Dylan Goes Electric! written by Elijah Wald, published by Dey St., 2015
Thought you pretty much knew the whole story about Bob Dylan going electric at Newport in 1965? Turns out it was a lot more complicated than just being the defining moment in the Sixties when the young and restless said goodbye to folk music and embraced rock as the preferred medium of choice. Not to worry. Elijah Wald does a brilliant job following the threads and strands in his book appropriately subtitled “Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the Sixties.”
Long before Bob Dylan entered his Woody Guthrie phase, he had been a devotee of early rock ‘n’ roll—seeing Buddy Holly in concert at the Duluth Armory three days before the plane crash that ended his life—and forming his own rock band in Hibbing, Minnesota named The Golden Chords when he was only seventeen. Past definitely proved to be Prologue.
Bob Dylan came to New York City in the winter of 1961 to pay his respects to legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie who was ill and hospitalized in New Jersey. Guthrie's songs and memoir, Bound for Glory, had been a major influence on Bob. Bob quickly adapted to the Greenwich Village scene first performing at the Café Wha? followed by performances at the nearby Café Bizarre which featured "poets and folkswingers." Bob instantly fit in. One critic who quickly picked up on Bob's unique "Bohemian" style was Robert Shelton from the New York Times who would continue to be a key figure in reviewing and promoting Dylan's talent for years. Shelton's early reviews led to a recording contract with Columbia records and Bob's first album, Bob Dylan, released in March, 1962, followed by The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, released in June 1963.
It was "Blowing in the Wind” that caught the attention of Albert Grossman, a music promoter who also represented Peter, Paul and Mary. Grossman was a "folk world insider," who, coincidentally, had produced the first two Newport Folk Festivals. The story now shifts to the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. Bob sang "Blowing in the Wind" on stage with Peter, Paul, and Mary and Joan Baez, followed by a chorus of folksingers, including Bob, singing "We Shall Overcome." The three day festival concluded with Joan Baez singing "Oh, Freedom," followed by Bob singing, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." The legend was now established—but that didn't mean it wasn't going to change.
Newport 1964 was an even bigger folk event hosting a crowd of 70,000 over three days. That year, Dylan was widely received with huge applause but some critics, like Robert Shelton, detected that Bob seemed to be heading in a new direction—trying to create something different that didn't quite fit in with the folk movement. And his appearance had changed as well—"he looked cool rather than scruffy." Elijah Wald suggests that these changes were influenced by Bob's meeting with the Beatles just a few months before in London. Soon after, Bob was back at Columbia, recording a new single that would rock Newport. The name of the song was "Like a Rolling Stone." And it was electrifying.
Bob's early performances at Newport '65 had already included some folk songs but as the three day Festival progressed, Bob’s idea for a "surprise" started to come together. One key factor was that Mike Bloomfield, who played electric guitar on the recording of “Like a Rolling Stone,” was already at the festival as was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Al Kooper, who had played organ on “Like a Rolling Stone,” was rumored to have been flown in by Albert Grossman. A rehearsal was thrown together and on Sunday night, Peter Yarrow introduced Bob to the crowd. The audience was stunned when Bob launched into a full electric version of “Maggie’s Farm.” Elijah Wald writes, "Some spectators recall the crowd exploding in boos, some recall cheers, some only shocked silence." Bob and his band played three electric songs ("Maggie's Farm," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "Phantom Engineer"), then disappeared off stage until Peter Yarrow begged Bob to return.
In retrospect there were complicating factors that generated the resulting outcry. The sound system was flawed and the placement of the amplifiers was disruptive. Bob's voice was heard well in some spots and poorly in others. Even so, Elijah Wald has reviewed the surviving tape and film and has concluded it supports a "sense of chaos and excitement."
Eventually, at the urging of Peter Yarrow (amidst shouts of "We Want Dylan"), Bob returned to the stage with an acoustic guitar. He sings "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." The crowd applauds and shouts approval. Then he asks for someone to get him a harmonica and he sings "Mr. Tambourine Man." Bob then thanks the crowd and leaves the stage. He was twenty-four years old and the "Times" had just changed.
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