Electric Dylan controversy
Encyclopedia
By 1965, Bob Dylan
had achieved the status of leading songwriter of the American folk music revival
.Paul Simon
suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: "[Dylan's] early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind
' has a really strong melody. He so enlarged himself through the folk background that he incorporated it for a while. He defined the genre for a while." Fong-Torres, The Rolling Stone Interviews, Vol. 2, p. 424. Reproduced online: The response to his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
and The Times They Are a-Changin'
led to him to be labelled as the "spokesman of a generation" by the media. In March 1965, Dylan released his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home
. Side One featured Dylan backed by an electric band. Side Two featured Dylan accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On July 20, 1965, Dylan released his single, "Like a Rolling Stone
", featuring a rock sound
. On July 25, 1965, Dylan performed with a rock band at the Newport Folk Festival
. Some sections of the audience booed Dylan's performance. Leading members of the folk movement, including Irwin Silber
In 1964, Irwin Silber
, the editor of Sing Out!
, had published an "Open Letter to Bob Dylan", criticising Dylan for stepping away from political songwriting: "I saw at Newport how you had somehow lost contact with people. Some of the paraphernalia of fame were getting in your way." Sing Out!, November 1964, quoted in and Ewan MacColl
In the September 1965 issue of Sing Out!
, singer Ewan MacColl
wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time... 'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel.” Quoted in criticised Dylan for moving away from political songwriting, and performing with an electric band.
At the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan had been received enthusiastically when he performed "Blowin' In The Wind
" with Joan Baez
, Peter Paul and Mary, and other Festival performers. At the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed "With God On Our Side
" and "Mr Tambourine Man".
On Saturday, July 24, 1965, Dylan performed three acoustic numbers, "All I Really Want to Do", "If You Gotta Go, Go Now
", and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit
" at a Newport workshop. According to Jonathan Taplin
, a roadie at Newport (and later a road manager for the acts of Dylan's manager Albert Grossman
) Dylan made a spontaneous decision on the Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band. Taplin said that Dylan had been irritated by condescending remarks which festival organiser Alan Lomax
had made about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, when Lomax introduced them for an earlier set at a festival workshop. Dylan's attitude, according to Taplin, was, "Well, fuck them if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I'll do it. On a whim he said he wanted to play electric." Dylan then assembled a band and rehearsed that night at a mansion being used by festival organiser George Wein
.
On the night of Sunday, July 25, Dylan's appearance was sandwiched between Cousin Emmy and the Sea Island singers, two very traditional acts.
The band that went on stage to back Dylan included two musicians who had played on his recently released single
, "Like a Rolling Stone
": Mike Bloomfield
on lead guitar and Al Kooper
on organ
. Two of Bloomfield's bandmates from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band also appeared at Newport: bassist
Jerome Arnold
and drummer
Sam Lay
, along with Barry Goldberg
on piano
.
Footage of Dylan's Newport performance can be seen in the documentary films Festival
(1967), No Direction Home
(2005) and The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
(2007). The footage begins with Dylan being introduced by Master of Ceremonies
Peter Yarrow
: "Ladies and gentlemen, the person that's going to come up now has a limited amount of time ... His name is Bob Dylan." In the documentary footage, the sound of both booing and cheering can be heard a few bars into Dylan's first song, "Maggie's Farm
", and continues throughout his second, "Like a Rolling Stone
". Dylan and his band then performed "Phantom Engineer", an early version of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
", but this song was omitted from The Other Side of the Mirror DVD.
After "Phantom Engineer", Dylan and the band left the stage. The sound of booing and clapping can be heard in the background. When Peter Yarrow
returned to the microphone, he begged Dylan to continue performing. According to Robert Shelton, when Dylan returned to the stage, he discovered he did not have the right harmonica and said to Yarrow, "What are you doing to me?" Dylan then asked the audience for 'an E harmonica'. Within a few moments, a clatter of harmonicas hit the stage. He then performed two songs on acoustic guitar for the audience: "Mr. Tambourine Man
", and then, as his farewell to Newport, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
". The crowd exploded with applause at the end, calling for more. Dylan did not return to the Newport festival for 37 years. In an enigmatic gesture, Dylan performed at Newport in 2002, sporting a wig and fake beard.
