History Music / BobDylan

* {{Supergroup}}: TheTravelingWilburys, with [[TheBeatles George Harrison]], TomPetty, [[ElectricLightOrchestra Jeff Lynne]] and Roy Orbison.

* KarmaHoudini: inspired by a true story, "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" tells the story of an upperclass white man who kills a poor black woman. This being Baltimore in the 60s, he receives only a six-month sentence.

The other major Bob Dylan reference you might encounter is to his "born again phase," which began with his conversion to Christianity in the late 70s. Attendant to this were a few nostalgic, audience-baiting tours and some angry but lyrically intricate ChristianRock albums. Dylan eventually returned to more secular themes, but has never quite abandoned the doomsaying [[TheEndIsNigh street preacher]] point of view. On the other hand, in his personal life, he's been seen celebrating the [[JewishHolidays High Holidays]] at various [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Chabad Lubavich]] Hasidic congregations; make of that what you will.

Bob Dylan (1941-), born Robert Zimmerman ([[DoNotCallMePaul no, you can't call him that]]), moved from Minnesota to NewYorkCity at age nineteen with a guitar, some flannel shirts, and not much else. He performed folk songs in bohemian Greenwich Village coffee shops and bars with an affected accent, and became a fixture of the local "folk scene"—which doubled as a leftist political circle deeply interested in the CivilRightsMovement. Dylan wrote songs specifically for this group, the most famous being "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." Although these two "protest songs" are still his biggest claim to fame today—he's the guy who "brought politics" into music, somehow—this "topical" phase of his career lasted little more than twelve months.

In the summer 1965, he took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival with some rock musician buddies and an electric guitar. They plugged in, played very loud rock music with crazy-ass lyrics to some angry college kids, and thereby "went electric." It was not a [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks popular decision]] at the time. His image from this period is the most enduring—dark sunglasses indoors, a giant dome of frizzy hair, mod wardrobe, and baked as a belgian waffle.

After a long world tour, full of combative press conferences and booing crowds, Dylan dropped off the radar in 1966, one year prior to the [[TheSixties ''Summer of Love."]] He did not perform at Woodstock (despite - or perhaps ''because of'' - the fact that it took place basically down the road from his house), he did not protest the Vietnam War. Bob Dylan closed out the Sixties via duet with JohnnyCash. He nonetheless remains synonymous with said decade's "turbulence": JimiHendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower" plays over about 70% of all Sixties montages.

The other major Bob Dylan reference you might encounter is to his "born again phase," which began with his conversion to Christianity in the late 70s. Attendant to this were a few nostalgic, audience-baiting tours and some angry but lyrically intricate ChristianRock albums. Dylan eventually returned to more secular themes, but has never quite abandoned the doomsaying [[BadassPreacher street preacher]] point of view. On the other hand, in his personal life, he's been seen celebrating the [[JewishHolidays High Holidays]] at various [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Chabad Lubavich]] Hasidic congregations; make of that what you will.

Dylan still records music, which people still don't really "get," and is once again sacrosanct among music critics and record store employees. As ever, this is mostly on the strength of his lyrics—Dylan is nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature almost every year. Nonetheless, his nasal growl of a singing voice remains a [[YourMileageMayVary point of contention]] among listeners. The stock Bob Dylan joke is that nobody can understand a word he says, and he is usually depicted as talking exactly as he sings.

---->[[TheBible Noah’s great rainbow]]

* ReligionRantSong: The DeconstructiveParody of TheBible in "Jokerman"

* LongTitle: "(Stuck Inside of Mobile with the) Memphis Blues Again", "Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I'll Go Mine)"

** And JohnLennon was convinced "Fourth Time Around" was one directed at TheBeatles.

After a long world tour, full of combative press conferences and booing crowds, Dylan dropped off the radar in 1966, one year prior to the [[TheSixties ''Summer of Love."]] He did not perform at Woodstock (despite - or perhaps ''because'' - the fact that it took place basically down the road from his house), he did not protest the Vietnam War. Bob Dylan closed out the Sixties via duet with JohnnyCash. He nonetheless remains synonymous with said decade's "turbulence": JimiHendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower" plays over about 70% of all Sixties montages.

