The Life and Times of Bob Dylan

“Don’t know how it all got

started….”
 Born: Robert
Zimmerman
 May 24, 1941
 Duluth, Minnesota
 Moves to Hibbing, at
age 6
Video Clips:
Rock Around the Clock;
Ozzie & Harriet;
History of Rock, Vol 4.
 Timeline
RZ turns 10
Zimmerman RZ
– starts
family moves
playing graduates –
to Hibbing, MN registers for
piano
college
1945 1950 1955 1959

Kennan’s Sputnik U-2

“Long Incident
Telegram” The
Berlin Russian H bomb
USSR negates Airlift
Yalta and N. Korea
Potsdam attacks
agreements. McCarthy
Cold War begins. arises
“Talking New York City
Blues…”

 Leaves for college

 In St. Paul
/Minneapolis 1959
 Plays clubs in
Dinkytown
 Drops out
 Hitchhikes to NYC,
December, 1960
 Music in 1961

• Running Bear • Chain Gang

• Teen Angel • Save the Last
• Cathy’s Clown Dance for Me

• Ally Oop • Stay

• Polkadot Bikini • Shop Around

 “Don’t know how it all got
started….”
 Meets Woody
Guthrie
 Plays coffeehouses
 At the same time as
Roger McGuinn,
Dave Von Ronk,
Tiny Tim….
Woody Guthrie
 “Don’t know how it all got
started….”
 A review gets him
noticed. John
Hammond signs
Dylan for an album
of folk songs –
Bob Dylan

Sold all of
5000 copies
originally
 News topics - 1961
• Peace Corps
• Bay of Pigs
• Birth Control • Freedom Riders
• Soviets Orbit attacked
Earth • Berlin Wall Built
• TV a “vast • First military
wasteland” troops sent to
Viet Nam
 Music in 1962
• The Twist • Breaking Up is
Hard to Do
• Duke of Earl
• Locomotion!
• Hey Baby!
• Shelia
• Johnny Angel
• Sherry
• I Can’t Stop
• Puff the Magic
Loving You
Dragon
Times (They are a-changing!)

Kennedy October 15:

U-2 shot defeats Space Race
down over Nixon The Cuban
begins
Russia Missile
Crisis
1960 1961 1962 1963

Dylan hits August:

NYC Confrontation
in Berlin;
the Wall “13 days in
which the world
April: Bay of held its breath.”
Pigs ‘Invasion’
Pres. Kennedy
Dec: Authorizes
Assassinated
16,000 for Saigon
 Quoting Bob…

“The news was all bad. It made me nervous. I

liked old news. 24 hours news would have
been hell.”
---Chronicles, Vol. 1
 Voice of a generation, 1962 -
1969

 Bob Dylan 2/1962

 The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan 5/1963
 The Times They Are A-Changin‘ 1/1964
 Another Side Of Bob Dylan 8/1964
 Bringing It All Back Home 3/1965
 Highway 61 Revisited 8/1965
 Blonde On Blonde 5/1966
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Video:
Blowin’ in
the Wind
The Times They Are A
Changin’
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home

Video:
Subterranean
Homesick
Blues
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on
Blonde
 News Flash!
 Bob Dylan is “seriously injured” in a motorcycle
accident, July 26, 1966

– another James Dean?

 No news at all…
Recuperates in Woodstock, NY with new wife,
kids, new friends – turns reclusive

But the new friends are Robbie Robertson and

Levon Helm. The results?
Some of the most traded bootlegs ever….
 Rebirth 1968 - 1970

 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits released,

3/1967
 John Wesley Harding 1/1968
 Nashville Skyline 4/1969
 Self-Portrait 6/1970
 New Morning 11/1970
Video: (w/ Johnny Cash)
North Country Girl
 “Advice from Bob…”
"stay in line. stay in line. people are afraid of someone
who is not in step with them. it makes them look
foolish t' themselves for being in step. it might even
cross their mind that they themselves are in the
wrong step.

Revenge will set in. they will start thinking about how t'
get rid of you."
---Advice for Geraldine on Her Miscellaneous
Birthday
 Timeline

1960: NYC
1962: 1st Album
1963: Attends first Civil
Rights meeting; meets Baez
in Monterey; and sweeps
the world
1964: Meets the Beatles
1965: Breaks with folkies;
marries Sara Lowndes
1966: Injury, rejuvenation
 Missing in Action, 1970 - 1973

 Dylan, 1973
 Pat Garrett and Billy
the Kid, 1973

Still, no major album

from Dylan since
New Morning, 4
years before….
 Spotted!