, and others present at Newport, that the boos were from outraged folk fans, who disliked Dylan playing an electric guitar. Al Kooper
, and others present at Newport, have disagreed with this interpretation, and argued that the audience were upset by poor sound quality, and the short duration of the set.
The sound quality was the reason Pete Seeger
(backstage) disliked the performance: he says he told the audio technicians, "Get that distortion out of his voice ... It's terrible. If I had an axe
, I'd chop the microphone cable right now." Seeger has also said, however, that he only wanted to cut the cables because he wanted the audience to hear Dylan's lyrics
properly, because he thought they were important. Rumors that Seeger actually had an axe, or that a festival board member wanted to pull out the entire electrical wiring system, remain unsubstantiated. In the film No Direction Home
, John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers
claimed Seeger wanted to silence the band because it was frightening his elderly father Charlie
, who had a hearing aid. In the same film, Dylan claimed that Seeger's unenthusiastic response to his set was like a "dagger in his heart" and made him "want to go out and get drunk".
Bruce Jackson, a director of the Newport Folk Festival, called the incident "the myth of Newport". Professor Jackson was present at Dylan's 1965 performance, and in 2002 reviewed an audio tape of it. Jackson contends that the booing was directed at Peter Yarrow, who upset the crowd when he attempted to keep Dylan's spot to its proper length ; Jackson maintains there's nothing to indicate the crowd disliked Dylan's music, electrified or not.
Al Kooper
has argued that the boos were brought on by the short duration of Dylan's set, not the fact that Dylan had gone electric. He said: "The reason they booed is because he only played for fifteen minutes, when everybody else played for forty-five minutes or an hour. They were feeling ripped off. Wouldn't you? They didn't give a shit about us being electric. They just wanted more."
In 2007, documentary director Murray Lerner
released on DVD his complete footage of Dylan's three appearances at Newport: The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
. When interviewed by Mojo
magazine, Lerner was asked: "There’s been a lot of debate over the years as to who exactly was doing the booing and who were they booing? Dylan? The organisers? The shortness of the set?" Lerner replied: "It's a good question. When we showed the film at The New York Film Festival [in October 2007] one kid gets up and says, 'About this booing... I was sitting right in front of the stage, there was no booing in the audience whatsoever. There was booing from the performers'. So I said, Well, I don't think you’re right. Then another kid gets up and says 'I was a little further back and it was the press section that was booing, not the audience', and I said, Well, I don’t think you’re right. A third guy gets up and says 'I was there, and there was no question, it was the audience that was booing and there was no booing from the stage'. It was fascinating. People remember hearing what they thought they should hear. I think they were definitely booing Dylan and a little bit Pete Yarrow because he was so flustered. He was not expecting that audience's reaction and he was concerned about Bob’s image, since they were part of the same family of artists through Al Grossman. But I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric."
Dylan appears to have believed the booing represented disapproval of his new sound. At the concert after Newport, in New York in August 1965, Dylan warned the backing musicians that they were likely to be booed. Interviewed in San Francisco, on December 3, 1965, Dylan was asked whether he was "surprised the first time the boos came?" He responded: "That was at Newport. Well, I did this very crazy thing, I didn't know what was going to happen, but they certainly booed, I'll tell you that. You could hear it all over the place.... I mean, they must be pretty rich, to be able to go some place and boo. I couldn't afford it if I was in their shoes."
, in Queens, New York. Dylan appears to have believed that the booing at Newport was a consequence of some fans disliking his electric sound. Photographer Daniel Kramer, who accompanied Dylan to the Forest Hills concert, wrote: "Dylan held a conference with the musicians who were going to accompany him in the second half of the concert. He told them that they should expect anything to happen—he probably was remembering what occurred at Newport. He told them that the audience might yell and boo, and that they should not be bothered by it. Their job was to make the best music they were capable of, and let whatever happened happen."
