Chimes of Freedom
Encyclopedia
"Chimes of Freedom" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan
and featured on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan
(see 1964 in music
), produced
by Tom Wilson. It was written in early 1964 and was influenced by the symbolist poetry of Arthur Rimbaud
. The song depicts the feelings and thoughts of the singer and his companion as they wait out a lightning storm
under a doorway. The singer expresses his solidarity with people who are downtrodden or otherwise treated unjustly, and believes that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them. Music critic Paul Williams
has described the song as Dylan's Sermon on the Mount
. The song has been covered many times by different artists, including The Byrds
, Jefferson Starship
, Youssou N'Dour
, Bruce Springsteen
and U2
.
" album in early 1964 during a road trip
that Dylan took across America with musician Paul Clayton, journalist Pete Karman, and road manager
Victor Maimudes. It was written at about the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man
", which is similarly influenced by the symbolism of Arthur Rimbaud
. There are conflicting stories about exactly when during the trip this song was written. One story is that Dylan wrote the song on a portable typewriter in the back of a car the day after visiting civil rights activists Bernice Johnson
and Cordell Reagon
in Atlanta, Georgia
. However, a handwritten lyric sheet from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Toronto, Canada that was reproduced in The Bob Dylan Scrapbook 1956-1966 indicates that this story cannot be entirely true. Dylan was in Toronto, Canada in late January and early February, before the road trip on which the song was supposedly written. So, although parts of the song may have been written on the road trip, Dylan had started working on the song earlier. The first public performance of the song took place in early 1964, either at the Civic Auditorium in Denver on February 15, or at the Berkley Community Theater in San Francisco on February 22. "Chimes of Freedom" was an important part of Dylan's live concert
repertoire throughout most of 1964, although by the latter part of that year he had ceased performing it and would not perform it again until 1987, when he revived the song for concerts with the Grateful Dead
and with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
.
The master take
of the song was recorded by Dylan, with Tom Wilson producing, during the recording sessions
for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album on June 9, 1964. It took seven takes before Dylan got the song right, even though it was one of only three songs that he recorded during the session that he had already performed in front of a concert audience.
Music critic Paul Williams
has described the song as Dylan's Sermon on the Mount
. The song is a lyrical expression of feelings evoked while watching a lightning storm
. The singer and a companion are caught in a thunderstorm in mid-evening and the pair of them duck into a doorway, where they are both transfixed by one lightning flash after another. The natural phenomena of thunder and lightning appear to take on auditory and ultimately emotional aspects to the singer, with the thunder experienced as the tolling of bells and the lightning bolts appearing as chimes. Eventually, the sights and sounds in the sky become intermixed in the mind of the singer, as evidenced by the lines:
Over the course of the song the sun slowly rises and the lyrics can be interpreted as a proclamation of the hope that as the sky clears after a difficult night, all the world's people will rise together to proclaim their survival to the sound of the church bells.
In Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art
, author Mike Marqusee notes that the song marks a transition between Dylan's earlier protest song
style (a litany of the down-trodden and oppressed, in the second half of each verse) and his later more free-flowing poetic style (the fusion of images of lightning, storm and bells in the first half). In this later style, which is influenced by 19th century French symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud
, the poetry is more allusive, filled with "chains of flashing images." In this song, rather than support a specific cause as in his earlier protest songs, he finds solidarity with all people who are downtrodden or otherwise treated unjustly, including unwed mothers, the disabled, refugees, outcasts, those unfairly jailed, "the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked," and, in the final verse, "the countless confused, accused, misused, strung out ones and worse" and "every hung-up person in the whole wide universe." By having the chimes of freedom toll for both rebels and rakes, the song is more inclusive in its sympathies than previous protest songs, such as "The Times They Are A-Changin'
", written just the prior year. After "Chimes of Freedom", Dylan's protest songs no longer depicted social reality in the black and white terms he renounces in "My Back Pages
" but rather use satirical
surrealism
to make their points.
