#255 Bob Dylan, 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' (1963)

Previously #97

Following Dylan’ debut record, things weren’t looking great for him. Largely ignored by critics and the public, the album sold a modest 5,000 copies. A group of staff at Columbia were lobbying for him to be dropped but John Hammond, the man who signed him, stood by him. And that’s how ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ saw the light of day. Unlike his debut, Dylan wrote majority of the songs on this album, establishing him as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. The album opens with the lyrics “How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?” Wow. Can you imagine hearing that line for the first time in 1963? The USA was going through a cultural revolution at the time. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing, the country was in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War was going on. Things were changing and Dylan and his songs were at the forefront of that.

‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ was about Dylan’s anxiety about the threat of nuclear war, an anxiety that most in his generation would have felt. Similarly, ‘Talkin’ World War III Blues’ and ‘Masters Of War.’ The other major theme on the record was love. ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,’ one of my favourite Dylan songs, is about a break up of a long term relationship. ‘Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance,’ another song of unrequited love. With this album, Dylan had arrived as Folk music’s biggest new star. And before long, he would blow that all up, but in the best way possible. More on that later.

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