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Playlist: Bob Dylan

Compiled By: PRX Editors

 Credit:
Curated Playlist

You'll find some of our favorite Dylan specials below. And, many more Dylan specials are available in our search.

Bob Dylan: Listen To The Words

From Paul Ingles | 59:01

Another hour of Dylan's most literate work, hosted by Paul Ingles, to further mark his winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dylantypewriter_small Another hour of Dylan's most literate work, hosted by Paul Ingles, to further mark his winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Songs:

Visions of Johanna

Senor

Masters of War

Hurricane

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Mississippi

Desolation Row

Boots of Spanish Leather

Sound Opinions Presents: Like A Rolling Stone - The Music of Bob Dylan

From Sound Opinions | Part of the Sound Opinions Specials series | 59:00

In this FREE one-hour program, Sound Opinions marks the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan with an exploration of his life and music.

Dylanspecial_small Sound Opinions devotes an entire hour to the life and music of Bob Dylan: rock 'n' roll's great visionary and contrarian. Veteran rock critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis have spent decades covering Dylan's massive and complicated body of work. And now they'll debunk the myths and debate the highs and lows of Dylan's most-well known and prolific period from unplugged to electric.

The Sound Opinions hosts are joined by Dylan scholar Clinton Heylin and legendary musician and Dylan collaborator Al Kooper to talk about his development from a Greenwich Village folkie to a plugged in rocker. You'll hear rare recordings and Kooper's first-hand accounts of the infamous 1965 concert at the Newport Folk Festival and the Nashville recording sessions for Blonde on Blonde.

Like A Rolling Stone - The Music of Bob Dylan is a perfect fit for news and music stations and is available for free.  It is rich with tunes put in context by compelling stories and opinions, and underscores the significance of Bob Dylan as the "voice of a generation" confronts a new one.

Download the entire EVERGREEN episode now.

Bob Dylan: Writers' Favorites

From Paul Ingles | 59:00

Music writers, musicians and Bob Dylan fans were invited to write to music host Paul Ingles with a choice of a Dylan track since mid-1975 that they each believe demonstrates his worthiness for the Nobel Prize in Literature that he was bestowed in October of 2016. Hear their 9 choices in this hour long special.

Dylantypewriter_small Music writers, musicians and Bob Dylan fans were invited to write to music host Paul Ingles with a choice of a Dylan track that they each believe demonstrates his worthiness for the Nobel Prize in Literature that he was bestowed in October of 2016.  Hear their 9 choices in this hour long special.

Contributors included Anthony DeCurtis, Mary Gauthier (go-shay), Jim Fusilli, Paul Zollo, Gardner Campbell, Peter Mulvey, Kevin Odegard, John Kruth, Rob Martinez, Darren DeVivo, and Jon Spurney.

The Emergence of Bob Dylan (1 or 2 hour special)

From Paul Ingles | 01:57:55

Traces the incomparable artist's rise to the world stage. Ingles examines the confluence of Dylan's career and that remarkable time in the American pop music landscape.

In the first hour, he takes listeners on an exclusive tour of the Experience Music Project's Dylan retrospective with curator Jason Emmons and EMP Artistic Director Bob Santelli. Both hours feature several artists who crossed paths with Dylan early on. Listeners hear from Robbie Robertson of The Band, John Cohen and Mike Seeger of the New Lost City Ramblers, folk music expert Izzy Young, and others from Dylan's nascent years. Both hours contain a healthy mix of Dylan's music from this period, including both well-known and lesser-known tracks.

61cropped2_small Scores of great stations across the U.S. have already aired THE EMERGENCE OF BOB DYLAN and the good reviews are rolling in. "Well told, well crafted, well produced. The story telling is exquisite..." "No doubt the best documentary on Dylan, certainly of his early years..." "Insightful interviews, interesting choice of songs and a good narrative thread runs through both hours..." "What a fine tribute to one of the best singer-songwriters... I thought the song choice was exceptional..." "Being too young to have been around when Bob Dylan changed the world, I've always known that his contribution was great, but never really understood it in context. Your radio program really helped to put it into perspective" This two hour special from Paul Ingles ("The Beatles In America - 1964") and Public Radio International is still available for air. Two separate 59 minute segments, newscast compatible, one 30 second break in each. BROADCAST RIGHTS: Any Public Radio station may now carry this program. The program must be carried in its entirety or as just the first hour. Otherwise, no excerpting is permitted. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Hosted and produced by Paul Ingles, THE EMERGENCE OF BOB DYLAN traces the incomparable artist's rise to the world stage. Ingles examines the confluence of Dylan's career and that remarkable time in the American pop music landscape. In the first hour, he takes listeners on an exclusive tour of the Experience Music Project's Dylan retrospective with curator Jason Emmons and EMP Artistic Director Bob Santelli. Both hours feature several artists who crossed paths with Dylan early on. Listeners hear from Robbie Robertson of The Band, John Cohen and Mike Seeger of the New Lost City Ramblers, folk music expert Izzy Young, and others from Dylan's nascent years. Both hours contain a healthy mix of Dylan's music from this period, including both well-known and lesser-known tracks.