The assassination of U.S. President
, John F. Kennedy
, is one possible inspiration for Dylan starting the song. Although Dylan has denied that this is the case, he did draft a number of poems in the fall of 1963 in the aftermath of Kennedy's death and one of those poems in particular, a short six line piece, appears to contain the genesis for "Chimes of Freedom":
Kennedy was killed on a Friday, and the cathedral bells in the poem would have been the church bells heralding his death. Using a storm as a metaphor for the death of a president is similar to Shakespeare's
use of a storm in King Lear
. By the time Dylan wrote the first draft of "Chimes of Freedom" the following February, it contained many of the elements of this poem, except that the crippled ones and the blind were changed to "guardians and protectors of the mind." In addition, the cathedral bells had become the "chimes of freedom flashing", as seen by two lovers finding shelter in a cathedral doorway.
Besides Rimbaud's sybolism, the song is also influenced by the alliterative poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, the poetic vision of William Blake
and the violent drama, mixed with compassion and romantic language, of William Shakespeare
. In addition, Dylan had used rain as a symbol in earlier songs, such as "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
". In his memoir, folk musician Dave Van Ronk
claimed that the song was influenced by an old sentimental ballad, "Chimes of Trinity" by Michael J. Fitzpatrick, which Dave Van Ronk had introduced to Dylan.
Despite the song's appeal to cover artists, it has appeared sparingly on Dylan's compilation
and live album
s. It was, however, included on the 1967 European compilation album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2. A recording of Dylan performing the song at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival
was included on the compilation album, The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
. The same performance can also be seen on the 2007 DVD The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
. A version sung by Dylan and Joan Osborne
appears on the original television soundtrack album, The 60's.
As of 2009, Dylan continues to perform "Chimes of Freedom" in concert, although he did not play the song live during the 23 years between late 1964 and 1987. In 1993 Dylan played the song in front of the Lincoln Memorial
as part of Bill Clinton
's inauguration as U.S. president.
included a recording of "Chimes of Freedom" on their 1965 debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man
. The song was the last track to be recorded for the album but the session
was marred by conflict and drama. After the band had completed the song's instrumental
backing track, guitarist
and harmony vocalist
David Crosby
announced that he wasn't going to sing on the recording and was instead leaving the studio for the day. The precise reason for Crosby's refusal to sing the song has never been adequately explained but the ensuing fracas between the guitarist and the band's manager
, Jim Dickson, ended with Dickson sitting on Crosby's chest, telling him "The only way you're going to get through that door is over my dead body...You're going to stay in this room until you do the vocal." According to a number of people present in the studio that day, Crosby burst into tears but eventually completed the song's harmony part with sterling results. Dickson himself noted in later years that his altercation with Crosby was a cathartic moment in which the singer "got it all out and sang like an angel."
The song went on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert
repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. The band also performed the song on the television program
s Hullabaloo
and Shindig!
, as well as including it in their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
. The Byrds' performance of "Chimes of Freedom" at Monterey can be seen in the 2002 The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
DVD
box set. The song was also performed by a reformed line-up of The Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn
, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman
in January 1989. In addition to its appearance on Mr. Tambourine Man, "Chimes of Freedom" has appeared on several Byrds' compilation albums, including The Byrds' Greatest Hits
, The Byrds Play Dylan
, The Very Best of The Byrds
, and The Essential Byrds
.
, Jefferson Starship
, Youssou N'Dour
, Joan Osborne
, Bruce Springsteen
and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
. Although U2
have never released a recording of the song, they played it live in concert during the late 1980s. Bruce Springsteen
's cover version managed to reach #16 on the Billboard
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1988, although it was never released as a single. It was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 3, 1988, when Springsteen performed it during his Tunnel of Love Express tour. Springsteen used the performance to announce before a worldwide radio audience his role in the upcoming Human Rights Now! tour to benefit Amnesty International
and mark the fortieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
. The song was subsequently released as the title track of the live Chimes of Freedom
EP
. Springsteen's performance is rousing and fervent, transforming the song into a ringing anthem for the full E Street Band
, without losing the power of the words evident in Dylan's own solo performance. On the Human Rights Now! tour itself, Springsteen led a group performance of "Chimes of Freedom" featuring the other artists on the tour: Tracy Chapman
, Sting, Peter Gabriel
, and Youssou N'Dour
, with each taking turns on the song's verses.
