BY AMIRY FAHMI
Robert Allen Zimmerman, or famously
known as Bob Dylan, is one the most profound singer-songwriters ever to have
graced our musical history. His brash and powerful lyrics driven of politics,
philosophy, social and literary influences, have captured us all in awe. Although
his songs were written way back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, yet these songs are
still lingering around our mind and has had overpowering memories for us to
share.
His second album, which I was able
to fully experience last night, entitled ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ was truly a remarkable listening
experience.
Written in 1962 and released in 1963
by Columbia Records, Dylan’s second album consisted of 13 songs – 12 were
acoustic and harmonica sessions and 1 (Corina, Corina) was a full band ensemble. Whereas his self-titled debut album, Bob
Dylan, had only contained two
original songs, Freewheelin’ represented
the beginning of Bob Dylan’s song writing brilliance – eleven out of the
thirteen songs on the album are Dylan’s original compositions.
The album starts off with one of the
most important and moving song of all, ‘Blowin’ In the Wind’. In this song, we listen to Dylan
asking rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. Dylan depicts the
song as a sad anthem of desperation for freedom in humanity. He poses a list of
hypothetical questions that are questions people may say but cannot be
answered. Dylan does not claim to know the answers, but beautifully sing in the
chorus that the answers are out there, ‘blowing
in the wind’.
Other politically driven songs that
gained heavy attention is ‘Masters of War’. With its rugged
acoustic rhythm guitar in the background, Dylan’s voice and lyrics is truly
powerful and superficial. Masters of War is
not only a protest towards the Vietnam War, but towards war in general. It demonstrates the
real nature of war – the ‘masters’
who initiate and orchestrate the wars are safe in their homes, while normal
(and usually young) people are forced to go out to fight and fear for their
lives. The song also talks about how these ‘masters
of cowards’ think that by having an enormous amount of power, they can
outweigh death and can buy forgiveness with money. Is your money that good / Will it buy you forgiveness / I think you
will find / When your death takes its toll / All the money you made / Will
never buy back your soul.
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| Bob Dylan |
As the album mainly
consists of political compositions such as ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ which Dylan articulates the anxieties
of nuclear warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis; ‘Oxford Town’ a song
about the first black-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi; ‘Talkin’
World War III Blues’ where Dylan writes about his dream of World War III and his visit to
the psychiatrist; and ‘Down the Highway’ where Dylan sings religiously about his fear of not
being able to land a position in the gardens of heaven, we can also dive into
Dylan’s love life and social experiences.
For example, ‘Girl from the North Country’ is
a song that Dylan sadly sings about his former lover, Echo Helstrom who was
Dylan’s high school sweetheart. Dylan’s lovely, sad and husky voice blends in
exquisitely with the soft guitar plucking in the background and daunting
harmonica playing in between. If you’re travelin’ to the North
Country fair / Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline / Remember me to one
who lives there / She was once a true love of mine.
Apart from that, ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’ is a
song that I was immensely connected to. Drifting away from the love and
political compositions he had written, this particular song sets apart from the
rest. It is a sad depiction of the separation of friendship we all go through.
The depressing thought of not having the opportunity to relive those moments
with the ones we love, and how we long to reunite with the ones we had spent happier
times with.
In
conclusion, ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’
is one powerful, sentimental and musically simple album. It did not require
such complicated musical concepts – although blues arrangements such as 12-bar blues was constructed in ’Down
the Highway’, and folk-blues chord arrangements can be heard in
numerous songs in the album.
One
thing to remember, was that Bob Dylan was only 21 years old when this album
came out. For someone at that age to blatantly and bravely come out and sing
tunes that invoke freedom, peace and love is something to respect for at a higher
degree.
His
music might not be one’s cup of tea, yet his words will definitely move you one
way or another. Like the African-American jazz producer who produced this album, Tom Wilson recalled: "I didn't even particularly like folk
music. I'd been recording Sun Ra and Coltrane (Jazz musicians) and I thought folk music was
for the dumb guys. [Dylan] played like the dumb guys, but then these words came
out. I was flabbergasted."
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