Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald

A fascinating, rollicking, and in-depth exploration of the history, controversy, and cultural and historical impact of “Dylan going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Elijah Wald’s 2015 book — and inspiration for the new Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown — is not only a musical analysis but also a study of perhaps the seminal moment in cultural/musical history. Dylan was a fascinating, maddening, eclectic, and altogether frustrating person even to those that considered him a close friend and confidant, and although Dylan Goes Electric centers around the night at Newport when he brought out an electric guitar for the song “Maggie’s Farm” and left the a crowd of tens of thousands in confused bewilderment, the story itself really dives into the cultural and musical split of the era, where the old folk icons such as Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and even a young Joan Baez were being overshadowed and overtaken by the “British Invasion”, the advent of rock & roll, popular music and the Billboard 100, and how Bob Dylan was at the spiritual and poetic center of all of it. One thing that I did not know was how influential Dylan was to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Animals, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and dozens of other artists who covered and re-recorded his work, but also that he wasn’t necessarily a likable figure, preferring to be a contradictory loner who was hard to pin down, and even though many of his songs and songwriting were “political” in nature, he did not think of himself as a particularly politically active person. The incongruity can be madding, even for the reader, but Wald leaves no doubt that Dylan’s legacy is that of a lyrical and musical genius who spearheaded a revolution in the way music was consumed and appreciated, and even to this day, at the ripe old age of 83, his influence will live on for generations to come.

• why did this matter?
• Dylan was the iconic voice of a decade famed for rebellion and Newport was the epochal break of the young rocker with the old society that would not accept him
• defying the rules and damn the consequences
• 1965, optimism of the early part of the decade had been shaken
• Newport, cheered and damned, came out of the confrontation stronger than ever
• wrote such compelling lyrics that he could not be ignored
• singer and a guitarist before he was a songwriter
• with every change and attack Dylan’s audience grew
• Seeger is the central figure in this narrative
• two defining American ideals, Seeger for his ideal of democracy, Dylan for the ideal of the rugged individualist
• two halves of the 60s
• Newport, end of the folk revival as a mass movement and the birth of rock as the mature artistic voice of a generation
• Pete built the folk revival of the 60s
• unique talent, he could get people singing
• as a result, more and more pop music was coming from the south and middle of the country and rural styles were creeping into the hit parade — post WWII migration patterns
• Weavers success provided Seeger with a platform
• On top of Old Smoky, Pete created a model for future sing along leaders by speaking the line before the group sang
• success inspired pop professionals to cash in on the trend
• defining pop folk group of the early 60s — Kingston Trio
• Peter, Paul, Mary, Byrds, all came directly out of the Weavers
• Weavers style had little to do with authentic folk traditions
• as the folk scene grew through the 50s, a split into cliques that often bickered bitterly, but all came through Seeger
• new concept of folk music as an active, living process, a matter of style, approach, and interaction between players and listeners
• to Seeger, everything was political, beliefs in democracy and communism
• trailed by FBI agents
• Weavers are often remembered as keepers of the folk flame, they were also pop records makers and kept their eyes on the hit parade
• Seeger and his music were beacons of hope and virtue at a time when almost everyone else on the left was running scared
• Dylan’s teenaged companions remember him as a loner, shy, quiet, somewhat goofy, often distant, sometimes mean
• absolutely convinced that he was going to be famous
• determined to be larger than life, one way or another
• Hibbing, MN, avidly pursuing any connection with black culture
• when Dylan recalled his initiation into folk music, the model he cited was Harry Belafonte
• 50s he was a defining folk star
• “When I got into folk music, it was more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings” — Belafonte
• Minneapolis was a hotbed of passionate players, Dylan could not have arrived at a better time
• Woody Guthrie, linked in other ways — Jewish, middle class, introverted loners who reinvented themselves as mythic wandering minstrels
• unusual knack for recognizing styles and materials that suited his talents — Dylan
• 1960, Dylan met Guthrie, he was a storyteller, legend, and that fall he was a fixation for Dylan
• he met Guthrie, sang for him, direct connection to him
• established himself with the NY folk crowd as a new incarnation of Woody
• Bob spinning fantasies about his deeds and acquaintanceships
• Woody had Huntington’s disease and could no longer sing or write
• Dylan absorbed styles and shifted personas, hard to pin down
• Greenwich Village
• anyone looking to understand the upheavals of the 60s has to recognize the speed with which antiestablishment, avant garde, and grassroots movements were coopted, cloned and packaged into saleable products and how unexpected , confusing and threatening that was for people who were sincerely trying to find new ways to understand the world or to make it a better place
• Dylan was sometimes been criticized for how much he borrowed from others, but that was not an issue until he became famous
