By 1965,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
was the leading songwriter of the
American folk music revival.
[ Paul Simon suggested that Dylan's early compositions virtually took over the folk genre.] The response to his albums ''
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album ''Bob Dylan'' had contained only two original songs, this album ...
'' and ''
The Times They Are a-Changin''' led the media to label him the "spokesman of a generation".
In March 1965, Dylan released his fifth album ''
Bringing It All Back Home
''Bringing It All Back Home'' (known as ''Subterranean Homesick Blues'' in some European countries; sometimes also spelled ''Bringin' It All Back Home'') is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in Apri ...
''. Side one features him backed by an electric band, while side two features him accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On July 20, 1965, he released his single "
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted fro ...
" featuring a rock sound. On July 25, 1965, he performed his first electric concert at the
Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...
, joined by pianist
Barry Goldberg
Barry Joseph Goldberg (born December 25, 1942) is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's ve ...
, and of the
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
, guitarist
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...
,
bassist Jerome Arnold
Jerome Arnold (born Romeo Maurice Arnold; November 12, 1936, Chicago) is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s.
As an original member of the Butterfield band, he was subsequent ...
and
drummer Sam Lay
Samuel Julian Lay (March 20, 1935January 29, 2022) was an American drummer and vocalist who performed from the late 1950s as a blues and R&B musician alongside Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Paul Butterfield, and many others. He was inducted into ...
. Some sections of the audience booed the performance. Members of the folk movement criticized him for moving away from political songwriting and for performing with an electric band, including
Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber (October 17, 1925 – September 8, 2010) was an American Communist, editor, publisher, and political activist. He edited the folk music magazine ''Sing Out!'' and was active in far-left politics throughout his life.
Biography Early ...
[In 1964, ]Irwin Silber
Irwin Silber (October 17, 1925 – September 8, 2010) was an American Communist, editor, publisher, and political activist. He edited the folk music magazine ''Sing Out!'' and was active in far-left politics throughout his life.
Biography Early ...
, the editor of ''Sing Out!
''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960.
Background
''Sing Out ...
'', had published an "Open Letter to Bob Dylan" criticizing him for stepping away from political song writing and
Ewan MacColl. Dylan continued his trend towards electric rock music on his next two albums, ''
Highway 61 Revisited
''Highway 61 Revisited'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on ever ...
'' (August, 1965) and ''
Blonde on Blonde'' (June, 1966).
On subsequent tours throughout 1965 and 1966, his electric sets (now backed by
The Hawks) were often met with derisiveness from the audience. Crowds became particularly acrimonious during a British tour, including an oft-cited incident in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, where a member of the crowd shouted "
Judas
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
!" at Dylan; shows from this tour have been documented in several Dylan documentaries including 2005's ''
No Direction Home
''No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'' is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New ...
''. Over time, Dylan continued to evolve musically, turning to
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
on ''
Nashville Skyline
''Nashville Skyline'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel to reel tape and audio cassette.
Building on the rustic style he experimented with on '' J ...
'' (April 1969), and drifting through numerous styles throughout the rest of his career. Over time, his electric period has since come to be recognized by critics and fans as producing some of his best-received music, and his controversial performance at Newport has been considered a pivotal moment in the development of
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
.
Newport 1965 set
![Bob Dylan in November 1963-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Bob_Dylan_in_November_1963-2.jpg)
At the 1963
Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...
, Dylan had been received enthusiastically when he performed "
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962.
It was released as a single and included on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions abou ...
" with
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
;
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...
; and other Festival performers. At the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan performed "
With God on Our Side" and "
Mr Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album ''Bringing It All Back Home''. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been include ...
". Positive reviews of Dylan's 1964 performance were accompanied by criticisms of Dylan's antics and dismissive nature; one critic wrote that "being stoned had rarely prevented his giving winning performances, but he was clearly out of control".
On Saturday, July 24, 1965, Dylan performed three acoustic songs, "
All I Really Want to Do
"All I Really Want to Do" is a song written by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson- produced 1964 album, ''Another Side of Bob Dylan''. It is arguably one of the most popular songs that Dylan wrote in the period immediately after he abandon ...