Musician Tony Glover, in his liner notes for the Bob Dylan Live 1966 album, quotes a contemporary account of the concert from Variety
: "Bob Dylan split 15,000 of his fans down the middle at Forest hills Tennis Stadium Sunday night... The most influential writer-performer on the pop music scene during the past decade, Dylan has apparently evolved too fast for some of his young followers, who are ready for radical changes in practically everything else... repeating the same scene that occurred during his performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan delivered a round of folk-rock songs but had to pound his material against a hostile wall of anti-claquers, some of whom berated him for betraying the cause of folk music."
; the first half would be 'folk,' Dylan solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica; with the second half 'rock,' Dylan and the Hawks
with electric guitars and a full rock and roll
combo. The rock segment was often greeted with hostility, as seen in shows in Sheffield
and Newcastle upon Tyne
in No Direction Home. Footage from the Manchester concert, at the end of that film, includes the infamous "Judas" heckling incident. During a quiet moment in between songs an audience member shouts loudly: "Judas
!" Dylan replies: "I don't believe you, you're a liar" before telling his band to "Play it fucking loud!" as they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone
". This incident was recorded, and the full concert was eventually released in 1998 as Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert in Dylan's Bootleg Series. One fan who claimed to have shouted "Judas!" was John Cordwell; when interviewed by Andy Kershaw
he explained:
Another claimant to the "Judas!" shout was Keith Butler. Butler's presence was documented in the film Eat the Document
, when the then 21-year old was filmed leaving the Manchester
Free Trade Hall
, saying "Any pop group could produce better rubbish than that! It was a bloody disgrace! He's a traitor!" In 1999, he took part in a BBC Radio
documentary about Live 1966, and asked about his reaction at the time, he replied, "I kind of think: 'You silly young bugger'".
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...
had achieved the status of leading songwriter of the American folk music revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
.Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre: "[Dylan's] early songs were very rich ... with strong melodies. 'Blowin' in the Wind
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war and freedom...
' has a really strong melody. He so enlarged himself through the folk background that he incorporated it for a while. He defined the genre for a while." Fong-Torres, The Rolling Stone Interviews, Vol. 2, p. 424. Reproduced online: The response to his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies....
and 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,...
led to him to be labelled as the "spokesman of a generation" by the media. In March 1965, Dylan released his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
. Side One featured Dylan backed by an electric band. Side Two featured Dylan accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On July 20, 1965, Dylan released his single, "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
", featuring a rock sound
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. On July 25, 1965, Dylan performed with a rock band at the 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...
. Some sections of the audience booed Dylan's performance. Leading members of the folk movement, including Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber was an American journalist, editor, publisher, and political activist.-Early years:Irwin Silber was born October 17, 1925 in New York City to ethnic Jewish parents....
In 1964, Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber was an American journalist, editor, publisher, and political activist.-Early years:Irwin Silber was born October 17, 1925 in New York City to ethnic Jewish parents....
, the editor of Sing Out!
Sing Out!
Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.-Background:Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educational corporation of the same name...
, had published an "Open Letter to Bob Dylan", criticising Dylan for stepping away from political songwriting: "I saw at Newport how you had somehow lost contact with people. Some of the paraphernalia of fame were getting in your way." Sing Out!, November 1964, quoted in and Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
In the September 1965 issue of Sing Out!
Sing Out!
Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.-Background:Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educational corporation of the same name...
, singer Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl
Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
wrote: "Our traditional songs and ballads are the creations of extraordinarily talented artists working inside disciplines formulated over time... 'But what of Bobby Dylan?' scream the outraged teenagers... Only a completely non-critical audience, nourished on the watery pap of pop music, could have fallen for such tenth-rate drivel.” Quoted in criticised Dylan for moving away from political songwriting, and performing with an electric band.
Newport 1965 set
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war and freedom...
" with Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, Peter Paul and Mary, and other Festival performers. At the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed "With God On Our Side
With God on Our Side
"With God on Our Side" is a song by Bob Dylan, released as the third track on his 1964 album The Times They Are A-Changin. Dylan first performed the song during his debut at The Town Hall in New York City on April 12, 1963...
" and "Mr Tambourine Man".
On Saturday, July 24, 1965, Dylan performed three acoustic numbers, "All I Really Want to Do", "If You Gotta Go, Go Now
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
If You Gotta Go, Go Now is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964. The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group The Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this went uncharted in the US despite receiving much airplay, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. It was another English band...