** Pretty much the entirity of 1997's Time Out of Mind might be counted under this trope: Dylan sounds so depressed and sick of life on this album that some people expressed mild surprise that after recording it he didn't just go and jump off a bridge somewhere.

* NewSoundAlbum: Several. ''Bringing It All Back Home'' definitely qualifies, marking his transition to electric (which, as noted above, pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base). Prior to that, ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' marked his transition from protest songs to impressionistic, expressive lyrics (which, as noted above, also pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base). Then there was the late 60's ''John Wesley Harding'', which took a step back from the heavy pop instrumentation of the previous three albums and went for a much more sparse and accoustic country vibe - followed by ''Nashville Skyline'', which was pretty much full-on country with very straight-forward, unambiguous lyrics (which didn't as much piss people off as somewhat mystify them: the album was part of Dylan's plan to rid himself of the gigantic fan following he was growing quite annoyed with). Significantly, the late 70's ''Slow Train Coming'' marked Dylan's short-lived venture into gospel and Christian rock (which both pissed off ''and'' mystified a substantial portion of his fan base).

** Subverted with ''Slow Train Coming'', ''Saved'' and ''Shot of Love'', Dylan's late 70's/early 80's trilogy of gospel albums.

* NewSoundAlbum: Several. ''Bringing It All Back Home'' definitely qualifies, marking his transition to electric (which, as noted above, pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base). Prior to that, ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' marked his transition from protest songs to impressionistic, expressive lyrics (which, as noted above, pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base).

* CoolShades: As part of his new rockstar image in the mid-60's he was rarely seen without his shades (at least, when not playing in concert).

-->{{Othello}} told Desdemona,
-->"[[ImColdSoCold I'm cold, cover me with a blanket]]
-->By the way, what happened to that [[{{Hamlet}} poisoned wine]]?"
-->She said, "[[SubvertedTrope I gave it to you, you drank it...?]]"

* [=~What's An X Like You Doing In A Y Like This?~=] -- The refrain of "Sweetheart Like You": "What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?"
* WordSaladLyrics: "Desolation Row" is about a lynching. All of it. Really.

Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman ([[DoNotCallMePaul no, you can't call him that]]), moved from Minnesota to NewYorkCity at age nineteen with a guitar, some flannel shirts, and not much else. He performed folk songs in bohemian Greenwich Village coffee shops and bars with an affected accent, and became a fixture of the local "folk scene"—which doubled as a leftist political circle deeply interested in the CivilRightsMovement. Dylan wrote songs specifically for this group, the most famous being "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." Although these two "protest songs" are still his biggest claim to fame today—he's the guy who "brought politics" into music, somehow—this "topical" phase of his career lasted little more than twelve months.

* CanonDiscontinuity: For a while after his conversion to Christianity, he refused to play any of his pre-Gospel songs.

* CloudCuckooLander
* CrapsackWorld: Many of his songs, especially from the early 80s onwards.

* DoNotCallMePaul: You apparently have to get special permission to mention the name "Zimmerman" in his presence. Some people (including, if ''RollingStone'' is to be believed, BarackObama) do get permission.

* EpicRocking: Desolation Row, Highlands, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Joey, and Brownsville Girl are all longer than ten minutes!
* EverybodyMustGetStoned: TropeNamer, from the chorus of "Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35"

* LeFilmArtistique: ''Renaldo and Clara''.

* FullNameUltimatum: At least two other artists[[hottip:* :JohnLennon in "God" and DavidBowie in "Song for Bob Dylan"]] have used the name "Zimmerman" to express their disillusionment with him. TheByrds, on the other hand, used it as a joking retort to Dylan's joking TakeThat in "You Ain't Going Nowhere" ("Zimmerman" fit the melody and rhyme better than "Dylan").

-->--Music/DavidBowie, "Song for Bob Dylan"

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bob_Dylan_Chronicles.jpg

->''Oh, hear this Robert Zimmerman, I wrote a song for you''\\

''Brought a few more people on and put the fear in a whole lot more''\\
- Music/DavidBowie, "Song for Bob Dylan"

** And for some people, his interactions with John Lennon...

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Judas Priest from ''John Wesley Harding''. So awesome that [[JudasPriest this one heavy metal band]] took the name for itself.