Changing Times: The Music and Lyrics of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is a poet and, as the world will gradually come to realize, a great one

...As a poet, at his best, he is arguably as good as [Walt] Whitman and [Emily] Dickinson,

which, in the American tradition. is as good as it gets.

--John Hinchey, Like a Complete Unknown

Ron Loftus
   
http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus

Walton Hall, 144 , x6275

     

rloftus@willamette.edu

    
 

I will be ably assisted by our Writing Center Consultant, Jade Olson (jolson@willamette.edu)

By any measure, Bob Dylan is a remarkable artist whose career has spanned more than 45 years during which more than 50 records have been issued, 31 of them being new recordings.   In this Colloquium, through reading, careful listening to his music, and engaging in critical reflection on his lyrics, we will raise pertinent questions about how artists create and what connections exist between an artist's work and the society and times in which s/he lives.

In the College Colloquium, we learn by three central and related activities: critical reading, reflective discussion and clear writing.   In this sense, IDS 101 orients you to the whole approach to learning in the liberal arts college setting. Therefore, the goal for this course is to help students become more skilled at critical thinking, more effective writers, and more thoughtful and articulate participants in discussion. Since this is not a lecture-based course, you are expected to become an active, engaged learner and manifest responsibility for your own learning.  You are expected to engage with ideas--to think, talk and write about them. To accomplish this, you must do the assigned readings before class--and this includes listening to the appropriate selection of Bob Dylan's music while paying careful attention to the lyrics--and come to class prepared to engage in meaningful discussion of the material.   If you miss a class, you will need to submit a 2-3 page critical reflection on the material under review for that day. This paper must be submitted within a week of your absence.  

Your final grade for this course will be based on three (3) formal papers (55%) and on participation (45%) as measured by attendance, your role in class discussion, small group work, in-class writing, short response papers, and written peer responses to each other's work.   For each of the formal papers, which should engage some aspect of Dylan's work, you will be required to meet with me or with The Writing Center Consultant, Jade Olson, at the Writing Center. The first paper will be worth 15% of your grade; the second and third papers, 20% each.

Since writing is such an important part of this College Colloquium course, please be aware of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Required Texts:

Andy Gill, Don't Think Twice, It's All Right: Bob Dylan, The Early Years (Thunder Mouth Press, 1998)

Paul Williams, Bob Dylan: Performing Artist 1960-1973, The Early Years (Omnibus Press, 2004)

Bob Dylan, Chronicles Volume One (Simon and Schuster, 2004)

Plus numerous PDFs as assigned

Recommended: Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 5th Edition

 

Opening Days Schedule

Aug. 28 4:15-5:30 pm

Introductions, Getting Acquainted;

Questionnaire/Short freewrite on Dylan

March on Washington Aug. 28, 1963

Short In-class reading, Response

Watch DVD No Direction Home (about 15 minutes) Short response

 

WISE and Course Overview
August 29 1:30-3:00 pm

Watch DVD No Direction Home (approx. 15 minutes)

Short Reading: Greil Marcus/Folk Music Revival

Response

 

Meaning in Popular Culture

Read Andy Gill, Don't Think Twice, pp. 9-12
Aug. 30 1:00-2:30 pm

No Direction Home (c. 20 minutes)

First Recording: Bob Dylan (1962)

"Talkin' New York"

"Song to Woody"

C. Ricks "Song to Woody" PDF

Read Gill, 13-17

Williams, pp. xi-xvii and pp. 3-20

Short Response, Discuss

On Bob Dylan's "Voice"
Sept. 1 9:00-10:30 am

Video-clip from CBS 60 Minutes Interview

Short PDF on Poetry from Hinchey, Intro

 

DVD: No Direction Home (c. 30 minutes)

 

 

First Recording: Bob Dylan

Williams, pp. 27-39

Short Response to first record, Discuss

***Monday September 1, 10:30 am-3:00 pm First Year Student Academic Advising and Schedule Confirmation*** If we need to sit down and talk, or make changes to your schedule, there will be appointments that you can sign up for.

Online Lyrics to Bob Dylan Songs arranged by Album (hint, the albums are listed chronologically starting at the lower right and moving to your left).

See also here, here, and here.

See also this site and use the list on the left to click on an album.

Sept. 2 Second Recording: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

 

A link on the folk music revival and excerpts from Suze Rotolo's memoir

No Direction Home : DVD (16 mins) 1:15-1:28

Williams, 43-54

Gill, 18-35

Christopher Ricks' PDF on Oxford Town

 

4 Second Recording: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

Another Ricks PDF on both "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Hard Rain"

Williams, 55-63

PDF "Protest and Affirmation"

 

short response paper due on DVD

Develop the First Paper Topic

 

9 Second Recording: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (finish)

Introduce Third Recording: The Times They Are a Changin' (1964)

Gill, 36-51

Chronicles Volume One, 3-104

 

11 The Times They Are a Changin' (1964)

Williams, 83-107

 

16 The Times They Are a Changin' (finish)

No Direction Home Video -- finish Part I.

 

 

18 Drafting first paper with Peer review

 

23 Fourth Recording: Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

Gill, 52-63

25 Another Side of Bob Dylan

First paper due in class

Williams, 109-122

See PDF by Mike Marqusee

See Sample Set Lists from most recent tour

30 Fifth Recording: Bringing it All Back Home (1965)

Hinchey, 77-106 PDF

See some reviews of Tell Tale Signs

Oct 2 Bringing it All Back Home

Gill, 64-77

Ricks PDF on "Mr. Tambourine Man"

 

7 Bringing it All Back Home

Williams, 123-144

9 Sixth Recording: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Gill, 78-91

Greil Marcus PDF: Like Rolling Stone I

Develop Second Paper Topic: What Kind of Songs are These?

 

14 Highway 61 Revisited

Aidan Day, PDF on "Desolation Row"

Williams, 147-168; (169-184)

Greil Marcus PDF: Like Rolling Stone II

16 More Highway 61

 

 

 

21 Highway 61 Revisited

Hinchey, 21-34 PDF

 

23 Introductory Paragraphs in class

 

 

28 Seventh Recording: Blonde on Blonde (1966)

Gill, 92-107

Williams, 185-195

 

 

30 Finish Blonde on Blonde/UK Tour/Motorcycle Crash

Gill, 108-112

Paper#2 Due

DVD Night for Don't Look Back, etc.

Nov. 4 The Basement Tapes (1967)

Gill, 112-123

Sid Griffin on The Basement Tapes, PDF

Mike Marqusee on The Basement Tapes, PDF

 

6 The Basement Tapes

Williams, 197-236

Greil Marcus, BASEMENT TAPES, PDF

11 Eighth Recording: John Wesley Harding (1967)

Gill, 124-135

13 John Wesley Harding (1967)

Williams, 237-248

 

Greil Marcus: "All Along the Watchtower"

Develop Paper Topic #3: Bob Dylan and American Traditions

Since that point, I more or less had amnesia. Now, you can take that statment as literally or as metaphorically as you need to, but that's what happened to me.

It took me a long time to get to do consciously what I used to do unconsciously.

--Bob Dylan (1978)

Nov. 18 Resurgence: Oh, Mercy (1989), Time Out of Mind (1997)

Chronicles, pp. 107-174

 

Nov. 20 Reflections: Love and Theft (2001) Modern Times (2006)

Chronicles, pp., 174-293

 

 

Day, PDF, "Between Vision and Nightmares"

25 Final Reflectins

Final Papers Due