", "
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
"If You Gotta Go, Go Now" (sometimes subtitled "(Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)") is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964. The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group the Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this did not ...
", and "
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" (read "Love Minus Zero over No Limit", sometimes titled "Love Minus Zero") is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album '' Bringing It All Back Home'', released in 1965. Its main musical hook is a series of ...
", at a Newport workshop. According to
Jonathan Taplin, a roadie at Newport (and later a road manager for the acts of Dylan's manager
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk an ...
), Dylan made a spontaneous decision on Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band the following evening. Taplin said that Dylan had been irritated by what he considered condescending remarks which festival organiser
Alan Lomax had made about the
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
when Lomax introduced them for an earlier set at a festival workshop. Dylan's attitude, according to Taplin, was, "Well, fuck them if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I'll do it. On a whim, he said he wanted to play electric." Dylan assembled a band and rehearsed that night at a mansion being used by festival organizer
George Wein
George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer. .
On the night of Sunday, July 25, Dylan's appearance was between
Cousin Emmy
Cynthia May Carver (March 14, 1903 – April 11, 1980), known professionally as Cousin Emmy, was a banjo player, fiddler and country singer who was one of the pioneering solo female stars in the country music industry. Although hit records elude ...
and the
Sea Island singers, two traditional acts. Dylan's band included two musicians who had played on his recently released single "
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted fro ...
":
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...
on lead guitar and
Al Kooper
Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...
on
organ. Two of Bloomfield's bandmates from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band,
bassist Jerome Arnold
Jerome Arnold (born Romeo Maurice Arnold; November 12, 1936, Chicago) is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s.
As an original member of the Butterfield band, he was subsequent ...
and
drummer Sam Lay
Samuel Julian Lay (March 20, 1935January 29, 2022) was an American drummer and vocalist who performed from the late 1950s as a blues and R&B musician alongside Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Paul Butterfield, and many others. He was inducted into ...
, also appeared at Newport, as well as
Barry Goldberg
Barry Joseph Goldberg (born December 25, 1942) is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's ve ...
on
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
.
Footage of the Newport performance appears in the documentary films ''
Festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
'' (1967), ''
No Direction Home
''No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'' is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New ...
'' (2005) and ''
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963–1965'' (2007). The footage begins with Dylan being introduced by
Master of Ceremonies Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...
: "Ladies and gentlemen, the person that's going to come up now has a limited amount of time ... His name is Bob Dylan." In the documentary footage, both boos and cheers are heard a few bars into Dylan's first song, "
Maggie's Farm
"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album '' Bringing It All Back Home'' on March 22 of that year. Like many other Dylan songs of the 1965–66 period, "Maggie's Farm" is based on elect ...
", and continue throughout his second, "Like a Rolling Stone". Dylan and his band then performed "Phantom Engineer", an early version of "
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is a song written by Bob Dylan, that was originally released on his album ''Highway 61 Revisited''. It was recorded on July 29, 1965. The song was also included on an early, European Dylan compilat ...
". Dylan was said to have "electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the other".
After "Phantom Engineer", Dylan and the band left the stage. Booing and clapping are in the background. When
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...
returned to the microphone, he begged Dylan to continue performing. According to
Robert Shelton, when Dylan returned to the stage, he discovered he did not have the right harmonica and said to Yarrow, "What are you doing to me?"
[Robert Shelton, ''No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan'', New York, 1986, pp. 301–304] Dylan then asked the audience for "an E harmonica". Within a few moments, a clatter of harmonicas hit the stage. Dylan performed two songs on acoustic guitar for the audience: "
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his '' Bringing It All Back Home'' album, released on March 22, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was recorded on January 15, 1965, with Dylan's acousti ...
", and then, "
Mr Tambourine Man
"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album ''Bringing It All Back Home''. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been include ...
", his farewell to the Newport Folk Festival. The crowd exploded with applause, calling for more. Dylan did not return to the Newport festival for 37 years. In an enigmatic gesture, Dylan performed at Newport in 2002, sporting a wig and fake beard.
