A Biography of Bob Dylan

The Life of Bob Dylan

A Biography by Heidi Franz

            Born as Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota at the start of World War II, Bob Dylan had a heart full of music. Even when he was only ten years old, he wrote poems and taught himself to play the piano and guitar. In his early twenties, his musical ability came together around the time America was at its hardest moments. The Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and JFK’s assassination. Inspired by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan wrote songs to change the hard times and to make people think about what they were doing. This is how he got there.

            When Bob Dylan graduated from high school in 1959, he moved to the University of Minnesota and decided to become a song writer and singer. He had in his possession an electric guitar, which he traded for an acoustic guitar, which by then he already knew how to play.  That year he picked up his new guitar and started to perform at coffee houses near the college campus. As he continued to do that, he developed the stage name Bob Dylan.

            Soon after that, school got bumped down to a “I don’t care” level, so Bob dropped out of college and headed for New York with two goals—to meet Woody Guthrie, who was his idol and who got Bob into music in the first place, and to become a well-known folk singer at clubs and shows. Back then, New York was the key to fame.

            Bob succeeded at both goals. He started to perform amazing song material at clubs and concerts and hung out with popular song writers. This was the time when Bob wrote his legendary songs of the sixties. One of those was a song for his hero, “Song to Woody”.

            1961 is the year I call “Bobby’s Breakthrough Year”(not to mention my mom was born that year…) He went to Columbia Records and got a contract. His first album was simply called, “Bob Dylan.” In my opinion, this album wasn’t actually his breakthrough, but the next one that same year is what I’m talking about. This album was called “Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan”, and it contained the legendary songs “Blowin in the Wind”, “A Hard Rains A-Gona’ Fall”, and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. Those were some of the most popular folk songs ever written. Bob’s next album was called “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, and it came with Bob’s new protest songs. This album included “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, and many others. But Bob got tired of being “the King” of protest songs. He grew to hate it. His next album contained “It Ain’t Me Babe”, which was his way of saying goodbye to protest/folk music, although he would come back to it later. So after this, the term “folk/rock” was invented, and Bob Dylan was the leader of it.

In 1965, Bobby got hitched. (Everybody go “Awe…”) He married Sara Lownds on Long Island, New York.

His next album “Highway 61 Revisited”, contained “Like A Rolling Stone” that was six minutes long; something never seen before in folk music. Next up was “Blonde on Blonde”. This album has been called the greatest rock album of all-time and it lives up to its name. The most popular song was “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35”.

Our Bobby came close to heaven in 1968. He was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident that caused him to stay home. He wouldn’t tour again for eight years. Although, this let him spend more time with his family. In the end, he and Sara would have four children. The youngest, Jacob Dylan, is the lead singer in the band called “The Wallflowers”.

Bob’s next album release would be “Basement Tapes”. It was nothing near to excellence, but it was a good recovery.  But the album that really got him back in the music game was “John Wesley Harding”. It was a solid piece of work and gave Bob another chance in the music business. Also, people noticed a change in Bob Dylan. No longer was he a poet/songwriter, he was just a songwriter now. Gone were his amazing lyrical songs, and replaced were simple light headed songs. His next album would deeply reflect how he had changed. It was titled “Nashville Skyline”. Bob Dylan’s fans were shocked. They had been expecting the old Dylan back, but instead they had a person who was now singing country. The album was a bust.

 Confused about his future, Bob agreed to compose the score for the movie “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”. The movie flunked, but the soundtrack was a success. The song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” became one of Bob’s greatest hits.

            In 1973, Bob had done a tour, and he seemed regenerated. He was now back to the old Dylan, the great singer/songwriter. But all was not well. He and his wife Sara had separated and made his next album be what is was. It was called “Blood on the Tracks”. It was one of Bob’s most mature albums ever recorded. The songs were well written, and gave a great example of how he felt inside. He was clearly upset by the separation between him and Sara. The album had some great songs, like “Tangled Up in Blue”, “Shelter From the Storm”, and “Idiot Wind”.

            Bob Dylan has been touring regularly since 1973, and still continues today. He has won many Grammy awards for his songs and been on the charts a number of times. In fact, he just recently won a Grammy in 2006. This was, and continues to be, Bob Dylan at his best.