Bob Dylan's Song 'All Along The Watchtower'

While it is widely rumored that many of Bob Dylan’s songs were written while he was under the influence of various drugs, I’m not so sure that those rumors are accurate. Following a 1991 interview conducted by Paul Zollo with Bob Dylan, Zollo stated that “There’s an unmistakable elegance in Dylan’s words, an almost biblical beauty” and that “Dylan’s answers give you a lot to think about while not necessarily revealing much about the man”. (Zollo 2) The same can be said with regard to many of the lyrics of Dylan’s songs. The lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man”, for example, are wildly descriptive and sometimes confusing and can leave a listener (or a reader) open to many different interpretations, some more complex than others, with no real meaning ever being clearly stated.

The main idea is simply, we cannot always be angry at each other, we need to show love and kindness. In the fifth stanza Miller explains, “As his weather clears, / His rage dripping away”(5-6). This links to main idea because it shows that there is always a way to get past your anger, just like a storm has to end, so does your anger. In the last stanza the writer, Jim Wayne Miller compares happiness to dandelions with the simile, “ wisecracks and wonderment / spring up like dandelions”(12-13). The dandelions are the rainbow after the storm. They are a metaphorical way of saying he has found happiness after the storm. All of this proves that Jim Wayne Miller is using these metaphors and similes to demonstrate the calm after the

Dylan represents how change can be violent by expressing it as a flood. Floods are known to be violent, dangerous and natural. The symbolism of the water is also important. In Literature water is used to represent life, therefore inducing the notion that change is a part of life and inevitable. Metaphorically change is a flood, “waters...have grown...better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone” and Dylan conveys that you need to accept change (embrace) and learn to cope with, not resist it, or it will hurt you and pass you by. “He who has stalled...gets hurt”, a stark warning about the consequences of resisting change.

At only 22, he was crowned the voice of a generation. His audiences became mesmerized with his expressive lyrics and soulful harmonica. He changed the way the world looks at songwriting and protest, and inspired countless future musicians from the moment he stepped up on the stage in his railroad hat, denim jacket, and harmonica brace. However, it is clear that there is so much more behind Bob Dylan than just a rough voice and a collection of poetic songs. As one man said about Dylan’s early days in Greenwich Village, “There’s a quality of determination and of will that some people have that when they’re doing something, they’re really doing it and you

I think the point of Neil Youngs song “Alabama” is to talk about how much of a “screw up” Alabama is and the events occurring in alabama. Like in the song he said “your cadillac a wheel in the ditch and a wheel a wheel on the track”. This indicates how Neil Young sees Alabama . I think the problems he was subliminally addressing was the problems with segregation and the civil rights movement. The song from my point of view was basically calling out Alabama's corruption.

In the original Bob Dylan song, the general vibe was folk or even folk rock. The song form is simple verse, as the text of the song contains three verses. The tempo is generally slow, and steady throughout the entire song. Rhythm is kept throughout the song with the acoustic guitar. The beat is kept by backbeat drums, but are relatively subtle to the timbre of the song. The instrumentation of “All Along the Watchtower” includes acoustic guitar, drums and the use of the harmonica. The harmonica shines through two solos and the outro in the song (first solo 0:45-1:00, second solo 1:29-1:44, and outro 2:12-2:31). Bob Dylan’s vocals are unrestrained throughout the song, differing in pitch. He elevates to higher and lower pitches to create a mysterious message in the lyrics. Lyrically, this song is debated as one of Dylan’s most poetic titles, as no concrete conclusions have been made on what the song is actually about. The lyrical melody of the song also sells its folk repertoire to

Dylan’s most famous protest song is “Blown’ in the Wind”. It became the anthem for the civil rights movement in America during the 1960s, and as result Dylan was viewed as the spiritual leader of the civil rights movement. “Blown’ in the Wind” became very popular among the American people because the lyrics of the song could be applied to any situation as the lyrics were all about humanity learning from its mistakes and a call for freedom. “Only a Pawn in Their Game” was Dylan’s most offensive protest song that he wrote, and it was first performed at a civil rights rally in Greenwood, Mississippi. This song was about a civil rights activist who was murdered by “just a poor dumb

The 1960’s was an era of revolution and social change in the United States. Painters, dancers, actors, musicians and many more artists all wanted to portray societies immoral issues through their art. Musicians played a very prominent role in providing society with an outlet on the importance of this change. Within these musicians was a folk rock singer and songwriter by the name of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or as America knows him, Bob Dylan. He is known and honored around the world for his influence on popular music and culture, however, he is much more than that (Wood 313). The beginning of Bob Dylan’s career as a singer and songwriter was marked by his repetitive emphasis on social change throughout his protest songs which include “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”; with each song, Dylan exposes many issues that affected, not one, but many lives as he aimed to spread social and political consciousness to society.