Audience reaction
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Ba ...
, who worked with
Paul Rothchild
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
* Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
on the sound mixing for the festival, described the audience reaction in his memoir, ''
White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s''.
Filmmaker
Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner (May 8, 1927 – September 2, 2017) was an American documentary and experimental film director and producer.
Career
Lerner was born May 8, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Nacham and Goldie (Levine) Lerner. Murray's fat ...
and others present at Newport argued that the boos were from outraged folk fans who disliked Dylan playing an electric guitar. Others present, including musician
Al Kooper
Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...
, disagreed, arguing that the audience were upset by poor sound quality and the short duration of the set. "The reason they booed is that he only played for fifteen minutes when everybody else played for forty-five minutes or an hour," Kooper would later recall. "They were feeling ripped off. Wouldn't you? They didn't give a shit about us being electric. They just wanted more." According to performers
Ian & Sylvia
Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.
Hi ...
Tyson, it was "an angry, startled reaction" but that "it was a hostile audience" that year for other performers also.
Boyd said in an interview with
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
in 2007: "I think there were a lot of people who were upset about the rock band, but I think it was pretty split. I think probably more people liked it than didn't. But there was certainly a lot of shouting and a lot of arguing, and a sound which, you can hear in a lot of ballparks. You used to get this confusion when
Bill Skowron
William Joseph Skowron (December 18, 1930 – April 27, 2012), nicknamed "Moose", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 to 1967 for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dod ...
used to come up to the plate for the Yankees, 'cause his nickname was Moose. And everybody used to go, "MOOSE!" And it sounded like they were booing him. Because you don't get the articulation of the consonant, so that a crowd shouting "more, more, more" at the end of Dylan's three songs sounded very much like booing. I've heard recently a recording of that night, and it doesn't sound to me like booing so much as a roar, just a kind of general hubbub between songs, and during Yarrow's attempt to get Dylan back on stage... I really wouldn't be prepared to say it was 50–50, or two thirds/one third, or whatever. But I think that there was a segment of the audience, somewhere between a quarter and a half, that was dismayed or horrified or varying degrees of unhappy about what he was doing."
In 2007, documentary director
Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner (May 8, 1927 – September 2, 2017) was an American documentary and experimental film director and producer.
Career
Lerner was born May 8, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Nacham and Goldie (Levine) Lerner. Murray's fat ...
released on DVD his complete footage of Dylan's three appearances at Newport: ''
The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963–1965''. When interviewed by ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' magazine, Lerner was asked: "There’s been a lot of debate over the years as to who exactly was doing the booing and who were they booing? Dylan? The organizers? The shortness of the set?" Lerner replied: "It's a good question. When we showed the film at The New York Film Festival
n October 2007one kid gets up and says, 'About this booing... I was sitting right in front of the stage, there was no booing in the audience whatsoever. There was booing from the performers'. So I said, Well, I don't think you're right. Then another kid gets up and says 'I was a little further back and it was the press section that was booing, not the audience', and I said, Well, I don't think you're right. A third guy gets up and says 'I was there, and there was no question, it was the audience that was booing and there was no booing from the stage'. It was fascinating. People remember hearing what they thought they should hear. I think they were definitely booing Dylan and a little bit Pete Yarrow because he was so flustered. He was not expecting that audience's reaction and he was concerned about Bob’s image since they were part of the same family of artists through Al Grossman. But I absolutely think that they were booing Dylan going electric."
Interviewed in San Francisco, on December 3, 1965, Dylan was asked whether he was "surprised the first time the boos came?" He responded: "That was at Newport. Well, I did this very crazy thing, I didn't know what was going to happen, but they certainly booed, I'll tell you that. You could hear it all over the place.... I mean, they must be pretty rich, to be able to go some place and boo. I couldn't afford it if I was in their shoes."
Controversy around Pete Seeger's reaction
Poor sound quality was the reason musician
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
, who was backstage, gave for disliking the performance: he says he told the audio technicians, "Get that distortion out of his voice ... It's terrible. If I had an axe, I'd chop the microphone cable right now."
