The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1

Summary

Hit Parade | The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1 – Episode Summary

Podcast: Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Host: Chris Molanphy
Episode: The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1
Release Date: January 18, 2025

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Introduction

In "The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1," Chris Molanphy explores the illustrious career of Bob Dylan, dissecting his journey from a folk icon to a perennial chart presence. This episode delves into Dylan's chart history, his influence on other artists, and the evolution of his musical style over several decades.

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Bob Dylan’s Enduring Influence

Chris Molanphy opens the episode by connecting the newly released Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, to Dylan's monumental 1965 hit, "Like a Rolling Stone." He emphasizes that while "Like a Rolling Stone" remains Dylan's most acclaimed and commercially successful single, his true chart dominance began much later.

Chris Molanphy (02:36): "Not only is 'Like A Rolling Stone' acclaimed by generations of music critics, it also remains Dylan's biggest hit on the American singles charts."

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Chart History: Early Years

Dylan's initial foray into the music industry did not immediately translate to chart-topping success. Despite his significant cultural impact and critical acclaim in the mid-1960s, Dylan struggled to secure high positions on the Billboard charts until the mid-1970s.

Chris Molanphy (03:19): "As far as record sales go, Dylan's most consistent success on the charts began a decade later, in the mid-1970s."

During the early years, Dylan's strength lay in his songwriting prowess, with numerous hits for other artists. Acts like Peter, Paul and Mary, Cher, and the Byrds found success with Dylan-penned songs, establishing him as a formidable songwriter in the industry.

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Transition to Electric and Folk Rock

The advent of folk rock in the 1960s significantly impacted Dylan's career trajectory. His transition from pure folk to electric rock was pivotal, both artistically and commercially.

Chris Molanphy (34:43): "The arrival of folk rock... was what finally brought about Dylan's transformation into a generator of hit singles for himself."

Albums like Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited marked Dylan's embrace of electric instruments, culminating in the release of "Like a Rolling Stone." This shift not only broadened his audience but also solidified his place in the pantheon of classic rock legends.

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Hit Songs and Their Covers

Dylan's influence is notably evident in the success of his songs when covered by other artists. The episode highlights several key covers:

• Peter, Paul and Mary's rendition of "Blowin' in the Wind" reached number two on the Hot 100 and was prominently featured during the March on Washington (27:40).

• The Byrds achieved Dylan's first number one hit on the Hot 100 with their folk-rock cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" (31:05).

• Jimi Hendrix's electrifying cover of "All Along the Watchtower" cemented Dylan's legacy in the rock genre (38:48).

Chris Molanphy (16:08): "There is no shortage of rock critics, boomer fans and even Nobel Prize voters who will praise Bob Dylan as a poet."

These covers not only demonstrate the versatility of Dylan's songwriting but also his ability to inspire across different musical genres.

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The 1970s and Beyond

The 1970s marked a period of both commercial success and artistic experimentation for Dylan. Albums such as Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire showcased his ability to adapt and reinvent his sound.

• Nashville Skyline (1970): Dylan explored country music, producing hits like "Lay Lady Lay" (43:03).

• Blood on the Tracks (1975): Widely regarded as one of his best works, this album featured deeply personal songs that resonated with a broad audience (53:44).

• Desire (1976): Known for the hit "Hurricane," a protest song that highlighted Dylan's commitment to social issues (58:17).

Chris Molanphy (53:58): "'Blood on the Tracks' comprised songs about the dissolution of a relationship at the very moment that Bob became estranged from his wife of nearly 10 years."

Despite facing challenges such as a motorcycle accident in 1966 and fluctuating critical reception, Dylan maintained his relevance in the music industry through continuous evolution and prolific songwriting.

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Cultural Significance and Legacy

Beyond his chart success, Bob Dylan is celebrated as a cultural icon and a literary figure. His lyrics are often lauded for their poetic depth, earning him accolades such as the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Chris Molanphy (14:52): "For decades after this moment, cultural commentators and Dylan admirers have put him on a pedestal as a Nobel tier literary figure, a hipster deity, the voice of a generation."

Dylan's ability to navigate and influence various musical landscapes—from folk to rock to country—demonstrates his versatility and enduring appeal. His continuous presence in pop culture underscores his status as a timeless artist.

