Watch Bob Dylan Play “Mr. Tambourine Man” in Coloration on the 1964 Newport People Pageant

It was on the 1965 New­port People Fes­ti­val that Bob Dylan well-known­ly “went elec­tric,” alien­at­ing cer­tain adher­ents to the people scene via which he’d come up, but additionally set­ting a prece­dent for the type of quick-change musi­cal adap­ta­tion that he’s saved up into his eight­ies. On the 1964 New­port People Fes­ti­val, how­ev­er, all that lay sooner or later. But even then, the younger Dylan was­n’t shy of mak­ing con­tro­ver­sial choic­es. Take, for examination­ple, the selection to play “Mr. Tam­bourine Man,” a track that — how­ev­er redo­lent of the mid-nine­teen-six­ties when heard right now — would onerous­ly have been prime­i­cal sufficient to fulfill the expec­ta­tions of people followers who regard­ed the music’s prime­i­cal­i­ty as its most important energy.

On the prime of the submit, you may watch col­orized footage of Dylan’s per­for­mance of “Mr. Tam­bourine Man” on the 1964 New­port People Fes­ti­val; the orig­i­nal black-and-white clip seems under. Con­sid­er the res­o­nances it might have set off within the minds of his youth­ful, clean-cut audi­ence: Rim­baud? Felli­ni? Lord Buck­ley? Mar­di Gras? Con­fes­sions of an Eng­lish Opi­um-Eater? Dyla­nol­o­gists have sug­gest­ed all these sources of inspi­ra­tion and oth­ers. It’s pos­si­ble, after all, that — as Dylan him­self as soon as stated — the lyrics’ cen­tral picture is that of gui­tarist Bruce Lang­horne, who performed on the track as document­ed for Carry­ing It All Again Residence, a musi­cian then recognized for his personal­er­ship of a gigan­tic tam­bourine.

Regardless of its lack of ref­er­ences to the problems of the day, “Mr. Tam­bourine Man” displays its his­tor­i­cal second with a clar­i­ty that few songs ever have. (Some would say that’s even more true of The Byrds’ cov­er ver­sion, a radio hit that got here out only a month after Dylan’s orig­i­nal.) Dylan him­self will need to have sensed that it marked not simply the height of an period, but additionally that of his personal com­po­si­tion­al and per­for­ma­tive efforts on this par­tic­u­lar musi­cal fashion. Although he did try to write down a fol­low-up to the track, its fail­ure to cohere confirmed him the best way for­ward. Dylan nonetheless performs it in con­cert right now, and to enthu­si­as­tic recep­tion from his audi­ences, however in such a method as to rein­vent it every time — know­ing that he each is and isn’t the identical man who took the stage at New­port these six­ty years in the past, and that “Mr. Tam­bourine Man” each is and isn’t the identical track.

Relat­ed con­tent:

Bob Dylan’s His­toric New­port People Fes­ti­val Per­for­mances, 1963–1965

Watch Bob Dylan Make His Debut on the New­port People Fes­ti­val in Col­orized 1963 Footage

How Bob Dylan Saved Rein­vent­ing His Tune­writ­ing Course of, Breath­ing New Life Into His Music

How Bob Dylan Cre­at­ed a Musi­cal & Lit­er­ary World All His Personal: 4 Video Essays

Com­pare the “It Ain’t Me Babe” Scene from A Com­plete Unknown to the Actual Bob Dylan & Joan Baez Per­for­mance on the New­port People Fes­ti­val

“Mr. Tam­bourine Man” & Oth­er Bob Dylan Clas­sics, Sung Beau­ti­ful­ly by Youngsters

Primarily based in Seoul, Col­in Marshall writes and broad­casts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture. His tasks embody the Sub­stack newslet­ter Books on Cities and the guide The State­much less Metropolis: a Stroll via Twenty first-Cen­tu­ry Los Ange­les. Fol­low him on the social web­work for­mer­ly often called Twit­ter at @colinmarshall.