For the past two years my life has been heavily influenced by the musical work of Bob Dylan, his work has allowed me to realize how the structure and arrangement of music can deeply affect the meaning of a piece. Before I began my research and discussions with my advisor I had no knowledge of music theory and how those theories form a piece of music. This background of music knowledge has brought a better understanding on how Bob Dylan’s work has been able to be extremely influential throughout his times. Were Bob Dylan’s musical pieces during his protest period influential to the Civil Rights movement lyrically and musically?
When I first began my research, I had no knowledge about how music theory influences music. Without this knowledge, I began my research by reading books that cover the lyrics and historical achievements and meanings of his work. This primary investigation limited my paper to only interpretations of lyrics and historical factors. When I realized that I needed to focus more on the musical theory part of his work, I approached my advisor. My advisor had deep knowledge of music theory and how it helps to carry the meanings of music to the people. We began our investigation into this area by listening to each of the songs discussed in the essay. This investigation helped support my paper with strong theories in music. When all the thorough investigation was completed, I was able to determine that based on musical theories, persuasive lyrics, and historical content, Bob Dylan influenced the Civil Rights Movement musically.

“Sometimes you know things have to change, are going to change, but you can only feel it…-but you don’t know it in a purposeful way.” (Dylan 61, 62) These words came from a man who changed and impacted music in every decade from the sixties till now. This man is portrayed as the “poet-laureate of rock n’ roll” and “voice of the sixties counterculture”, but takes no claim to these. Even though this man does not take claim to what many people and critics have praised him for, the facts and history stay true to him being an architect of the counterculture. His work has been around for forty-five years. During that time he had taken many roads and had either succeeded or failed with different approaches to his music. He always kept his fans wondering, why? He had changed his persona and musical approach in a year. His change is significant and gave support to the times that were changing; the change created emotion and noise that is evident today.
The interesting part is that the music lives on till this day and keeps the emotion alive in many followers of the music. Fans that have followed him from the beginnings still follow every move and take part in live performances of the thriving music. The music has been special to the enthusiast that have followed him from beginning and to those who have opened up to in the past few years. I personally opened up to the music of this man that is known as a “prophet” about two years ago. The way that it had come to me was nothing intentional; it was another moment in my life. My life was influenced and changed when I stumbled upon the music. My encounter with the music is one of many. The music has influenced and has been apart of history not only in the United States of America but in many other countries worldwide.
The man came to life when he was born on May 24, 1941 from his parents Robert and Beatrice Zimmerman. In the Jewish community he was given the name Shabtai Zisel ben Avraham. His grandparents found refuge in America after anti-Semitic pogroms in Odessa, Ukraine. The eight pound and thirteen ounce boy from Hibbing, Minnesota was known as Robert Allen Zimmerman. The town of Hibbing, Minnesota is described by Robert Allen Zimmerman as “There was really nothing there.” The town was a mining town. “The only thing you could do there was be a miner…”
The iron ore poured
As the years passed the door,
The drag lines an' the shovels they was a-humming.
'Til one day my brother
Failed to come home
The same as my father before him.

The music that most fellow town people listened to in Hibbing was songs such as “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?” by Patti Page. Robert Zimmerman spent time changing the dial on his radio to other stations that played African American blues music and country music. He first took part in musical acts and shows after hearing the loud and energetic noise of early rock n’ roll stars. His first bands The Shadow Blasters and The Golden Chords lasted only a few years and played early rock n’ roll covers of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis Pressley. These early shows featured a young Robert Zimmerman playing a piano in a style similar to Little Richard by pounding on the keys.
Zimmerman soon grew up and enrolled at the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1959. In college he traded his electric guitar for a double-O Martin acoustic guitar to pursue another type of music, folk. During this time he found a new idol that would mold Robert Zimmerman into an iconic folk singer. Zimmerman left school after his freshman year and set out to follow in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie. Robert Zimmerman would strike a friendship with the Bound for Glory folk star. They had both inspired each other with lyrics and songs that they had exchanged with each other.

Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things that I'm a-sayin' an' a-many times more.
I'm a-singin' you the song, but I can't sing enough,
'Cause there's not many men that done the things that you've done.