Jefferson Starship
covered the song on their 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
, with Paul Kantner
, David Freiberg
and Cathy Richardson
on vocals. Additionally, the Senegal
ese musician Youssou N'Dour
recorded an unusual cover version of the song, in which he treated the song as an anthem for the many people in Africa struggling to survive. The melody of "Chimes of Freedom" was deliberately borrowed by Billy Bragg
for the song "Ideology", from his third album, Talking with the Taxman about Poetry
, with Bragg's chorus "above the sound of ideologies clashing" echoing Dylan's "we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing". In addition, the Bon Jovi
song "Bells of Freedom", from their Have a Nice Day
album, is somewhat reminiscent of "Chimes of Freedom" in structure. Neil Young
's song "Flags of Freedom" from his Living with War
album mentions Dylan by name and melodically recalls the tune and verse structure of "Chimes of Freedom", though Young is listed as the song's only writer. The British band Starry Eyed and Laughing
took their name from the opening line of the song's final verse.
"Chimes of Freedom" is one of seven Dylan songs whose lyrics were reset for soprano
and piano (or orchestra) by John Corigliano
for his song cycle
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and featured on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released August 8, 1964 by Columbia Records....
(see 1964 in music
1964 in music
-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....
), produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Tom Wilson. It was written in early 1964 and was influenced by the symbolist poetry of Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
. The song depicts the feelings and thoughts of the singer and his companion as they wait out a lightning storm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
under a doorway. The singer expresses his solidarity with people who are downtrodden or otherwise treated unjustly, and believes that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them. Music critic Paul Williams
Paul Williams (Crawdaddy! creator)
Paul Williams is an American music journalist and writer. Williams created the first national US magazine of rock music criticism :Crawdaddy! in January 1966 on the campus of Swarthmore College with the help of some of his fellow science fiction fans...
has described the song as Dylan's Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. The song has been covered many times by different artists, including The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
, Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
.
Bob Dylan's version
"Chimes of Freedom" was written shortly after the release of "The Times They Are a-Changin'The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
" album in early 1964 during a road trip
Road trip
A road trip is any journey taken on roads, regardless of stops en route. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile.-Pre-automobile road trips:...
that Dylan took across America with musician Paul Clayton, journalist Pete Karman, and road manager
Road manager
In music industry, a Road Manager is a person who works with small to mid-sized tours...
Victor Maimudes. It was written at about the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
", which is similarly influenced by the symbolism of Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
. There are conflicting stories about exactly when during the trip this song was written. One story is that Dylan wrote the song on a portable typewriter in the back of a car the day after visiting civil rights activists Bernice Johnson
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Bernice Johnson Reagon is a singer, composer, scholar, and social activist, who founded the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1973.-Early life and education:...
and Cordell Reagon
Cordell Reagon
Cordell Hull Reagon was an American singer. He was the founding member of the Freedom Singers of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and a leader of the Albany Movement during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. However, a handwritten lyric sheet from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Toronto, Canada that was reproduced in The Bob Dylan Scrapbook 1956-1966 indicates that this story cannot be entirely true. Dylan was in Toronto, Canada in late January and early February, before the road trip on which the song was supposedly written. So, although parts of the song may have been written on the road trip, Dylan had started working on the song earlier. The first public performance of the song took place in early 1964, either at the Civic Auditorium in Denver on February 15, or at the Berkley Community Theater in San Francisco on February 22. "Chimes of Freedom" was an important part of Dylan's live concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
repertoire throughout most of 1964, although by the latter part of that year he had ceased performing it and would not perform it again until 1987, when he revived the song for concerts with the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
and with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
.