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Conclusion

"The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1" offers a comprehensive look into Bob Dylan's multifaceted career, highlighting his significant yet sometimes understated presence on the music charts. Through insightful analysis and compelling storytelling, Chris Molanphy underscores Dylan's role not just as a musician, but as a cultural and artistic force that continues to shape the music industry.

Chris Molanphy (56:25): "In a 2015 Rolling Stone ranking of Dylan's best songs... 'Tangled up in Blue' ranked third behind 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall.'"

As the episode concludes, listeners are left anticipating the continuation of Dylan's story in part two, promising further exploration into his impact and legacy.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Chris Molanphy (02:36): "Not only is 'Like A Rolling Stone' acclaimed by generations of music critics, it also remains Dylan's biggest hit on the American singles charts."

• Chris Molanphy (16:08): "There is no shortage of rock critics, boomer fans and even Nobel Prize voters who will praise Bob Dylan as a poet."

• Chris Molanphy (53:58): "'Blood on the Tracks' comprised songs about the dissolution of a relationship at the very moment that Bob became estranged from his wife of nearly 10 years."

• Chris Molanphy (56:25): "In a 2015 Rolling Stone ranking of Dylan's best songs... 'Tangled up in Blue' ranked third behind 'Like a Rolling Stone' and 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall.'"

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For More Information:

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Transcript

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[Chris Melanphy]

Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparade plus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode.

[Bob Dylan]

Once upon a time you dress so fine through the bumps of dime in your prime Then you people call say.

[Chris Melanphy]

Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number one Series on today's show? It's awards season again, and among the movies cleaning up at both the box office and the prize giving shows is the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. And of course, the movie's title comes from this song, Dylan's legendary 1965 electric folk rock single, Like a Rolling Stone.

[Bob Dylan]

How does it feel to be without a home Like a complete unknown Like a Rolling Stone.

[Chris Melanphy]

Not only is Like A Rolling Stone acclaimed by generations of music critics, it also remains Dylan's biggest hit on the American singles charts. As an artist, the person singing the record, not just the songwriter. But it might surprise you to learn that the mid-60s wasn't the apex of Dylan's success on the Billboard charts. Not even close.

[Bob Dylan]

Hurricane the man the authorities Came to blame for something that he never done.

[Chris Melanphy]

As far as record sales go, Dylan's most consistent success on the charts began a decade later, in the mid-1970s. And that wasn't even the last time he topped the charts. He was still doing it into the 21st century.

[Bob Dylan]

Thunder on a mountain rolling up a drum Gonna sleep over there that's where the music coming from I don't need.

[Chris Melanphy]

Any guide I already know through all of those years, Dylan was A presence in the pop conversation. Of course, songs he wrote were hits for other artists across the decades, from the 60s through the 70s, the 80s, the 90s.

[Bob Dylan]

There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do to make you, you feel my love.

[Chris Melanphy]

And even into the hip hop era. But on his own recordings too, Bob Dylan was an improbable, intermittent hit maker. His quirky, nasal and eventually weather beaten voice has graced multiple charts and radio formats over the years.

[Bob Dylan]

People are crazy, times are strange, I'm locked in tight, I'm out of rage, I used to care. But things have changed.

[Chris Melanphy]

There's no shortage of rock critics, boomer fans and even Nobel Prize voters who will praise Bob Dylan as a poet. But maybe you haven't thought much lately about Bob Dylan, pop star and you.

[Bob Dylan]

See them shine.

[Chris Melanphy]

Today on Hit Parade. We are going to duck down that alleyway.

[Bob Dylan]

Can you better duck down the alleyway Looking for a new friend. A man in a coonskin cap in a pig pen wants $11 bills. You only got 10.

[Chris Melanphy]

If you've just come back from your local cineplex after seeing a complete unknown, or even if you haven't gotten around to it yet, we're going to take the Bob Dylan story past his mid-60s explosion into the years and the hits that followed that big Bang moment. We'll explain why, more than 60 years later, Dylan is still on a so called never ending tour with no signs of slowing down. Maybe it's because, as the signature song from his first chart topping LP put it, he feels Forever Young. And that's where your hip parade marches today, the week ending February 16, 1974, when the album Planet Waves by Bob Dylan, anchored by the song Forever Young, reached the summit of Billboard's top LPs chart. It was his first number one album, years after such classics as the Freewheel and Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home and Blonde on Blonde. Why did it take Dylan more than a decade to top the charts? And how did he come back to number one years later, long after the folk music he'd first made his name with passed into pop history? So join us as we consider how the bard of Hibbing, Minnesota keeps his hands always busy. His songs always sung.

