Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
Encyclopedia
Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues, also known as Talkin' John Birch Society Blues and Talkin' John Birch Blues, is a talking blues
song written by singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
in 1962. It is a satirical
song, in which a paranoid
narrator is convinced that communists
, or "Reds" as he calls them, are infiltrating the country. He joins the John Birch Society
, an anti-communist group, and begins searching for Reds everywhere: under his bed, up his chimney, down his toilet and in his glove compartment. After exhausting the possibilities, he begins to investigate himself.
on CBS
. The Sunday evening variety program
, among the most popular shows on American television, had earlier introduced Elvis Presley
to national audiences and in 1964 would do the same for The Beatles
.
Dylan had auditioned for the show in early 1962, before the release of his first album. He played a few songs from the recording, but the network executives who sat in on the set weren't exactly sure what to make of him. Unhappy with the experience, Dylan thought he wouldn't hear from the network again. More than a year passed when the call came inviting him to make a guest appearance on the show.
For his one selection, Dylan chose "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" (as it was then titled). Sullivan and his producer heard him play it at the Saturday rehearsal on May 11 and were delighted with the song. However, when Dylan showed up for the dress rehearsal the next afternoon, the day of the show, a CBS program practices executive told him the song would have to be replaced because of possible libel against John Birch Society members. Refusing to do a different song, Dylan walked off the set. The incident drew national attention with reports running in the New York Times, Billboard
and Village Voice. Sullivan, meanwhile, backed Dylan, arguing that if network programs could poke fun at President John F. Kennedy
, the John Birch Society
should not be immune from similar treatment. Concerned about possible reprisals from the John Birch group, the network held to its decision. Worse, the controversy spilled over into Columbia, CBS's records division. When the company's lawyers learned that "Talkin' John Birch" was slated for the album, they ordered the song removed.
Dylan was in a delicate situation. His first album had sold poorly, and he didn't have the power at this point to fight his record company. Though upset by the order, he relented. The initial shipments of Freewheelin', which had already been sent out, were recalled, and the album was re-issued without "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues". Dylan ultimately profited from the affair. Besides the favourable publicity
from the Ed Sullivan Show walk-out, it gave him a chance to re-consider his selections for Freewheelin', which he felt had too many "old fashioned
" selections, songs closer in style to his earlier material. In addition to "Talkin' John Birch Society", he dropped three of his other older songs, including "Let Me Die in My Footsteps
", "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie" and "Rocks and Gravel". In their place, he substituted four tunes recorded during the last of the Freewheelin sessions: "Masters of War
", "Girl from the North Country
", "Bob Dylan's Dream
" and "Talkin' World War III Blues".
issue of Broadside magazine later that month, becoming the first of Dylan's songs to be published. In March 1963, nearly a year after recording the album version, he taped a demo for his music publisher, M. Witmark & Sons
. This recording was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 in October 2010.
Dylan's first concert performance of the song was on September 22, 1962 at folk music
ian Pete Seeger
's annual hootenanny
at Carnegie Hall
in New York. After the Ed Sullivan Show incident, he played the song at his solo appearances through the end of 1964, often making fun of CBS's decision in the introduction. A performance from his Carnegie Hall
concert on October 26, 1963 was included on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 The last of Dylan's live recordings of the song was during his 1964 Halloween
concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall
, which appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
in March 2004.
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
song written by singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
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...
in 1962. It is a 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...
song, in which a paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
narrator is convinced that communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, or "Reds" as he calls them, are infiltrating the country. He joins the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, an anti-communist group, and begins searching for Reds everywhere: under his bed, up his chimney, down his toilet and in his glove compartment. After exhausting the possibilities, he begins to investigate himself.
