Bob Dylan

26:46Bob Dylan:Reaching number six in the charts, the album is his most successful yet.

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28:50Bob Dylan:In the spring of 1965, Dylan embarks on a triumphant UK solo tour. As well as Joan Baez, he's accompanied by a film crew who shoot a behind-the-scenes documentary called Don't Look Back. The footage shows Dylan running rings around British journalists and holding court with his entourage at the Savoy Hotel, while a forlorn-looking Baez is increasingly ignored. Eventually she calls it a day and goes home. Flush with his new commercial success, Dylan buys a rambling house in the hills above Woodstock, New York, where he plans to live with Sarah and the child they're soon to welcome. Meanwhile, he works at crafting what will become one of his most famous songs, like a rolling stone.

29:36Well, first of all, it's very long. American radio demanded that songs not be more than two and a half to three minutes. But The Light of Rolling Stone was six minutes and more. But also, it was a very vituperative example of the dramatic monologue. That is, a song which is clearly addressed to one other person, but that other person is never allowed to get a word in each way. But another thing about the song was that structurally and lyrically, it was just very direct and biting. Plus, it starts with an absolutely marvelous snare drum bang. It's really kicking off in every sense.

30:25Bob Dylan:Bruce Springsteen, a teenager in New Jersey, is bowled over by the song, later saying that the opening snare sounded like somebody had kicked open the door to your mind. Not long after the release of Like a Rolling Stone in July 1965, Dylan performs the song at the Newport Folk Festival, backed by an electric band, sending shockwaves through the folk community. In November, he quietly marries Sarah and adopts her oldest daughter, Maria, before the couple are joined by their baby, Jesse Dylan, the following January. But even that's not enough to keep Dylan from the studio or from heading out to perform in Europe and Australia just months later.

31:07Bob Dylan:Around this time, friends notice that he's looking strung out and thin. Though he always maintains he can take or leave drugs, when it comes to marijuana, there often seems to be more taking than leaving. This tour is perhaps most famous for a moment at the Manchester show in May. Disgruntled by the electric nature of the set Between songs, an audience member heckles Dylan by shouting Judas Dylan fires back I don't believe you, you're a liar Before turning to the band and telling them to play loud Launching into a ferocious rendition of Like a Rolling Stone

31:52Bob Dylan:Before long, Dylan is physically and emotionally exhausted. Burned out from releasing seven albums in four years and the associated relentless touring schedule, he retreats to his home in Woodstock, New York. One day in the middle of summer, he attempts to blow away the cobwebs on the open road.

32:15Bob Dylan:It is the morning of July the 29th, 1966. With the remote tree-lined road unspooling in front of him like a dark ribbon, Bob Dylan rides low over the handlebars of his Triumph Tiger motorcycle.

32:32Bob Dylan:Sarah's car follows not far behind, but even so, this feels like a rare moment of solitude. There is no crowd, no flashing cameras, no one waiting to ambush him. Just the freedom of the road and the glimpses of sky breaking through the canopy. The only sounds are the steady thrum of the engine and the rush of wind tearing past his ears. Dylan's hair lifts and falls with the rush of the air flying by. When he glances into the mirror, his face is pale and pinched. There are shadows beneath his eyes, deepened by weeks of travel and too many sleepless nights. Gripping the handlebars, his long fingers are stained with nicotine.

33:18Bob Dylan:The engine's pitch shifts, working harder now as the road begins to climb. The asphalt is uneven here, cracked and littered with loose grit. Heat rises off the surface in faint ripples. Then through a sudden break in the trees, the morning sun bursts through. For a split second, Dylan is blinded by the glare, and he squeezes the brake in response. The rear wheel locks, and the Triumph shudders violently. Handlebars twisting in his hands, the bike fishtails, rubber screaming against asphalt. The ground rushes up to meet him as the motorcycle slides out from under his legs.

34:03Bob Dylan:In this single, violent moment, the pace of his life finally catches up with him. Precisely what happens when Dylan falls off his motorcycle remains shrouded in mystery. Some report he is rendered unconscious with a broken neck, others that he emerges relatively unscathed. Dylan himself claims he suffers several broken vertebrae. Whatever the truth, After the accident, he withdraws somewhat from public life, retreating to a more private existence with his wife and young family. During the late 60s, he and Sarah have three more children, Anna, Samuel, and Jacob. For Dylan, it is a necessary period of rest and respite.

