Frogtoon Music

Ballad Of Hollis Brown by Bob Dylan

Artist Biography For Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan Born Robert Allen Zimmerman On May 24 1941 In Duluth Minnesota United States Is An American Singer-Songwriter. Often Regarded As One Of The Greatest Songwriters Of All Time Dylan Has Been A Major Figure In Popular Culture During A Career Spanning More Than 60 Years.
Dylan Started His Musical Odyssey In 1959 When He Began Playing In Dinkytown Minneapolis While Attending The University Of Minnesota. Shortly After Starting To Play He Changed His Stage Name To Bob Dylan After Being Influenced By The Poetry Of Dylan Thomas Before Legally Changing His Name In 1962. Much Of His Best Known Work Is From The 1960s When He Became An Informal Documentarian And Reluctant Figurehead Of American Unrest Promoted By Joan Baez. Some Of His Songs Such As "Blowin' In The Wind" And "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Became Anthems Of The Anti-War And Civil Rights Movements With Joan Baez And Dylan Singing Together At The March On Washington In 1963. However He Later Became Disenchanted With The Civil Liberty Protest Scene Feeling That He Had Been Used By Them. His Album Bringing It All Back Home Marked A Move Away From The Folk Scene And A Move Towards Rock And Roll And Dylan Began To Consciously Distance Himself From His Early Association With Civil Rights. He Also Started To Become Irritated When Being Interviewed Often Given Facetious Or Irreverent Answers To Questions. Bringing It All Back Home Was A Controversial Album As It The First On Which He Played Electric Guitar. This Was Seen By Some Of His Fans As A Betrayal Of This Folk Roots With Some Saying That It Obscured His Meaningful And Poetic Lyrics. The Second Half Of The 1960s Was Marked By A String Of Well Received Releases With His Song "Like A Rolling Stone" Released In July Of 1965 Later Being Named "The Greatest Song Of All Time" By Rolling Stone Magazine In 2004 Placing #1 In A List Of 500 Titles. It Also Marked The Formation Of Dylan's Backing Band The Hawks Who Would Later Call Themselves Simply The Band . Dylan Embarked On A World Tour Of Australia And Europe In 1966 During Which He Seemed To Be Under A Lot Of Strain And Pressure By Both His Fans The Music Press And His Own Promoters. Dylan Himself Admitted That He Began Taking Drugs Seriously Whilst On This Tour And Found It Immensely Hard Work. On Returning To New York He Crashed His Motorbike Sustaining Serious Injuries In The Process And Went Into A Period Of Withdrawal While He Recuperated. During The Late 1960s Dylan Again Changed Stylistic Tradition Moving Away From The Psychedelic Culture Of The Time. It Was Then That He Recorded All Along The Watchtower Perhaps More Famously Recorded By Jimi Hendrix. The 1970s Were A Period During Which Dylan Was More Sporadic In His Output Releasing Some Poorly Received LPs. He Rarely Appeared In Person Until 1974 When He Began Touring Again With His Backing Band The Band. He Also Wrote One Of His Most Extensively Covered Songs Knockin' On Heaven's Door As Well As What Is Now Recognised As One Of His Best Albums Blood On The Tracks. Towards The End Of The 1970s Dylan Discovered Christ And Released Some Albums Of Gospel Music. He Started To Talk To The Crowd About His Faith During His Performances And Wouldn't Play Any Of His Early Work Which Alienated Some Of His Previous Fans. Dylan Today Still Remains An Influential And Popular Artist Despite A Period Of Little Note Between 1980-2000 His 2006 Album Modern Times Reached The US Chart At #1 As Did His 2009 Album Together Through Life In The US Britain France And Several Other Countries. His 2012 Album Tempest Was Also Critically Acclaimed. Since 1988 Dylan Has Been On The So-Called Never Ending Tour During Which His Performances Have Provoked Controversy With Some Critics Claiming That His Lyrics Have Become Incomprehensible An Experience Which Is Not Helped By His Tendency To Change His Set-List And Vocals Almost Every Performance. Bob Dylan's Strong Influence Over The Past Few Years Is Becoming Even More Prominent Amongst A Growing Group Of Younger Emerging Artists Such As George Ellias And Devendra Banhart. Dylan's Early Lyrics Incorporated Politics Social Commentary Philosophy And Literary Influences Defying Existing Pop Music Conventions And Appealing Widely To The Counterculture Of The Time. While Expanding And Personalizing Musical Styles Dylan Has Shown Steadfast Devotion To Traditions Of American Song From Folk And Country/blues To Rock And Roll And Rockabilly To Gaelic Balladry Even Jazz Swing And Broadway. Dylan Performs With The Guitar Keyboard And Harmonica. Backed By A Changing Lineup Of Musicians He Has Toured Steadily Since The Late 1980s. He Has Also Recently Performed Alongside Other Iconic Artists Such As Paul Simon Joni Mitchell Tom Petty And Eric Clapton. Although His Contributions As A Performer And Recording Artist Have Been Central To His Career His Songwriting Is Generally Held As His Highest Accomplishment. Nobel Prize For Literature 2016 - On October 13 2016 Dylan Was Awarded The Nobel Prize For Literature For “for Having Created New Poetic Expressions Within The Great American Song Tradition”. The Prestigious Award Has Been Given Annually Since 1901 And Previous Nobel Laureates For Literature Include Harold Pinter And Samuel Beckett. Here Is The Speech Written By Dylan Although Unable To Attend Http //www.Nytimes.Com/2016/12/10/arts/bob-Dylan-Nobel-Prize-Acceptance-Speech.Html?_R 0