The master take
Take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.-Film:In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup"...
of the song was recorded by Dylan, with Tom Wilson producing, during the recording sessions
Studio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album on June 9, 1964. It took seven takes before Dylan got the song right, even though it was one of only three songs that he recorded during the session that he had already performed in front of a concert audience.
Music critic Paul Williams
Paul Williams (Crawdaddy! creator)
Paul Williams is an American music journalist and writer. Williams created the first national US magazine of rock music criticism :Crawdaddy! in January 1966 on the campus of Swarthmore College with the help of some of his fellow science fiction fans...
has described the song as Dylan's Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. The song is a lyrical expression of feelings evoked while watching a lightning storm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
. The singer and a companion are caught in a thunderstorm in mid-evening and the pair of them duck into a doorway, where they are both transfixed by one lightning flash after another. The natural phenomena of thunder and lightning appear to take on auditory and ultimately emotional aspects to the singer, with the thunder experienced as the tolling of bells and the lightning bolts appearing as chimes. Eventually, the sights and sounds in the sky become intermixed in the mind of the singer, as evidenced by the lines:
- As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds,
- Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing.
Over the course of the song the sun slowly rises and the lyrics can be interpreted as a proclamation of the hope that as the sky clears after a difficult night, all the world's people will rise together to proclaim their survival to the sound of the church bells.
In Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art
Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art
Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art is a major work on the music and politics of Bob Dylan, written by Mike Marqusee ....
, author Mike Marqusee notes that the song marks a transition between Dylan's earlier protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
style (a litany of the down-trodden and oppressed, in the second half of each verse) and his later more free-flowing poetic style (the fusion of images of lightning, storm and bells in the first half). In this later style, which is influenced by 19th century French symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, the poetry is more allusive, filled with "chains of flashing images." In this song, rather than support a specific cause as in his earlier protest songs, he finds solidarity with all people who are downtrodden or otherwise treated unjustly, including unwed mothers, the disabled, refugees, outcasts, those unfairly jailed, "the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked," and, in the final verse, "the countless confused, accused, misused, strung out ones and worse" and "every hung-up person in the whole wide universe." By having the chimes of freedom toll for both rebels and rakes, the song is more inclusive in its sympathies than previous protest songs, such as "The Times They Are A-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
", written just the prior year. After "Chimes of Freedom", Dylan's protest songs no longer depicted social reality in the black and white terms he renounces in "My Back Pages
My Back Pages
"My Back Pages" is a song written by Bob Dylan and included on his 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan. It is stylistically similar to his earlier folk protest songs and features Dylan's voice with an acoustic guitar accompaniment...
" but rather use satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
to make their points.
The assassination of U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, is one possible inspiration for Dylan starting the song. Although Dylan has denied that this is the case, he did draft a number of poems in the fall of 1963 in the aftermath of Kennedy's death and one of those poems in particular, a short six line piece, appears to contain the genesis for "Chimes of Freedom":
- the colors of friday were dull
- as the cathedral bells were gently burnin'
- strikin for the gentle
- strikin for the kind
- strikin for the crippled ones
- and strikin for the blind.
Kennedy was killed on a Friday, and the cathedral bells in the poem would have been the church bells heralding his death. Using a storm as a metaphor for the death of a president is similar to Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
use of a storm in King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
. By the time Dylan wrote the first draft of "Chimes of Freedom" the following February, it contained many of the elements of this poem, except that the crippled ones and the blind were changed to "guardians and protectors of the mind." In addition, the cathedral bells had become the "chimes of freedom flashing", as seen by two lovers finding shelter in a cathedral doorway.
Besides Rimbaud's sybolism, the song is also influenced by the alliterative poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, the poetic vision of William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
and the violent drama, mixed with compassion and romantic language, of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. In addition, Dylan had used rain as a symbol in earlier songs, such as "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is a song written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. It was first recorded in Columbia Records' Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The lyric structure is based on the question and answer form of the traditional ballad "Lord...
