Released on this day in 1963, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan! The album that established Bob Dylan as a leader in the singer-songwriter genre and a spokesman for the youth-orientated protest movement. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is filled top to bottom with iconic songs, including “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Masters Of War” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”
Easily the best of Dylan’s acoustic albums and a quantum leap from his debut—which shows the frantic pace at which Dylan’s mind was moving.You can see why this album got the Beatles listening. The songs at its core must have sounded like communiques from another plane I think it was the first time I ever heard Dylan at all… And for the rest of our three weeks in Paris, we didn’t stop playing it.” John Lennon (about The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)
Dylan had already moved on to other songs when his first masterpiece was released. Contrary to his first album, this album mostly has songs penned by the man himself. With songs like Girl From The North Country, Masters Of War that are still a big part of Dylan’s concerts half a century later,
Recorded on April 24th–25th, July 9th, October 26th, November 1st and 15th, December 6th, 1962, and April 24th, 1963 at Columbia Records Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York City
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 debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin’ represented the beginning of Dylan’s writing contemporary words to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan’s original compositions. The album opens with “Blowin’ in the Wind”, which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary soon after the release of Freewheelin’. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as amongst Dylan’s best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene. Dylan’s lyrics embraced stories taken from the headlines about civil rights and he articulated anxieties about the fear of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal humor. Freewheelin’ showcased Dylan’s songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan’s subsequent recognition led to his being named as “Spokesman of a Generation,” a label Dylan repudiated.
Track listing:
All songs written by Bob Dylan, except where noted:
Side one
1. “Blowin’ in the Wind” – 2:48
2. “Girl from the North Country” – 3:22
3. “Masters of War” – 4:34
4. “Down the Highway” – 3:27
5. “Bob Dylan’s Blues” – 2:23
6. “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” – 6:55
Side two
1. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” – 3:40
2. “Bob Dylan’s Dream” – 5:03
3. “Oxford Town” – 1:50
4. “Talkin’ World War III Blues” – 6:28
5. “Corrina, Corrina” (Traditional) – 2:44
6. “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance” (Dylan, Henry Thomas) – 2:01
7. “I Shall Be Free” – 4:49
The Fat Angel Sings 