Bob Dylan is a brilliant songwriter, who has been active since the early 1960s. Themes of Bob Dylan’s music have evolved over time as his own life and cultural ideals changed. Bob Dylan can be best described as an American poet. Bob Dylan wrote folk songs about any topic that was affecting America at the time. Themes of Bob Dylan’s music includes political messages.
Bob Dylan often uses metaphors to get his message across, such as in his song Hurricane – “Oh it must be time for another war / rumors of wars / must be hard times coming…” Bob Dylan wrote this during the Vietnam War, which he used as a metaphor for racial conflict within America at the time (Cott 71). Bob Dylan has also written about America’s involvement in wars such as the Gulf War and Afghanistan. Bob Dylan wrote ‘Masters of War,’ an anti-war song, criticizing those who participate in war (Cott 71).
Bob Dylan used the same metaphor as that of Hurricane but with different lyrics, “How much do I know / to talk out of turn / you might say that I’m young…” Bob Dylan is making a reference to how people his age should be exempt from knowing anything about politics because they are not old enough (Cott 116). Bob Dylan’s songs were often politically charged and inspired other artists like Neil Young, Elton John and Phil Ochs.
Bob Dylan was versatile enough to write ballads where he tells a story but used different techniques to get his point across. Bob Dylan’s song ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ is about a violent death of a black woman by an aristocrat at a bar (Cott 53). Bob Dylan wrote this song as a first-hand account from the murderer, using the first person point of view (Cott 56). Bob Dylan’s music was able to reach people on many levels and gain their attention by being relatable and inspirational for other artists.
Bob Dylan also sings about love as well as heartbreak in his songs. Bob Dylan uses metaphors such as “As I went out this morning / Over my shoulder I threw / A pebble at her windowpane” Bob Dylan is referring to love and how he wants nothing more than to reconcile with his lover (Cott 155). Bob Dylan’s songs often have a greater meaning that goes beyond the lyrics. Bob Dylan wrote about different themes throughout his life but one thing remains constant, Bob Dylan’s poetry which was inspired by American blues music.
Bob Dylan did not only write poetry, Bob Dylan also created a unique sound through his music in order to get people thinking about issues in society. Bob Dylan is an iconic figure when it comes to American folk music. Bob Dylan has written numerous hit songs such as Blowin’ in the Wind, Like A Rolling Stone and The Times They Are A Changin’. There are many other songs that Bob Dylan has written and Bob Dylan’s lyrics and themes can be applied to real life. Bob Dylan wrote about politics, love and the struggles of everyday people.
Bob Dylan has inspired many other artists such as Neil Young, Elton John and Phil Ochs. Bob Dylan’s music was usually stripped down with simple chords played on an acoustic guitar (Cott 116). Bob Dylan often used a harmonica in his songs; Bob Dylan added more instruments over time as Bob Dylans sound changed (Cott 117). Bob Dylan’s music evolved with different bands until Bob Dylan received acclaim for being one of the first musicians to use an electric guitar in rock music during the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (Cott 120).
The words Bob Dylan sang, strung together to form his songs, tell stories. Bob Dylan was a talented song writer- the tunes of many Bob Dylan songs are Bob Dylan’s story ideas. The theme is what Bob Dylan wants to say in the song. There are different themes in Bob Dylan’s music. Bob Dylan wrote about love, peace, and war. Bob Dylan wrote about women Bob Dylan met Bob Dylan dated- the Bob Dylan songs are Bob Dylan’s memories. Bob Dylan also wrote about life, death, religion.
Bob Dylan wrote songs that were fun – Bob Dylan sang Bob Dylan wanted to sing about what was going on in society/culture/etc at that time – Bob Dylan wrote a song for every mood a person could have! Bob Dylon’ s music tells a story of his experiences and views of things going on around him as well as his love life. In 1965-1967 alone, Bob Dylon rocked the music scene with so many albums you couldn’t keep up! At this time in history people were protesting Vietnam and there was a Bob Dylan concert Bob Dylan never showed up at.
Bob Dylon was protesting Bob Dylan’s own music, Bob Dylan protested Bob Dylan’s war draft by staying out of the army. Bob Dylon’s protest influenced other people to speak their mind and stand up for what they believed in (Citations). His song “Blowing in the Wind” is about many different things but mainly it’s about racism. Basically he says that “The answer is blowin’ in the wind”. This means that there isn’t a definite answer to all of these problems going on in society today.
There isn’t a single solution to everything going on, no one knows exactly what will make everything better. It may seem like Bob Dylan doesn’t know what Bob Dylan’s talking about and Bob Dylan doesn’t know what Bob Dylan is trying to say, but Bob Dylan’s saying that Bob Dylan does not know the correct answer. Bob Dylon was protesting Bob Dylon’s own music, Bob Dylon protested Bob Dylon’s war draft by staying out of the army. (Citations) Bob Dylan wrote a song called “With God on Our Side” in 1964. This song is about how terrible humanity has been throughout history.
It explains how we always seem to be at war with someone and the only solution we can find for this is religion- which isn’t really a solution at all since we still keep killing each other over religion. The reason he says that Bob Dylan is on Bob Dylan’s side is Bob Dylan knows Bob Dylan’s going to win. Bob Dylon says “with God Bob Dylan has been a solid rock”, which means Bob Dylon’s done everything right- Bob Dylon very rarely feels Bob Dylon’s made a mistake or that Bob Dylon wasn’t doing the right thing when it comes to religious beliefs!
In my opinion I think that all of these songs are about Bob Dylan’s life and all of his experiences. In most cases, if you know who they’re about, you can see how they relate to what he was going through in certain areas of his life. For example, in “Ballad in Plain D” he sings about Bob Dylan’s Bob Dylan girlfriend who Bob Dylan knew before Bob Dylan became famous. Bob Dylon was using Bob Dylan to get back at her for what she did to Bob Dylon because Bob Dylon felt used!
