EXPLORE THE ARTISTS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED THE MUSIC OF BOB DYLAN: FEATURING WOODY GUTHRIE, ROBERT JOHNSON, JOHNNY CASH, ELVIS PRESLEY AND MORE.
| 1 Original song: 1913 Massacre (Woody Guthrie) Dylan song: Song to Woody (February 1961) |
| Dylan arrived in New York City on January 24, 1961, at the age of 19. His first major composition was written on February 14, barely three weeks later. “I just thought about Woody,” he commented a few years ago, looking back on the writing of this song. “I wondered about him, thought harder and wondered harder. I wrote this song in about five minutes.” The tune of “Song to Woody” is identical to Woody Guthrie’s “1913 Massacre” – but this appropriation is clearly intended as a tribute to his hero. Woody Guthrie (Note 2) is reported to have said to Dylan (who visited the older singer often in hospital): “The words are the important thing. Don’t worry about tunes. Take a tune – sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you’ve got a new tune.” As for the lyrics themselves, there is one couplet which has been adapted from Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty”: Every state in this union, us migrants has been We come with the dust and we go with the wind. Here’s to the hearts and the hands of the men That come with the dust and are gone with the wind. It is worth noting that Dylan casts the second line in the past: unlike most of the folk community at this time, he realized that the world was now drastically different from the dustbowl and depression years that Guthrie had known, and it was going to need drastically different songs to change it. If this was one of the few direct borrowings from Guthrie’s work, then the general debt Dylan owed him was immense. He said himself that he was a “walking Woody Guthrie jukebox” as this time, and he has performed a sizable number of Guthrie songs over the years: “Car Car,” “Come See,” “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,” “Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” “Don’t You Push Me Down,” “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad,” “Grand Coulee Dam,” “The Great Divide,” “The Great Historical Bum,” “Hangknot, Slipknot,” “Hard Traveling,” “Howdido,” “I Ain’t Got No Home,” “I Want It Now,” “Jesus Christ,” “1913 Massacre,” “Pastures of Plenty,” “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Ramblin’ Through the World,” “Ramblin’ Round,” “Ranger’s Command,” “Sally Girl,” “Talkin; Columbia,” “Talkin’ Fish Blues,” “Talkin’ Merchant Marine,” “This Land Is Your Land,” “VD Blues,” “VD City,” “VD Gunner’s Blues” and “VD Waltz,” as well as a great many more traditional songs such as “Buffalo Skinners” that were in Guthrie’s repertoire and are occasionally credited to him. |
Read More at : https://www.expectingrain.com/dok/div/influences.html
EU collection. A truly original artist, Bob Dylan has influenced generations of musicians, but this set takes a look back at the artists that inspired the man himself. This special collector’s edition presents the roots of Dylan, showing his personal journey through Blues, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Country and Folk music while documenting some of the main influences studied and absorbed by the revolutionary singer/songwriter; from Woody Guthrie, Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy to Jerry Butler & the Impressions, from Billy Lee Riley, Buddy Holly and Hank Williams to Larry Williams and the Clancy Brothers, among many others. All of these musical pioneers and influences are gathered here. So listen to these quintessential original recordings and enjoy a collection of songs that continue to reverberate in the work of present day artists, especially Dylan himself. HooDoo Records.
https://www.amazon.com/Influences-Behind-Dylan-VARIOUS-ARTISTS/dp/B006O9MFX6