34:50Well, I think he'd have killed himself otherwise. He's obviously very stoned a good deal of the time. What's remarkable is that he can go on stage and do this recitation, if you like, of these very long, complex songs. On the one hand, very stoned. On the other hand, he is word perfect without ever a falter of any kind. Every single noise and pause that he creates in all that time on stage is exactly what he wants done. But, you know, there's a limit to living that kind of self-abusive life. And, yeah, I think he needed to change.

35:44Bob Dylan:It's during this period that he turns to making relaxed, informal music at home, jamming with his bandmates, experimenting with melodies, and improvising nonsensical lyrics to old favourites. Characterized by their intimate, earthy sound, the resulting recordings are collected together in a series called The Basement Tapes. Circulating initially in the burgeoning bootleg market, they become prized by collectors and are officially released as an album in 1975. Returning to the studio in 1967, Dylan now leans into a gentler, more country-influenced sound to produce John Wesley Harding. The album includes All Along the Watchtower A song that gains wider fame after Jimi Hendrix covers it the next year Yet even as he attempts to withdraw from public life, he is not left alone Obsessive fans continue to pursue him Such as A.J.

36:38Bob Dylan:Weberman, a self-styled Dylanologist Who is notorious for rifling through the stars garbage A quiet life proves elusive And Dylan finds he can't step out of the limelight forever

36:54Bob Dylan:For a long time, his output is uneven and he remains reclusive. 1974, though, sees him embark on his first major tour in more than seven years. But on the road, he fails to remain faithful to his wife, and a rift develops between the pair. It is the collapse of his marriage, many say, that inspires one of his greatest albums, Blood on the Tracks. A searingly personal collection of songs, recorded and released when he is 33, it is seen as a return to form. He'd been influenced by Joni Mitchell's album Blue. Tangled Up in Blue is one of the songs on Blood on the Tracks, and that may be one of the playful interpretations of the title of that song.

37:41this person who had been so deeply and thoroughly associated with the 1960s, an era that was now over, Blood on the Tracks proved that he was an artist for the future and not just a hippie from the 60s. It offered the promise that you could go on having a substantial career, still breaking boundaries and so on, right through. If you were Bob Dylan and you could do that in 1975, then everyone could have a longer career than they assumed was possible.

38:21Bob Dylan:Over the next year, he undertakes a carnival-like touring project called The Rolling Thunder Review, with a rotating cast of collaborators, including the musicians Scarlett Rivera, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Joni Mitchell, and the poet Allen Ginsberg. Joan Byers rejoins Dylan on stage around the same time that she releases her own take on her romance with him Her song, Diamonds and Rust, evokes an enigmatic former lover with eyes bluer than Robin's eggs And becomes one of her greatest successes Alongside Sarah Dylan, she also appears in his experimental film, Ronaldo and Clara Which blends concert footage with surreal dramatizations of his life and relationships But as well as mining his personal life for material, he also returns to political music.

39:12Bob Dylan:After reading the autobiography of Ruben Carter, an African-American boxer who many believe to have been wrongly convicted of murder, Dylan visits him in prison in New Jersey. Moved by his story, Dylan not only co-writes a song about him entitled Hurricane, but also drums up public support with benefit performances. In spite of his efforts, Carter remains in prison until 1985, when his convictions are finally set aside. The album that opens with Hurricane closes with a song called Sarah, a tribute to Dylan's wife that one critic calls a fevered cry of loss, posing a sincere devotion. But despite inspiring some of Dylan's most beautiful songs, Sarah is struggling.

39:56Bob Dylan:Being the wife of a mercurial, womanizing rock icon is not easy In 1977, she files for divorce, taking primary custody of their children Though the kids spend holidays with their father, who remains a loving and affectionate parent It is said that Sarah's ongoing silence about her time with Dylan is a condition of the settlement

40:22Bob Dylan:Reeling from the split and further disappointment when Ronaldo and Clara is badly received, Dylan embarks on a long world tour. During one date in San Diego, a fan tosses a silver cross onto the stage and Dylan picks it up and begins to wear it. Shortly after, he experiences a moment of spiritual transformation and converts to Christianity. A pair of explicitly Christian albums follow in the early 1980s. Dylan also stops playing some of his former hits. It was embarrassing to some of us because it seemed to suggest that he had done a complete volt fast on radicalism. The person who had sung Don't Follow Leaders, Watch the Parking Meters was now singing, there's only one authority, that's the authority on high.

