Bob Dylans Impact on History of Rock Music - Essay Example

History of Rock Music Even before rock ‘n’ roll came to be acknowledged as dance beats, it was used for blue songs to implicate lovemaking. By 1948,rock ‘n’ roll began to be used both for indicating the passion of lovemaking and dance beats like Good Rockin’ Tonight recorded by Roy Brown. It was in the year 1951 that Gunter Lee Carr recorded We’re Gonna Rock which excluded the element of passion and composed it mainly as dance beats. However it was not until 1953 that rock ‘n’ roll gained significant popularity in the music industry with Crazy Man Crazy recorded by Bill Haley (Gillett, 3). The technical aspect of rock music is not without social consequences. The intricacies of rock music are predominantly considered as genre for the male, and this has been reflected in the practice of rock music with the electric guitar in stage and studio. According to studies conducted by the music industry, even women who are adept at using computers and musical instruments are not skilled in using music software. Use of particular kinds of musical instruments in rock music has always been a subject of controversy. While on the one hand the instrument reflects a musician’s concept of self-expression, on the other hand it causes doubt in the minds of the listeners regarding the authenticity of music. However, since the origin of rock music, electric guitar has been inseparable part of this genre of music in terms of its sound and the loud body performances of rock performers (Frith et al., 13). Rock music is a popular genre of light music that has its origin in America in the 1950s. Today, rock music is known for its variations in styles, lyrics and soul. One of the most well-known figure in rock music is Bob Dylan who was born on May 24, 1941. He played a big role in popularizing rock music for more than five decades. In his long career, if there is one thing that has remained constant then that is change. Indeed, it is said that Bob Dylan gets into his car as one person and emerges from the car as another person. His life and style almost reflect the lyrics of his song “I’m not here, I’m gone”. It is the ability of Bob Dylan to maintain a constant change in his career is what makes him most adorable among his fans. When one visits his concert, it is likely that Bob will meet the expectations of the audience by playing fifteen songs and two or three encores, but there is also high possibility that the audience will be treated with one or two new songs (Yaffe, 18). Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited is Bob Dylan’s sixth album that he had recorded in his long career. This album which was released on August 30, 1965 by Columbia Records is considered as one of his most brilliant albums. An English poet, Philip Larkin who has a mixed feeling towards American music described Dylan’s voice in the album as “cawing, derisive”. It was in fact a compliment from the poet (Yaffe, 1). The album gained popularity immediately after its release and it achieved number three position in the United States chart and number four position in the United Kingdom. Moreover it was ranked as the fourth greatest album on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Prior to this album, Bob Dylan mostly used acoustic music for his songs. In Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan used rock music to back up all the nine songs of the album. In the initial days after the release of the album this concept of using rock musicians created new waves in the music industry which according to a BBC review when viewed now seems quite ludicrous since compared to any contemporary rock music of the day, the music used by Bob Dylan in his album was fairly innocuous (Smith, 2007). In this album, Dylan used “electric backing musicians” with the popular keyboard artist Al Kooper and also the renowned guitarist Mike Bloomfield, as his songs now “delved deeper into private musings and cryptic autobiographical vignettes” (Case, 31). Highway 61 Revisited is especially acclaimed for being a genius display of folk and rock music. The high creative talent of Bob Dylan is very much reflected in every song of this album which Dylan took several days to write and record. The two most popular songs of this album are “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Desolation Row”. It is literally hard to find any true admirer of rock music who has not listened to these songs. With this album, Bob Dylan has covered many different styles of rock music thereby embarking on new ground. The lyrics of the song “Like a Rolling Stone” explores the loneliness of man with nothing left in life to depend upon. The musical instruments that have been used for this song are tambourine, guitar and blues harmonica – the combination of these gave the song an upbeat tempo. This song is also considered as the most popular song of this album. The next song is “Tombstone Blues” and this song is an amalgamation of blues and folk guitar. The sound of the drum although apparently gives a rushing sensation, it however is very much within rhythm. The lyrics of the song does not carry any concrete meaning and talks about some random events. Then there is the song “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” which is accompanied by blues guitar and a fair amount of piano music. The lyrics of the song indicates that even if a man fails to be successful in his life then there is always the chance that “his baby will”. In this song, many people consider that Bob Dylan’s voice has not been at its best. However, Dylan’s superb talent lies in his voice modulation and his way of narrating the words of the song. The fourth song of the album is “From a Buick 6” which is created in the rock ‘n’ roll style of the 1950s era. This song is supported by a large number of drums and keyboards, and this is one of the main aspects of this song. This song is actually the shortest song of this album with a running time of 3 minutes and 19 seconds. Although this is quite a nice song, the lyrics is not much worthy of mention. In the next song of the album is “Ballad of a Thin Man”, Bob Dylan manages to crack his voice when singing the first verse thus giving the song a shade of opera style. The song is strongly supported by piano music, and the lyrics depicts confusion regarding the events that are going on; “Something is happening, but you dont know what it is. Do you Mr Jones?” Then there is another song in the album which is “Queen Jane Approximately” which is an adopted version of traditional folk sound accompanied by light pianos and fold guitar. According to the lyrics of this song, Dylan is asking some character named Queen Jane to come and meet him once she loses everything in her life. This also has a solo part with harmonica. In this song, his voice was quite good and seemed to be a perfect match for folk songs. Then there is the title song of the album “Highway 61 Revisited” which is supported by tambourines that have given this song a truly upbeat rhythm. The running time of this song is 3 minutes and 30 seconds making it the second shortest track in the album. The lyrics of the song has been confusing for some people while some may consider it profound. This song has used some clever metaphor along with some tongue-in-cheek type comments. The eighth song of the album is “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” and this song is an amalgamation of blues and folk song. The song is accompanied by piano and it is about providing hope to all those people who have got diverted from their way to their life’s goals and are unable to revert to their normal life. The final song of the album is another very popular song which is “Desolation Row”. This song is supported only by guitar music making it a totally folk song. The song is like manifestation of depression since the track provides an empty feeling with no semblance of emotions. Overall, Bob Dylan’s album Highway 61 Revisited is exceptionally brilliant with very intelligent lyrics although in some of the songs the lyrics seem to be confusing for the listeners. Majority of the songs of this album have running time that exceeds the time frame of 5 minutes thus indicating Dylan’s talent in writing very complete songs. The songs are a mixture of blues and folk songs while listeners can also find some flavor of rock music of the 1950s and 60s. Bob Dylan’s talent is very much evident in this album by the fact that he compiled the entire album in less than seven days. References Case, George. Out of Our Heads: Rock ‘n’ Roll Before the Drugs Wore Off, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2010 Frith, Simon, Straw, Will & Street, John. The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001 Gillett, Charlie. The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock & Roll, Souvenir Press, 2011 Smith, Sid “Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited Review”, BBC, retrieved on April 16, 2015 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/z2f9 Yaffe, David. Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown, Yale Univ. Press, 2011 Read More