Friday, May 24, 2019

Bob Dylan Songs From the Movies

Today marks the 78th birthday of Bob Dylan, one of the most influential songwriters in the history of music. His music and lyrics have touched many of us so much and continue to do so today. To celebrate today let us enjoy some of his songs from the movies.

 First up is the classic Subterranean Homesick Blues from the brilliant D.A. Pennebaker documentary Don't Look Back (1967). This documentary redefined the way we look at music documentaries, proving that they could be just as much of works of art as the music itself. One of the best remembered parts of this movie was that before the actual documentary bulk of the film came a sort of precursor to music videos, with Bob holding cards with lyrics and dropping them as the song plays. Next up comes one of the best examples of Bob fully rocking out. He is performing a song he didn't write here, but one that was instead written by blues artist Eric Von Schmidt. Bob recorded it as an acoustic folk song on his 1963 album, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan. Here he is preforming it as a full on rock and roll song with his one time backing group The Band, who by this time had gone solo long ago. This performance comes from what is considered to be the greatest rock and roll movie ever made, The Last Waltz (1978). This concert film/documentary was directed by none other than Martin Scorsese, and highlights The Band's last concert (which featured many special guests). Last comes a song Bob Dylan wrote for the Western movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Knocking on Heaven's Door.










      -Michael J. Ruhland

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