masterpiece".

    • @thomastimlin1724
      @thomastimlin1724 8 місяців тому

      @@jnagarya519 Yes. Dylan would be the first one to say that lol.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 7 місяців тому

      @@lgpsan It's a spoken word tribute that rambles. Not everything Dylan wrote is a masterpiece.

  • @helenespaulding7562
    @helenespaulding7562 Рік тому +6

    Oh wow…this is straight up folk music in the vein of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Coffee house music back in the day. I was in 9th grade when it came out. One of my classmates was singing in a coffeehouse and I was way into folk music. She was into Dylan so I bought the album. Holy Cow; talk about a shock. This was NOT radio music yet. I sure had to get used to his voice. I think I bought every album from his first one to Nashville Skyline in 1969. Then I drifted away until Blood on the Tracks in 1975. I would have suggested starting with his second album, which is when he caught on and was writing his own songs. I don’t know how much you’ll get out if this first one

  • @jbellinger99
    @jbellinger99 Рік тому +2

    This will be quite an exploration - it is appreciated/ Thank you!

  • @axelbaker8737
    @axelbaker8737 8 місяців тому +1

    Well American folk as a tradition of travel. Because America is so big and the railroads and what not, a lot of the lyrics are about traveling round the country and running away from problems n shit like that. And back in the 1800’s (when these songs originated) a lot of them where played by single players or a few players. Bob Dylan was kind of apart of that tradition when he basically hitch hiked from Minnesota to NYC as a teenager.

  • @bakomako7607
    @bakomako7607 Рік тому +3

    next to albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin are masterpieces from beginning to end

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      Gad, the blather. Not everything any artist does is a "masterpiece".

    • @bakomako7607
      @bakomako7607 Рік тому

      @@jnagarya519 i totally agree!!! I'm sorry, it seems that you didn't understand me, English is not my first language, of course not every song on the album is a masterpiece, but the whole album as a whole is a masterpiece, some people prefer the first one, some the second one as in my case, and some people think that the album is nonsensical blather. Bob Dylan's albums "The Freewheelin'" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" are considered masterpieces for several reasons. These albums, released in 1963 and 1964, respectively, were pivotal in Dylan's career and had a significant impact on the folk music movement and popular music as a whole, represent a crucial period in Bob Dylan's career and in the broader cultural landscape of the 1960s
      Both albums showcase Dylan's exceptional songwriting abilities. He was known for his poetic and introspective lyrics that addressed social and political issues of the time. The songs on these albums are filled with vivid imagery, thoughtful observations, and powerful storytelling, displaying Dylan's unique ability to capture the spirit of the era.
      Social and Political Relevance: "The Freewheelin'" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" were released during a period of immense social change and political turmoil in the United States. Dylan's songs spoke directly to the concerns and aspirations of the emerging counterculture movement, addressing civil rights, war, injustice, and the desire for societal transformation. The albums resonated deeply with listeners who were seeking a voice for their generation.
      Cultural Impact: "The Freewheelin'" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" were highly influential in shaping the folk music revival of the 1960s. Dylan's songs became anthems for the civil rights movement, anti-war protests, and other social movements. His music spoke to a generation of young people who sought meaning and change in the world, and his impact on popular culture cannot be overstated.
      Enduring Legacy: These albums have stood the test of time and continue to be celebrated as essential works in the history of popular music. The themes explored in Dylan's songs remain relevant today, and his songwriting has been lauded as timeless. Many of the songs from these albums have been covered by numerous artists over the years, further solidifying their status as classics. ;)

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      @@bakomako7607 Dylan had inconsequential impact on music outside the folk community until 1965 with "Like a Rolling Stone". That got him onto the pop charts -- which were scorned by the folk community.
      "Another Side," also 1964, was the beginning of him reaching beyond the folk community -- and Pete Seeger, more than anyone, was pissed because he believed the folk/protest community "owned" Dylan -- to the more personal lyric.

  • @glass2467
    @glass2467 Рік тому +6

    You'll here Zeppelin do In My Time of Dying when you get to the Physical Graffiti album, and they do it oh so well. Love this Dylan version.