[Bob Dylan]

Be joyful, May your song always be sung and may you stay.

[Chris Melanphy]

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[David Letterman]

Ladies Gentlemen, Monkford and Sons, the Avett Brothers and special guest Bob Dylan.

[Chris Melanphy]

Mumford and Sons won no Grammys that night. Their only exposure on the telecast was this live segment which kicked off with their own song the Cave and about five minutes later climaxed with the Mumfords and fellow folk rockers the Avett Brothers backing up Bob Dylan. The week after the 2011 Grammys, Billboard reported that the biggest sales bump on the charts went not to any of the actual Grammy winners, but to Mumford and Sons. Their albums soared into the top 10, peaking at number two and going platinum. You might call it the Bob Dylan Bump. Just a couple of months before his 70th birthday, Dylan helped make Mumford and Sons pop stars. One fun irony of the 2011 Grammys performance, a showcase that was helping a new generation of 21st century folk act scale the charts, was that Dylan was performing his 60s electric blues jam Maggie's Farm that's the same song Dylan infamously performed at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, plugged in and extra loud, antagonizing the Newport audience. The legend of that 1965 Newport performance, performance, including the audience's booze, looms large in this year's acclaimed film A Complete Unknown, starring Timothee Chalamet as Dylan. What makes the film remarkable in my estimation is that Chalamet, Hollywood's current Generation Z It boy, is capturing the moment when Dylan became an it boy for the baby boom generation, a 2000 and 20s icon playing a 1960s icon. The portrayal works at multiple meta levels. The movie reminds us that Bob Dylan was a pop phenomenon, a teen idol not unlike a young Elvis or the Beatles. That's him. That's Bob Dylan right there. Take your glasses off.

[Bob Dylan]

Let me see your eyes. Get off.

[Chris Melanphy]

For decades after this moment, cultural commentators and Dylan admirers have put him on a pedestal as a Nobel tier literary figure, a hipster deity, the voice of a generation. And sure, he is all that. But that obfuscates Dylan's celebrity magnetism and his seat of the pants wit. Lest we forget, as captured in D.A. pennebacker's classic documentary, don't Look Back, Dylan knew how to cause a ruckus. In his day, he was every bit the wordplay junkie and media trickster as, say, a chapel roan or Kendrick Lamar is today.

[Bob Dylan]

This is called It's All Right Ma, I'm Only Bleeding. Ho ho ho. Doc Marsh at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon the handmade blade the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon to understand you knew too soon There is no sense in trying.

[Chris Melanphy]

I think part of the reason music fans place Dylan on a genius pedestal is, frankly, his voice. Since he broke in the 60s, countless listeners have said they prefer Dylan's compositions to his own performances. I don't necessarily agree. In fact, in many cases, I actually prefer Dylan's renditions of his songs to the ones made famous by others.

[Bob Dylan]

Hey, Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me. In the jingle jangle morning I come follow in you.

[Chris Melanphy]

Still, I understand this commonly held viewpoint. If anything, the carping about Dylan's vocal instrument has only grown in the 21st century, as his voice has grown raspier, gruffer, and more of an acquired taste. Dylan's not likely to compete with Adele or Michael Buble on the radio.

[Bob Dylan]

Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing.

[Chris Melanphy]

My only counterpoint to this is, why is this man still selling records? We're talking hundreds of thousands in this century alone of his new recordings, not just the old stuff. Sure, some of that has to do with the mystique of Dylan, the poetry, the cultural stature, the roguish charisma of the man. But I think it's also because Bob Dylan is just really good at being a pop star. Yes, I said pop, not folk or rock or folk rock or country or Americana or whatever else Dylan has recorded over the last six plus decades. Bob has always reflected his time. A study of his chart career reveals not only that Dylan has phases that's well known, but that he reflected as much as he invented. So while we're all talking about Bob Dylan again thanks to this new hit movie, let's widen the lens. To be sure, Dylan contains multitudes and we can't cover his entire body of work. But if we focus on Dylan's chart successes decade by decade, from the 1960s through the 2000s, we can see some patterns. Before we jump into the 60s, when the 19 year old, born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota, made his way to New York City, guitar in hand, we need to spend a few moments in the 50s. One thing the film A Complete Unknown doesn't detail is just how popular folk music was on the charts nationwide even before young Zimmerman graduated from high school. Folk had been topping the charts for more than a decade and some of folk music's practitioners were regarded by the hardcore folkie community as more authentic than others.