• for Dylan, the attraction of folk music was that it was steeped in reality, in history, in profound experiences, ancient myths, and enduring dreams
• way of understanding the world and rooting for the present in the past
• his first professional recordings were as a harmonica accompanist
• presented himself as someone who was absorbing music directly from traditional roots artists
• folk world tended to knock anyone who was “making it”
• treated as a new kind of celebrity
• Dylan was singing old songs in a way that struck some people as fresh and distinctive but that many traditionalists considered forced, pretentious, inept
• Blowin in the Wind changed everything
• exploding with ideas and needed opportunities to try them out
• his songwriting was raw, writing all kinds of songs and also learning more old songs
• melody was adapted from a nineteenth century slave song, No More Auction Block for Me
• Blowin in the Wind was something different, folksinger music
• political lyrics were always outnumbered by songs about rambling and romance
• Dylan had filled Guthrie’s shoes and now was going where Guthrie had feared to tread
• two distinctions that set him apart from previous folk stars: primarily a song writer, and he had a lousy voice
• politics were a matter of feelings and personal observation rather than study or theory
• instead of hectoring, he was expressing pervasive hopes and fears
• viscerally troubled by the evils around him and by people who casually accepted those evils, the theme of Blowin in the Wind
• more comfortable as a loner than a spokesman
• early folk festivals were as much about making friends and sharing music as about watching other people play onstage
• idea that anyone could be a part of the movement, not only as a spectator but as a participant
• civil rights cause had Blowin in the Wind
• in terms of rallying support among white northerners, Dylan’s song was a unique and powerful statement
• those first years the informal socializing and music making made Newport as special for the artists as it was for the audience
• provided funding for Cajun music festivals in LA, beginning a renaissance that would spread throughout the country, and eventually the world
• traditional artists provided historical depth, technical expertise, and a foundation of authenticity, while the urban performers proved the vitality and relevance of folk related styles in the modern world
• Dylan embodied Newport’s mix of urban youth and rural tradition, folk purity and political activism
• in 1963 the “sixties” had not yet happened, and there was no way to know they would
• folks at Newport had hopes for a better future and saw the festival as a step in the right direction, but the rest of the country was not paying much attention or regarded them as oddballs
• every reason to fear that the mainstream would transform heartfelt art into mass produced schlock
• one reason many people cared so deeply about Seeger, Baez and Dylan was that each managed to reach large audiences without seeming to compromise
• his world was more complicated than theirs had been, was seeking his own path
• big shift from singing old songs to writing new ones, and now Baez was a romantic partner
• reputation was largely spread by Baez, who brought him onstage, sang duets with him, recorded his compositions, and then Peter Paul and Mary
• one could love the songs without caring about the author
• next year, Blowin in the Wind was recorded by more than 50 artists
• expressed a sense of concern and an awareness of injustice, but was not a strident call to arms, and although it was embraced by millions of people who felt the civil rights movement was a noble, historic struggle, most of them were not going to marches or rallies or necessarily cared to sped much time around Negroes
• sympathetic songs might not change the world, but they could at least draw attention to the struggle
• huge part of Dylan’s appeal was that people didn’t get what he was all about
• to his young admirers, attacks of their elders just made Dylan seem more precious and relevant
• fans and foes alike were vesting him with powers and meanings he had not chosen and often did not want
• had not signed up to be a spokesman for a generation, and nothing could have prepared him for his role in the culture wars of the 60s
• many young people felt their elders had let them down, regardless of political affiliation
• Dylan was perplexed by his growing fame, more withdrawn and introspective, more insistent on following his own direction
• Cash recorded It Ain’t Me Babe with June singing harmony, first Dylan song to hit Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with drums and pop instrumentation
• folk music had now become big business and impromptu jazz sessions could lead to important transactions
• Peter Paul and Mary hit, singing original compositions by Seeger, Dylan, and themselves, that was a whole new commercial ballgame, not only for the writers and singers but for publishers and managers
• It Ain’t Me Babe suggest a message to his adoring fans
• they were looking for a hero, “no, no, no” it wasn’t him
• Beatles were a breath of fresh air
• a lot of great music was coming back into style, new connections being made
• musical worlds were converging, songs were keeping more varied company
• for a lot of young Brits, American music was a shining beacon, in the US styles that were considered regional, ethnic, or archaic were heard in the UK as part of a thrilling continuum
• English blues rockers were playing songs off his records and shortly began to write lyrics that mimicked his style
• Dylan and Seeger and Baez all walked onstage looking the same way they looked when they were walking down the street or hanging out with their friends
• Lennon wrote A Hard Days Night in Dylan’s style