Dylan utilizes enjambment in every stanza, which is a term used in poetry to refer to lines that end without punctuation and without completing a sentence or clause. The main theme of this folk song is stated in the title and in each stanza by using repetition of the words for the times they are a-changin. “During the course of the Sixties, "everything changed," says Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who came of age in the Sixties. "It was much different in the Sixties." He points to the movement for women's rights, civil rights for blacks, an increase in tolerance for differences and diversity, and technological breakthroughs (Walsh).”

“There’s a long black train coming down the line” is the first sentence in the song and is sung in Turner’s low and ominous voice.  From the start, he makes it known that the train is something to be feared instead of exalted.   During the chorus, however, Turner uses a higher melody when singing about the “victory in the Lord”.  This contradiction in the vocals is used to express that although temptation can be deadly and hard to resist, all you have to do is focus on the Lord and there is nothing to

Furthermore, this poem heavily uses a mixture of literal and figurative imagery. One of my favourite examples of imagery in this poem was “hands reaching out / fists raising up / banners unfurling / megaphones booming” (Jetñil-Kijiner 62-65). This quote allows the reader to imagine the protests and the movements that people are trying to do in order to save the planet. That was a case of extremely powerful and inspiring literal imagery as it shows people’s fight for change. This is an example of people who are fighting to save the planet for not only the current generation but for future generations as well. There are also several examples of figurative imagery, the most prominent is personification. An example of personification is “they say [the lagoon] will gnaw at the shoreline / chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees / gulp down rows of your seawalls / and crunch your island’s shattered bones” (12-15). In this example, it is talking about the repercussions of climate change and what the future will look like if people do not change. The use of personification helps the reader understand the awful things that can

“The song has to be of a certain quality for me to sing…One aspect it would have to have is that it didn’t repeat itself” (Bob Dylan). Transforming into new people throughout his life, Bob Dylan reverted to the Bible and other religious findings in his songs. Dylan is able to reveal a fulfillment from spirituality as he perceives his music as a sacred landscape. Bob Dylan brings up a theme of religion, referencing the book of Isaiah in his 1967 song “All Along the Watchtower” as he writes a story about two people at the watchtower, where the significance of life is found. Dylan’s spiritual lyrics conceived his work as a an artist through imagination and religion that creates a hallowed dwelling for him to aqurie attainment.

Again He won’t see the sun,with his family stung, They want us to hold justice, but you handed me none.” (Line 10) and his distaste with the Bush administration “Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button. Killing over oil and grease, no weapons of destruction.” (Line 29) In this poem symbolism such as “burn a Bush” or “beat us like a drum” is used to evoke certain feelings and give the reader insight to his own opinion.

Alliteration and metaphors are two major elements of this poem. The repetition of consonant sounds and alliteration occurs throughout the poem. All of the lines strongly use the repetition of consonants and alliteration except for lines two and seven. In addition to that, the controlling figure of speech in this poem is a metaphor. It is strongly articulated in the first line, and as the one continues to read, it is amplified and extended throughout the rest of the poem. The metaphor compares mask of Line 1 to the fabricated emotive facades that African-Americans had made use of in order to avert provoking their oppressors.

During this time many people rose to prominence to include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcom X. There are several verses within the poem that can easily be attributed to the ongoing struggle that the African Americans were facing, and that times would be changing. “For the loser now will be later to win, For the times they are a-changin’”(Dylan) and “Come senators, congressmen, Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall… There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls” (Dylan) illustrates the struggle that African Americans were facing. During the time that the song written and the years following Dr. King, President Kennedy, and Malcom X were all assassinated for the role that they were playing during the events of the civil rights movement. The older generation was unable to accept that indeed the times were changing and were dragging their heels down a road that was vastly different from what they had travelled when they were younger. They soon found that there was nothing that they could do to stop the change.