[Bob Dylan]

Irene, Good night Irene, Good night way.

[Chris Melanphy]

Back in 1950, the Weavers scored folk music's first ever number one on Billboard's Best sellers in stores chart with their cover of Good Night Irene by folks blues legend Lead Belly. If you've seen A Complete unknown, you will recall Weaver's co founder Pete Seeger, portrayed in the film by actor Edward Norton. Recorded by the Weavers with orchestra leader Gordon Jenkins, Goodnight Irene spent 13 weeks at number one and was Billboard's top single of 1990. 1950. As great a commercial triumph as this was, especially for a folk troupe as politically active and committed to folk ideals as the Weavers, Goodnight Irene sounded rather watered down. Pretty much all commercial folk music was in the 50s and yet folk pop was kinda huge.

[Bob Dylan]

Well now boy, hang down your head and drive.

[Chris Melanphy]

The Kingston Trio, a San Francisco threesome of clean cut 20 somethings who played a kind of apolitical Erzatz collegiate folk, scored a string of number one album albums and hit singles starting in 1958, including their Hot 100 topping Tom Dooley. A lyrically diluted murder ballad. Though hardcore folkies regarded the Kingston Trio as sellouts, Dylan later claimed to be a fan and they played an instrumental role in popularizing folk as pop music. They even scored the first hit version of Pete Seeger's anti war ballad where have all the Flowers Gone?

[Bob Dylan]

Where have all the Flowers gone? Long time passing where have all the flowers gone?

[Chris Melanphy]

The Kingstons were sitting at number one on the Billboard Stereo LP's chart just weeks before the young man who was now billing himself as Bob Dylan arrived in New York City in the winter of 61. Even after Dylan arrived and started plying his trade in Greenwich Village, the national charts continued to host major crossover folk hits. Like for example, the Summer 61 number one smash Michael A black folk spiritual re recorded by Connecticut collegiate quintet the.

[Bob Dylan]

Highwaymen, Michael Rob Ashore Hallelujah, Michael Rome.

[Chris Melanphy]

Or the Lion Sleeps Tonight by doo wop quartet the Tokens, first transformed from a South African work song by Pete Seeger into a folk sing along that he called Weem Away.

[Bob Dylan]

Try It Again.

[Chris Melanphy]

The song was transformed again by the New York Doo Whoppers into a number one smash by Christmas of 61. In other words, before Bob Dylan had even recorded recorded his first album, folk music had been fully mainstream. So against this backdrop, let's bring in Dylan himself and start summarizing his music by decade. Bob's first decade served him up as the hot new discovery, the avatar of cool and a new source of hit music with folk bones, timeless lyrics and immortal pop hooks. Dylan in the 60s it boy folky jukebox.

[Bob Dylan]

I'm out here a thousand miles from my home Walking a road other men have gone down.

[Chris Melanphy]

If I may make an analogy that I think will resonate with 21st century listeners, Bob Dylan was a straight up folk artist about as long as Taylor Swift was a country artist. Roughly half a decade and Dylan's evolution into a pop rock act in the 1960s now seems inevitable. His self titled debut album came out on Columbia Records in March of 1962. It didn't make the charts at all. It sold about 5,000 copies in its first year and barely broke even. Song for Woody One of the two original songs on the album was written for and in the style of folk legend Woody Guthrie. In an apocryphal scene in a complete unknown Timothee Chalamet's Bob Dylan performs the song for Guthrie himself.

[Bob Dylan]

Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song about a funny old world that's coming along.

[Chris Melanphy]

Dylan did indeed openly imitate and even aspire to Guthrie's skill with writing folk standards. But it wasn't until his second LP, 1963's the Free Wheelin Bob Dylan that he wrote songs that would inspire scores of other performers to emulate him.

[Bob Dylan]

Isn't how many times must the cannonballs fly before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend is blowing in the wind.