  • @longtablebringelly
    @longtablebringelly Рік тому +1

    hip hop is the new folk music my friend! great to see you getting into it. and it only gets better from here! his first half a dozen or so albums are such magic

  • @Kelters
    @Kelters Рік тому

    It's great to get your first reactions to early Dylan. Takes me way back to my school days. We all bought this disc and drove ourselves crazy trying to get to the bottom of it. As school friends we all shared around the folk and blues LPs we had between us and so we knew basically where Dylan was coming from. What we didn't "get" just then was where he was headed to!! His amazing personal take on all the music that inspired him just glowed with genius. We were so lucky to have grown up along with him (and others you also know about).

  • @tahangrant
    @tahangrant Рік тому +3

    I'm really looking forward to your taking in Dylan through time/his phases and hearing his evolution fully!

  • @aaronfledge
    @aaronfledge Рік тому +1

    Wow, I didn't think you'd like this any more than Please Please Me. Great to listen through these tracks again myself and take this journey with you 😁

  • @loadedorygun
    @loadedorygun Рік тому +1

    Man of constant sorrow got a rebirth 30 years later in the Coen Brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou. Dan Tyminski and Union Station (featuring Alison Krauss) did the version and helped spark the Americana revival of the 90s.

  • @grunntalll
    @grunntalll Рік тому +1

    Dude this idea of going through The albums like this is fuxking beautiful. Thank you!

  • @David_6324
    @David_6324 Рік тому +1

    Nice 'first listen' reaction to the opening tracks to this album! His singing and instrument playing are all just so superb here.
    Also, what a unique and ultimate experience you have set up for yourself! I would give anything to be able to go back in time and give a ‘first listen’ to Bob Dylan’s albums in the order in which they were released. I’m a huge Dylan fan, and have (and listen to) every one of his albums, but I originally experienced them in a very different order than their release dates.
    You, however, are going to be able to experience what only older fans experienced. More specifically, those who latched onto Dylan’s creative genius early on, and then followed him chronologically through the decades as he kept releasing new material. (I suppose other fans may have endeavored to listen chronologically, with success, but I suspect that most fans that eventually got around to hearing all of Dylan's releases did so out of order!) With that in mind, be sure to relish every moment of your journey, and remember how fortunate you are to be able to do such a thing! (Maybe some of your subscribers will take this journey with you!)
    I know you’ve already reacted to some of Dylan’s songs which will be recognizable to you as you get to them within the context of their albums, but in comparison to Dylan’s vast catalog, what you’ve heard is nothing but a very small teaser. Think of it as being analogous to seeing the trailer to an epic movie that eventually goes on to clean house at every major award ceremony!
    Enjoy!!

  • @helenespaulding7562
    @helenespaulding7562 Рік тому +3

    I would have suggested starting with his second album, which is when he caught on and was writing his own songs. I don’t know how much you’ll get out of hearing his first one….although I did have it in my collection

  • @stevewebster973
    @stevewebster973 Рік тому +2

    Great old American folk songs ~ and if you want to explore, Joan Baez’ live performance of Babe I’m going to leave you brings that mythic chilling power that gets lost in Led Zeppelin’s version.
    Also look past Robert Johnson for the early blues ~ Skip James sitting on a wooden chair in front of a microphone on a wooden floor in the loft of a furniture warehouse c.1930 singing Illinois Blues, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues … Mississippi John Hurt… Big Joe Williams …

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      Ah -- Mississippi John Hurt! Sweet! "You must be stuck on the candyman's stick . . ."

    • @stevewebster973
      @stevewebster973 Рік тому

      @@jnagarya519 The rooster says cock a doodle doo, the Richland women say …

  • @tdgallagher218
    @tdgallagher218 Рік тому +1

    I believe the line 'people going down to the ground' in Talkin' New York is almost certainly in reference to the hoards of people going underground to access the subway.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      He was also writing at the time about fallout shelters.

  • @AbetoNightjar
    @AbetoNightjar Рік тому

    It's great that you've started this chronological journey through Bob Dylan's songs, I'm a huge Dylan fan and I love to see how you react to his songs. I'm sure we'll both enjoy this trip, you discovering his work and I listening to your opinions about it. Greetings from Europe Spain.

  • @reggy_h
    @reggy_h Рік тому

    You can hear a lot of his later stuff from these tracks, particularly "Man of Constant Sorrow". Those guitar and harmonica sequences pop up all over the place. I love his talking blues songs as well. World war 3, Bear mountain picnic to mention two. I mentioned elsewhere sort of tongue in cheek, the George Clooney version of Man of Constant Sorrow. It featured in the film "Oh Brother Where Art Thou". Brilliant film. I bought this album in the mid sixties. I didn't like it much but you've rekindled my interest. Thanks Syed.