The Ed Sullivan Show controversy
"Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" was at the center of a controversy that brought national attention to Dylan and played a significant part in shaping his second album, Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. On May 12, 1963, with the album about to be released, Dylan was scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. The Sunday evening variety program
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, among the most popular shows on American television, had earlier introduced Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
to national audiences and in 1964 would do the same for The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
Dylan had auditioned for the show in early 1962, before the release of his first album. He played a few songs from the recording, but the network executives who sat in on the set weren't exactly sure what to make of him. Unhappy with the experience, Dylan thought he wouldn't hear from the network again. More than a year passed when the call came inviting him to make a guest appearance on the show.
For his one selection, Dylan chose "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" (as it was then titled). Sullivan and his producer heard him play it at the Saturday rehearsal on May 11 and were delighted with the song. However, when Dylan showed up for the dress rehearsal the next afternoon, the day of the show, a CBS program practices executive told him the song would have to be replaced because of possible libel against John Birch Society members. Refusing to do a different song, Dylan walked off the set. The incident drew national attention with reports running in the New York Times, 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...
and Village Voice. Sullivan, meanwhile, backed Dylan, arguing that if network programs could poke fun at President 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....
, the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
should not be immune from similar treatment. Concerned about possible reprisals from the John Birch group, the network held to its decision. Worse, the controversy spilled over into Columbia, CBS's records division. When the company's lawyers learned that "Talkin' John Birch" was slated for the album, they ordered the song removed.
Dylan was in a delicate situation. His first album had sold poorly, and he didn't have the power at this point to fight his record company. Though upset by the order, he relented. The initial shipments of Freewheelin', which had already been sent out, were recalled, and the album was re-issued without "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues". Dylan ultimately profited from the affair. Besides the favourable publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
from the Ed Sullivan Show walk-out, it gave him a chance to re-consider his selections for Freewheelin', which he felt had too many "old fashioned
Old Fashioned
The Old Fashioned is a type of cocktail made by muddling dissolved sugar with bitters then adding alcohol, such as jenever, whiskey, or brandy, and a twist of citrus rind. The name references the combination's age: it is possibly the first drink to be called a cocktail...
" selections, songs closer in style to his earlier material. In addition to "Talkin' John Birch Society", he dropped three of his other older songs, including "Let Me Die in My Footsteps
Let Me Die In My Footsteps
Let Me Die in My Footsteps is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in February 1962. The song was selected for the original sequence of Dylan's 1963 album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but was replaced by "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"...
", "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie" and "Rocks and Gravel". In their place, he substituted four tunes recorded during the last of the Freewheelin sessions: "Masters of War
Masters of War
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962-63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town"...
", "Girl from the North Country
Girl from the North Country
"Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was first released in 1963 as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in 1969. That recording became the first track on Nashville Skyline,...
", "Bob Dylan's Dream
Bob Dylan's Dream
"Bob Dylan's Dream" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1963. It was recorded by Dylan on April 24, 1963, and was released by Columbia Records a month later on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan....
" and "Talkin' World War III Blues".
Recordings and performance
Dylan recorded "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" during the first Freewheelin' Bob Dylan session at Columbia's Studio A on April 24, 1962. He wrote the song in February 1962, and its lyrics and music appeared in the premierePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
issue of Broadside magazine later that month, becoming the first of Dylan's songs to be published. In March 1963, nearly a year after recording the album version, he taped a demo for his music publisher, M. Witmark & Sons
M. Witmark & Sons
M. Witmark & Sons was a leading publisher of sheet music for the United States "Tin Pan Alley" music industry.The firm of Marcus Witmark & Sons was established in New York City in 1886...
. This recording was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 in October 2010.
Dylan's first concert performance of the song was on September 22, 1962 at folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ian 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...
's annual hootenanny
Hootenanny
Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in "hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for...
at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York. After the Ed Sullivan Show incident, he played the song at his solo appearances through the end of 1964, often making fun of CBS's decision in the introduction. A performance from his Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert on October 26, 1963 was included on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 The last of Dylan's live recordings of the song was during his 1964 Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall
Philharmonic Hall
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall in Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building...
, which appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall is a complete recording of Bob Dylan's October 31, 1964 "Halloween" show at New York's Philharmonic Hall. It was released in 2004....
in March 2004.