[Chris Melanphy]

Blowing in the Wind was acclaimed by the New York folk scene from the moment Dylan started playing it in Greenwich Village nightclubs. But at first neither the song nor the Free Wheelin album touched the national charts. And then in mid 63, Dylan and his song catalog got a major boost from a New York folk act who had already scored some big national hits of their own.

[Bob Dylan]

If I had a hammer, I'd a hammer in the morning, I'd a hammer in the evening all over this land.

[Chris Melanphy]

Peter, Paul and Mary were the best selling group of 60s folk. Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers were New York folk soloists who joined forces under the influence of manager Svengali Albert Grossman, who by the way also managed Dylan to revive the mixed gender sound of the Weavers and capitalize on the burgeoning folk scene. They scored a string of chart topping albums in 1962 and 63 and hit singles like their top 10 cover of Pete Seeger's if I Had a hammer. By 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary were going to do for Bob Dylan what they had just done for Pete Seeger.

[Bob Dylan]

How many times must the cannonballs fly before they're forever the answer, my friend is blowing in the wind.

[Chris Melanphy]

Peter, Paul and Mary's cover of Blowin in the Wind not only climbed all the way to number two on the Hot 100, the trio performed it live at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 while the single was still in the top five. One week later, benefiting from the Peter, Paul and Mary exposure, Dylan's own freewheeling LP cracked the Billboard album chart for the first time. By October, the freewheeling Bob Dylan had reached number 22.

[Bob Dylan]

Look out your window and I'll be gone. You're the reason I time of traveling on but don't think twice it's all right.

[Chris Melanphy]

Peter, Paul and Mary gave Dylan all of his early hits as a songwriter. By the fall of 63, their cover of Don't Think Twice it's all right reach number nine on the Hot 100. Dylan had still not had a hit single of his own.

[Bob Dylan]

Still I wish there was something you would do or say to try and make me change my Mind and stay we never did too much talking anyway so don't think twice it's alright.

[Chris Melanphy]

For the next three years, Bob Dylan became a hit, generating jukebox as a songwriter, not a frontline artist. In addition to the singles by Peter, Paul and Mary, others scoring top 20 hits with songs by Dylan included a teenage Cher who took All I really Want to do to number 15.

[Bob Dylan]

Friends.

[Chris Melanphy]

With you, Stevie Wonder, still in his first wave of teenage Motown hit making, who took his version of Blowing in the Wind to number nine, the Four Seasons, who covered Dylan under the pseudonym the Wonder, who, their falsetto inflected take on don't think twice it's alright reached number 12. And most famously, the Byrds, who in June 1965 gave Dylan his only number one hit as a songwriter, topping the Hot 100 with their folk rock cover of Mr. Tambourine Man.

[Bob Dylan]

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man.

[Chris Melanphy]

As it turned out, the arrival of folk rock, a term that was first used to describe the Byrds, was what finally brought about Dylan's transformation into a generator of hit singles for himself. By then, Dylan had not only become the enigmatic idol and it boys celebrity depicted in a complete unknown, he had also gone electric on his early 65 album Bringing It All Back Home. In May of 65, Dylan scored his first ever pop top 40 hit when the album's rollicking Subterranean Homesick blues spent just one week at number 39 on the Hot 100. This song, by the way, is the one used in one of the first ever promotional short films, which were later called music videos. The clip clip of Dylan flipping hand scrawled cue cards in a London alleyway that starts off the 1967 documentary about his UK tour, Don't Look Back. The success of Subterranean Homesick Blues eventually pushed Bringing It All Back Home to number six on the album chart, Dylan's first top 10 LP just weeks later. Dylan followed with the album Highway 61 Revisited, a virtually all electric LP that generated the song, both widely acclaimed as his greatest single and incidentally also his biggest pop hit, Like A Rolling Stone.

[Bob Dylan]

Once upon a time you dress so fine through the buns of dime in.

[Chris Melanphy]

Your prime Then you written just after Dylan returned from his UK tour, exhausted by his own celebrity and thinking he might want to retire from music, Like A Rolling Stone chronicles his disgust with himself. He called the first draft of the lyrics 10 pages of quote vomit built around the self lacerating refrain how does it feel? But it restored his faith in his songwriting capabilities. I'd never written anything like that before. And it suddenly came to me that that was what I should do. He told CBC Radio. After writing that, I wasn't interested in writing a novel or a play. I just had too much. I wanted to write songs, unquote.

[Bob Dylan]

How does it feel? How does it feel?