  • @carlburnett5986
    @carlburnett5986 Рік тому

    I really envy you Syed! You totally get Dylan and have all of his albums to explore from scratch. Something I did many years ago. The excitement of discovering classics on each album is a going to be an amazing journey. My favourite sixties albums of Dylan are Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde On Blonde and John Wesley Harding.

  • @loadedorygun
    @loadedorygun Рік тому +1

    I’d call this Roots and Foundations of Dylan. You get to see where his muse comes from, who his heroes are, and are exposed to the folk tradition of passing along songs that have been sung and rewritten 100 times through the passage of time and different interpretations. It doesn’t tell you a whole lot about his own lyrical prowess or his revolutionary electrification of folk, or his veer into country/Americana after his motorcycle accident-but it makes all that make more sense in context.

  • @petermachare5711
    @petermachare5711 Рік тому +3

    Wow! My favorite Dylan album. I don't know of anyone else who has reacted to this. Freight Train Blues one of his best vocals.

  • @debrabeck9630
    @debrabeck9630 Рік тому

    I probably haven’t heard this album since I was 12 or so. I’m really enjoying this, thank you. BTW, I think in Talking New York, he’s comparing the skyscrapers to people going underground to the subways. That was my thought, though it might be a metaphor. Great stuff!

  • @peterginger
    @peterginger Рік тому

    Nice that your starting from the beginning so you can see how he progresses.

  • @billcunningham1121
    @billcunningham1121 Рік тому +1

    Great reaction. I love this album. Here's a couple of factoids to provide some context. At the time of this recording, the music business was pushing the Folk Music Revival. This a group of pop singers who like the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary who would take old folk songs and file the edges off of it for popular consumption. So when Bob says he was rejected for being a hillbilly, he was actually being rejected for being an authentic folk singer.
    Also, Bob made up stories about travelling out west before going east to New York. So when he said he was leaving to go out west, to East Orange, New Jersey, he is making fun of his origin myth.

  • @GreggOliverBass
    @GreggOliverBass Рік тому +2

    I think this album outstanding. Remember how young he was, and sounds like he'd been at it for 100 years. His voice is completely different than it was later, as is his guitar playing. And as far as loving folk music, early Dylan is the cream... Listening to pete seeger, peter paul, and mary or any of his contemporaries doesn't hit the same way

  • @rogeebundy6002
    @rogeebundy6002 Рік тому

    This is bobs debut
    What a great place to start
    Follow him through his catalog
    You will see why he's the best songwriter period

  • @Gravel-Idle
    @Gravel-Idle Рік тому

    A great review, I've loved this album for decades and yes it is a pre-cursor to the great things to come and shows his humour very well in the funny lines and ability to laugh at himself

  • @theguiltyundertaker
    @theguiltyundertaker Рік тому

    You're on a wonderful journey with Bob. I've been listening and analysing since my dad took me to see him live in 1990. You can listen to his albums over and over, and you'll always hear them in new ways and with new theories behind them. He's one helluva trip.

  • @MartinFGayford
    @MartinFGayford Рік тому

    Great idea to start with the first album. What I've found with Bob is some albums come back years after the bigger ones have taken over. I had this one early on and was very fond of it - In My Time Of Dyin' and Baby Let Me Follow You Down especially. It's a really nice listen and amazing looking at what came one year later, let alone two or more years later. I think Leonard Cohen said that with any Dylan album, there's always something beautiful or powerful and he's right; even on the 80s albums that you may be warned against listening to, there are beautiful things. But listening to the first few albums in order is really a good way to see the development from this in 1962 to John Wesley Harding in 1968, which I would argue is the most staggering in 'pop' music.