41:15But having said all that, I have to say that he was deeply familiar with the Bible. Always, always had been. And, you know, it's perhaps not very noticeably, but it's there in early Psalms. Times are changing. I mean, it's full of biblical stuff. About the last one now will later be first, first one now will later be last. All those phrases. And so when Dylan found Jesus, he said, you know, I'd always been interested in the Bible as literature. It never occurred to me to take it as belief. And so when he did, it gave him, you know, the scope to embellish and develop his own deep knowledge of biblical text into song.

42:01And so some of that work has remained well worth having.

42:07Bob Dylan:His 1983 album Infidels is seen as more successful But overall the 1980s is not a good period for him It was a terrible decade But for Dylan I think, you know, he was older He had the kind of weariness that descends on us in middle age And I think that he probably used far too much alcohol As a personal habit in his life Despite losing his way as an artist Dylan is firmly established as a global megastar Invited by Irish musician Bob Geldof He contributes to the charity single We Are The World With artists including Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder The record spends four weeks at number one And in July 1985 Dylan appears at the Philadelphia edition of Live Aid Performing with Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones The following year, Carolyn Dennis One of Dylan's backing singers Gives birth to his sixth child In the summer of 1986, she and Dylan wed in Los Angeles, but the contract is filed with the LA County Court Registrar as a confidential marriage.

43:15Bob Dylan:Though Dylan is no more faithful to his new secret wife than he was to Sarah, he is a better father than husband and is as dedicated to his youngest daughter, Desiree, as he is to his other five children. Towards the end of the 80s, Dylan begins what fans call his never-ending tour. Though not its official title, it sees the restless star commit to a life on the road. Like the wandering folk singers of old, it casts Dylan in one of the few roles he is happy in, that of the modern troubadour. By 1992, after just six years, his second marriage is over. Dylan returns to his roots with a pair of stripped-back albums consisting of folk covers.

44:01Bob Dylan:And although he performs at events marking the inauguration of the new president Bill Clinton the following year, his public role feels more that of a heritage figure rather than a contemporary force. In the mid-1990s, Dylan gives up drinking and his creativity revives. The result is his first album of original material in seven years. Time Out of Mind will contain some of the most powerful songs of his later career. Among them are the much-covered Make You Feel My Love and Not Dark Yet. The latter, in its exploration of mortality, will come to be seen as strangely prophetic.

44:43Bob Dylan:Before the album is released in May 1997, Dylan falls seriously ill with pericarditis, and inflammation of the sack around the heart. The news of the potentially fatal condition flies around the world. I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon, says Dylan, once he's out of the woods. The release of Time Out of Mind sees a full-scale renaissance of a different sort. The album wins three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and Dylan's artistic revival gathers momentum. In 2001 he wins an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Things Have Changed, a song written for the film Wonder Boys. And even in his late 60s, Dylan remains on the road, a travelling musician in a changing world.

45:33Bob Dylan:But despite the accolades and the global fame, there are still, just occasionally, moments of anonymity.

45:43Bob Dylan:It is July the 23rd, 2009. A rainy afternoon in Long Branch, a quiet beach town in New Jersey. 24-year-old police officer Christy Bubble is at her desk filing reports and sipping lukewarm coffee when the radio crackles with a message from dispatch. A concerned resident has called to report a scruffy old man wandering along her street, peering into the windows of an empty house. Christy sighs, picks up her car keys and heads out into the rain.

46:20Bob Dylan:As she drives through the drizzle, she spots him, a slight hunched figure with a hood pulled over his head. Getting closer, she sees the old man is wearing two raincoats layered over each other, as well as sweatpants and black boots that are sinking into the grass. She pulls up nearby and steps out of the car Approaching cautiously before introducing herself and asking his name The man pauses, then lifts his gaze to her His face is craggy, with blue eyes so piercing they are almost unnerving In a voice that sounds roughened by years of hard living He says he is Bob Dylan Christian. Christy blinks, unconvinced.