Bob Dylan: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

From Joyride Media | 59:00

When Bob Dylan arrived in New York City in the early 1960s, he didn't just alter the course of folk music, he helped change the way the music business worked in general. Dylan achieved this by merely doing what he does best - writing and singing his own songs. The popularity of his music took care of the rest.

You will hear some of Bob Dylan's early demo recordings and songs from his albums as they were first heard on AM radio - in Mono! You will also hear interviews from his first manager Roy Silver, music publisher Artie Mogull, journalist Colin Escott and record producer Steve Berkowitz.

Dylannewcover_small

When Bob Dylan arrived in New York City in the early 1960's, he didn't just alter the course of folk music, he helped change the way the music business worked in general.  Dylan achieved this by merely doing what he does best - writing and singing his own songs.  The popularity of his music took care of the rest.
 
In this one-hour radio special you will hear some of Bob Dylan's early demo recordings and songs from his albums as they were first heard on AM radio - in Mono!  You will also hear interviews from his first manager Roy Silver, music publisher Artie Mogull, journalist Colin Escott and record producer Steve Berkowitz.

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

From Joyride Media | 01:58:10

A two-hour, two-part music-intensive special featuring exclusive music, interviews and other content from Bob Dylan's personal archives.

Dylanboot7_small "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home" is a two-hour, two-part music intensive radio special features exclusive music, interviews and other content from Bob Dylan's personal archives. You'll also hear music featured in "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, a Martin Scorsese picture," premiering on PBS stations nationwide September 26-27, 2005. The program is free for all stations to air, and the audio will be posted here by September 13, 2005. Please contact Andy Cahn at 201-386-1736 or cahnmedia@comcast.net if you want to receive the program on CD. You can also download the "CD request form" under the attachments tab. This radio program consists of two one-hour episodes that correspond to the two parts of the PBS special. This allows you to program each radio segment as a supplement to each of the TV broadcasts in your market. "No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7" is in stores from Columbia/Legacy on Tues, Aug 30. This 2-CD set contains 26 previously unreleased Bob Dylan tracks recorded between 1959 and 1966.

DYLAN (Series)

Produced by Joyride Media

Patti Smith hosts four hours of music and conversation about Bob Dylan. His friends, early influences and collaborators discuss their close relationships with Dylan and the stories behind his greatest songs and other memorable moments of his career. Journalists and biographers add critical insights and provide historical contexts. Exclusive comments from current singer-songwriters detail how Dylan's art influenced their own lives and careers. We also hear Bob Dylan, himself, in rarely heard interview clips.

Most recent piece in this series:

DYLAN: OH MERCY

From Joyride Media | Part of the DYLAN series | 59:00

Bddylancover_small Bob Dylan has always been a unique American voice, and that's most evident in the music he's made since the late 1980's. Returning to his roots in folk and blues, Dylan has fine-tuned American music with the mind of a poet and the bravado of a rock and roller. In this hour, we'll hear the maturity and grace of Dylan's most recent artistic ideas. Interviews: David Kemper, Ray Benson, David Gans, Bill Flanagan, Carolyn Wonderland, Josh Ritter, Ian MacLagen, John Hiatt, Roger McGuinn, John Cohen.

0:00 -- 17:00 Segment 1

In:  "Here's the thing about Bob.  He knows more about American music than anybody I'd ever met."
Out:  "I'm Patti Smith, and you're listening to Bob Dylan:  Oh Mercy."

17:00 -- 18:00  Break 1 with music bed

18:00 -- 36:00 Segment 2

In:  "Welcome back to Bob Dylan:  Oh Mercy.  I'm Patti Smith."
Out:  "I'm Patti Smith, and you're listening to Bob Dylan:  Oh Mercy."

36:00 -- 37:00  Break 2 with music bed

37:00 -- 59:00  Segment 3

In:  "Welcome back to Bob Dylan:  Oh Mercy.  I'm Patti Smith."
Out:  "I'm Patti Smith, and thanks for listening."

Shakespeare in the Alley: Bob Dylan's Poetics (Series)

Produced by Bill King

Twelve (12) shows, 59 minutes each, discussing Dylan's lyrics as poetry. Each show is about one-half music, one-half commentary.

