Chimes of Freedom

"Chimes of Freedom" is a song by Bob Dylan. It has been covered many times by various artists including Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, and Roger McGuinn. Dylan reportedly based the song on "Chimes Of Trinity," a song passed along by Dave Van Ronk from his grandmother.

Related Topics:
Bob Dylan - Bruce Springsteen - The Byrds - Roger McGuinn - Dave Van Ronk

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is also the title of a book, subtitled The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art, by Mike Marqusee (The New Press, NY, 2003) - the book's purpose, (according to reviewer Mike Davis), is to rescue Dylan's early work "from the condescension of his own later cynicism".

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As Marqusee notes, the song marks a transition between Dylan's earlier "protest song" style (a litany of the down-trodden and oppressed, in the 2nd half of each verse) and his later more free-flowing poetic style (the fusion of images of lightning, storm and bells in the first half)

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The song has often been used as a template as a near-perfect protest song. Most notably, it formed a strong influence (almost to the point of plagiarism) for Billy Bragg's song ideology.

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Chimes of Freedom is also the name of the 1988 live Bruce Springsteen EP featuring Dylan's song. It was released to support the multi-artist tour to support Amnesty International which followed. It also featured three other songs, including a slowed-down acoustic version of Born to Run.

Related Topics:
1988 - EP - Born to Run

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