47:10Bob Dylan:She's seen pictures of Bob Dylan, of course, but this scruffy, rain-soaked man doesn't match any image she remembers. Perhaps noticing her uncertainty, he explains that he is in New Jersey to play a show in nearby Lakewood. For all the strangeness of the encounter, there seems to be nothing threatening about the man. If anything, he has a quiet, disarming charm. Christy stops a passerby and asks him for a second opinion. Does this gentleman look like Bob Dylan? The young man gives him the once-over, then shakes his head and moves off, as confused as the officer. Just to be absolutely certain, she asks the stranger to repeat his name one last time.

47:54Bob Dylan:He smiles as if privately amused by something. He says that he was actually born Robert Zimmerman. Christy sighs, then gestures to her patrol car and asks him to come with her. He lifts a hand in silent ascent and climbs into the backseat. When Christy asks where he's staying, he tells her he's at the hotel by the sea. She knows the one and pulls away from the curb, the passenger chatting amiably as they drive. Asked where he's from, he says he has houses all over the world, adding casually that he'd been thinking of buying the empty place he'd been peering into. Christy glances at him in the rearview mirror, wondering how much of this can be true, if any, considering that he looks for all the world like he's homeless.

48:45Bob Dylan:But as she slows to a stop outside the hotel, she sees the string of tour buses, and doubt begins to creep in. The moment she pulls up, an officious-looking man strides over and opens the car door Her blue-eyed passenger climbs out and thanks her Before he's hustled away by the man who turns out to be his manager Startled, Christy almost forgets herself before asking the manager for identification After a few minutes, he returns, holding a passport Which proves to her that despite her instincts and all evidence to the contrary the man she just met was indeed not destitute, but a global megastar.

49:25Bob Dylan:As she returns to the car and starts to drive away, she realises she's going to have a story to tell back at the station.

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50:38Bob Dylan:Speculation about the New Jersey incident suggests Dylan was searching for Bruce Springsteen's former home where Born to Run was written. As well as painting and drawing, investigating the lives of rock musicians is one of the star's hobbies. Dylan's late career ascent continues unabated. In 2012, he received the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At a White House ceremony, he is awarded the medal by President Barack Obama, who says, there is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. Then, in 2016, an announcement from Sweden surprises the world.

51:20Bob Dylan:Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for creating new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. But even some of Dylan's fans have mixed feelings about the award. One of the great things about the Nobel Prize is that it's financially very, very big, and therefore would be so life-changing and so affirmative for someone who was just a freelance writer, effectively. And Bob Dylan, he's not just a writer. He's not just a literature. He's music and he's theater. And so it seemed an uncomfortable fit to give him the Nobel Prize for literature. I mean, you know, having thought that in theory he shouldn't get it, I was thrilled when he got it.

52:12But it's controversial because, you know, not everyone in literature departments of American or British universities thinks that he's all that good, let alone one of the greats.

52:26Bob Dylan:Yet for many, Dylan is indeed one of the greats. One of the first major artists to write his own material. He laid the foundations for the modern singer-songwriter. Over the course of his career, he has created more than 600 songs and sold in excess of 125 million records worldwide. But more importantly, his lyrics brought poetic ambition, social commentary and literary depth to rock music. He's like no other singer in that he puts so much emphasis on variety of expression and so much emphasis on immediacy of communication. There's something about his voice that abolishes the gulf between the performer and the audience.

53:15You listen to one of his early solo recordings. It's just straight through from his mouth to your ear, as it were. And he has an extraordinary ability to vocalize in such a way that in a song where he's repeating a title line, for example, at the end of each verse, he never repeats it in exactly the same way. Most people have one voice. And Bob Dylan is more like a ventriloquist. he has any number of voices.

53:49Bob Dylan:Dylan has appeared or been represented on screen numerous times, from documentaries directed by Martin Scorsese to the recent biopic A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothee Chalamet as the young Dylan. In 2007's I'm Not There, the star was played by six actors, including Cate Blanchett, a cinematic nod to the many sides of his public persona. ever the shapeshifter dylan's constant reinvention from protest singer to electric rock pioneer and beyond has influenced generations of artists and permanently expanded the possibilities of popular song to this day well into his ninth decade he continues to tour with the same restless momentum and commitment to his art that has defined his long career

54:44Bob Dylan:Next time on Short History of, we'll bring you a short history of Sir Francis Drake. I think people are still so interested in Francis Drake today because of his complexity, I think is one of them, because there are different aspects to his story that people can pull out depending on the point that they're trying to make about England as a nation.

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