Bob Dylan

By: Shatha Nashif

introduction:

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Originally born Robert Allen Zimmerman, later to change his name to Bob Dylan. During high school Dylan was in several different bands associating themselves with mainly rock music. Influenced by Hank Williams Bob Dylan bought his first guitar by age 10 and was teaching himself to play guitar and piano.

In 1959 Dylan moved to Minneapolis where he started school at the University of Minnesota. He flunked out a short semester later. Shortly after college Dylan got a hold of a book written by Woody Guthrie who quickly became his idol. Dylan set off to the streets of New York City in hopes of finding Woody. When he arrived there he met Guthrie who was ill with a terminal disease. He spent a lot of his time next to the hospital bed of the deathly ill Woody Guthrie. This is when his early career took a turn, he realized that rock music just wasn’t enough for him.

Bob Dylan had a lot of influence on music, writing and culture throughout his time. His discography includes 35 studio albums, 58 singles, 13 live albums,9 albums comprising The Bootleg Series, and 15 compilation albums. Dylan has won many awards throughout his career including eleven Grammy

Awards, an Academy Award and one Golden Globe Award. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was also included in the Time 100- The Most Important People of the Century where he was named as a master poet along with other things.

Hurricane:

Hurricane The song Hurricane was released in November of 1975 on his album Desire. It was first recorded in July of 1975 but was pulled from the public view and forced to be re-recorded due to controversy. Dylan re-recorded the song and released it again that November. This eight minute, thirty-three second song was written in defense of a charged murder convict and pro fighter Rubin “hurricane” Carter.

Here’s How The Story Goes:

On June, 17 1966 two males entered the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey and opened fire two males were killed instantly including the bartender another women Hazel Tanis died a month later due to gun shot wounds and another was injured but survived to tell authorities that two black males were the shooters. They told him they left in a white car. Carters car matched the description while he drove with a friend John Artis, the two were brought to the scene by authorities. Carter and Artis were given three life sentences for each murder victim. When Dylan heard this story and received a biography written by Carter he went to visit him in jail where they visited for hours. Dylan then wrote and composed a song “Hurricane” based on his innocents. After two trials and several appeals he was released in 1985 after serving ten years in prison for a wrongful conviction.

Like a Rolling Stone The Song Like a Rolling Stone:

Like a Rolling Stone The Song Like a Rolling Stone was released on July 20, 1965 as a hit single and was apart of the Highway 61 album. This song was recorded on June 15 and 16in his recording studio Columbia Studio in New York. It was produced by Tom Wilson. Bob Dylan wrote this song himself and was inspired to write it by one of his idols Hank Williams. The song that inspired him by Hank Williams was Lost Highway.