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: Ballad of Hollis Brown

This Song Was Based On An Old English Folk Song Named "Pretty Polly" That Made Its Way Into The Appalachian Mountains And Became A Folk Standard In The United States As Well. The Connections Between "Pretty Polly" And "Hollis Brown" Are Not Merely Musical But Also Thematic. "Pretty Polly" Is About A Young Woman Murdered In A Forest And Buried Dylan Took That Dark Narrative To A New Level In "Hollis Brown." In The Newer Song The Protagonist Becomes A Struggling Farmer In South Dakota Trying To Survive With His Wife And Five Children. Brown Eventually Snaps From Despair And Kills His Family And Then Himself. Brown Is Not Presented In A Negative Light In The Song Though And We're Led To Pity The Man Rather Than Despise Him. He Seems Driven Mad Not So Much By His Own Physical Suffering But By Watching The Suffering Of His Family. Dylan Achieves This Empathic Effect By Writing The Song In Second Person Which Means He's Addressing Brown As "you." This Places Us The Listeners In Hollis Brown's Persona.
The Song Has Some Of Dylan's Darkest Most Evocative Lyrics. “The Rats Have Got Your Flour
Bad Blood It Got Your Mare
The Rats Have Got Your Flour
Bad Blood It Got Your Mare
If There's Anyone That Knows
Is There Anyone Who Cares?” While Singing These Lines His Voice Seems Possessed With Tormented Restraint Just As We Imagine Brown Must Feel Watching His Family Suffer In This Way. By The End We're Left With A Haunting Understated Conclusion That Finally Delivers Us The Cold Distance From The Subject That's Been Denied For Most Of The Song. “There's Seven People Dead
On A South Dakota Farm” Perhaps Even More Haunting In Its Strangeness Though Are The Lines Following The Image Of The Dead—the Final Lines Of The Song Which Go “Somewhere In The Distance
There's Seven New People Born” Is This A Reference To A Reincarnation? A Sign Of Hope? A Declaration Of The Bleak Hopelessness Of The Continual Cycle Of Human Suffering? There's No Way To Know. It's Another Example Of Dylan's Genius In Always Leaving An Air Of Mystery If All His Songs Forcing Us To Wonder.
At The End Of The Song Dylan Repeats The Number Seven “There's Seven Breezes A-Blowin'
All Around The Cabin Door
There's Seven Breezes A-Blowin'
All Around The Cabin Door
Seven Shots Ring Out
Like The Ocean's Pounding Roar There's Seven People Dead
On A South Dakota Farm
There's Seven People Dead
On A South Dakota Farm
Somewhere In The Distance
There's Seven New People Born” Some Have Suggested This Could Be A Reference To The Seven Deadly Sins Of The Bible. It Could Also Hark To The Old Myth That You Get Seven Years Of Bad Luck For Breaking A Mirror. Dylan Recorded The Song On August 6 And 7 1963 In Studio A At Columbia Recording Studios New York. He Played The Song Live For The First Time On September 22 1962 At Carnegie Hall. In All Dylan Played It Live More Than 200 Times. On July 13 1985 Dylan Played This In His Finale At Live Aid Alongside Keith Richards And Ron Wood Of The Rolling Stones. The Band Hollis Brown Out Of Queens New York Took Their Name From This Song. The Neville Brothers Recorded "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" For Their Yellow Moon Album In 1989. Dylan At The Suggestion Of U2's Bono Attended Some Of The Recording Sessions And Was So Impressed By The Work Of Producer Daniel Lanois On This Song That He Asked To Work With Him. Lanois Ended Up Producing Dylan's 1989 Album Oh Mercy Which Is Widely Regarded As Dylan's Triumphant Return To Form Following A Series Of Disappointments.

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