When Robert Allen Zimmerman arrived in Greenwich Village in New York City on January 24, 1961 he was a new man, Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan was another folk singer in the Village that had arrived on a “freight train” that had also been a circus boy, an orphan, a gigolo and a descendent of the Sioux Nation. All of this was false; he had cruised into the city from the Mid-West in a 1957 Chevrolet Impala, a four door sedan.
I swung on to my old guitar,
Grabbed hold of a subway car,
And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride,
I landed up on the downtown side;
Greenwich Village.

This new folk singer in the city was first publicized by The New York Times as “A bright new face in folk music…” After that he signed on with John Hammond of Columbia Records. His first album, Dylan, was released with thirteen hard pounding folk songs, some traditional covers and a few original. Soon after the release of his next few albums, Bob Dylan would become known as “The voice of a generation.”
These next albums were composed of original folk songs, but are recognized for their topical or protest songs. These songs penned by Bob Dylan were the words of what was happening at the time especially with the civil-rights movement. The years from 1962 to 1975 established his roots as a protest singer. The purpose of the research is to verify that Bob Dylan’s musical pieces during his protest period were influential to the Civil Rights movement lyrically and musically. During the time of the early fifties, sixties, and seventies many African Americans were being murdered, and this brought up questions among the citizens in the Untied States. The questions emerged and would spread with the political songs from Dylan’s music in these years.

1962-1963

Bob Dylan’s protest pieces that sparked awareness are usually considered to be Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin’, but the groundbreaker to the success of the songs occurred with a story about a young black boy. Dylan took concern when he read about the brutal killing of a fourteen year old African American boy named Emmett Till. Emmett Till was staying at his great uncle’s house in the summer of 1955. In a local store, Till told his friends that he had a white girl friend back home. His friends challenged him to talk to a white lady that was in the school. He said, “Bye, baby.” The woman was Carolyn Bryant, a married white woman whose husband, Roy, was coming home from a trip.
Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.
They said they had a reason, but I can't remember what.
They tortured him and did some evil things too evil to repeat.
There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing sounds out on the street.

The news had spread through town, and on the night of August 27, 1955 Roy Bryant kidnapped Till from his room. Emmett Till was brutally murdered that night. At first he was beaten then dumped into the Tallahatchie River being weighed down by a fan around his neck. The missing body of Emmett Till brought on suspicion from the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People.
The lyrics of the Dylan’s song “The Death of Emmett Till” were very bold and descriptive outlining the details behind the race killing. The lyrics bring out the images of how the white man was amused by the ability to beat the young black boy. Many American citizens wanted to see a trial, but were not ready to take action. The best part of the song is that it captured the anger that came out of the death. This anger would be present in the delivery of the song when sung live in the village. The song expressed the corruption behind the murders, “But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this awful crime, And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.” The song was sung in traditional folk style, keying rhythmically of the vocals.
These songs were influenced by the Civil Rights movement, especially with the death of Emmett Till sparking the movement. The biggest influence for writing his first protest song, Suze Rotolo, was a from a left wing activist who worked for the Congress of Racial Equality. Dylan and Rotolo shared interest in Civil Rights and other social issues and felt that there was change coming and it needed to be taken head on. The influence of “The Death of Emmett Till” was not as wide spread since it did not make the cut on Dylan’s second album The Freewheelin’. The song was a staple among early performances in the years 1962 and 1963.
The style of guitar playing that Dylan chooses to use is very similar to that of the Southern United States making the song ironic since it is based on the death of Emmitt Till and the mockery of his trial in the Southern white town. He also uses the musical style of musical storytelling in the south by using very stationary chord usages during the verses and changing chords in the chorus to indicate that there is a new part to the story.