Seeger has also said, however, that he only wanted to cut the cables because he wanted the audience to hear Dylan's lyrics properly because he thought they were important.
[ Rumors that Seeger actually had an axe, or that a festival board member pulled or wanted to pull out the entire electrical wiring system] are apocrypha
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
l. In the film ''No Direction Home
''No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'' is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New ...
'', John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, who is Pete Seeger's brother-in-law, states that Seeger wanted to lower the volume of the band because the noise was upsetting his elderly father Charles, who wore a hearing aid. In the same film, Dylan claimed that Seeger's unenthusiastic response to his set was like a "dagger in his heart" and made him "want to go out and get drunk".
According to jazz historian John Szwed
John F. Szwed (born 1936) is the John M. Musser Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, African American Studies and Film Studies at Yale University and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar in the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, where he ...
, the legend about Pete Seeger cutting the cable or pulling the cords of the acoustic system may have arisen from an actual incident from earlier that afternoon. Szwed writes that Festival organizer Alan Lomax had asked Texas folklorist Mack McCormick
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930 – November 18, 2015) was an American musicologist and folklorist.
Biography
McCormick was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was brought up by his mother, in Alabama, Colorado
...
, discoverer of Lightnin' Hopkins
Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list ...
, to find a Texas prison gang to bring up to Newport to sing work songs, but the would not allow it, so McCormick had rounded up a group of ex-convicts. Since they had never performed together in front of an audience, much less a microphone, McCormick wanted to accustom them to the stage before the concert. "But Bob Dylan's electric band had been rehearsing for some time and refused to leave. 'I was trying to tell Dylan, we need the stage', McCormick said. 'He continued to ignore me. So I went over to the junction box and pulled out the cords. Then he listened'."
Joe Boyd recounted events differently in his memoir, "White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s". The Texas Prisoners Worksong group had been discovered by musicologist Bruce Jackson, who got permission to bring six of them to Newport. A tree stump was placed on the stage which they chopped with axes as they sang. During the performance, a mic cable disconnected. Boyd ducked in and reconnected it, earning a nod of approval from Seeger. Boyd speculates that somehow those ingredients, "Seeger, axes, cables...got muddled up".
Bruce Jackson, another director of the Newport Folk Festival, called the incident "the myth of Newport". Jackson was present at Dylan's 1965 performance and in 2002 reviewed an audio tape of it. Jackson contends that the booing was directed at Peter Yarrow (also a member of the Festival's Board), who upset the crowd when he attempted to keep Dylan's spot to its proper length; Jackson maintains there's nothing to indicate the crowd disliked Dylan's music, electrified or not.
New York City concert, August 28, 1965
The next concert Dylan played after his Newport performance was on August 28, 1965, at Forest Hills Stadium
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, in Queens, New York
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. Dylan appears to have believed that the booing at Newport was a consequence of some fans disliking his electric sound. Photographer Daniel Kramer, who accompanied Dylan to the Forest Hills concert, wrote: "Dylan held a conference with the musicians who were going to accompany him in the second half of the concert. He told them that they should expect anything to happen—he probably was remembering what occurred at Newport. He told them that the audience might yell and boo and that they should not be bothered by it. Their job was to make the best music they were capable of, and let whatever happened happen."
Musician Tony Glover
David Curtis Glover (October 7, 1939 – May 29, 2019), better known as Tony "Little Sun" Glover, was an American blues musician and music critic. He was a harmonica player and singer associated with "Spider" John Koerner and Dave "Snake ...
, in his liner notes for the '' Bob Dylan Live 1966'' album, quotes a contemporary account of the concert from ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'': "Bob Dylan split 15,000 of his fans down the middle at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Sunday night... The most influential writer-performer on the pop music scene during the past decade, Dylan has apparently evolved too fast for some of his young followers, who are ready for radical changes in practically everything else... repeating the same scene that occurred during his performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan delivered a round of folk-rock songs but had to pound his material against a hostile wall of anti-claquers, some of whom berated him for betraying the cause of folk music."