", and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home, released in 1965 . The song was originally written as a tribute to Dylan's future wife Sara Lowndes...
" at a Newport workshop. According to Jonathan Taplin
Jonathan Taplin
Jonathan Trumbull Taplin is an American writer, film producer and scholar. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and has lived in Los Angeles, California since 1973. Taplin graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and is currently a Professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School...
, a roadie at Newport (and later a road manager for the acts of Dylan's manager Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
) Dylan made a spontaneous decision on the Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band. Taplin said that Dylan had been irritated by condescending remarks which festival organiser Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
had made about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, when Lomax introduced them for an earlier set at a festival workshop. Dylan's attitude, according to Taplin, was, "Well, fuck them if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I'll do it. On a whim he said he wanted to play electric." Dylan then assembled a band and rehearsed that night at a mansion being used by festival organiser George Wein
George Wein
George Wein is an American jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player... in jazz history"...
.
On the night of Sunday, July 25, Dylan's appearance was sandwiched between Cousin Emmy and the Sea Island singers, two very traditional acts.
The band that went on stage to back Dylan included two musicians who had played on his recently released single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
": Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
on lead guitar and Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
on organ
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
. Two of Bloomfield's bandmates from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band also appeared at Newport: bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Jerome Arnold
Jerome Arnold
Jerome Arnold is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s. His playing appears on the albums The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and East-West. He was a member of the Butterfield Band at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, and was...
and drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Sam Lay
Sam Lay
Sam Lay is an American drummer and vocalist, who has been performing since the late 1950s.-Life and career:...
, along with Barry Goldberg
Barry Goldberg
Barry Goldberg is a blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:As a teenager in Chicago, Goldberg sat in with Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf. He played keyboards in the band supporting Bob Dylan during his 1965 'electrified' appearance at the Newport Folk Festival...
on piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
Footage of Dylan's Newport performance can be seen in the documentary films Festival
Festival (1967 film)
Festival! is a 1967 American documentary film about the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner.Filmed over the course of three festivals at Newport , the film features performances by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez & Peter Yarrow, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta, Bob Dylan,...
(1967), No Direction Home
No Direction Home
No Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; it concentrates on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his...
(2005) and The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the 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....
(2007). The footage begins with Dylan being introduced by Master of Ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
: "Ladies and gentlemen, the person that's going to come up now has a limited amount of time ... His name is Bob Dylan." In the documentary footage, the sound of both booing and cheering can be heard a few bars into Dylan's first song, "Maggie's Farm
Maggie's Farm
"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album Bringing It All Back Home on March 22 of that year...
", and continues throughout his second, "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
". Dylan and his band then performed "Phantom Engineer", an early version of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is a song written by Bob Dylan that was originally released on his seminal album Highway 61 Revisited, and also included on the compilation album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2 that was released in Europe. An alternate version of the song appears on...
", but this song was omitted from The Other Side of the Mirror DVD.
After "Phantom Engineer", Dylan and the band left the stage. The sound of booing and clapping can be heard in the background. When Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
returned to the microphone, he begged Dylan to continue performing. According to Robert Shelton, when Dylan returned to the stage, he discovered he did not have the right harmonica and said to Yarrow, "What are you doing to me?" Dylan then asked the audience for 'an E harmonica'. Within a few moments, a clatter of harmonicas hit the stage. He then performed two songs on acoustic guitar for the audience: "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...
", and then, as his farewell to Newport, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
". The crowd exploded with applause at the end, calling for more. Dylan did not return to the Newport festival for 37 years. In an enigmatic gesture, Dylan performed at Newport in 2002, sporting a wig and fake beard.
Reasons for the crowd's reaction
It has been argued by Murray LernerMurray Lerner
Murray Lerner is an Academy Award-winning American documentary and experimental film director and producer.1967 saw the release of the film Festival...
, and others present at Newport, that the boos were from outraged folk fans, who disliked Dylan playing an electric guitar. Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
, and others present at Newport, have disagreed with this interpretation, and argued that the audience were upset by poor sound quality, and the short duration of the set.
