How Bob Dylan borrowed from British traditionalism for his unique sound
In many ways, Bob Dylan stands in music as a pivotal bridge between the later rock and pop tapestry that scored western popular culture and the rich heritage of American art forms that built the country’s musical spine in the early 20th century.
Emerging as the leading figure of the early 1960s folk-revival wave that littered the various coffee shops across Greenwich Village, his earnest acoustic sets would reach into the traditional songbook and cover such archaic numbers as ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and ‘In My Time of Dyin’ in his early years, as well as offer folk numbers that addressed the contemporary concerns of his era.
Dylan would typify the rest of his 60-plus-year career by routinely returning to his nation’s songbook. Whether exploring Rat Pack swing, Christian gospel or Nashville Skyline country, his output is forever anchored in a fascination with music’s voluminous ancestry.
Yet, the steep folk tradition that shaped Dylan has its roots in the centuries-long customs and musical life that scored the working-class life across the British Isles before the Empire or even the formation of Great Britain. Sea shanties, jigs, Morris dancing, and narrative ballads can be traced back to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons after 400 AD. Each part of England nurtured its own take on the vast folk tradition, Yorkshire’s Long Sword Dance, Cornwall’s Red Parties, and East Anglia’s Molly Dances all forming rich building blocks of the country’s folk patchwork.
Transported across the Atlantic during the UK’s colonial reach for the ‘New World’, English folk ensconced itself into the American cultural fabric, informing the heritage songbook mined by the likes of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, and Dylan years later. This was not lost on The Beatles’ John Lennon. Reflecting on his youthful imitations of America’s Black rock ‘n’ roll traditions, Lennon once remarked on Dylan’s borrowing of British traditionalism in his work.
“…most of the country songs basically came from England—Sure they did, Scotland, and Ireland,” Lennon stated. “The basic folk song comes from Europe. So it was just a cultural exchange…I mean, they went to America and Americanised the songs, and they sang about working on the railroads, but all the basic songs…like lots of Dylan’s basic songs are Scottish, Irish, or English folk songs. So that made us feel better. We delved into that side of it.”
In his early days, the Scottish poet Hamish Henderson would inspire ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’, the Anglo-Scottish ‘Lord Randall’ ballad would inform ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’, and ‘Girl From the North Country’ from 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, born from his first visit to the UK and hearing Martin Carthy’s rendition of the 17th-century number ‘Scarborough Fair’. Years later, the 16-minute ‘Highlands’ from 1997’s Time Out of Mind was purported to have been guided by Robert Burns’ romantic lyricism.
The British Isles would continue to play a significant role in the Dylan mythos, the infamous “Judas” accusation hurled at Manchester’s 1966 Free Trade Hall show, and DA Pennebaker‘s acclaimed Don’t Look Back feature documenting Dylan’s 1965 UK tour, including the filming of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ iconic promo video shot in a back alley near London’s Savoy Hotel.
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