Abstract
Astrid Franke’s chapter offers an analysis of freedom (as it relates to vocal shifts/play) in Dylan’s performances—while aligning Dylan’s work with a larger American (and African American) tradition. Focusing on songs from Dylan’s gospel phase and his Sinatra phase, Franke argues that the songs “sound different and are different in different contexts and thereby acquire cultural significance in the moment.” Franke thus invites us “to think a bit more about the many voices of Dylan, both metaphorically and literally.” Throughout, Franke draws on Axel Honneth’s theorizing on the paradoxes of individual freedom as well as from Jane Tomkins’ concept of “cultural work.”
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Notes
- 1.
My translation of the German translation of what Dylan said in the interview: “Wer auch immer die Aufnahmen zu meinen bisherigen Platten kontrollierte, sagte sich: Okay, dies ist eine Bob-Dylan-Platte, und das sind Bob-Dylan-Lieder. Das heißt, sie reagierten nie darauf, wie meine Stimme zu dem Zeitpunkt tatsächlich klang oder die Songs sondern sie verwirklichten nur ihre Idee, wie Bob Dylans Stimme zu klingen hat.”
- 2.
For more on the importance of form in Dylan’s work see Brian D. Lloyd (2014).
- 3.
My translation of “Verwicklungen von Freiheit: Boy Dylan and his Time” which is the title of Honneth’s article. All quotations from this article are my own translation.
- 4.
Berlin conceptualizes “negative liberty” as the freedom from external interference and constraint.
- 5.
As George Cotkin (2002) puts it, “Nearly everyone, it seemed, coming of age in 1950s and 1960s America danced to the song of French existentialism” (1).
- 6.
The official music videos support this relation to the past visually through soft brownish colors, vaguely vintage clothing and hairstyles, and a record as a dated musical medium.
- 7.
A recording can be listened to on http://www.pbs.org/video/in-performance-at-the-white-house-bob-dylan/.
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Franke, A. (2019). The Complexities of Freedom and Dylan’s Liberation of the Listener. In: Otiono, N., Toth, J. (eds) Polyvocal Bob Dylan. Palgrave Studies in Music and Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17042-4_5
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