Roots of Bob Dylan 1962 - 1966: Introduction

• Vol. 1: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Bob Dylan" & "The Freewheelin'" (1962/63)
  
• Vol. 2: Roots of Bob Dylan: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)
  
• Vol. 3: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Another Side of Bob Dylan" & Bringing It All Back Home" (1964/65)
  
• Vol. 4: Roots of Bob Dylan: "Highway 61 Revisited" & Blonde On Blonde" (1965/66) (coming later)
  

Introduction

It is widely known a lot of Bob Dylan's songs are in some way based on or derived from or influenced by earlier songs. Discussing these influences is a favourite subject among Dylan fans and professional "Dylanologists". Unfortunately these days Dylan is often enough smeared as a plagiarist who has stolen "everything". That's of course laughable.

There is also the opposite attitude: everything is justified because it is the so-called "Folk process". But this term often only serves as an excuse for blatant plagiarism and a songwriters inability or unwillingness to come up with something original. The truth is somewhere in between. Every songwriter borrows and "steals". Musicologist Charles Hamm for example once wrote about Irving Berlin:

"[he] more effectively than any of his peers, drew on the collective knowledge and memory of his audience to fashion dramatic situations and musical phrases similar to those found in songs they already knew, [but] shaped in slightly unexpected ways. His best songs were almost - but not quite - already known to his listeners when heard for the first time. They were old stories with a new twist [...] Berlin [...] deliberately and routinely used rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns similar to those found in other pieces, as well as direct quotations of lyrics and music from other songwriters, for associative and expressive effect" (quoted from Professor Hamm's great book Irving Berlin, Songs From The Melting Pot: The Formative Years 1907 - 1914, New York & Oxford 1997, p. 108/9).

Writing a popular song often means using bits and pieces from very disparate sources and then turn it into something new. It is important to understand how Dylan used this bits and pieces because it helps to understand the songwriting technique. At first it's always necessary to explain exactly the relationship to the song used as a source:

• sometimes the melody is lifted completely, as for example in "Song To Woody", "Masters Of War", "Bob Dylan's Dream" or "Farewell Angelina".
• then there are Dylan songs that are in one way or another based upon on songs: sometimes the melody is still very close to the original (as in "North Country" Blues"), sometimes it's partly changed and only retains some elements but is still recognizable (as for example in "Lay Down Your Weary Tune"), often it's very different, in fact a new melody (as in "Girl From The North Country" or in "I Don't Believe You")
• then there are many examples where Dylan only uses an idea, a musical phrase, a motif, a structural device etc. from an older song and reshapes it to serve his purposes.

I tried to put together what is known today and sometimes tried to dig a little deeper (and added some of my own research). For the early songs I will regularly refer to and quote from Todd Harvey's great book The Formative Dylan (2001). Unfortunately Clinton Heylin's Revolution In The Air. The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973 (2009) is often very disappointing.

I will write mostly about possible sources and influences for the music but will occasionally also discuss the lyrics. I'm also interested in Dylan's relationship to mainstream popular music, a question that is rarely approached by other researchers and writers. Too often they only refer to Folk & Blues. But I think that Bob Dylan was from the start (and especially since "Another Side of Bob Dylan", 1964) also influenced and inspired by the songs and writers of this genre (even though he rarely acknowledged them).

I have included all the songs from the regular LP's as well as a few important outtakes. Maybe I'll add some more later. An earlier version of this work as well as some individual parts have been used by me in Bob Dylan forums (especially the ExpectingRain discussion board).


Credits

I wish to thank Stew in Scotland with whom I have discussed some of these songs, who has always supported me with additional information and who has written some articles for my website some years ago.

The research for the sources of Dylan's songs started long time ago and much information was unearthed in groundbreaking articles in Dylan-fanzines in the 80s & 90s. Especially Matthew Zuckermann's article If There's An Original Thought Out There, I Could Use It Right Now: The Folk Roots of Bob Dylan (in Isis magazine ca. 1996, an expanded version is available online at Expectingrain) is still inspiring. I am also indebted to Manfred Helfert's great site Bob Dylan's Musical Roots & Influences.

Literature & the most important online resources used here

• Todd Harvey, The Formative Dylan. Transmissions And Stylistic Influences, 1961 - 1963, Lanham, Maryland & London 2001 (indispensable).
  
• Clinton Heylin, Revolution In The Air. The Songs Of Bob Dylan, 1957 - 1973, Chicago 2009
• Michael Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, New York & London 2006.

• BobDylan.Com (lyrics for all Dylan songs)
• A Traditional Music Library
• The allegro Catalogue of Ballads (Bodleian Library)
• Digital Tradition Database (with lyrics to a lot of songs and many scores, some of which I used here)
• Folk Music - An Index to Recorded Resources
• Smithsonian Folkways
• Traditional Ballad Index

Many thanks also to all the uploaders at YouTube and the Internet Archive and to Google Books