The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan

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The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan
Studio album by Bob Dylan

Publication
(s)

May 27, 1963

Label (s) Columbia

Genre (s)

Folk

Title (number)

13

running time

50:08

occupation Bob Dylan - vocals, guitar, harmonica

production

John Hammond

chronology
Bob Dylan (1962) The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan The Times They Are a-Changin ' (1964)

The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan is the second album of Bob Dylan .

It was recorded in New York between July 1962 and April 1963 , produced by John Hammond , and released on Columbia Records in 1963 . After the failure of his debut album Bob Dylan , which only contained two of his own songs, Dylan released only two cover versions on Freewheelin ' : the traditional Corrina, Corrina and Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance , which he rewrote both considerably. All other songs were Dylan originals. The album, which showed his talent as a songwriter to the general public for the first time, begins with the song Blowin 'in the Wind , which was to become his most played. Already in July 1963 the trio Peter, Paul and Mary had an international hit with a cover version of it. They presented it at a demonstration in Washington in 1963, paving the way for Dylan's appropriation as a pioneer of the American protest movement.

The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan reached number 22 in the US and was eventually awarded a platinum album. It later became a number one hit in England. This marked Dylan's artistic and commercial breakthrough. Because of its cultural and historical significance to the United States , the album was entered into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress on January 27, 2003 .

In 2003 Rolling Stone put The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan at number 93 on its list of the 500 best albums of all time .

prehistory

Dylan with Joan Baez , 1963

Dylan's debut album was barely noticed by critics or the general public. The 5,000 copies sold were just enough to cover the costs. At Columbia Records , the singer was ridiculed as a donkey of producer John Hammond, and serious consideration was given not to renewing the contract. But Hammond vigorously defended Dylan, and Johnny Cash was another ally . The relatively small label Prestige Records expressed its interest in Dylan, where they relied on his potential as a songwriter. Hammond, however, supported Dylan in the hope that his second album would be a success.

Recordings in New York

With Hammond as producer, Dylan began work on his second album on April 24, 1962 in Columbia's Studio A in New York. The working title, which was retained through July, was Bob Dylan's Blues .

Dylan worked on the implementation of two popular folk songs, Going to New Orleans and Corrina, Corrina, as well as on a cover version of the Hank Williams classic (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle . Most of the recordings were dedicated to Dylan's own compositions, four of which were also recorded: Sally Gal, The Death of Emmett Till (about the death of Emmett Till ), Rambling, Gambling Willie and Talkin 'John Birch Paranoid Blues . The takes of John Birch and Rambling, Gambling Willie were selected for the album.

The next day, Let Me Die was recorded on My Footsteps , which was also used for the album. Dylan recorded other originals - Rocks and Gravel, Talking Hava Negiliah Blues, Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues - as well as two other takes of Sally Gal , as well as various cover versions, such as the traditional Wichita (Going to Louisiana) , Big Joe Williamss Baby Please Don't Go and Robert Johnson's Milk Cow's Calf's Blues . With Dylan making rapid songwriting progress, none of the April recordings appeared on Freewheelin ' . It wasn't until 1991 that Talking Hava Negiliah Blues and Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues were released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 .

Recording in Studio A did not resume until July 9th when Dylan recorded some new compositions. He had already performed the most famous song, Blowin 'in the Wind, live. He also recorded Bob Dylan's Blues, Down the Highway and Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance , all of which made it onto the album.

The recording of his song Baby, I'm in the Mood for You was not selected for the album; it was only published in 1985 at the Biograph retrospective . Two other pieces that were not selected, Quit Your Low Down Ways and Hally Woods composition Worried Blues, were also not published until 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 .

It was at this time that Albert Grossman became interested in Dylan's business affairs. He persuaded Dylan to end his contract with Duchess Music and transfer the rights to Witmark Music , a division of Warner's music agency. Dylan signed the contract with Witmark on July 13, 1962.

