Artifact 1
I was lucky enough to join the IST program as a sophomore. Because of this, I got to choose two minors, English and psychology, and two focuses, education and human services. My first artifact is from my ENG 323 course, Writers in Context, which was about singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan.
I love the creative aspect of the English discipline. You can take a folk-rock star from the 1960's and make it a 15 week long college course??? Of course, I will sign up! This course was not only fun, but I learned a vast amount. From reading writing pieces from freshman and sophomore year to reading this essay I wrote only a couple weeks ago, I see tremendous improvements. I know how to truly argue a thesis now. This assignment was created to closely examine the song lyrics of a couple of Bob Dylan’s songs. I chose to do this by studying his transformation from folk to rock, and how I saw his career change for the better. Before I took Dr. Green’s English courses, I only stated my side of the argument. In class, he would always repeat to us, “The importance of your observation. It is not enough to offer insights. You must also demonstrate why they’re important.” This simple piece of advice transformed my writing completely. I feel as if I now argue thoroughly and explain to my audience why they need to know my thesis is important, and I hope that is shown through the attached paper!
This course and particular assignment added a lot to my understanding of the integrative studies program. I see how two things which I thought were so different, Bob Dylan and the English discipline, could come together to form a course full of insights and knowledge. I had no idea that Dylan was a poet; no, he isn’t just a song writer with a funny folk voice! He spoke about protest movements which could be brought into the disciplines of history and political science, he talked about love and relationships which could be the focus of sociology, and the list goes on and on!
I feel as if this assignment shows my understanding and ability to conduct complex research which I have learned through the integrative studies program. This class focused on close lyric readings, class discussions, and even presentations about other musicians which all required research and different thinking for full understanding. I had to conduct research on a broad topic such as Bob Dylan’s career to find success in the course. This paper and the research I conducted shows the research skills I have learned throughout my interdisciplinary education at Northern Kentucky University.
The paper only had a grammatical error or two. Since I turned it in recently, I was pretty happy with the outcome of the assignment. It represents my best work because it is my most recent English paper, and I believe I have reached my peak as an English scholar. I now love reading all the research that has been conducted about Dylan and his career evolution. This assignment, as well as all the research I have conducted in the integrative studies program, has helped me to appreciate research more; I even enjoy it now! This paper will always remind me of integrative studies because Bob Dylan is such a complex artist who often requires much research to understand.
Lauren Bluford
Dr. Green
English 323
March 1, 2020
A Close Look into Bob Dylan’s Electric Transformation
Young folk-rock star, Bob Dylan, began his musical career in 1961 focusing in part on the use of an acoustic guitar and the harmonica. At the start of his career, Dylan uses the folk movement to his advantage and prides himself with being the “voice of a generation” through writing acoustic songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind.” As time passed, folk singer Bob Dylan made an unimaginable shift from his Newport 64’ setlist. This change was brought at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he decided to wear a black leather jacket and plug in a Fender Stratocaster guitar replacing his old acoustic. Bob Dylan’s electric transformation is a major turning point in music history. Through his use of outfits, instruments, band members, and stage blocking, Dylan’s 65’ career renovation from his 64’ performance reveals his shift from a protest artist to a rock star. The lyrics from the three songs, “Maggie’s Farm,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue,” demonstrates his desire for a change of identity and his commitment to be reborn with a new individuality in his music.
At the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, Bob Dylan is the major folk act. Wearing blue jeans, a casual turtleneck, and boots, he creates an atmosphere that makes his audience feel as if he is just a normal person and not a rising star. He portrays himself as a small-town man with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica. No one else is playing music with him or providing any backup vocals. There is a striped background cloth that appears to be hung by PVC pipes and an upright piano is sitting in front of it.
People, many who are not musicians, accompany him on stage. A video of his 1964 Newport performance of “Mr. Tambourine Man” shows a man on stage to Dylan’s left taking pictures of the star’s performance. The acceptance of ordinary people on his stage displays Dylan’s acknowledgement of everyone and proves that he is the voice of a generation through his recognition of the working class. The setlist included other songs such as “All I Really Want to Do,” “To Ramona,” and “Chimes of Freedom.” Songs such as these display the folk star’s interest in emphasizing original protest songs and his use of political protest to connect with his audience.
The proximity of the stage is another thing to consider when looking at the visuals of Bob Dylan’s 1964 Newport performance. He is up close and personal with his audience when he is a folk musician. He shows that he has created a movement for a generation and wants to be with his audience. He even casually talks at the beginning of his performance to break the ice in a sense. Dylan says, “Yes, yes, I hear you well. I think you have the wrong man.” This careless banter helps him make a bond with his fans which adds to the fondness they have of him as their idol and generation’s spokesperson.
