Bob Dylan’s evolution as a singer and songwriter, as traced through the songs he performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, ’64 and ’65.
“North Country Blues”:
Dylan grew up in the iron range in northern Minnesota, and this tale of a poor mining family’s plight is among his most personal.
“With God on Our Side”:
Dylan openly questioned the Vietnam War and religious hypocrisy in this as-yet-unrecorded song, which he played at Newport in ‘63.
“Only a Pawn in Their Game”:
Dylan performed this eulogy for Medgar Evers at Newport only weeks after the civil-rights activist’s slaying in Mississippi on June 12, 1963.
“Blowin’ in the Wind”:
By the time it was performed at Newport in ’63, the song had already become a civil-rights anthem and established Dylan as a star in the making.
“Mr. Tambourine Man”:
The jingle-jangle-morning lyrics, unveiled at Newport in ’64, marked a new chapter in Dylan’s songwriting, owing as much to French surrealist poetry and LSD as they did to contemporary events.
“It Ain’t Me Babe”:
Dylan gently tells the faithful that “I’m not the one you want, babe, I’m not the one you need.” At Newport, it becomes a duet with Baez.
“Chimes of Freedom”:
Even in this ostensibly topical song, the singer’s lyrical imagination was leaping into the metaphorical and metaphysical.
“Love Minus Zero/No Limit”:
By ’65 Newport, even Dylan’s love songs were embracing a zen-like mysticism: “She knows there’s no success like failure, and that failure’s no success at all.”
“Maggie’s Farm”:
Mike Bloomfield’s jagged guitar and the charging rhythm section at Newport underpins this new burst of agitation.
“Like a Rolling Stone”:
How does it feel? Dylan’s phrasing says as much as the corrosive lyrics.
“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”:
“Don’t follow leaders,” Dylan warned on “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” This song offers a gentler but no less biting take on that sentiment.