Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited and The Times, They Are A-Changin - Essay Sample

Introduction

Bob Dylan, the legendary singer and songwriter from America, is well known for his great pieces of music composed and sung in the 20th century. Among his historical works are the compositions Highway 61 Revisited and The Times, They Are A-Changin. The two songs are among his writings that elevated his music profile. The striking difference between the two songs is the theme they both bring about, which, to a greater extent, defines the good of the society. In art and literary analysis, a theme is the main idea or the leading argument built by different literary techniques in the bid of making a case.

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In Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan brings clearly in every stanza of his lyrics the Highway 61 that he uses symbolically as a place of refuge where every individual gets referred to. In this place, only if you decide to follow the voice of God you run to, you only go to Highway 61 if you have made a decision. As such, the dominant themes run from religion, free will in decision making, to the atomic age. In the song The Times, They Are A-Changin, he is issuing a wake-up call to the people to be aware of the current times and is asking them for a rapid response lest the prevailing circumstances triumph over. As such, the understanding of the song is first informed by the literal meaning, which means times were changing, but not the one of that characterizes rampant capitalism to issues of religious fundamentalism. The change was more informed by honesty, humanity, and the need to care for the well-being of the people. The dominant theme, therefore, is that of change, but one that calls on people to be more proactive and responsible for their needs.

The song Highway 61 Revisited starts in the first stanza with a conversation between God and Abraham. God asks Abraham to kill him a son, but Abraham becomes hesitant to the demand. God gives him the will to choose to comply or not with the condition that if he does not meet, then Abraham should not appear again before Him, then Abraham accepts to kill the son, and it ends with God referring Abraham to make the sacrifice on Highway 61. In the conversation, Highway 61 is God's preferred place of sacrifice; it is the place of offering to God. Highway 61 gets depicted as the approved place to meet God with an individual's offering, making it a refuge point. The theme of religion, therefore, becomes inevitable, considering that the song begins with its recognition and informing of the spiritual need in the 20th century.

Bob Dylan in the song Highway 61 Revisited also talks about Georgie Sam with a bloody nose which the welfare department has failed to help, he asks for immediate help from the poor Howard. The latter directs him to the only place he knows where support comes from, and that is Highway 61. Meck the finger also asks the king, Louie, where he can get rid of his a thousand telephones that do not ring and blue shoe strings and the king refers him to the Highway 61. Bob is talking of the poor Howard and the king Louie to depict the different social status in the society who share one common knowledge of Highway 61 where help comes from and where people ditch their problems. In the present society, the religious dwellings, for example, the church and mosques to mention but a few would have been a classic example of Highway 61.

On the same breath, in the first stanza of The Times, They Are A-Changin, Bob Dylan is calling people to gather from their roaming points to admit that the waters around them have grown and soon they will get drenched to the bone. Bob Dylan is speaking to people who are roaming in different parts; he is talking to a mass of people, warning them to stop being in denial of the rising waters around them. The people Bob Dylan is addressing are aware of the waters around them and that they have grown, but they are doing nothing about it, they do not want to acknowledge that soon the waters shall overcome them. The opening justifies the need for people to accept change and embrace humanity. The people are required to come to terms with the situations around and receiving them as they are and be responsible so that they devise the best way to go through them rather than suffer for their ignorance when the situations get out of the hold. The lack of concern may have been used artistically to showcase other political eras where people are in an oppressive state (the rising water) and cannot stand up and accept change.

In the song The Times, They Are A-Changin, Bob also calls for the senators and members of Congress, symbolic of the leaders of the people to heed the call, not to stand on the doorway and not to lock up the hall for people might get hurt for the battle will rattle their walls. Bob is calling upon the leaders to take the responsibility tasked to them to attend to their people, to give the best to them so that nothing occurs them. In this composition, Bob challenges the leaders of the people to care for the people they lead for the fate of the people is in their mandate. The illustration is evidence of the most needed change. The political players are reminded of their oppressive nature, and they are being warned to stand in the way of change. They represent the rising waters; the people are supposed to devise means of dealing with to have a better society, a society that embraces humanity and appreciates the virtue of honesty. Bob is also inviting the mothers and fathers to reason with their sons and daughters, for they have grown beyond their command because of the changing times. He is urging the parents to adapt to the new times parenting style, for it is their responsibility. The quest for a new way of doing things is for developing solutions to problems then and making change come true.

Conclusion

In summary, Bob Dylan's intention with the two compositions was to educate the society, which is a purpose many pieces of art serve. The paper has, however, focused on the contrast he employed on his two songs, The Highway 61 Revisited and The Times, They Are A-Changin. The extent of argument got narrowed to their themes, with the former getting concerned with religion, free will in decision making, and the depiction of the atomic age. At the same time, the latter depicted change from a unique and artistically presented aspect, as noted herein.