After the contract negotiations, Dylan returned to Minnesota in early August. In Minneapolis, he met some of his old friends, including Tony Glover , who also recorded some pieces with Dylan in an informal session. Dylan also spoke of Suze Rotolo (who can be seen on the album cover with Dylan) and that he was waiting for her to return from Italy in September after an art semester. He took this as an opportunity to record an original version of Tomorrow is a Long Time . Just before September 1, Dylan learned that Suze had indefinitely postponed her return from Italy, creating tension in their relationship.

Dylan returned to New York to introduce his new songs during performances. He made his first appearance on September 22nd at Carnegie Hall as part of a star-studded folk music festival. The appearance became the first public performance of A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall . A month later, on October 22nd, John F. Kennedy announced that Soviet missiles had been deployed in Cuba, which started the Cuban Missile Crisis . In the liner notes, Nat Hentoff wrote that Dylan wrote A Hard Rain in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis: “Each line of the song is actually the beginning of a new song. But when I wrote it I thought I wouldn't live long enough to be able to write all these songs, so I put them all in this one. ”In fact, Dylan had written the song a month before the crisis hit.

In August 1962, Albert Grossman became Dylan's manager, and he soon got into an argument with John Hammond. Since Dylan was under 21 when he signed the contract with CBS, Grossman argued that the contract was invalid and needed to be renegotiated. Instead, Hammond invited Dylan to his office to sign an agreement that would have confirmed the validity of the old contract. The tension between Grossman and Hammond eventually led to Hammond being replaced as producer.

On October 26th, Dylan continued his work at Columbias Studio A, where he recorded three songs. The takes of Mixed-Up Confusion and Arthur Crudups That’s All Right Mama were considered unusable, but a mastertake by Corrina, Corrina was selected for the album. An alternate take by Corrina, Corrina from the same session, was released as a single.

Another session took place on November 1st in Studio A, where he recorded three pieces. Again it was Mixed-Up Confusion and That's All Right Mama was added and again the result was found to be unusable. However, the third track, Rocks and Gravel, was selected. On November 14th, mainly Mixed-Up Confusion was recorded. Dylan recorded the song with studio musicians hired by John Hammond: George Barnes (guitar), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), Dick Wellstood (piano), Gene Ramey (bass) and Herb Lovelle (drums). Although the track didn't appear on the album, it was released as a single and then hastily withdrawn from the market.

The rockabilly sound of the background band is striking . Cameron Crowe described it as "a fascinating look at a folk singer with thoughts of Elvis Presley and Sun Records ".

After the recordings for Mixed-Up Confusion were finished, most of the musicians were fired; guitarist Langhorne stayed to record three more pieces with Dylan: Ballad of Hollis Brown, Kingsport Town and Whatcha Gonna Do, but the recordings were ultimately rejected. Kingsport Town was later published on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 .

Dylan recorded five more original songs on December 6th, three of which were eventually selected for the album: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Oxford Town and I Shall Be Free . The first take of all was taken. Dylan also recorded Whatcha Gonna Do and the new song Hero Blues , but both songs ended up being rejected and unreleased.

Trip to england

Twelve days later, Dylan first visited England to appear on a BBC radio play, The Madhouse on Castle Street, where he played Blowin 'in the Wind and two other pieces. In London he also came into contact with the British folk scene.

One of the folk singers, Carthy, introduced Dylan to two English songs that would be important to Freewheelin ' : Scarborough Fair, which Dylan used as the basis for his song Girl from the North Country ; a 19th century ballad, Lord Franklin, gave Dylan the melody for his composition Bob Dylan's Dream .

From England, Dylan traveled to Italy, where he met Albert Grossman, who was traveling with his client Odetta . Dylan also hoped to meet his girlfriend Suze Rotolo there, but she had already returned to the United States. In Italy, Dylan finished his Girl from the North Country and Boots of Spanish Leather . He went back to England one more time, where a surprise awaited Carthy: “When he returned from Italy, he had already written Girl From the North Country ; he came to the Troubadour Inn and said, 'Hey, here's Scarborough Fair ' - and started playing that thing. "

Return to New York

When Dylan returned to New York in mid-January, he recorded Masters of War . In the meantime, he and Suze Rotolo moved back into the apartment on 4th Street.