1964
The year of 1964 was just another year for opportunity to speak out about the change that was happening. The year of 1963 ended with the most influential movements in the Civil Rights Movement. On August 28, 1963, civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march brought many people together, black and white, to listen to speeches and stories about freedom. The most notorious speech was King’s “I Have a Dream”. Sixty-four had also been another important year to Bob Dylan’s protest singing and writing. With all the events happening, it was easy to start writing and singing about what was happening. Dylan released his third album that year, The Times They Are A-Changin’. The album is considered the most successful to Dylan’s impact on the Civil Rights movement since it contained three important songs about race killings and change.
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

The opening track on the album and most important that captured the change was simply titled “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The song called upon the people, writers, critics, congressman, senators, mothers, and fathers to realize that there is something to look forward to. The song calls upon the government to not “stand in the doorways” and to not “block up the hall”. The delivery of the song was the strong in the early sixties; the song affected other artist inspiring themselves to cover the song.
The line “For the times they are a-changin’” is important to look at since it tells when the change is happening. This line states that the change is happening and is in progress at that certain time in history. The lyrics contain many uses of the pliant –in’ added to verbs: savin’, swimmin’, and changin’. These all restore the importance of that the change is in progress when the song is delivered to an audience. The main thought derived from the song is that the Civil Rights movement is what is happening and is going to be happening during the sixties. The movement is going to draw a line and cast new meaning on life in America.
The musical approach by Bob Dylan to the song is very unique because it captures the meaning that there is change that is going to happen. The time signature that Dylan chooses to sing the song is what musicians consider a “compound” time signature. This time signature involves using both a duple feel and a triple meter. The effect of this allows the piece to change itself because it can not be easily described in either a duple or triples time. This work creates instability; according to the Civil Rights Movement, the unfair treatment of anyone was an unstable situation that needed to be fixed.
William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.

Many of Dylan’s protest songs focus on the justice that is to be brought to the Civil Rights cases that he writes and sings about. During this time Dylan had been playing many of his protest songs during rallies and folk gatherings where young followers would gather. Another important song that focused on race killings was “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”. The song focused on the injustice that affected many African Americans. The song focuses on the injustice with the tone. The tone of the author, Dylan, shows anger. The tone is captured by the lyrics being written as a newspaper story. The song tells of a black bar maid, Hattie Carroll, who was killed by a wealthy white man, William Zantzinger. She was beaten by Zantzinger after not delivering a drink to him immediately. She died the next morning, and Zantzinger was charged with murder. The charge was dropped to manslaughter since Hattie Carroll had hardened arteries and high blood pressure. The song stresses that the social ranking of Zantzinger was high and helped him to receive a lesser sentence of six months.

But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” appeared on the same album as “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and calls upon the critics too. These critics are the ones who “philosophize” the fear of de-segregation and use their wealth to escape justice. The impact of the song is that is clearly states the facts of the brutal killing of an innocent black woman. The song most effectively showed how the courts had no strong position on Civil Rights, and would do the least to please the public.
The approach by Dylan in “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” is simpler than the other songs. The chord usage of this piece indicates a minor key. Minor keys are seen as being used for sadness and regret. This song tells a sad story and the chords in the piece add to the sad song being sung.
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood.
A finger fired the trigger to his name.
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man's brain
But he can't be blamed
He's only a pawn in their game.

The third song from the 1964 album The Times They Are A-Changin that influenced the Civil Rights the most is “Only A Pawn In Their Game”. The song focuses on another race killing, and in every word focuses the blame on the killer. The song also tells how the white man is not the main cause of the killing, but the infrastructure that supported segregation in the South. The first time Bob Dylan had traveled to the South, he performed the song in Mississippi during a black-voter-registration rally. The most notable performance of the song was at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dylan performed the song live on the Lincoln Memorial alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and in front of many believers of the Civil Rights Movement. This performance is important because he took on his fame as “The voice of a generation”. He was looked up to by the middle class white American who believed in the movement and middle class activist. The song would soon inspire Dylan to pen “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid,
And the marshals and cops get the same,
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool.
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

The song “Only A Pawn In Their Game” tells the facts about a definite blow to the Civil Rights movement, the killing of Medgar Evars. Dylan approach to the song is similar to that of “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” which was written later. Dylan implemented lines in the song that would resemble a news article. The lyrics tell how the Southern state’s law, like Mississippi, was corrupt and favored the wealthy white man. In the end, Dylan deliberately reveals that the Southern politicians, sheriffs, soldiers, cops, and governors are the ones who play the game.
The chord progressions used in this song about Medgar Evars set a speech like pattern by repetitive chords being played with the same rhyming scheme. The gives the listener the feeling that all the lyrics are linked together, as a speech would be to a large crowd. His chord progression choice puts the listener in a speech like mind set which is also a technique of politicians in order to forward their platform. When he sung about the politicians, the repetitive chords used changed very slightly meaning that some politicians were really making a speech about the Civil Rights and some were making one for their own political gain. The slight change in the chords means that mostly the chords and politicians are there for the same reason and some are there for their own good.

