The song Bob Dylan said “cast doubt on everything”
To Bob Dylan, songwriting is more than just the act of making music. There is something spiritual involved, a component far more powerful than the radio could ever give credit to.
To Dylan, a song is a sort of prayer, or at least a window into society. At the start, he took that literally. Back when he was a protest songwriter, he genuinely believed that putting words to music, or using art to address it, could make a difference.
Pieces like ‘A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall’ that tackle environmentalism and war, or the intensity of a track like ‘The Death Of Emmett Till’ and its confrontation of racism: these are songs Dylan wrote for a purpose. He wasn’t just throwing words together to a tune; instead, he used his gift with caution and intention.
“I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that,” Dylan would later say when he abandoned his post in the protest scene, much to the disappointment of his peers. However, while he might have retreated from outright politics, Dylan’s belief in the power of a song never really faltered.
His books prove that. In The Philosophy Of Modern Song, he traces through a vital playlist of songs that both greatly inspired him as an artist, but also one that he genuinely believes reshaped the world. These are songs that exist as hymns, or historic artefacts in his eyes, capturing an essential message or soundtracking a moment in time.
Some he loves, some he loathes, some he finds tricky – like The Who’s ‘My Generation’.
“This is a song that does no favours for anyone, and casts doubt on everything,” Dylan said at the start of an entire chapter dedicated to the 1965 tune. It’s a completely timeless, looming anthem by now, capturing the attitude of youth at a time when the stereotypical ‘60s hippie optimism was beginning to morph into the angst that would characterise punk. However, it’s that early angst that Dylan takes issue with.
“In this song, people are trying to slap you around, slap you in the face, vilify you. They’re rude, and they slam you down, take cheap shots,” he explained. In his eyes, the world of this song is a miserable and cruel one, continuing, “They don’t like you because you pull out all the stops and go for broke. You put your heart and soul into everything and shoot the works, because you got energy and strength and purpose. Because you’re so inspired they put the whammy on, they’re allergic to you, and they have hard feelings. Just your very presence repels them.”
He doesn’t like that message, or at least he didn’t seem sure about it. To him, a track like that and its depiction of the world confuses things, leading listeners to perhaps doubt the kindness and hope of what’s around them. That’s one reading.
The other is that ‘My Generation’ was simply another rapture of a track, another song that, as Dylan put it, “resemble[s] an epic poem and add[s] to the work’s transcendence”. It was a piece that changed everything, casting doubt on everything that had come before, and leaving music fans and musicians alike wondering what could be next.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.