Thursday, January 13, 2011
Bob Dylan's Transformation
Much of Thursday's lecture revolved around the authenticity and sincerity of protest songs. By giving the example of Barry McGuire/PF Sloan's song Eve of Destruction, Fink pointed out that folk signifiers such a acoustic guitar and harmonica were used. Did Dylan change his style to include the sounds of electric guitar, percussion, and kazoo in his ironic song "Highway 61 Revisited" to mock such songs? Was this his way of distancing himself from phonies like McGuire who stole his original sound and made his songs sound cliche?
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Well like Fink mentioned, it was Dylan's form of protest. I think that Dylan was drawn to folk because of its originality/authenticity and the fact that he could form it into his unique style. Once he lost his uniqueness to other insincere copycats, he went for a new style. You can only stay the same for so long. New times make for new styles.
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