The sound quality was the reason Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
(backstage) disliked the performance: he says he told the audio technicians, "Get that distortion out of his voice ... It's terrible. If I had an axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
, I'd chop the microphone cable right now." Seeger has also said, however, that he only wanted to cut the cables because he wanted the audience to hear Dylan's lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
properly, because he thought they were important. Rumors that Seeger actually had an axe, or that a festival board member wanted to pull out the entire electrical wiring system, remain unsubstantiated. In the film No Direction Home
No Direction Home
No Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; it concentrates on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his...
, John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers
New Lost City Ramblers
The New Lost City Ramblers is a contemporary old-time string band that formed in New York City in 1958 during the Folk Revival. The founding members of the Ramblers, or NLCR, are Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley...
claimed Seeger wanted to silence the band because it was frightening his elderly father Charlie
Charles Seeger
Charles Seeger, Jr. was a noted musicologist, composer, and teacher. He was the father of iconic American folk singer Pete Seeger .-Life:...
, who had a hearing aid. In the same film, Dylan claimed that Seeger's unenthusiastic response to his set was like a "dagger in his heart" and made him "want to go out and get drunk".
Bruce Jackson, a director of the Newport Folk Festival, called the incident "the myth of Newport". Professor Jackson was present at Dylan's 1965 performance, and in 2002 reviewed an audio tape of it. Jackson contends that the booing was directed at Peter Yarrow, who upset the crowd when he attempted to keep Dylan's spot to its proper length ; Jackson maintains there's nothing to indicate the crowd disliked Dylan's music, electrified or not.
Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
has argued that the boos were brought on by the short duration of Dylan's set, not the fact that Dylan had gone electric. He said: "The reason they booed is because he only played for fifteen minutes, when everybody else played for forty-five minutes or an hour. They were feeling ripped off. Wouldn't you? They didn't give a shit about us being electric. They just wanted more."
In 2007, documentary director Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner is an Academy Award-winning American documentary and experimental film director and producer.1967 saw the release of the film Festival...
released on DVD his complete footage of Dylan's three appearances at Newport: The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the 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....
. When interviewed by Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine, Lerner was asked: "There’s been a lot of debate over the years as to who exactly was doing the booing and who were they booing? Dylan? The organisers? The shortness of the set?" Lerner replied: "It's a good question. When we showed the film at The New York Film Festival [in October 2007] one kid gets up and says, 'About this booing... I was sitting right in front of the stage, there was no booing in the audience whatsoever. There was booing from the performers'. So I said, Well, I don't think you’re right. Then another kid gets up and says 'I was a little further back and it was the press section that was booing, not the audience', and I said, Well, I don’t think you’re right. A third guy gets up and says 'I was there, and there was no question, it was the audience that was booing and there was no booing from the stage'. It was fascinating. People remember hearing what they thought they should hear. I think they were definitely booing Dylan and a little bit Pete Yarrow because he was so flustered. He was not expecting that audience's reaction and he was concerned about Bob’s image, since they were part of the same family of artists through Al Grossman. But I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric."
Dylan appears to have believed the booing represented disapproval of his new sound. At the concert after Newport, in New York in August 1965, Dylan warned the backing musicians that they were likely to be booed. Interviewed in San Francisco, on December 3, 1965, Dylan was asked whether he was "surprised the first time the boos came?" He responded: "That was at Newport. Well, I did this very crazy thing, I didn't know what was going to happen, but they certainly booed, I'll tell you that. You could hear it all over the place.... I mean, they must be pretty rich, to be able to go some place and boo. I couldn't afford it if I was in their shoes."
New York City concert, August 28, 1965
The next concert Dylan played after his Newport performance was on August 28, 1965, at Forest Hills StadiumWest Side Tennis Club
The West Side Tennis Club is a private tennis club located in Forest Hills, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is currently an oasis within the City with 38 courts in all four surfaces , a junior Olympic swimming pool and many other amenities.It is most notable for hosting...
, in Queens, New York. Dylan appears to have believed that the booing at Newport was a consequence of some fans disliking his electric sound. Photographer Daniel Kramer, who accompanied Dylan to the Forest Hills concert, wrote: "Dylan held a conference with the musicians who were going to accompany him in the second half of the concert. He told them that they should expect anything to happen—he probably was remembering what occurred at Newport. He told them that the audience might yell and boo, and that they should not be bothered by it. Their job was to make the best music they were capable of, and let whatever happened happen."