1976
Twelve years later after Bob Dylan had released the album The Times They Are A-Changin’, he would not be known as a protest singer. Dylan had gone down many roads and headed into many directions, but would soon come to his roots as a protest singer. Dylan’s popularity as a Civil Rights activist was notable when Rubin “Hurricane” Carter had sent Dylan his autobiography “because of his prior commitment to the civil rights struggle.” Dylan had read the autobiography of Carter’s and connected with the story.
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was notorious for being an African American middleweight boxer. But the downfall occurred after two African American males robbed the Lafayette Bar in Paterson, New Jersey and killed three people in the bar. The first on the scene was Alfred Bello followed by resident Patricia Valentine. Valentine reported to the cops that the killers had fled in a white car, that night Rubin Carter and a friend where traveling in a white car. The rest of the story is told in the song, since Dylan uses his common technique again in “Hurricane”. “Hurricane” was not easy for Dylan to write since the emotion was building in him. Dylan focused was able to focus on the song and opened up with a front page stories heading similar to his previous songs about race killings.

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

The song would become the most significant of all of his songs about the Civil Rights movement since its effectiveness is evident. Dylan’s meeting with Carter in Jail persuaded him to release the song and release Carter from the Rahway State Prison. The song was the album opener on Dylan’s first number one album, Desire. The song would be an essential number on Dylan’s 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue Tour. A benefit concert on December 8th, 1975 ended the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour with a five-hour show known as “The Night of the Hurricane”. Many notable Civil Rights activist attended the show and supported the efforts to “free Hurricane”. After “The Night of the Hurricane”, the song “Hurricane” was never performed again. The efforts helped Carter receive another trial and bail, but Carter would soon be convicted again. Carter was finally released in 1985 when his conviction was overturned since it was declared to be based on “racism rather than reason.”
When compared to “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, the music does not have the unstable feeling like “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The time signature is a strict pattern of 4/4, but is sung by Dylan in what would be considered a “spiritual” way. This form of singing uses moans and bends of the voice; this technique is a trademark of African-American vocal trends. The song borrows some of the most common vocal techniques of slaves used, pushing forward his focus on the Civil Rights Movement.
Music is one of the most important sources of communication since it is widely recognized and respected in all different forms and genres. The importance of music has definitely impacted one of the most influential movements in American history. The Civil Rights movement brought the idea that race should not be a factor to determine the rights of a citizen. Many speeches and marches may have been made, but the music that came from the ideas behind the speeches was the most important. With the wide audience of radios and performances Bob Dylan was able to make an impact on the Civil Rights movement.
Dylan had taken the news on race killings and injustice associated with African Americans to the radio waves and to the white middle class man. Dylan’s songs and lyrics took the stories of the killings of Emmett Till, Hattie Carroll, and Medgar Evars and opened them to the public in a way of expression that would deeply affect people. “Hurricane” is the most influential of all the protest songs based on the Civil Rights movement because it was able to prevent any more unjust killings on a wrongly convicted African American. Even though it took more than ten years to officially release Ruben Carter, Carter’s story was able to make public the stories behind the corrupt judicial system that target African Americans.
The stories that were told in all of Dylan’s protest songs can never be lost. Most of the songs are performed in Dylan’s recent performances. The Civil Rights movement was successful in bringing equal rights to African Americans, but the knowing that it will be effective forever is a question. The music of Dylan can only be read and performed in so many ways, it is up to the follower and activist to keep the effectiveness of Dylan’s songwriting working to focus on Civil Rights issues.

Documentation

Dylan, Bob. Chronicles: Volume One. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004.

Gray, Michael. The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2006.

Ricks, Christopher. Dylan’s Vision of Sin. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2003.

Williamson, Nigel. The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan. New York, NY: Rough Guides, 2006.