On July 25, 1965, Dylan decides to take the stage at the Newport Folk Festival in a black leather jacket, black jeans, and black boots. Under the jacket he has on a tight, orange button up that is widely different from the informal turtleneck sweater he wore just the year before. Here the audience no longer sees the musician as a small-town Minnesota boy. He is portraying himself in a new light and wants his fans to see a rough and tough image of himself. The pictures from this performance all show significant stage lighting and a rock star image of the once folk musician. Dylan is oddly distant from his crowd and gives the impression that he wants the attention and spotlight which is something that he fled from in his 1964 performance. In many pictures from the 65’ performance, there is even a spotlight somewhere on his person, or right above his head. He is now accompanied by guitarists, a pianist, and a drummer on stage. However, what caught the audience’s attention and ultimately led to their disapproval was the electric Fender Stratocaster strapped over his shoulder. Dylan no longer only had an acoustic guitar and a harmonica; he was now an electric musician with a new identity. His vocals were now vicious roars while the band in the background beat wildly on drums and played other electric instruments loudly. Even the boos from folk traditionalists in the audience could not stop Bob Dylan from this transition. It is this moment in 1965 when he decides to share a personal side of himself with his music and would change the music industry forever.
The first song Dylan played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 was “Maggie’s Farm.” In this song, he repeatedly expresses that he does not want to work on Maggie’s farm anymore. Some may say that he is speaking of oppression and feeling the need to conform to society, but this is not the case. Dylan states in the last stanza:
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am
But everybody wants you
To be just like them.
The fact that Bob Dylan decides to open his first electric performance with this song is no coincidence. He is attempting to say that he has conformed to the ways of the people for too long. His folk music was not expressing his true self, but rather it was something he performed because it is what the fans wanted to hear. He understands that he will get ridiculed for his performance, but he knows he wants to bid farewell to the folk scene and welcome a new musical direction with rock. When Bob Dylan scoffs, “They sing while you slave and I just get bored,” and “I got a head full of ideas/ That are driving me insane,” one can infer he is talking about his music and what he wants to perform. He is now tired of covering traditional folk songs and instead turns to an electric guitar and a backup band to help him display his new voice and identity. This is important because his music is no longer just a politically charged protest movement for the people. It is deeply personal, and he wants to write more challenging work. In the end, it is his poetic rhetoric that makes Dylan the star he is, not a specific style.
“Like a Rolling Stone,” the second song of the Newport 65’ setlist, confronts the audience with a direct question: “How does it feel?” Here we have Dylan demanding his fans’ response to his new musical style, and the crowd responded with disgust and screams. The song is over six minutes long which was a change to the musical movement considering many radio stations at the time did not play music that was over three minutes long. The song’s opening line is “Once upon a time,” which can be associated with the traditional fairy tale story beginning. “Like a Rolling Stone” tells a story of a girl who is oblivious and “Never understood,” but has learned to grow from her experiences. It may be said that there is not a single pinpoint as to who this song is about, but it can be argued that this song is an anthem for Bob Dylan’s own life as a rock artist. His identity can be described as a rolling stone because of his unwillingness to settle in the traditional folk scene for his entire career. Many of his idols did not flea from the folk scene and stayed with the movement for their entire career. This is something Dylan did not want for himself, and he is praising the fact that people can choose the rolling stone lifestyle. With this song, he announces during the performance that he will be changing his musical career to folk-rock. This identity transformation is important to not only Bob Dylan, but other artists as well who have followed in his rolling stone ways of changing genre styles.
The final song of Bob Dylan’s 1965 Newport Folk Festival performance is “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue.” Right before this, he plays “Mr. Tambourine Man” and retreats to his old folk ways. This folk song is performed to calm the hysteric crowd because they were extremely unhappy with his betrayal of the folk movement with the shocking electric performance. In “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue,” the last half of the last stanza is especially prominent because it states, “…standing in the clothes that you once wore/ Strike another match, go start anew/ And it's all over now, Baby Blue.” This line portrays how his folk career, here depicted as Baby Blue, is gone and will not return. Dylan began as a folk musician but is now going to start something new that is individualistic and bigger and better. One line says, “Leave your steppingstones behind there, something calls for you.” Here he is appreciating what the folk scene gave him. He is not wishing to forget the folk movement entirely since he acknowledges that it was needed for his large success. Dylan simply describes the folk movement as his steppingstone on the way to find a new identity, yet he warns the traditional folk audience that folk music is no longer in his repertoire.
Overall, Bob Dylan’s career was transformed through changing his clothes, adding band instruments and props, and his use of the stage. With these visuals, Dylan created a new identity for himself after his Newport Folk Festival performance in 1965. He was no longer the small-town folk singer from Minnesota that he portrayed himself as in 1964. His goal was to be a star and leave the folk scene in his past. Even though crowds disapproved of his unprecedented transformation at first, his career flourished as a prominent folk-rock singer since that day in 1965. The day Bob Dylan went electric was a turning point for not only the music industry, but Dylan’s life as well. He had found his new identity as a star.