jennings_c_d

=D. Analysis (500-650 words) Tips]=

Once you begin to look in depth at the motives behind Dylan's work during the 1960's you can begin to answer the question has to how useful his work is to a historian studying the condition in America during that time. In most of Dylan's work and including the three songs that I previously studied he tends have a political message, making them protest songs. //Only a Pawn in Their Game, Masters of War// and //A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall// are all renowned protest songs. However does the fact that they have a political agenda lessen them as a source for an historian. Even though the work could be considered as relevant to the time in which it was written, you do have to look at its limitations. The main reason Dylan's work is limited is the fact that without explanation for most of his work it soon becomes meaningless because most of the messages implied, and for you to understand his purposes you would first have to have an understanding of the conditions in America during the 1960's. This is particularly apparent in //A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall//, as the lyrics do not refer directly to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dylan himself in an interview with CBS in 2004 stated "My stuff were songs, you know? They weren't sermons, If you examine the songs, I don't believe you're gonna find anything in there that says that I'm a spokesman for anybody or anything really." **"But they saw it,"** "They must not have heard the songs." (1) In this interview they discuss what Dylan's position was on the Civil Rights movement, because at the time he was viewed as a leader along with others such as Martin Luther King Jr. However he believes that his songs were misinterpreted, which would lead us to believe that Dylan's intentions were different entirely, and he wished rather to be a musician then a leader. However I do believe that in his work he does refer directly and gives his opinions on matters. In //Only A Pawn in Their Game// the lyrics discuss the events and the life of Medgar Evers, much like in his later work //The Hurricane// which gave an almost play by play retelling of the event upon which Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter the boxer was convicted. Even though it took place after the 1960's it increases Dylan's reliability as a source for an historian as he defended Carter's case, and later he was released. In addition to this, the song //A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall// is in fact based on the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Net Hentoff stated that Dylan wrote the song based on that event "Every line in it is actually the start of a whole new song. But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn't have enough time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one." (2) The fact that there is speculation however not full proof that Dylan's motives were based on the Missile Crisis it would make it seem a part of Dylan's work does actually play the role of informing the historian of the events that took place in 1960's America.

(1) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/02/60minutes/main658799.shtml (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hard_Rain's_a-Gonna_Fall