Happy birthday, "Bringing it all back home" turns 60 today

In the first half of the 1960s, the “fast world”, that season in which things, in essence the world, quickly changed to every field and therefore also in that of music, started experimental.

If the advent of rock’n’roll had given centrality to the music and stripes music, in the early sixties the focus moved to old Europe where the beatles and other British musicians were redesigning the future.

It was also years in which on the other side of the ocean a such Bob Dylanwho had played the rock’n’roll as a young man and was a big fan, he was building his fame through folk and poetry.

But the goal of Mr zimmerman It was not to approve to other artists; Since his arrival in New York from Minnesota, Dylan had worked to transform himself into the new face of acoustic folk music, becoming the prototype of Troubadour, of the modern minstrel, which tells the world only with an acoustic guitar.

With the passage of time, however, Dylan began to feel restless, limited in this role and figure and looking for a new expressive way, which came from its old roots. By putting together different drives, inspirations and research began to write new songs, more personal and, in some cases, rather abstract and surreal, without political content.

When he prepared to record his fifth album, Dylan knew that some of his new songs should have been recorded with a rock band. During the months spent in Woodstock, New York, at the house of his manager Albert Grossman, wrote intensely.

Some songs, like “Mr. Tambourine Man” And “Gates of Eden“, they had been created while preparing the previous album,”Another Side of Bob Dylan“However, while continuing to write songs to perform alone with the acoustic guitar, like”It’s all over now (baby blue)” And “It’s alright, but (I’m Only Bleeding)“.

However, he was also composing songs that required more powerful support, like “Maggie’s Farm“,”She Belongs to me ““Subterranean Homesick Blues“,”Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” And “Love Minus Zero/No Limit“.

On January 13, 1965, Dylan entered the Columbia Recording Studios in New York, initially working alone, recording some of his new songs with only guitar or piano. In a short time, together with the manufacturer Tom Wilsonhe decided to involve a band of musicians to provide rock accompaniment (they were called The guitarists at Gorgoni, Kenneth Rankin, and Bruce Langhorne, pianist Paul Griffin, bassists Joseph Macho Jr. and William E. Lee and drummer Bobby Gregg). At the end of those recordings, March 22, 1965Columbia Records published “BRINGING IT All Back Home“, an album divided into two sides: one with mainly acoustic songs and the other with the band.

Although the new musical direction of the album was not appreciated by many of its folk fans, the album had a great success, becoming the best sold of Dylan until then, reaching the sixth place in the Billboard ranking.

The iconic cover photo, taken at Grossman’s house, portrays the 23 -year -old young musician with his manager’s wife, Sally, in the background.

Dylan’s songs also became the subject of interest for other rock bands; In May of the same year, i Byrdsa group of Los Angeles, reinterpreted “Mr. Tambourine Man“, bringing it to the top of the ranking.

However Bob Dylan decided to go further and what nobody expected would have happened only a few months later. On July 20, Dylan published a new single, an explosive song that many consider the biggest rock song ever: “Like a rolling stone “ (then included in the following album “Highway 61 Revisited“Published on August 30, 1965

Five days later, on July 25, the apotheosis: Bob Dylan returned to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, this time but accompanied by an electric rock band, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. From that moment on, nothing would have been more as before.

Bringing it all back home: traces

Side a

Subterranean Homesick Blues
She Belongs to me
Maggie’s Farm
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Outlaw blues
On the road again
Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream

Side b

Mr. Tambourine Man
Gates of Eden
It’s alright, but (I’m Only Bleeding)
It’s all over now, baby blue