Subterranean Homesick Blues

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"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song written by Bob Dylan originally released on the album Bringing It All Back Home in 1965. It was re-released on numerous other Dylan albums such as Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits.

Contents

1 References and allusions
2 Musical and political influence
3 Music videos
4 Similar Videos
5 References
6 External links

References and allusions

[The song] was, in fact, an extraordinary three-way amalgam of Jack Kerouac, the Guthrie/Pete Seeger song "Taking It Easy" ('mom was in the kitchen preparing to eat/sis was in the pantry looking for some yeast') and the riffed-up rock'n'roll poetry of [Chuck] Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business". [link]

While Dylan was not a member of the original Beat circles of the 1950s, Kerouac's The Subterraneans, a novel published in 1958 about the Beats, has been cited as a possible inspiration for the song's title. [link] [link] Stretching further back, the title alludes to Notes from Underground, a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, whose works were popular with Beat writers such as Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

The song's first line is a reference to the production of LSD and the politics of the era: "Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine / I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the Government". The song also depicts some of the growing conflicts between "straight" or "square" (40 hour workers) and the emerging 1960s counterculture. The widespread use of recreational drugs, and turmoil surrounding the opposition to the Vietnam War were both starting to take hold of the nation, and Dylan's hyperkinetic lyrics were dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to important emerging elements in the 1960s youth culture. The song throws up a number of references to the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement ("Better stay away from those / That carry around a firehose"). Despite the political nature of the lyrics, the song went on to become the first top 40 hit for Dylan in the United States [link].

Musical and political influence

Being listed by Rolling Stone magazine as the 332nd "Greatest Song of All Time" [link], "Subterranean Homesick Blues" has played an influential role on many groups and individuals.

Most famously, the song's lyrics were cited as inspiration by the American Maoist group the Weathermen, (a breakaway from the Students for a Democratic Society); the group took its name from the line "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows". [link]

The song has been proven to be very popular with other musicians. It has been covered by artists as diverse as Harry Nilsson and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The title of Radiohead's "Subterranean Homesick Alien" is taken in part from the title of Dylan's song, and Robert Wyatt's 1997 "Blues in Bob minor" uses it as a structural template. [link]

In 2003 the rock band Jet was inspired to name their album Get Born after the lyrics from the last verse ("Ah get born, keep warm / short pants, romance, learn to dance").

The American stand-up comedian, satirist, and social critic Bill Hicks sometimes used the start of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as the opening to his act, and it can be heard on the bootleg I'm Sorry Folks - Part 1.

Music videos

The video was originally a segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film, Dont Look Back.

A frame from the "cue card" video; it can be viewed on [music.aol.com]

In addition to the song's influence on music, the song was used in what became one of the first "modern" music videos. Although Rolling Stone lists it as the 7th on their list of "100 Top Music Videos" [link], the original "video" was actually a segment from D. A. Pennebaker's film, Dont Look Back (a documentary on Bob Dylan's first tour of England in 1965). In the film, Dylan holds up cue cards for the audience with words from the song on them. While staring at the camera, he flips the cards as the song plays. Interestingly, there are intentional errors throughout the video. For instance, the song's lyrics say "eleven dollar bills," but the poster says "20 dollars". The original video takes place in an alley behind The Savoy Hotel in London where poet Allen Ginsberg makes a cameo. [link]

In addition to the Savoy Hotel video, two alternate videos were shot: One in a park where Dylan and Ginsberg are joined by a third man, and another shot on the roof of an unknown building (possibly the Savoy Hotel). A montage of the videos can be seen in the documentary No Direction Home.

References

External links

[bjorner.com] A long list of covers
[bobdylan.com] Lyrics and sound clips
[music.aol.com] Music Video (windows media video)