History of Bob Dylan

This week in class we talked a lot about Bob Dylan and his music. We discussed some songs he wrote and how they came across/ how they affected people. I learned a lot about Bob Dylan and his music this week and was more interested in the history of it then I originally thought I would be. I learned that some of his music was initially not meant to be protest songs, but the way he wrote them, people took to them as protest songs. Bob Dylan had a very large fan base when he was writing his protest songs because it was something that everyone could relate too. It was about stuff that was happening now and everyone had an opinion. Bob Dylan was able to write songs incorporating the way everyone was feeling about the situations occurring so everyone took a liking towards him. It is said that Dylan was only writing protest songs because it was the ‘trend’ and once everything going on had settled, he changed his style of music. He started to use an electric guitar and change his music from folk to something else, and people were unsure of the change. People like consistency and things they are familiar with, so when something changes and its all new, people tend to not give it a chance until others like it. Dylan was his own song writer so his music was more personal than some others around him. He put his feelings into words and even wrote a song to one of his dear old friends during his career. Dylan impacted many peoples lives with his music and had a tendency to use his music to express himself. One song in particular that I was able to listen to that expressed some of Dylans strong feelings was “masters of war”. The song is basically taking a jab at the government for being cowardly and calling the shots and funding the wars, but not actually being involved or dealing with the backlash. Although it was said that Dylan only sang protest songs because it was the trend, I think this song was more than just a song because everyone else was singing about it. Dylan is personally attacking government officials about how they hide behind their desks and pay for all the military expenses but don’t do anything to protect our own. He’s describing that the government will make a call and then deal with the casualties and damage at a later date. Dylan included a line in song about how the government was telling the people that they would win the war even when they weren’t sure themselves. Dylan wrote this song as an exposure of the way the government runs and how they don’t personally have to deal with the outcome of their decisions. Although Dylan wrote this song as a hit towards the government, he didn’t receive any kind of punishment which is surprising considering they don’t like to be called out. Shortly after the wars and everything in protest stopped, Dylan changed his way of music anyways. Dylan has written a lot of music in the years but everyone remembers and respects his music for the 60’s when the protest music was a big deal. People know those songs and still sing along to some of them today.