[Chris Melanphy]

Like a Rolling Stone climbed all the way to number two on the Hot 100 in September 1965 and held there for two weeks. By the way, the song that kept Dylan out of number one was the Beatles, rather Dylan esque. Help.

[Bob Dylan]

Help. I need somebody. Help. Not just anybody. Help. You know. I need someone.

[Chris Melanphy]

Yeah. 1965 was a pretty great year for music anyway. Soon Highway 61 Revisited cracked the top 10 on the album chart, reaching a new high watermark for Dylan of number three by November 65. The same week, Dylan scored another top 10 hit with the acerbic standalone single Positively 4th street, which hit number seven.

[Bob Dylan]

Do you take me for such a fool? You think I'd make contact with one who tries to hide what it don't know to begin with?

[Chris Melanphy]

For the rest of the 1960s, Dylan continued to release classic albums with enigmatic and sardonic singles. 1966's double LP, Blonde on Blonde, generated his second number two hit, A Joke of a single with a brass band arrangement and a deliberately silly refrain. The song was given the inscrutable title Rainy day women, numbers 12 and 35. But of course, the infamous chorus of.

[Bob Dylan]

The song goes, everybody must get stoned. Well, they'll stone you when you.

[Chris Melanphy]

But Blonde on Blonde also generated the more romantic, lusty top 20 hit, I want you.

[Bob Dylan]

I want you.

[Chris Melanphy]

In July of of 1966, a motorcycle accident sidelined Bob Dylan for months. He would not release a new album for more than a year. Very unusual for the prolific 1960s, when major acts like Dylan typically issued two LPs a year. When Dylan finally emerged with a new LP in late 1967 called John Wesley Harding, popular music had gotten heavier and more psychedelic, while Dylan's music, perversely, had become quieter and more rustic.

[Bob Dylan]

Baby Tonight.

[Chris Melanphy]

Fueled by pent up demand for new, new Bob Dylan material, John Wesley Harding rose all the way to number two on the Billboard album chart in early 1968, Dylan's highest charting album of the 60s. This despite the fact that Dylan declined to release any singles from the laid back lp. Although one track, a menacing parable called all along the Watchtower.

[Bob Dylan]

There must be some way out of here say the joker to the thief there's too much confusion I can't get.

[Chris Melanphy]

No Relief would become yet another top 40 hit for someone other than Bob Dylan. Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix took his electrifying cover of all along the watchtower into the top 20 in the fall of 1968. It would be Hendrix's only top 40 pop hit.

[Bob Dylan]

There must be some kind of way out of here.

[Chris Melanphy]

Hendrix's cover affirmed what had already been clear. Three years earlier. Bob Dylan, formerly an avatar in the pop imagination of the folk movement, had been fully integrated into the lineage of classic rock, a trend that would only continue as Dylan approached the 1970s. None will level on the mind more in a moment.

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[Felix Salmon]

Hello, Slate listeners. This is Felix Salmon from Slate Money. I'm sure you've been seeing the headlines from Los Angeles. The wildfires there, the insurance situation there, the prisoners working on the ground as firefighters. So what's really happening and what are the implications of all of this? We just had an episode of Slate Money. It's called the Dire Costs of the LA Fires. My co hosts Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spires and I talk through questions like why people are so fixated on the celebrity homes that have been destroyed.

[Bob Dylan]

I think people are focusing on celebrities.

[Chris Melanphy]

Right now partly because the bigger macro problems are really overwhelming and terrifying.

[Felix Salmon]

Where California needs to go from here and how we should be thinking about the use of inmates as firefighters and whether this choice given to inmates is really a choice at all.

[Chris Melanphy]

It's an offer you can't refuse.

[Felix Salmon]

You listen to the DIACosts of the LA fires on Slate Money today.

[Chris Melanphy]

Dylan in the 70s album rocker just before the 70s began, the ever unpredictable Bob Dylan decided to throw his audience a big curveball by attempting something he'd never done before. Singing, well, I mean, crooning Melodically, the way most pop singers do not the talking blues speak sing that made BOB Famous on 1969's Nashville skyline. You could be forgiven for thinking Dylan had maybe hired someone else to do the singing for him. But no, that's really Bob. As its title suggests, Nashville Skyline took the country leaning sound of John Wesley Harding and went deeper into its twangy roots. It also gave Dylan his final top 10 pop hit as a lead artist, the gentle love ballad Lay Lady Lay, which reached number seven just before the start of 1970.

