When The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was released in 1963 it changed folk music and the country's perception of young Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota. When Dylan put out his eponymous first album the year before, he was seen as a gifted folk singer. With the release of Freewheelin', Dylan was recognized as a serious singer/song-writer in the mold of Woody Guthrie, speaking profoundly about complex social and personal issues.
Freewheelin' is the blueprint for a topically diverse album. Dylan manages to be lyrically arresting no matter what the subject matter. Most people my age probably sang the opening song "Blowin' in the Wind" around summer-camp campfires and/or in 7th grade music class. This hymn on integration and the failure to act is the prototype for the "folk songs that mattered" during the tumultuous '60s. The lesser-known "Oxford Town" also examines racial problems in the South, and while it never had the honor of appearing in "Forrest Gump" (like "Blowin' in the Wind"), it's quietly and subtly poignant nonetheless.
Global thermonuclear war was also a very real possibility when Freewheelin' was released. Dylan manages to convey anger, sadness, and humor of the palpable future of the planet's destruction on three separate songs. On the scathing "Masters of War," he spits venom against hawkish, greedy, doddering politicians and businessmen, decrying "You ain't worth the blood that runs in you veins" and "Even Jesus would never forgive what you do." His ruminations on the Cuban Missle Crisis, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," is melancholy rather than just angry. Dylan has later said each line of the song could have been a song in itself. With "Talking World War II Blues," he improvises his view of life after the bomb drops. The most profound revelation? A Cadillac's not a bad car to drive after a war.
Dylan also shares his thoughts on love on Freewheelin' although they tend to be a little mean spirited. Case in point, lyrics from "Don't Think Twice": "It's ain't sayin' you treated me unkind/ You coulda done better but I don't mind/ You just wasted me precious time." Ouch, Bob. That's kinda harsh.
Now, 37 years after its release, Dylan's personally affecting thoughts on race, war, and love expressed on Freewheelin' remain as powerful as they ever were. Like a large chunk of Bob Dylan's catalogue, it's pretty much required listening for anyone who really wants to understand popular music in the second half of the 20th century. And also happens to be damn good as well.
If you like Bob Dylan, check out:
Bob Dylan Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series
Bob Dylan Desire
Bob Dylan Infidels
Woody Guthrie ...Sings Folk Songs
The Band Music From Big Pink
The Charlatans Tellin' Stories
Van Morrison Astral Weeks
The Byrds Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
Flying Burrito Brothers Hot Burritos!
Joe Henry Trampoline
Elvis Costello King Of America
-- Jesse Ducker