Dylan's "World Tour", 1965–1966
The polarised responses of Dylan's fans were exacerbated by the structure of his concerts in late 1965 and 1966; the first half would be 'folk,' Dylan solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica; with the second half 'rock,' Dylan and the Hawks with electric guitars and a full rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
combo. The rock segment was often greeted with hostility, as seen in shows in Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
and Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
in ''No Direction Home''. Footage from the Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
concert, at the end of that film, includes the "Judas" heckling incident. During a quiet moment in between songs an audience member shouts loudly: "Judas
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
!" Dylan replies: "I don't believe you, you're a liar" before telling his band to "Play it fucking loud!" as they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted fro ...
". This incident was recorded, and the full concert was eventually released in 1998 as '' Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert'' in Dylan's Bootleg Series. One fan who claimed to have shouted "Judas!" was John Cordwell; when interviewed by Andy Kershaw
Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music.
Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken word ...
he said:
:"I think most of all I was angry that Dylan... not that he'd played electric, but that he'd played electric with a really poor sound system. It was not like it is on the record he official album It was a wall of mush. That, and it seemed like a cavalier performance, a throwaway performance compared with the intensity of the acoustic set earlier on. There were rumblings all around me and the people I was with were making noises and looking at each other. It was a build-up."
Another claimant to the "Judas!" shout was Keith Butler, who was a student at Keele University
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...
. Butler's presence was documented in the film ''Eat the Document
''Eat the Document'' is a documentary of Bob Dylan's 1966 tour of parts of Europe with the Hawks. The cover photo was taken on the train line between Dublin and Belfast, near Balbriggan. It was shot under Dylan's direction by D. A. Pennebaker, ...
'', when the 21-year-old was filmed leaving the Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
Free Trade Hall
The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel.
The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. T ...
, saying "Any pop group could produce better rubbish than that! It was a bloody disgrace! He's a traitor!" In 1999, he took part in a BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
documentary about ''Live 1966'', and asked about his reaction at the time, he replied, "I kind of think: 'You silly young bugger.'"
In 2012, Dylan referred to the incident while addressing criticism that he had not clearly acknowledged his lyrical sources for his new album ''Tempest'':
:Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff. It's an old thing — it's part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you've been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equatable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.
Rediscovery and sale of Dylan's Newport guitar
In July 2012, an episode of the PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''History Detectives
''History Detectives'' is a documentary television series on PBS. It features investigations made by members of a small team of researchers to identify and/or authenticate items which may have historical significance or connections to important h ...
'' recounted the story of New Jersey resident Dawn Peterson, who said she had the Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...
Dylan played at Newport. She explained that Dylan had left the guitar on a plane piloted by her father, Victor Quinto, in 1965. An instrument specialist was convinced that the guitar was genuine, and lyrics of songs in the guitar case were identified as Dylan's work by a memorabilia collector. However, Dylan attorney Orin Snyder said that Dylan still had the guitar he played at Newport, and said: "He did own several other Stratocaster guitars that were stolen from him around that time, as were some handwritten lyrics."
Dylan and Peterson settled a legal dispute over the guitar, and in December 2013 it was sold by Christie's auction house in New York for $965,000. It was purchased by Jim Irsay
James Irsay (born June 13, 1959) is an American businessman, known for being the principal owner, chairman and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL).
Irsay's father, Robert Irsay, built a fortune estimated to be ...
, owner of the Indianapolis Colts football team. On July 26, 2015, the guitar was publicly played for the first time in 50 years during a tribute set at the Newport Folk Festival honoring the 50th anniversary of Dylan's performance at Newport. The tribute set included Gillian Welch
Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...
, Dave Rawlings, Willie Watson, the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a p ...
, Jason Isbell
Michael Jason Isbell (; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell h ...
, and several others. Isbell played Dylan's guitar during the tribute set and Newport Folk Festival producer Jay Sweet was quoted as saying "Dylan's guitar is home".
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External links
Guardian.co.uk: "Bob Dylan's return to the scene of the crime", August 2, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Dylan Controversy
1965 controversies
1965 in American music
1965 in the United States
American music history
Bob Dylan
Controversies in the United States
Live music
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