366Art | Bob Dylan

Today is the birthday of Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, poet, and artist. One of the greatest and most influential figures in pop music and culture. The work above and his portrait on the musical references/birthday calendars below are made by me, Frieke.

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941, as Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota. Dylan grew up in a Jewish family; his grandparents were Jewish refugees from Ukraine. When Dylan was five years old, the Zimmermans moved to Hibbing, where he spent his childhood. From a young age, he was fascinated by music and taught himself to play the guitar and harmonica while writing poems.

During his teenage years, he began performing under various pseudonyms, and around 1960, he decided to adopt the name Bob Dylan permanently. After graduating from Hibbing High School and spending a year at university, Dylan moved to New York City in 1961. He visited his idol Woody Guthrie, who was hospitalized there, and started performing in cafes and pubs, quickly becoming known in the Greenwich Village folk-scene. In March 1962, his debut album was released, featuring two original songs by Dylan: Talkin' New York and Song to Woody which paid tribute to his major inspiration, Woody Guthrie.

His second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), featuring songs like Blowin’ in the Wind and A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall was an unprecedented success, standing out for his original voice and politically engaged lyrics. The Times They Are A-Changin' is an iconic song and the title track of his third studio album, released on January 13, 1964. The song itself is one of Dylan's most famous and influential works, often seen as an anthem for change and social progress during the 60s. In 1965, Dylan surprised the folk world by using electric instruments on the album Bringing It All Back Home. This led to the famous "going electric" incident at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. "Like a Rolling Stone" was one of his first singles to feature an electric guitar.

His success continued to grow until he was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in 1966. This led to his temporary withdrawal from public life and the cessation of his hectic touring schedule. During his recovery period in Woodstock, Dylan continued to make music and recorded several new songs with members of The Band, who were his backing band at the time. These recordings, known as The Basement Tapes would later (1975) become legendary. A year after his accident, he made a comeback with the album John Wesley Harding (1967), featuring the famous song All Along the Watchtower, which was later covered by Jimi Hendrix, and the album Nashville Skyline (1969), with the hit Lay Lady Lay. For the film "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" in 1973, in which he also played a role, he created the classic Knockin' On Heavens Door, covered by Guns N' Roses.
Tangled Up in Blue  (1975) is a highlight of his album Blood on the Tracks  written after his wife decided to divorce him. Hurricane (1976) is an epic song that tells the story of the wrongfully convicted boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. He received his first Grammy Award for Gotta Serve Somebody  (1979) from his gospel album Slow Train Coming.

Meanwhile, he continued with his latest tour, "The Never-Ending Tour," which lasted into the late 1990s. In 1988, Dylan joined The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup consisting of George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Dylan himself. The song Handle With Care became an international success.

Bob Dylan has released over 40 studio albums throughout his long career, starting with his debut album Bob Dylan in 1962 to his most recent work Rough and Rowdy Ways in 2020. He has also released numerous live albums, compilations, and bootlegs, bringing the total number of released albums even higher. In 2016, Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature. The award was widely celebrated as recognition of his unique contribution to literature through his lyrics, which are often considered poetic and profound. Dylan is one of the most influential singer-songwriters in the history of popular music, and his lyrics have had a profound impact on both the music world and broader culture. Although some questioned the decision to award the Nobel Prize to a musician, it was seen as a recognition of the cross-disciplinary nature of literature and the power of music and poetry to convey emotion, imagination, and meaning.

The documentary "No Direction Home," directed by Martin Scorsese, offers a unique life journey of Bob Dylan. The book "Bob Dylan Complete" tells Dylan's story chronologically and without missing a detail.