Musician Tony Glover, in his liner notes for the Bob Dylan Live 1966 album, quotes a contemporary account of the concert from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
: "Bob Dylan split 15,000 of his fans down the middle at Forest hills Tennis Stadium Sunday night... The most influential writer-performer on the pop music scene during the past decade, Dylan has apparently evolved too fast for some of his young followers, who are ready for radical changes in practically everything else... repeating the same scene that occurred during his performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan delivered a round of folk-rock songs but had to pound his material against a hostile wall of anti-claquers, some of whom berated him for betraying the cause of folk music."
Dylan's "World Tour", 1965–1966
The polarised responses of Dylan's fans were exacerbated by the structure of his concerts in late 1965 and 1966Bob Dylan World Tour 1966
The Bob Dylan World Tour 1966 was a concert tour undertaken by American musician Bob Dylan, from February to May 1966. Dylan's 1966 World Tour was notable as the first tour where Dylan employed an electric band backing him, following his "going electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival...
; the first half would be 'folk,' Dylan solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica; with the second half 'rock,' Dylan and the Hawks
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
with electric guitars and a full rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
combo. The rock segment was often greeted with hostility, as seen in shows in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in No Direction Home. Footage from the Manchester concert, at the end of that film, includes the infamous "Judas" heckling incident. During a quiet moment in between songs an audience member shouts loudly: "Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
!" Dylan replies: "I don't believe you, you're a liar" before telling his band to "Play it fucking loud!" as they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
". This incident was recorded, and the full concert was eventually released in 1998 as Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert in Dylan's Bootleg Series. One fan who claimed to have shouted "Judas!" was John Cordwell; when interviewed by Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw
Andy Kershaw is a British broadcaster, known for his interest in world music.His shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, spoken word performance from the likes of Ivor Cutler, and other music from around the world.- Early Life :Kershaw and his sister, fellow broadcaster Liz...
he explained:
- "I think most of all I was angry that Dylan... not that he'd played electric, but that he'd played electric with a really poor sound system. It was not like it is on the record [the official album]. It was a wall of mush. That, and it seemed like a cavalier performance, a throwaway performance compared with the intensity of the acoustic set earlier on. There were rumblings all around me and the people I was with were making noises and looking at each other. It was a build-up."
Another claimant to the "Judas!" shout was Keith Butler. Butler's presence was documented in the film Eat the Document
Eat the Document
Eat the Document is a documentary of Bob Dylan's 1966 tour of the United Kingdom with the Hawks. It was shot under Dylan's direction by D. A. Pennebaker, whose groundbreaking documentary Dont Look Back [sic] chronicled Dylan's 1965 British tour...
, when the then 21-year old was filmed leaving the Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
Free Trade Hall
Free Trade Hall
The Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester, was a public hall constructed in 1853–6 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre and is now a hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The architect was Edward Walters The hall subsequently was...
, saying "Any pop group could produce better rubbish than that! It was a bloody disgrace! He's a traitor!" In 1999, he took part in a BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
documentary about Live 1966, and asked about his reaction at the time, he replied, "I kind of think: 'You silly young bugger'".
See also
- Bringing It All Back HomeBringing It All Back HomeBringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
- Highway 61 RevisitedHighway 61 RevisitedHighway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in August 1965 by Columbia Records. On his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan devoted Side One of the album to songs accompanied by an electric rock band, and Side Two to solo acoustic numbers...
- Blonde on Blonde Blonde on BlondeBlonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
- FestivalFestival (1967 film)Festival! is a 1967 American documentary film about the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner.Filmed over the course of three festivals at Newport , the film features performances by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez & Peter Yarrow, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta, Bob Dylan,...
- No Direction HomeNo Direction HomeNo Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; it concentrates on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his...
- The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk FestivalThe 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....
- Folk rockFolk rockFolk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
External links
- Guardian.co.uk: "Bob Dylan's return to the scene of the crime", August 2, 2002
- Queens University of Charlotte: Extract from Robert Shelton, No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, New York, 1986