Most recent piece in this series:

Show 2: Dylan and the Three Kings

From Bill King | Part of the Shakespeare in the Alley: Bob Dylan's Poetics series | 59:35

Prx1-07_small Show 2 continues to develolp the idea of "radical solitude," focusing on "Just Like a Woman" and then turning to the question of interpretation, including a radio drama based on "The Three Kings," the liner notes to the "John Wesley Harding" album.

There is a substantial companion web site at http://www.dylanalley.org

Bob Dylan, The Poet

From Open Source | Part of the Open Source with Christopher Lydon series | 58:30

Bob Dylan has been singing more than 50 years. But have you ever really stopped to listen to the words?

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Bob Dylan, the poet, has been singing more than 50 years, but have you ever really stopped to listen to the words? Now that Dylan is a Nobel giant of literature, we asked Christopher Ricks, professor of English at Boston University, for a line-by-line, close-reading of a few lyrical wonders.

screen-shot-2016-12-07-at-1-20-22-pm

 First page of “Like A Rolling Stone” manuscript.

Listening to Dylan the poet, you hear many things: rural protest storyteller, Greenwich village freewheeler, king of rock surrealism. A people’s poet and songster (in the tradition of Robert Burns), a modernist beatnik (in the zone of Allen Ginsburg), a classic versifier (in the bardic tradition of Orpheus—that’s what Salman Rushdie says), and a prolific quoter and sampler (in the old, weird, American blues style, as Greil Marcus says). The novelist Francine Prose hears Arthur Rimbaud and Walt Whitman; the journalist Charlie Pierce hears gonzo journalism. Only Ricks would dare to compare Dylan to literary jumbos like Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, and Eliot.

Of course, Dylan is in a category of his own (not just because, unlike most writers, Dylan is heard through records, radio, and on stage); in fact, Ricks contends that Dylan the “greatest living user of the English language.”

dylantypewriter

Here are some of our favorite annotations from Ricks:

Desolation Row

They’re selling postcards of the hanging, they’re painting the passports brown,

The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town

Here comes the blind commissioner, they’ve got him in a trance

One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants

And the riot squad they’re restless, they need somewhere to go

As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row

Christopher Ricks: Hanging is lynching… Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if “selling postcards of the hanging” was only a surrealist sickness. No, no. It was the American way of life. It was quite central. So then you move into these things that aresurrealist, all right. “Painting the passports brown.” Oh, that’s “painting the town red.” And the town is going to turn up a moment later in the song. So you’ve got this strange feeling that you often have in a dream, that there’s a word just below the surface, there’s some sort of link, there are strange things floating one into the other. Is the “blind commissioner” a commissioner who is blind, or a commissioner for the blind? It’s blind partly because you’re visualizing things. Sound wonderfully visualizes.

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen

She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children

Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage

And never sat once at the head of the table

And didn’t even talk to the people at the table

Who just cleaned up all the food from the table

And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level

Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane

That sailed through the air and came down through the room

Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle

And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger

And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears

Take the rag away from your face

Now ain’t the time for your tears

Ricks: Cain, as the first killer, turns up in many of Dylan’s songs. So the question is, when you sing a word like “cane,” it’s identical in sound with C-A-I-N. And when you have “table,” “table,” “table”—are you near Abel? Maybe not. But it’s a little bit of a coincidence. You’ve got cane. “Slain by a cane” reminds you: That was the first killing ever. So that you’ve got the primal curse of mankind on it!

Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,

And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,

And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,

Oh, do they think could bury you?

With your pockets well protected at last,

And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass,

And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass,

Who could they get to carry you?

 

Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,

Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,

My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,

Should I put them by your gate,

Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Ricks: This is like a huge, Petrarchan poem. It’s like four, six sonnets by Petrarch. Every one of which lists all the wonderful apparatus which surrounds a seductive woman. The seduction may be her very goodness, or it may be other things about her. The song overlaps terrifically with Swinburne’s poem “Dolores,” where Dolores is our lady of sorrows, “the sad-eyed lady of the lowlands.” … The refrain is a very great beauty with great dignity. It’s about “should I lead them by her gate? Or sad eyed lady, should I wait?” “Should I wait” is like Shakespeare’s sonnets, where the speaker in the sonnets is always saying “please, I’m perfectly happy to wait, happy to wait”—with a terrific edge of resentment—and this a song which understands resentment. That is, it’s not simply grateful to a woman who puts you through all of this with her this and her that, “with your, with your, with your…” Terrific song. Terrifying song, really.

dylan at the piano