With the new songs from Europe he reconsidered the songs for his second album. The recordings coincided with the replacement of Hammond by Tom Wilson , who actually came from jazz.

Wilson remembered that he actually didn't like folk songs. He 'd made recordings with John Coltrane and Sun Ra and didn't think much of folk musicians. However, Dylan's lyrics convinced him.

At the April 24 session, Dylan recorded his five new compositions: Girl from the North Country, Masters of War, Talkin 'World War III Blues, Bob Dylan's Dream and Walls of Red Wing. Walls of Red Wing was eventually rejected, but published on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 . All other pieces can be found on the album.

One final argument about Freewheelin ' came when Dylan's appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on May 12, 1963. Dylan wanted to play Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues , which CBS considered too defamatory for the John Birch Society . Dylan finally decided not to appear.

Cover

The album cover features a photo of Dylan with Suze Rotolo . It was recorded in February 1963, a few weeks after Rotolo returned from Italy. The photographer was Don Hunstein of CBS, who took the photo on the corner of Jones Street and West 4th Street in Greenwich Village, New York, near the couple's apartment. In her memoir A Freewheelin 'Time , Rotolo explained how the photo came about on the spur of the moment and analyzed the meaning of the cover image:

“It is one of those cultural guides that shaped the look of covers precisely because of their casual, down-to-earth spontaneity and sensuality. Most of the covers have been carefully staged and controlled, with great effect on the covers of Blue Note jazz albums ... and not that great on the perfectly crafted and cleanly cut pop and folk albums. Whoever was responsible for choosing this particular photograph for The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan , he really had a good eye for a new look. "

- Suze Rotolo

Album pieces

  1. Blowin 'in the Wind - 2:45
  2. Girl from the North Country - 3:21
  3. Masters of War - 4:31
  4. Down the Highway - 3:23
  5. Bob Dylan's Blues - 2:20
  6. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - 6:51
  7. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - 3:37
  8. Bob Dylan's Dream - 5:00
  9. Oxford Town - 1:48
  10. Talking World War III Blues - 6:25
  11. Corrina, Corrina ( Traditional ) - 2:42
  12. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance - 1:58
  13. I Shall Be Free - 4:47

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Harvey, The Formative Bob Dylan, 43
  2. ^ Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, 243
  3. The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan in the National Recording Registry. Retrieved August 14, 2017 .
  4. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . Rolling Stone . November 18, 2003; see also: Levy, Joe (Ed.): Rolling Stone. The 500 best albums of all time . (Original edition: Rolling Stone. The 500 Greatest Albums of all Time . Wenner Media 2005). Translation: Karin Hofmann. Wiesbaden: White Star Verlag, 2011, p. 100
  5. Scaduto , Bob Dylan, 110
  6. ^ Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, 100
  7. Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, Jan.
  8. ^ Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, 243
  9. ^ Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, 94-95
  10. Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, 100-101
  11. Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, 33
  12. ^ Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, 284
  13. Sounes, Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan, p.124
  14. Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments, 33-34
  15. Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, 35
  16. ^ Biograph (album) , 1985, Liner notes & text by Cameron Crowe .
  17. Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, 34
  18. Rolling Stone , June 21, 1984, re-printed in Cott (ed.), Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews, pp. 295-296.
  19. Sounes, Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan, p.127
  20. ^ Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, 110
  21. ^ Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, 115
  22. “It is one of those cultural markers that influenced the look of album covers precisely because of its casual down-home spontaneity and sensibility. Most album covers were carefully staged and controlled, to terrific effect on the Blue Note jazz album covers ... and to not-so great-effect on the perfectly posed and clean-cut pop and folk albums. Whoever was responsible for choosing that particular photograph for The Freewheelin 'Bob Dylan really had an eye for a new look. " (Suze Rotolo: A Freewheelin 'Time. Aurum Press, 2009, ISBN 0-7679-2688-9 )