[Bob Dylan]

Whatever colors you have in your mind I show them to you and you'll see them shine Lay lady lay Play.

[Chris Melanphy]

Across my big breast bed in theory, Nashville Skyline could have inaugurated a fruitful and commercially friendly 70s country pop era for Dylan. But the early 70s were mostly an unfocused period as Dylan veered from project to project and took longer than usual breaks between albums. Critics savaged LPs like 1970s Self Portrait and 1973's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, a soundtrack to a western film that included Dylan's first major feature film role. Movie critics were not kind to that either. On the other hand, several Dylan albums in this period generated the occasional hit or memorable track. Late 1970s New Morning album, one of Dylan's better received LPs included classics like the Man In Me, which would wind up on the soundtrack to the Big Lebowski nearly three decades later.

[Bob Dylan]

Take A Woman like your Kind to Find the man in Me.

[Chris Melanphy]

And that same album's if not for you, though it wasn't issued as a single in America, became something of a standard. It was covered multiple times by such artists as Dylan's friend George Harrison, who included it on his first post Beatles solo album All Things Must Pass, and Olivia Newton John, who scored her first hit single with her cover of if not for you in 1971. The Dylan song gave her a top 10 hit in the UK and a number 25. Five hit in America. As for the underperforming Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack, it generated Knockin On Heaven's Door, which Dylan actually did issue as a single and came close to the top 10, peaking at number 12 in October of 73. That song has been covered countless times, including a reggae version by Eric Clapton in 1975 that remains an album rock radio staple, and a 1990 cover by Guns N Roses that made the top 20 on Billboard's album rock radio chart. So yeah, well into the 70s, Bob Dylan continued to be a songwriting jukebox, but commercially he transformed into what the industry would call an album rocker, a staple of FM radio's album oriented rock or AO AOR format. Dylan didn't even release many of his best known 70s songs as singles in America from if not for you to Shelter from the Storm, emulating the practice of canonical AOR acts of the 70s like yes, Neil Young, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. Like those bands, Dylan also became a road warrior in the 70s, touring to the largest crowds of his career in 1974 when he announced his first tour tour in seven years, supported by his friends in the Canadian American rock group the band, all 40 dates sold out, making it one of the most lucrative tours of the 70s. Dylan issued a double LP from the tour called before the Flood that went platinum and even produced a minor pop hit with a live take on Most likely you Go your Way and I'll go mine, a 60s blonde on blonde classic that Dylan and the band made more aggressive and 70s contemporary. By the time up that tour, Dylan had signed to a new label after his Columbia Records contract expired. Asylum Records, a then new label launched by famed music mogul David Geffen, courted Dylan assiduously, sending him into the studio with the band to record a whole studio album. That LP, released in early 75, backed by an aggressive Asylum promotional campaign and hyped by the tour, would become Dylan's first ever chart topping lp. He called it Planet Waves. Though the Planet Waves album produced no top 40 hits, the first single, On A Night like this, only reached number 44. It topped the album chart in just two weeks, affirming that Dylan was at the apex of his album era. He was now a name brand AOR act trusted by rock fans to deliver the goods. And as was typical of Dylan in this period, he didn't even issue the LP's most famous song as a single. Forever Young was a kind of lullaby crossed with a benediction that Bob Dylan wrote for his eldest son Jesse. A touching song expressing a father's hopes for his child's happiness and fulfillment in life. Dylan held it in reserve for years, and even after he recorded it for the Planet Waves sessions, he almost removed it from the album for being too sentimental. Instead, he included it twice at the end of side A at a slow tempo, and again at the start of side B in a peppier hoedown tempo, with the bands Levon Helm on mandolin and Rick Danko on fiddle.

[Bob Dylan]

Forever Young.

[Chris Melanphy]

As successful as Planet Waves was, Dylan did not stay long on Asylum Records. He was lured back to Columbia by 1975 just in time to release his most acclaimed LP of the 70s. Indeed, some Dylanologists cite it as his best album period. Blood on the Tracks Poisoned in the.

[Bob Dylan]

Bushes and Blown out on the Trail Come in, she Said, I'll give you shelter from the storm.

