Bob Dylan Research Paper

Every time Johnny Cash would step out in front of a crowd he would greet his millions of followers with the same line: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”. He would be greeted with roars, hollers, and cheers whenever he was seen. Cash influenced a generation and blended music genres to bring the country together. Known as The Man in Black, for it was the only color he would wear after 1957 (Streissguth 80). Cash through his more than 50 year career had thirteen number 1 hits (Macnie). Johnny Cash evolved country music and became a quintessential American hero, admired and adored by millions.

The early 1960s was a time of extreme social issues such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; everyone was looking for their own voice in this time of adversity. A young Bob Dylan arises to the spotlight and sings songs speaking of protest and originality, expressing societal dissatisfaction felt by not only himself but by his entire generation. In the 1960s Dylan wrote many protest songs that people of his generation found themselves connecting to, leading way to a counterculture aside from popular music which also paved a way for introspective song writing.

Willie Nelson is know around the world as a country music superstar. He has had his run ins with depression and drug abuse. In the younger years of Willie nelson's life his mom and dad divorced his dad left forever and his mom had to raise him and his sister Bobbie Nelson.Even though he came from a rough childhood he turn out to have a pretty good life right now he is worth 25 Million dollars.

Johnny Cash, born J.R. Cash, was one of seven children born to parents Ray and Carrie Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932. The Cash family was a farming family, hit hard by the Depression of the 1930’s. They spent a majority of their time farming to make money, and when there was little to no work left to be done, the family would relocate. When Cash was two, the family was chosen by the government to move to Dyess, Arkansas to grow cotton as a part of a limited community working towards economic recovery. The family attended the communities Baptist chapel every Sunday, which developed Cash into an inspiring Christian. At the age of twelve, his best friend and brother, Jack, was killed in a table saw accident while working at an agricultural shop. The death of his brother along with all of the negativity he felt in Dyess made him search for an escape. He began to take long walks at night while humming music, and he decided music would take him through all of his dark places. Cash attended Dyess High School, and after graduating, he hitchhiked to Pontiac, Michigan to take a job at an automobile constructing plant. He hated it and returned home a few weeks later, when his family decided to pack up and leave Dyess. It was then that he decided to enlist in the United States Air Force, and he would

Dylan and the Sympathetic Beat For an artist so dedicated to innovation and originality, Bob Dylan is particularly obsessed with his influences. Indeed, if T.S. Elliot’s observation that “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” (114) is true, it may very well be the source of his success as an innovator in the music industry. The most famous of such obsessions was with Woody Guthrie, and Dylan’s pilgrimage to visit the dying musician in Brooklyn State Hospital, which is documented in his poem Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie.

Do you think that rock and roll has changed the economy? Consider if you were a teenager living life in the 1950s. The Great Depression was finally coming to an end, but the memories of rough times would scar its sufferers for the rest of their life. Rock and Roll represented a happier world that is no longer stuck in the depression and the destructions by war.

“The best music…is essentially there to provide you with something to face the world with.”

Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1917. His father, a cowboy, taught him songs of the Indians, folk tunes of the Scottish, and western songs. In his early childhood Woody Guthrie had a tragic turn around in his childhood. He had lost his sister Clara to an unfortunate accident. That set-in the motion of institutionalization of his mother, leading to the loss of his mother.

While John Lennon might not be known as the greatest singer or songwriter, he continues to be one of the most influential artists in and out of the music industry. His musicality is practically unmatched, he has influenced an entirely new generation of musicians, and he protested and fought for peace to be recognized in the world. His artistry, talent, and genuine positive outlook on life are what make him one of the most admired artists in music history.

John Legend was born on December 28th in Springfeild, Ohio. He was once Born John Stephens. One of his friends called him legend in the studio as a nickname and after a while everyone started calling him john legend. When he became successful he kept the name “John legend” because he liked the sound of legend. He started playing the piano at 4 years old and started singing in the choir at 6. His mom was a choir director, his dad played drums, and his grandmother was an organist.

For my project I chose Mozart for my classical artist and Bob Marley for my modern artist. I picked Mozart because before this class, I honestly did not care for classical music but learning about Mozart I started to really enjoy it, also I thought Mozart’s life was very interesting and exciting based on the movie Amadeus. The reason I decided to chose Bob Marley for my contemporary artist is because I grew up listening to him and I think that he changed music and brought a new style and sound to the world. No, Bob Marley has not been influenced by classical. Marley was mainly influenced a reggae artist, Joe Higgs. Mozart and Bob Marley have completely different styles of music, you would most likely hear Mozart’s music playing in an opera

Charles Eames once said, "Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se." The idea that everything is connected somehow, which Charles Eames is meaning, is applicable to any topic, concept, object, or idea. Relating two things is not as difficult as it may seem, if the time and thought is given to do so, and the correlation between them is where the importance is found. Because everything is connected, simple topics like musicians, leaders, stores, blenders, and love can all be too, but it takes time, thoughts, and effort to see that.

So recently, I got into a heated discussion with an associate about the supposed suicide of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain. This began friendly enough but quickly spiraled into both my associate and I just being rude to each other. This started because back in June of this year a documentary was released entitled Soaked in Bleach, which was quite revealing. In it, the former Seattle, WA chief of police Norm Stamper stated that,

“The song has to be of a certain quality for me to sing…One aspect it would have to have is that it didn’t repeat itself” (Bob Dylan). Transforming into new people throughout his life, Bob Dylan reverted to the Bible and other religious findings in his songs. Dylan is able to reveal a fulfillment from spirituality as he perceives his music as a sacred landscape. Bob Dylan brings up a theme of religion, referencing the book of Isaiah in his 1967 song “All Along the Watchtower” as he writes a story about two people at the watchtower, where the significance of life is found. Dylan’s spiritual lyrics conceived his work as a an artist through imagination and religion that creates a hallowed dwelling for him to aqurie attainment.

Duluth Minnesota, May 24th 1941 Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) was born. 69 Years and over 45 albums later Bob Dylan has completely altered the face of popular music since his debut as a fresh faced folk singer in 1962. His early career forged him into an informal chronicler and then he later developed into an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest [Gray, 2006] and became a voice for a generation. His songs have been covered by many artists in a wide span of genres and he has remained a prominent and highly influential figure in the history of popular music over the past five decades. [Gates, David, 1997]