". In his memoir, folk musician Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
claimed that the song was influenced by an old sentimental ballad, "Chimes of Trinity" by Michael J. Fitzpatrick, which Dave Van Ronk had introduced to Dylan.
Despite the song's appeal to cover artists, it has appeared sparingly on Dylan's compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
and live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
s. It was, however, included on the 1967 European compilation album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2. A recording of Dylan performing the song at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
was included on the compilation album, The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack is the third most recent installment in the Bob Dylan "Bootleg Series" of rare and/or officially unissued recordings....
. The same performance can also be seen on the 2007 DVD The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
The Other Side of the Mirror (film)
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival is a 2007 documentary film about Bob Dylan's appearances at the Newport Folk Festival in three successive years: 1963, 1964, and 1965, directed by Murray Lerner....
. A version sung by Dylan and Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...
appears on the original television soundtrack album, The 60's.
As of 2009, Dylan continues to perform "Chimes of Freedom" in concert, although he did not play the song live during the 23 years between late 1964 and 1987. In 1993 Dylan played the song in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
as part of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's inauguration as U.S. president.
The Byrds' version
The ByrdsThe Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
included a recording of "Chimes of Freedom" on their 1965 debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man (album)
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
. The song was the last track to be recorded for the album but the session
Studio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
was marred by conflict and drama. After the band had completed the song's instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
backing track, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and harmony vocalist
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
announced that he wasn't going to sing on the recording and was instead leaving the studio for the day. The precise reason for Crosby's refusal to sing the song has never been adequately explained but the ensuing fracas between the guitarist and the band's manager
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
, Jim Dickson, ended with Dickson sitting on Crosby's chest, telling him "The only way you're going to get through that door is over my dead body...You're going to stay in this room until you do the vocal." According to a number of people present in the studio that day, Crosby burst into tears but eventually completed the song's harmony part with sterling results. Dickson himself noted in later years that his altercation with Crosby was a cathartic moment in which the singer "got it all out and sang like an angel."
The song went on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. The band also performed the song on the television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s Hullabaloo
Hullabaloo (TV series)
Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 through August 29, 1966. Similar to Shindig! it ran in prime time in contrast to ABC's American Bandstand.-Overview:...
and Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
, as well as including it in their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
. The Byrds' performance of "Chimes of Freedom" at Monterey can be seen in the 2002 The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop
Monterey Pop is a 1968 concert film by D. A. Pennebaker that documents the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967. Among Pennebaker's several camera operators were fellow documentarians Richard Leacock and Albert Maysles...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set. The song was also performed by a reformed line-up of The Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
in January 1989. In addition to its appearance on Mr. Tambourine Man, "Chimes of Freedom" has appeared on several Byrds' compilation albums, including The Byrds' Greatest Hits
The Byrds' Greatest Hits
The Byrds' Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in August 1967 on Columbia Records . It is the top-selling album in The Byrds' catalogue and reached #6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart but failed to break into the UK Albums Chart...
, The Byrds Play Dylan
The Byrds Play Dylan
The Byrds Play Dylan is the name of two compilation albums by the American rock band The Byrds, one released in 1979 and the other issued in 2002. As their titles suggest, each compilation consists of interpretations of Bob Dylan penned songs, which The Byrds recorded at different stages of their...
, The Very Best of The Byrds
The Very Best of The Byrds
The Very Best of The Byrds is a compilation album by the American rock band The Byrds, released by Columbia Records in 1997. Initially the compilation was only released in Europe but as of 2006, the album has seen some release in the U.S...
, and The Essential Byrds
The Essential Byrds
-Disc one:#"Mr. Tambourine Man" – 2:31#"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" – 2:32#"All I Really Want to Do" – 2:04#"Chimes of Freedom" – 3:51...
.
