Bob Dylan's first electrified performance

[newyawker99]

In honor of this anniversary what is your favorite Bob Dylan song?



On this day, folk legend Bob Dylan performs for the first time with electric instruments. His fans, who were used to hearing him play folk songs on an acoustic guitar, were so disappointed that they booed him off the stage.

Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman in 1941, formed his first band in high school in Minnesota, playing rock and roll. At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he became a devotee of wandering folk singer Woody Guthrie, emulating the singer's sound, politics, and roving lifestyle. In the late 1950s, Guthrie and other folk singers had inspired a folk revival among intellectuals who believed the simple-sounding music was a powerful vehicle for social change. Dylan moved to New York City in 1961, where he haunted Greenwich Village, writing ballads and political songs. By 1963, his song "Blowin' in the Wind" had been recorded by folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary and had become a hit. Dylan became a celebrity when he sang the song in 1963 in the March on Washington, the famous civil rights demonstration led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While driving around the country after the demonstration, Dylan first heard the Beatles and returned to his early interest in rock and roll. By 1964, he was writing rock and roll songs, and in the spring of that year he gave a series of rock concerts in England that were smashing successes. That year, he released Another Side of Bob Dylan, which included rock songs, and in May 1965 he released Bringing It All Back Home, which included electric guitars. The record was a hit in England but not in the United States. Later that year, he released his breakthrough rock and roll album in the United States, Like a Rolling Stone. However, he was still known primarily as a folk singer, and at the annual Newport Folk Festival, organizers expected him to continue his powerful solo folk performances.

On July 25, 1965, Dylan surprised the audience and organizers when he came onstage with musicians--including an electric bassist and electric guitarist--and launched into "Maggie's Farm." The crowd erupted in catcalls, calling him a sellout, and organizers like Pete Seeger fumed. After three songs, Dylan left the stage, later returning to sing two folk songs.

Undaunted, Dylan continued to reinvent himself as a rock musician and his defiant attitude and quest for artistic integrity influenced later rock bands. After a meeting with Dylan in August 1965, the Beatles left their early, innocent sound and began exploring more experimental styles.


http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/enter.html

[EOTE]

1. All Along the Watchtower.

Although I prefer the Hendrix version, it's just an awesome song.

[newyawker99]

3. I like the Hendrix version too.

:-)

[SCantiGOP]

5. so did Dylan

He said that he thought Hendrix's version was superior to his.

[mac56]

2. "Like A Rolling Stone"

Runner-up: "Stuck Inside Of Mobile (With Those Memphis Blues Again)".

[Qutzupalotl]

4. Visions of Johanna

Idiot wind
Tangled up in blue

so many...

[newyawker99]

6. I like Tangled Up in Blue too!

:-)

[ilpostino]

7. Ohmigod!!!!

As I'm reading through DU, I'm listening to the Masked and Anonymous soundtrack...unfrickin' believable--and for a Forza Italia guy like me (culturally, not politically) you cannot beat this, two of my favorites: Like a Rolling Stone (come una pietra scalciata) sung by Articolo 31 and Non dirle che non e cosi by Francesco de Gregori. You cannot be reading DU or watching Hardball if this thing is not in your collection.

[retread]

8. Couldn't pick just one. I have heard somewhere(may have been

Pete Seegar) that the booing was not because he was electric. It was because the sound system was so f'ed up. How could you boo Michael Bloomfield playing lead?

[KG]

9. i prefer hearing Dylan covered.

let's face it, he writes some awesome stuff, but listening to him sing can be a little painful sometimes.

'New Pony' is one of a song he does that i really dig tho.

[newyawker99]

10. LOL KG!!

His voice is an acquired taste! :-)

[amazona]

11. very difficult to pick a favorite

It depends on the mood. Just too many favorites to pick one!

I like voices that sound "real" for lack of a better word and while in effect his voice may actually be somewhat of a creation it just captures my imagination -- so different from so much of the over-produced stuff that is out there.

[mitchum]

12. "Highway 61 Revisited"

I love that whole spiteful amphetamine electric period of Dylan

[catpower2000]

13. The best part of that live recording...

when he plugged in was at one point, someone in the audience yelled "JUDAS!" and as Bob's beginning the next song, he is just GRITTING HIS TEETH, you can actually HEAR how pissed off he is. It's awesome! That's a great record.

Cat

[SweetZombieJesus]

15. "I don't believe you! You're a LIAR!"

And then Bob turns to the Hawks (who would one day become the Band) and says "Play fuckin LOUD." and tears into a knock down, drag out, evil shitkickin version of Like A Rolling Stone. Fuck those elitist folkies right in the ass. They didn't know how good they had it. That was at a show at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in England, and not the Newport Folk Festival, by the way.

By the way, did you know when Bob played at the Newport Folk Festival that year, Pete Seeger threatened to take out the soundboard with an axe if he didn't unplug? Unfuckin believable.

[mitchum]

16. I was hoping someone would mention Pete's hissy fit

Look, I love Seeger's politics, but he is a dictatorial purist. Also, The Weavers were...LAME (there, I said it)

[OneBlueSky]

18. yeah, he did throw hissy fits every so often . . .

I witnessed one in 1970 when, at the first Earth Day concert in DC, he blew up at the guy running the show when he was scheduled to follow the Chambers Brothers (he was doing a think piece, the "State of the Hudson Report", that required an attentive audience) . . . had the guy backed up against the fence before Toshi pulled him off . . . he's gotten a lot better about being a purist, but I also remember when he wouldn't even put a pickup on his acoustic guitar . . . still, a brilliant man, and an American treasure . . .

[VOX]

14. July 25, 1965 -- and what a band it was!

July 25, 1965 -- Newport Folk Festival
(Left to right)
-Mike Bloomfield (guitar) original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
-Sam Lay (drums) original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
-Jerome Arnold (bass) original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
-Al Kooper (organ) member of the Blues Project and one of the founders of Blood, Sweat and Tears
-- also --
-Barry Goldberg (organ) played with Charley Musselwhite's Southside Band

Dylan has always surrounded himself with the best musicians -- and his first electric outing was no exception!

[newyawker99]

17. That is a great pic!!

:D

[retread]

20. Great photo!

I have always been disappointed that Dylan chose to feature the organ so predominately on the albums. Bloomfield's lead cut like a knife!

[DemBones DemBones]

19. Favorite Bob Dylan song?

Um, why not ask something easy, like "What is the meaning of life?" ;-)

So many favorite Dylan songs. . .

"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"
"Just like a Woman"
"Idiot Wind"
"Visions of Johanna"
"Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"
"Tangled Up in Blue"
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
"Chimes of Freedom
"Baby, Let Me Follow You Down"
"It Ain't Me, Babe"
"Shelter from the Storm"
"All I really Want to Do"
"Blowin' In the Wind"
"Maggie's Farm"
"Lay, Lady, Lay"
"Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine"
"New Morning"
"Forever Young"
"Girl of the North Country"
"Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance"
"I Don't Believe You" ("It's easily done, You just pick anyone and pretend that you never have met."
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
"Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"
"Masters of War"
"Rainy Day Women"
"The Times They Are A'Changing"
"One of Us Must Know" ("Sooner or later, one of us must know")
"Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again"
"Like a Rolling Stone"

to name a few.