  • @stevewest4994
    @stevewest4994 Рік тому +1

    The talking blues is very much based on the style of Woody Guthrie. Particularly a song called something like Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues. Some of the phrasing is very similar, along with the adoption of a rural style of speech and mispronunciation of 'city' words. In WG's original: "I swapped my farm for a Ford machine, and poured it full of this gas-eye-leen, and we started. Rockin' and a rolling' over those mountains, out towards the old peach bowl". [From memory, so may not be absolutely correct]. Woody Guthrie also wrote "Pretty Boy Floyd" about the outlaw. It contains the lines "As through this world I've travelled, I've seen lots of funny men; some will rob you with six gun, and some with a fountain pen. As through this world I've wandered, as through this world I've roamed, I've never seen an outlaw drive a family from their home." [Again from memory, so...] The line about the fountain pen is quoted in the Dylan song.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      "some will rob you with six gun, and some with a fountain pen."
      That and its variations came to apply to the music business, especially the rock and roll era of the 1950s.
      And, ironically, Dylan's first manager Albert Grossman ripped Dylan off, though it took a long time for Dylan to find out.

  • @Kerry_62
    @Kerry_62 Рік тому

    Thanks!

    • @SyedRewinds
      @SyedRewinds  8 місяців тому

      thanks for the support Kerry!

  • @peterliljeholmen5703
    @peterliljeholmen5703 Рік тому

    Love your digging of Dylan relics! Think definitely you should also check out later storytellers such as Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen that you will surely appreciate…

  • @Cynder757
    @Cynder757 Рік тому +4

    I feel like a lot of the vocals he uses in this album are kinda never seen again, honestly
    Wait 'til you see how hard he goes on House of the Risin' Sun hehe

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      Dave Van Ronk never got over Dylan stealing his arrangement.

    • @Cynder757
      @Cynder757 Рік тому

      @@jnagarya519 Can't blame him..but hey, at least he got the joy of seeing people accuse Dylan of stealing the song from the Animals

  • @michele-33
    @michele-33 Рік тому

    Would have been cool to start this a few days earlier on Bob's B-day, May 24th.
    Really good analysis and reaction. It's rare to see anyone research bands and songs beforehand.
    .. very appreciated 👊👏

  • @inexplicablyleft2729
    @inexplicablyleft2729 Рік тому +1

    Listening to all of the Dylan that one should can take a long time. If you need to take a break but still want some folk music, listen to Malvina Reynolds singing her song Little Boxes. She was elderly at the time she wrote and recorded it, so her voice and the lyrics make it start out sounding like a children's song. I listened to it a lot as a child, and I've never had a good relationship with the establishment/authority since.

  • @bobmessier5215
    @bobmessier5215 Рік тому

    I hope you get a chance to hear Dylan's three "Bootleg" albums which was originally recorded during these early days, but released ten or 20 years ago. Amazing tunes that should've been released when recorded.

  • @robertdunn5363
    @robertdunn5363 Рік тому +1

    Folk songs had something to say (as Hip Hop has something to say), have a listen to what hooked Dylan, Woody Guthrie...raw. From Woody's "Pretty Boy Floyd": 'Yes, as through this world I've rambled I've seen lots of funny men. Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen.'

  • @tilda.newman
    @tilda.newman Рік тому

    Thank you for this 🙏🏼

  • @alberto-os1bx
    @alberto-os1bx Місяць тому

    He was 19 or 20 when he wrote some of these songs. That's really...amazing!

  • @eirikrdberg1161
    @eirikrdberg1161 Рік тому

    I hope you do his 1978 album ‘Street legal’ at some point, but that would be down the road some time if ever. Appreciate all your Dylan reactions and many from other artists as well.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      Good review of "Street Legal" held that he should have done a tour on those songs before recording them.

  • @rogeebundy6002
    @rogeebundy6002 Рік тому

    I'm so glad you are reacting to this please do his next several albums backt to back and track by track
    My favorite on this album is highway 51

  • @lunadyana3330
    @lunadyana3330 Рік тому +4

    Dying isn’t country, it’s the Delta Blues. In every way

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      Well, "Country"(acoustic rural) Blues.

  • @shemanic1
    @shemanic1 Рік тому

    Dylan's talking blues were a big part of why I started listening to his music. "Talking World War 3 \blues" is a good case in point. I am no folk purist though & love Dylan's electric albums too.

  • @stevedahlberg8680
    @stevedahlberg8680 Рік тому +2

    I actually think the Lil Wayne Bob Dylan comparison is a very interesting concept for sure.

  • @boosingh
    @boosingh Рік тому

    "rob you with a fountain pen" is from Woody Guthrie"s song Pretty Boy Floyd. East Orange is where Dylan used to crash at the home of his friends the Gleasons. Only 21 years old and he already sounds timeless.