 “I’d like to introduce a friend to us all … Mr.

Bob Dylan.”

The Concert for Bangladesh, 8/1/1971

(Movie released 1972)

Video Clips:
(from the concert)
Timeline

1967: Begins ‘country’ era

1973: Films Pat Garret and
Billy the Kid
1975: Blood on the Tracks,
The Basement Tapes both
open to acclaim. Rolling
Thunder tour! (clip)
1976: Desire is released
and remains number 1 on
the charts for 35 weeks.
1977: Divorce granted.
 Timeline

1980: Grammy for “Gotta

Serve Somebody”
1981: Shot of Love final
gospel album
1985: New album, plays
Farm Aid with Petty, and
Biograph scores
1986: Petty and the
Heartbreakers backing band
for new tour
Timeline

1988: The Traveling

Wilburys: Volume One, the
result of a collaboration of
Dylan, George Harrison,
Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and
Roy Orbison is released.
Best Dylan work in years.
 Timeline

1989: Oh Mercy is a great

album. Undercut by the fact
Dylan and the Dead is not.
Dylan begins relentless
touring schedule.
1991: Columbia releases
The Bootleg Series 1-3 to
fan raves; also Lifetime
Achievement award at the
Grammys.
Timeline
1992: 30th Anniversary
Concert knocks ‘em dead
in Madison Square Garden
1993: Performs at Clinton
Inaugural
1994: MTV Unplugged a
big hit.
 Timeline

1997: Nominated for, but

does not win, Nobel Prize
in Literature;
• hospitalized with a
potentially serious heart
infection;
• recovers, performs before
the Pope in November, and
accepts a Kennedy Center
award
 Timeline

1998: Time Out of Mind

wins new generation of
listeners for Dylan
1998: Again nominated for
Nobel Prize in Literature,
and again, does not get it.
1999: Again, no go on
Nobel Prize
Timeline
2000: Golden Globe award,
and Oscar, for “Times Have
Changed” from the Wonder
Boys movie. Performs via
satellite from down under!
 Timeline

2001: Love and Theft

debuts… on September 11.
2000-2005: Bootleg Series
continues. Live 1966, Live
1964, and Live 1975 have
appeared since.
2005: No Direction Home,
Chronicles, Vol. 1
2006: Modern Times huge
hit. And the Never Ending
Tour continues.
 “No, no, no, it ain’t me,
babe…”
 Folkie – 1961 -1965
 Electric – 1965 - 1968
 Country – 1969 - 1971
 Torch singer / Rolling Thunder – 1972 - 1978
 Senior Statesman – 1979 - 1989
 Lost Soul / Side Man – 1990 - 1996
 River Boat Gambler / Never Ending Tour –
1997 - 2007
 Dylan on Idols…
Woody Guthrie was my last idol
He was the last idol
Because he was the first idol
I'd ever met
That taught me
Face t' face
That men are men
Shattering even himself
As an idol
An' that men have reasons for what they do
An' what they say
 Dylan on Idols…
Woody never made me fear
And he didn't trample any hopes
For he just carried the book of Man
An' gave it t' me t' read for awhile
An' from it I learned my greatest lesson
You ask "how does it feel to be an idol?”
It'd be silly of me t' answer, wouldn't it . .?

--- 11 Outlined Epitaphs

 Dylan on the Sixties…
The Sixties, it’s like the Civil War days. But, I mean,
you’re talking to a person who owns the Sixties. Did I
ever want to acquire them? No. But I own the Sixties –
who’s going to argue with me?

I’ll give’em to you if you want’em. You can have’em”

--- Rolling Stone interview, 2006

 “May your song always be
sung…”

 Dylan turned 65 in 2006

 He has published over 40 albums
 Created the boxed set market with the release
of Biograph in 1986
 Has influenced countless musicians
 And has had hit records in 5 decades.
 “May your song always be
sung…”

And, as of 2006:

5,000 different cover

versions of songs by Bob Dylan.
 “May your song always be
sung…”

As someone once said,

“Time will tell

who has fell
And who’s been left behind…”
 “May your song always be
sung…”

Questions:

Hype or Real Thing:

Was Dylan important?
 “May your song always be
sung…”

Questions:

And – is Dylan still important?

Why?