[Chris Melanphy]

Though Dylan denied in multiple interviews that it was autobiographical, Blood on the Tracks comprised songs about the dissolution of a relationship at the very moment that Bob became estranged from his wife of nearly 10 years, Sarah Lones. Released in January 1975, the LP sold nearly as quickly as Planet Waves had, reaching number one on the album chart in just four weeks. And unlike Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks generated a top 40 hit on American top 40. Casey Kasem counted it down it's been.

[David Letterman]

A while between hit singles for Bob Dylan. His last appearance on the 40 came back in 73 when he got up to number 12 with knocking on heaven's door. But I guess his position as the most important individual singer songwriter of the rock era remains virtually unchallenged. Last year he made his comeback to live performing in a history making cross country tour, and this year he's making his comeback on the charts with the most talked about album of the last five years, debuting this week at number 39. With the first single from that album, here's rock music's poet laureate Bob Dylan, Tangled up in Blue.

[Chris Melanphy]

In concert. Dylan introduced the sonnet like Tangled up in Blue by saying, this song took me 10 years to live and two years to write on the Hot 100. It peaked at a modest number 31, mostly because fans bought the Blood on the Tracks album rather than the single. But Tangled up in Blue still makes rankings of both the best Bob Dylan songs and the best songs period of the rock era.

[Bob Dylan]

God knows I Paid Some Dues getting through.

[Chris Melanphy]

In a 2015 Rolling Stone ranking of Dylan's best songs, in which Tangled ranked third behind Only Like a Rolling Stone and A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall. The magazine called the song, quote his most personal examination of hurt and nostalgia, where emotional truths meet the everlasting comfort of the American folk song, unquote.

[Bob Dylan]

Tangled up in Blue.

[Chris Melanphy]

Bob Dylan had now scored two back to back number one studio albums in a row in between. The Live before the Flood double LP peaked at an impressive number three as well. Dylan was on a roll and he wasn't done yet. In the fall of 75 he launched another year long tour that he dubbed the Rolling Thunder Review, packed with illustrious guests like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and The Byrdes Roger McGuinn between tour stops Dylan found time to record another studio lp, which, like its two predecessors, he would release in his good luck month of January 1976. Dylan called his 76 album Desire.

[Bob Dylan]

I said that's the best news that I've ever heard.

[Chris Melanphy]

That simple album title belied how chaotic, varied and eclectic desire was. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine later called the album unwieldy and messy. Still, Desire arrived at Bob Dylan's most imperial moment, when virtually anything he released was guaranteed to top the charts, especially after Blood on the tracks. Desire spent five weeks at 1, the longest of any Dylan LP, and spawned a top 20 hit that was a favorite on both pop radio and AOR. You can even hear it in the 1993 high school film Dazed and Confused. Dylan's catchiest ever Protest song Hurricane Here.

[Bob Dylan]

Comes the story of Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame for something that he never done Put in a prison cell but one time you.

[Chris Melanphy]

Written by Dylan in collaboration with stage director Jacques Levy, Hurricane was a theatrical story song about real life black middleweight boxer Reuben Hurricane Carter, who was wrongly accused of a triple murder and serving a life sentence. Denzel Washington would later play the boxer in a 1999 biopic. Bob Dylan visited Carter in jail and wrote Hurricane as a declaration of the boxer's innocence. The attention Dylan brought to Carter's case ultimately helped him win a retrial. Eventually his conviction was overturned and all murder charges were dropped.

[Bob Dylan]

The man the authorities came to blame for something that he never done Put in a prison cell but one time he could have been the champion of the world.

[Chris Melanphy]

Dylan's imperial phase on the charts began to peter out in the late 70s as disco overtook the charts and Dylan's four hour conceptual film about the Rolling Thunder tour called Reynaldo and Clara received poor reviews in 1978. As the 80s approached, Dylan would take another artistic swerve that even his most ardent fans didn't see coming. Before he tried to make peace with the synthesizer, Bob Dylan tried to get right with God. When we come back, Bob Dylan is born again, literally, and spends the MTV era in the chart wilderness trying to be everything from a Deadhead to a Wilbury. How will Bob become a chart topper again? With a little help from friends and a return to the coffee house, non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Milan. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Derek John is executive producer of narrative podcasts, and we had help from Joel Meyer, Slate Editor in Chief. Hilary Fry also oversees Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcast, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfy Foreign.

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