  • @jnagarya519
    @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

    "Some people rob you with a fountain pen" -- it's an old, old concept, expressed in various ways.

  • @rogeebundy6002
    @rogeebundy6002 Рік тому

    This is the best place to start with Bob
    Some dislike this album but I listen to it a lot. Raw blues just Bob the guitar and the harmonica.

  • @JoyDogs
    @JoyDogs Рік тому +1

    Not Dylan, just his ghosts wearing an old coat from the Village with a picture of Woody in his pocket. The light turns on, very brightly, with Freewheeling continues thru Another Side, the twins Bringing it All back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesely Harding, New Morning, (yes, I skipped Self Portrait)and then the 70's start it all over again.
    Thanks for your explorations and interpretations. Please keep on keppin' on.

  • @stephenmier7277
    @stephenmier7277 Рік тому

    I’ve always said this album is his best vocal performance and I’m glad I’m not the only one.

  • @whimsofmim
    @whimsofmim Рік тому

    This was Dylan aping Guthrie and other folk/blues masters. I've always thought of it like a young Bob Dylan's "works cited"... kinda giving a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The big controversy of this album was Dylan used Dave Van Ronk's arrangement/version of "House of the Rising Sun" without attribution, but karmic payback came back for him when The Animals covered the the song and made it theirs a few years later. That cover (and the success of the Beatles) was hugely instrumental in Dylan realizing he could take his music into a different direction (i.e., electric).
    I would say this album is a great glimpse at where the very young artist came from, was, and was heading. He musicianship is particularly noticeable on the first few albums. He was still so unknown and the album wasn't a huge commercial success that this very much had the feel of a one off, but Dylan managed to explode onto the NY folk scene after this released and then Freewheelin' (with some of his standards like Blowin' in the Wind) vaulted him to the top of the folk scene.
    P.S. He has sometimes performed "Song to Woody" later in his career and it's incredible to hear an older, wiser, more world-weary Dylan deliver those lines. Only available on bootlegs of his live shows though AFAIK. Rarely played, but it's a treat to listen to what was probably his first serious song. He suppoedly used to visit an infirmed Woody Guthrie at Brooklyn State Hospital and sing it, and other folk standards, to Woody. There's a wonderful poem he wrote about his admiration for Guthrie that appears on one of the bootleg series albums (official release). "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie"

  • @dylanthompson8511
    @dylanthompson8511 Рік тому

    Another commenter said it but im adding my voice. You really should listen to "Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie". Its one of his few actual poems, and he reads it outloud on stage, its incredible. Just cause you seem to appreciate Dylan moreso for his words.

  • @jvblhc
    @jvblhc Рік тому

    Some random things by me: I haven't listened to this album in ages! But I love "Song to Woody". When I was a teen, I used to go to Greenwich Village in Ney York City. Bought tons of bootleg albums, many of them Bob Dylan. Also, Bob was probably 19 or 20 at this point, yet his voice often sounds like an old blues player.

  • @micheleulysse
    @micheleulysse Рік тому

    the bluesman you refer to, when you mention a song dedicated to him is not Blind Willie Johnson, he is Blind Willie McTell

  • @mejbarron
    @mejbarron Рік тому +1

    Syed, after listen to your reaction, I feel forced to send you this amazing blues/story song.
    Son House "Death Letter Blues"

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      He is doing DYLAN. Stop with the unnecessary distractions.
      He can along the way watch "Festival" and other videos that are relevant AS relevant.

  • @thundernels
    @thundernels Рік тому +1

    This is as close to a traditional folk revival album. He grew out of this soon.

  • @jameshuston9589
    @jameshuston9589 Рік тому

    Also, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" the movie starring Kris Kristofferson and Dylan did the soundtrack. Excellent.

  • @jameshuston9589
    @jameshuston9589 Рік тому

    "Blood on the Tracks" by Bob Dylan. Excellent.

  • @jnagarya519
    @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

    "East Orange" is in New Jersey. He visited Woody Guthrie in hospital in New Jersey.

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому

      I'm pretty sure he meant Orange County California,
      the Western skies...
      He did spend a lot of time with visiting the hospitalized Woodie Guthrie

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      @@michele-33 East Orange" is in New Jersey. Woody Guthrie was in a hospital in New Jersey.

