Sara Collantes: Bob Dylan's "Hurricane"

What’s music for? What’s its aim? Does it have a particular purpose? Can a single song change someone’s life? Many people would say that music is only there for our amusement and for the sheer pleasure of listening to it. Music itself is filled with emotions and feelings but when good lyrics are added the meaning is perfectly conveyed.

A legendary duet: Dylan & Baez

During the 60s and 70s a new wave of singer-songwriters made social problems and contemporary events known through their music. Those songs dealt with the current social situation of the time. They had a strong content of civil disobedience and were characterized by their political and social commitment. Those are the bases of the so-called protest song. It presented common issues such as women’s and civil rights, politics, or the anti-war movement. Its messages of non-conformity were spread by the likes of John Lennon, Joan Baez, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, The Clash, Bob Marley, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Dylan as well as many other less renowned. They are some of the best exponents of this kind of music, which came to a climax in the Woodstock Festival in the summer of 1969. Woodstock quickly became the symbol of a young generation of Americans who were weary of politics and war and claiming for peace and love as a way of life while showing their rejection of the “Establishment”.

This opportunity of giving a voice to those who didn’t have one was seized by Bob Dylan many times but particularly, on one very specific occasion, in 1975. Some songs simply tell us a story and while others become part of history.

“Here comes the story of the Hurricane …”

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a black American boxer who, accused of the triple murder of white people in 1966, was imprisoned for 19 years. Almost ten years later, during the mid-70s, Bob Dylan read The Sixteenth Round, the autobiography Carter had written in prison, in which he claimed his condition of a wrongly convicted innocent man. After visiting him in Rahway State Prison, Dylan started writing the song “Hurricane”, where the unfair story of Carter is told, and organizing benefit concerts in order to raise money and help him pay his lawyers’ fees. 

Dylan meets "the Hurricane"

After the release of the song in 1976, the case came to light and Carter had a second chance of proving his innocence on a new trial. But once again he was found guilty. Both trials were a bit obscure and misleading and in the subsequent years a huge controversy emerged both over the case and the song. The two trials, full of irregularities and racial prejudice by a jury consisting only of white people, were based on the testimony of two burglars who later on retracted their allegations. Thanks to the song, Carter’s case was known worldwide, aired in all newscasts. And so it was how black people took to the streets to denounce this gross injustice and how important leaders of the black community gave their support to the former boxer.

Finally, in 1985, Rubin Carter was freed and all charges against him were dismissed by a Federal Judge, who said that the punishment was “based on racism rather than reason”. After his release he worked as director of the AIDWC (Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted) for twelve years. Hurricane died last Sunday 20th April at the age of 76.

So, is music useful? Of course it is! Not only is it nourishment for the soul and a pleasure for the ears, but also a way of knowledge and possibly the most powerful way of communication. Music is indeed one of the most influential factors in the creation of a culture. There’s no need for it to be so specific or direct as Dylan’s “Hurricane”, but it is always great when a song gives us food for thought. Zack de la Rocha, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine, once said, quote: “Music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue”.

You can’t touch music, but music sometimes can touch you.

Another fantastic post, so thanks a lot, dear Sara! Hurricane is not my fave Dylan song but it’s great anyway, isn’t it? I do love its committed lyrics and I can only say that I’m really proud of the way the blog looks right now.

You know, I’d been thinking of writing something myself , and it’s only coincidence that it also deals with Mr Dylan - yet in a completely different light.

I guess you guys might have seen an advert for ING which is being shown on television these days. It features the legendary singer-songwriter in London in the mid-60s and at the end of the commercial you can hear the familiar tune of arguably Dylan’s most iconic song, “Like a Rolling Stone”. Actually, the scene where Bob does the funny, nutty play on words is part of a famous 2005 Martin Scorsese documentary called “No Direction Home” (in fact, a well-known phrase among Dylan’s fans, as it is is part of the lyrics of “Like a Rolling Stone”, which you can read here)

The thing is this campaign, designed with the consent of Mr Bob Dylan (once, as Sara mentions above, the archetypical anti-establishment singer-songwriter) has caused quite a stir among his followers here in Spain, so much so that many of Dylan’s staunch fans have bitterly criticized, to say the least, his approval for allowing the popular Dutch bank to use both the funny scene and his most famous song in order to promote the corporation’s image in Spain. The slogan reads like this (let me translate it into English to kind of “honour” Mr Dylan):

TO THOSE WHO RECONSIDER THINGS. We broke ties, we broke the ground. We improved everyone’s conditions. We created the new banking. We have turned 15. It’s only the beginning. ING Direct. PEOPLE IN PROGRESS.

A rather witty, intelligent message, ain’t it?

Well, some of you guys could know this is not the first time that Mr Robert Zimmerman, who’ll turn 73 in barely a month, has sort of “sold his soul” for the “easy buck”, as it were. Back in 2004, Bob briefly yet strangely appeared in an ad for American lingerie company Victoria’s Secret featuring supermodel Adriana Lima to the tune of his 1997 song “Love Sick”.