Other covers
"Chimes of Freedom" has also been covered by artists as diverse as Phil CarmenPhil Carmen
Phil Carmen is a Swiss musician and producer of Canadian heritage.-Early career:...
, Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
, Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
, Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was an American psychedelic rock band of the late 1960s, based in Los Angeles, California.-History:...
. Although U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
have never released a recording of the song, they played it live in concert during the late 1980s. Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's cover version managed to reach #16 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1988, although it was never released as a single. It was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 3, 1988, when Springsteen performed it during his Tunnel of Love Express tour. Springsteen used the performance to announce before a worldwide radio audience his role in the upcoming Human Rights Now! tour to benefit Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and mark the fortieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
. The song was subsequently released as the title track of the live Chimes of Freedom
Chimes of Freedom (EP)
Chimes of Freedom is the name of a 1988 live Bruce Springsteen EP. It was released to support the multi-artist Human Rights Now! Tour in benefit of Amnesty International. This tour was announced near the end of a first set radio broadcast during Springsteen's July 3, 1988 show in Stockholm,...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
. Springsteen's performance is rousing and fervent, transforming the song into a ringing anthem for the full E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
, without losing the power of the words evident in Dylan's own solo performance. On the Human Rights Now! tour itself, Springsteen led a group performance of "Chimes of Freedom" featuring the other artists on the tour: Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
, Sting, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, and Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
, with each taking turns on the song's verses.
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
covered the song on their 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty is a 2008 studio album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008. It is the tenth studio album recorded by the band under the Jefferson Starship name, the first studio album since 1999's Windows of Heaven and the first on a major label by the band since 1989...
, with Paul Kantner
Paul Kantner
Paul Lorin Kantner is an American rock musician, known for co-founding the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane and its spin-off band Jefferson Starship.- Overview :...
, David Freiberg
David Freiberg
David Freiberg is an American musician. He was vocalist and/or bass guitar player with Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.-Career:...
and Cathy Richardson
Cathy Richardson
Catherine E. Richardson , who goes professionally by Cathy Richardson, is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois....
on vocals. Additionally, the Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
ese musician Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
recorded an unusual cover version of the song, in which he treated the song as an anthem for the many people in Africa struggling to survive. The melody of "Chimes of Freedom" was deliberately borrowed by Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
for the song "Ideology", from his third album, Talking with the Taxman about Poetry
Talking with the Taxman about Poetry
Talking with the Taxman about Poetry is the third release by Billy Bragg, released in 1986. With production by John Porter and Kenny Jones, Talking with the Taxman about Poetry featured more musicians than Bragg's previous works, which were generally little more than Bragg himself and a guitar....
, with Bragg's chorus "above the sound of ideologies clashing" echoing Dylan's "we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing". In addition, the Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
song "Bells of Freedom", from their Have a Nice Day
Have a Nice Day (Bon Jovi album)
Have a Nice Day has mostly received mixed or unfavorable reviews by music critics. It was commonly commented that Jon Bon Jovi was "streching" his lyrical abilities, while the best rating the album has gotten is an 8 out of 10...
album, is somewhat reminiscent of "Chimes of Freedom" in structure. Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's song "Flags of Freedom" from his Living with War
Living With War
Living with War is the twenty-ninth Grammy and Juno Award-nominated studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 2006. The album's lyrics, titles, and conceptual style are highly critical of the policies of the George W. Bush administration; the CTV website defined it as "a musical...
album mentions Dylan by name and melodically recalls the tune and verse structure of "Chimes of Freedom", though Young is listed as the song's only writer. The British band Starry Eyed and Laughing
Starry Eyed and Laughing
Starry Eyed and Laughing were a British Rock band of the 1970s. Formed in 1973, they released two albums on CBS, recorded three Peel Sessions and undertook a US tour, before briefly evolving into Starry Eyed, and finally disbanding in 1976.-History:...
took their name from the opening line of the song's final verse.
"Chimes of Freedom" is one of seven Dylan songs whose lyrics were reset for soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and piano (or orchestra) by John Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
for his song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.