    • @lgpsan
      @lgpsan Рік тому +2

      @@michele-33nope. It’s a dead pan joke that he’s leaving New York and just going across the river to East Orange NJ- less than an hour West

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому

      @@jnagarya519
      Thanks. You're right. He didn't go to CA until sometime after.
      I appreciate channels like this..I have no one IRL that shares my musical interests.. 🌻

    • @michele-33
      @michele-33 Рік тому

      @@lgpsan
      Yes. Greystone was a psychiatric hospital.
      I've always wondered why he was a patient there since he had Huntington's Disease.
      Ppl suffering from the disorder have cognitive issues making them appear 'crazy' even tho it's not a mental health issue.
      ps: In an interview Bob said it broke his heart to see Woody in that type of hospital for 'having the shakes'...a symptom of Huntington's 💔

  • @BlueSky...
    @BlueSky... Рік тому +1

    This was a stylistic dead-end for Bob singing wise in terms of the aggressive vocals.

  • @cazgerald9471
    @cazgerald9471 Рік тому

    "In My Time of Dying" - remember this when you react to Led Zeppelin's version. Zep initially took full songwriting credit, not unusual for them.

  • @michaeldezego340
    @michaeldezego340 Рік тому +1

    In Talkin New York, going down to the ground means going into the subway (trains)

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому +1

      He was also writing about fallout shelters at the time.

  • @stevecallais1713
    @stevecallais1713 Рік тому

    yes thought that years ago - glad you saw the connection, Bob Dylan was proto hip hop. rhymes, delivery, flow etc. do really like this album - fresh, he was so young when he did this. Also folk was the street music of its day - of the disengranchised.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      oh, please. Dylan was not "Hip-Hop" in any way. His rhymes flow naturally out of his lines; they properly don't call attention to themselves. "Hip-Hop" is over-rhymed illiteracy.

  • @paranoidplane9799
    @paranoidplane9799 Рік тому

    You should have started with his first rock album,Bringing it all back home mate.

  • @mandandanmandamayor3511
    @mandandanmandamayor3511 Рік тому

    Being from Minnesota, record cold in New York is just another day in the park.

  • @bushyprout
    @bushyprout Рік тому

    This album influenced my entire life.

  • @briankuczynski4375
    @briankuczynski4375 Рік тому +3

    Need Dylan's Highway 61, and try out some Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's son. His songs are great, and his stories are funny brilliant.

  • @michaelgilman4068
    @michaelgilman4068 7 місяців тому

    He meant the Subway when he said going down into the ground.

  • @scott3744
    @scott3744 11 місяців тому

    Folk music is amazing... all anyone needs to do is give it a try 👍🙂

  • @bakomako7607
    @bakomako7607 Рік тому +1

    Bob Dylan - Pretty Saro (Unreleased from "Self Portrait" ) if you wanna hear greates Dylan Voice out of this world

  • @alanbrown8527
    @alanbrown8527 Рік тому

    Another piece of history surrounding this album. Record sales was so poor that Columbia was considering cancelling his contract until one of their country stars from Nashville intervened and threatened to walk out on his own contract if they did that. That fan, soon to become a fast friend, was Johnny Cash.

  • @thejoelrooganexplosion2400
    @thejoelrooganexplosion2400 Рік тому

    Dude I would love this series going deep asf into Dylan. I'm skint at the moment but when I have money, I'll send you 20 for a drink. Fuck yes to A Deep Dylan Dive

  • @DrStrangelove3891
    @DrStrangelove3891 Рік тому

    Woody Guthrie wrote This Land Is Your Land. Maybe you should react to that. Woody Guthrie also had a guitar on which he had written 'This machine kills fascists'. Interesting guy, you should check him out. His son Arlo Guthrie is quite good as well

  • @terrenceplunkett
    @terrenceplunkett 7 місяців тому

    Great analysis. Listen to “Union sundown”

  • @matthewzuckerman6267
    @matthewzuckerman6267 Рік тому

    "putting two opposites next to each other" John Barton, the Shakespearian director, said that this was fundamental to Shakespeare's writing technique.

    • @jnagarya519
      @jnagarya519 Рік тому

      It's a common "technique" -- not actually noteworthy except for beginners to rhetoric.