More recently, barely three months ago, the iconic American singer infamously used his public image - and own voice! - to shoot another commercial which was aired during the celebration of possibly the most popular sports event in the USA, the Superbowl. There was huge commotion across the Atlantic as this campaign triggered wide criticism among his home fans too, especially since Dylan was advertising a car make, Chrysler, which is now in foreign hands, namely Italian motor giant FIAT.

When I saw the ING advert, I myself thought: Poor old devil, Dylan’s succumbed for good to the charms of mindless, greedy capitalism. Long gone are those days back in the 60s when he used to write the lyrics below in his fantastic 1963 song “Masters of war", where he heavily panned both the US government and military, financed by big banking corporations during the Cold War:

Let me ask you one question / Is your money that good? / Will it buy you forgiveness? / Do you think that it could?

But Dylan is complex and multi-layered, both musically and as a public figure, as you will find if you read an interesting article by American libertarian magazine Reason.com on this link, dealing with the controversy around his recent endorsement of Chrysler. Incidentally, “Hurricane” is mentioned too.

I couldn't agree more: whatever the reason, music certainly touches people, as Sara says above. And advertisers know, don't they!

Rosa Baez: The Great Gatsby

It’s the most important novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American novelist famous for his writings of the “Jazz Age”. He portrayed the decadence, hypocrisy and materialism of this period.

The Great Gatsby is set in the summer of 1922 in New York. Gatsby is an elegant man in his thirties. He is from the West, his parents are unsuccessful farmers and he dismisses his real origins, so much so that he changes his real name. He is recruited in World War I and as a soldier he meets Daisy, a nice upper-class girl, who he deeply falls in love with. She can’t marry him because her family is very well-off and she is supposed to marry a wealthy man. She waits for him for two years but finally she marries Tom Buchanan, an affluent , well-known polo player. She isn’t happy since he is violent with her and has endless affairs with other women.

Meanwhile, Gatsby is working hard, surely in illegal businesses and in less than five years he goes from rags to riches. He builds a mansion in Long Island opposite Buchanan’s house, on the other side of the lake.

Gatsby throws fabulous parties in his palatial mansion. On weekends his Rolls Royce turns into kind of a taxi carrying people to and from New York. Guests are not invited, they just attend his parties. There are colored lights, a dance floor on the lawn and an orchestra that plays dance music. Loads of waiters serve all kinds of fine food and alcoholic drinks. There is a general sense of excitement in the air. The guests move about talking, smiling, dancing, eating, drinking and laughing. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to impress Daisy. As a matter of fact, he lives alone and he isn’t interested in the people who attend his parties and neither are they in him, as they only gossip about his fortune.

After an initially awkward meeting, Gatsby and Daisy begin an affair. He isn’t aware of Daisy’s real character since she only bets on winners; Gatsby is an incurable romantic, willing to die for love whereas she doesn’t have a truly profound affection for him.

Finally, he ends up as alone as he lived; he becomes a victim of his own dream. The message is clear: the American Dream doesn’t work, so if you only pursue money your life will be empty.

There are many screen adaptations of this novel. In my opinion, the most famous is directed by Jack Clayton in 1974 , starring Robert Redfort and Mia Farrow, with a script by Francis Ford Coppola. The latest version is from 2013, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan.

The Great Gatsby is a must. I strongly recommend you to read the book or to see the film as it is a vivid portrait of the roaring twenties in New York. A thought-provoking masterpiece that raises many interesting questions.

In order to situate all these ideas in the wider context of America in the 1920s, let me give you some basic background information of the period:

- After World War I ended in 1918, the United States and much of the rest of the world experienced an enormous economic expansion.

- The American Dream consisted of the premise that “a nobody from nowhere can amass a great fortune though hard work, sometimes by illegal methods”.  

- The Twenties were a period of general prosperity and social change. Major cities such as New York and Chicago grew rapidly with the building of skyscrapers.

- America began the age of consumerism: new household appliances such as radios, fridges, etc. appeared, and Henry Ford put Americans on wheels with his revolutionary model T Ford, the car everyone could afford to buy. More and more people spent money on traveling and having fun.

- At parties people were listening to new jazz music and dancing Charleston. Girls had a new look: they had short hair, wore colourful dresses showing their knees, used cosmetics, smoked cigarettes, etc.

- In 1919 there was an important ban on alcohol (The Prohibition) and some people, especially gangsters, made enormous amounts of money by suppling it illegally. 

- Although some people made fortunes overnight, many others were living in poverty and racism was tolerated.

-  The carefree life of the “Roaring Twenties” suddenly came to an end on October 29, 1929, when the New York Stock Exchange collapsed dramatically, leading to the start of the Great Depression.

Good stuff, Rosa! I remember reading Scott Fitzgerald's novel many years ago, in my years at uni, and honestly I didn't think much of it. Perhaps I should give it another go! 
But in any case I agree the Roaring Twenties were, for various reasons, a very exciting period from the social, cultural and artistic standpoints, not only in America but across the pond in the UK too.