• rootsy, blues oriented groups like the Stones and Animals were a threat to some folksingers but an inspiration for others
• British invaders were leading young listeners to Berry, Richard, and in some cases to Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf
• in Britain, Dylan was nothing less than the hippest person on earth at that time
• folk and rock were converging ever more frequently
• folk music and everything it represented were in danger
• problem was not simply electricity, it was a broader confluence of conflicts: pop music versus roots music, commercial confections versus communal creations, escapism vs. social involvement
• the early 60s a generation had seemed to recognize that rebellion with a cause and a goal was more rewarding than rebellion for its own sake
• elevation of drug use into a drug culture, equation of that culture with youth, music, and social change, was something new
• vital, meaningful folk music movement had been growing
• music for the people who cared, and music they cared about
• now a flock of eagerly commercial, apolitical young Brits had arrived wearing matching suits and playing Rock, and the whole thing was threatening to fall apart
• careerist folkies were picking up electric guitars and trying to sound like the Beatles
• Dylan was pretending not to see, cynically latching on to the trend, it seemed
• not abandoning his past, becoming part of a bigger conversation
• Cooke was so struck by Blowin in the Wind that he wrote A Change is Gonna Come
• what was changing now was Dylan’s audience, circle of acquaintances, his instrumentation
• single that would make him a star was Like a Rolling Stone, uncompromising as any of his earlier work
• “roots music”
• pop was entering a new age and Dylan was blazing the trail
• in 1965, at Newport, he electrified half of his audience and electrocuted the other
• difficult to draw lines between the culture they loved and the culture they despised
• Dylan was hobnobbing with the Beatles and getting rock and roll hits, his new fans were potentially coming to Newport and suffering through the folk music for a chance to see him
• generational rift within the folk community
• Dylan was putting rock and roll records on the charts, wearing the latest fashions from swinging London, and acting like a distant, mysterious star
• Chicago provided unique opportunities for white players to serve apprenticeships in black clubs, for black players to reach white audiences, and for white and black musicians to mingle and work together
• Dylan’s voice had a cutting edge, could love it or hate it, but you could not deny its uniqueness
• Newport, 1965, Dylan went electric on Maggie’s Farm, and in this, we leave the realm of history and enter the realm of myth
• chaos and excitement in the moment
• Dylan did a set, left, came back, the sound was terrible, mostly
• set left some listeners thrilled, some baffled, some fascinated, some angry at him, some angry at other listeners
• performance was halting and disorganized, and he made no attempt to engage with the audience, to excuse the problems, or to distract from the confusion
• many listeners it seemed like a deliberate betrayal or affront
• backstage the feeling of betrayal was even stronger
• Dylan was startled by the audience response, although reports of his reactions are contradictory
• as to the show itself, the reviewers had mixed reactions
• more applause than booing in the electric set
• when he went electric, for some, that was the beginning of the end
• Folk Festival lasted several more years, but it was never the same
• audience choice: they could choose the past or the future, and they chose Seeger
• it was not news that Dylan was the future, the news was that Seeger was the past
• Dylan had no interest in proving he was still part of the precious folk clique
• Dylan was James Dean, Pete was the querulous, emasculated father
• Dylan’s music said rebellion
• they grew louder and more insistent as he pursued (the boos) his first electric tour around the US and Australia and Europe
• Dylan was also picking up an entirely new audience
• covers made Dylan a millionaire
• Dylan’s songwriting opened the door, changing rock and pop lyrics forever, and his rebel persona inspired thousands of other performers
• acoustic or electric, Dylan was an unusual, difficult artist who turned off as many listeners as he turned on
• Blowin in the Wind had always expressed a dream that the world would change when the majority stopped turning its head and heard the cries of the oppressed
• Newport, weekend ended with We Shall Overcome, “we” included not only African Americans and the frontline activists down south but all the right thinking people everywhere
• by 1965 that sense of unity was fraying
• Newport tried to change with the times, but the times were not cooperating
• audience was almost entirely white and middle class
• optimism of the early 60s was slipping away, replaced with a volatile mix of radicalism and alienation
• folk music had been a link to the past, rock was the sound of a new generation
• Dylan going electric was a declaration of independence for what was not yet known as the counterculture
• when rock emerged, and replaced folk as the serious, intelligent voice of a generation
• it was the dawn of the world we have lived in ever since, in which rock musicians are expected to do work that is not only fun and exciting but meaningful and important
• major motorcycle accident later on, he would only give one concert in the next eight years
• democratic, communitarian ideal of a society of equals working together for the common good and the romantic, libertarian ideal of the free individual, unburdened by the constraints of rules or custom
• challenge was to reconcile the two
• Dylan kept exploring new directions
• plays 100 concerts a year
• festival has since become and annual showcase for the burgeoning Americana scene