The Times They Are A-Changin'

The Songs

The Times They Are A-Changin' opens with its title song, one of Dylan's most famous songs and certainly one of his best-known song titles. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September of 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are-A Changin'" had yet to be recorded, but Glover saw its early manuscript. After reading the words "come senators, congressmen, please heed the call," Glover reportedly asked Dylan, "What is this , man?" Dylan allegedly responded, "Well, you know, it seems to be what the people like to hear."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A self-conscious protest song, it's often viewed as a reflection of the generation gap and political divide marking American culture in the 1960's. Dylan, however, disputed this intepretation in 1964, saying "those were the only words I could find to separate aliveness from deadness. It had nothing to do with age." A year later, Dylan would say, "I can't really say that adults don't understand young people any more than you can say big fishes don't understand little fishes. I didn't mean as a statement...It's a feeling."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thirty years after it was first released, "The Times They Are A-Changin'" created some controversy for Dylan when he allowed a Canadian merchant bank to feature it in their advertising campaign.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The Ballad of Hollis Brown" was originally recorded for Dylan's previous album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. That version was rejected and the song was eventually re-recorded for The Times They Are A-Changin'. Described by Clinton Heylin as a "'tragic tale of independence and free will' culled from the folk idiom," it's a grim, rural Gothic story of a father killing his starving family. ("There's seven people dead in a South Dakota farm.")

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"With God on Our Side" was first debuted at New York's Town Hall on April 12th, 1963 (which also happened to be Dylan's debut appearance at that venue). Though it's an original composition, the melody to "With God on Our Side" bears a striking resemblance to an Irish folk tune known as "The Patriot Game". Written by Dominic Behan, "The Patriot Game" was originally introduced to Dylan by Scottish folksinger Nigel Denver. English folksinger Jim McLean recalls Dylan asking him in late 1962, "'What does it mean, Patriot Game?'...I explained - probably lectured him - about Dr. Johnson, who's one of Dominic's favourite writers, and that's where Dominic picked up saying: 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.'" NPR's Tim Riley writes that "With God on Our Side" "manages to voice political savvy mixed with generational naivete" as it "draws the line for those born long enough after World War I to find its issues blurry ('the reasons for fightin'/I never did get') and who view the forgiveness of the World War II Germans as a farce."

Related Topics:
The Patriot Game - NPR

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dylan follows "With God on Our Side" with a soft, understated ballad, "One Too Many Mornings." "It's the sound of someone too smitten by love to harbor regrets, grown too independent to consider a reunion," writes Riley. One of the more celebrated songs on The Times They Are A-Changin', Dylan would dramatically rearrange it on his legendary 1966 concert tour for a full, electric band.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"North Country Blues" tells a story involving the devastating effect of a mining company's decision to outsource its labor to other countries. (Dylan would return to this theme in "Union Sundown" on his 1983 album, Infidels.) It also marks the first time Dylan's written a song exclusively from the point-of-view of a woman, in this case, the wife of an unemployed blue-collar worker.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dylan first premiered "Only A Pawn in Their Game" at a voter registration rally in Greenwood, Mississippi. The song references the murder of Medgar Evers, who was the Mississippi leader of the NAACP. Civil rights activist Bernice Johnson would later tell critic Robert Shelton that "'Pawn' was the very first song that showed the poor white was as victimized by discrimination as the poor black. The Greenwood people didn't know that Pete , Theo and Bobby were well known. (Seeger and Bikel were also present at the registration rally.) They were just happy to be getting support. But they really like Dylan down there in the cotton country."

Related Topics:
Medgar Evers - NAACP - Robert Shelton

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The melody for "Boots of Spanish Leather" was inspired by Martin Carthy's arrangement of the English folk song "Scarborough Fair" (which was also the melodic source of an earlier Dylan composition, "Girl from the North Country"). Dylan learned Carthy's arrangement during his first trip to England in late 1962. After finishing his obligations in England (including a brief appearance in a BBC drama, Madhouse on Castle Street), Dylan traveled to Italy looking for his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, apparently unaware that she had already returned to America (reportedly the same time Dylan left for England). While in Italy, Dylan created an early draft of "Boots of Spanish Leather."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The song tells the story of a woman who is going abroad, and she asks her lover if there's anything she can send back to him. Her lover refuses to answer, even when she insists on sending back something as he is too distraught over her imminent departure; he only wants her to be with him. After she leaves, she eventually writes him a letter where it's implied that she may never return. Her lover believes that her love for him is either fading or already gone, and in the last line of the song, he asks her to send him ""Spanish boots of Spanish leather." Salon.com critic Bill Wyman called the song "an abstract classic and one of the purest, most confounding folk songs of the time."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to Heylin, "When The Ship Comes In" was written in August of 1963 "in a fit of pique, in a hotel room, after his unkempt appearance had led an impertinent hotel clerk to refuse him admission until his companion, Joan Baez, had vouched for his good character." Heylin speculates that "Jenny's Song" from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera was also an inspiration. "As Pirate Jenny dreams of the destruction of all her enemies by a mysterious ship, so Dylan envisages the neophobes being swept aside in 'the hour when the ship comes in.'" Dylan's former girlfriend Suze Rotolo recalls that her "interest in Brecht was certainly an influence on him. I was working for the Circle in the Square Theater and he came to listen all the time. He was very affected by the song that Lotte Lenya's known for, 'Pirate Jenny.'"

Related Topics:
Joan Baez - Threepenny Opera

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Possibly the most focused and precise and persuasive of protest songs," according to Wyman, ""The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" tells the story of a rich tobacco-farm owner (William Zantzinger) who kills his African-American servant (Hattie Carroll). Based on actual events, the song "verges on libelous," according to Heylin, "depicting as a privileged son who killed by striking her with his cane at a Baltimore 'society gathering,' escaping with a nominal sentence because of his political connections. The reality of the case is that 24-year-old Zantzinger got drunk at a party and began tapping people with a wooden carnival cane. One of the people he tapped was a 51-year-old barmaid with an enlarged heart and severe hypertension. When she questioned his need for another drink, he became verbally abusive. Carroll became very upset, and on returning to the kitchen complained about Zantzinger to a co-worker. She then collapsed, and was taken to hospital, where she died the following morning."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Heylin also notes that "the extent of Zantzinger's 'political connections' was a grandfather who had served on the state planning commission in the thirties." Zantzinger was charged with involuntary manslaughter since his actions, according to the courts, contributed to "a tremendous emotional upsurge" that ultimately killed her; he was sentenced to six months in prison and paid $25,000 in damages to Carroll's family. Despite these distortions, Heylin still called the song "a brilliant evocation of the kind of miscarriage of justice the color of a woman's skin could bring... Dylan's 'Vanity of Human Wishes'...a masterpiece of drama and wordplay..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~