Bob Dylan song about JFK assassination

[James DiEugenio]

An early attempt to get Dylan involved directly

https://medium.com/@bob.k_67270/bob-dylan-the-jfk-assassination-and-my-frantic-quest-to-connect-the-two-5db21e6770ca

The AIB with Oglesby, Katz, and Harvey Yazijian did a lot of good work.  The anthology they put out in 1976, Government by Gunplay, edited by Sidney Blumenthal is still worth reading.

[David Andrews]

Bill Kelly's article on folk singer Phil Ochs provides some anecdotes reporting Dylan's early interest in the assassination:

http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2013/05/phil-ochs-at-dealey-plaza-updated.html

[Ron Ecker]

I recall a song Dylan wrote referring to the murder of civil rights workers in Mississippi, which included the line "Somebody better investigate soon." That line could also apply, in a sarcastic sense, to the JFK assassination, unless one considers the WC and HSCA to be real investigations.

 

 

[Pamela Brown]

38 minutes ago, David Andrews said:

Bill Kelly's article on folk singer Phil Ochs provides some anecdotes reporting Dylan's early interest in the assassination:

http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2013/05/phil-ochs-at-dealey-plaza-updated.html

Dylan married his first wife, Sara, in secret, the second anniversary of the assassination, so it must have had an effect on them...

[Ron Bulman]

23 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

 

Look at that line and the line that followed it:

Play "Moonlight Sonata" in F-sharp
And "A Key [F-sharp?] to the Highway" for the king on the harp

F-sharp is a key, and the title of the song in the second line refers to a key. Maybe the king of the harp -- whoever that might be -- played "A Key to the Highway" using an F-sharp harmonica.

BTW, I listened to the beginning of "Moonlight Sonata" and it reminds me of a funeral march.

 

Best ever version of Key to the Highway.  They don't compete or trade licks, they let each other go and compliment each other.  Duane Allman was a maestro on the slide guitar.  He brought out the best in Derek.  Near ten minutes of bliss in a world gone wrong on Saturday night.

 

[Ron Bulman]

1 hour ago, Ron Bulman said:

Best ever version of Key to the Highway.  They don't compete or trade licks, they let each other go and compliment each other.  Duane Allman was a maestro on the slide guitar.  He brought out the best in Derek.  Near ten minutes of bliss in a world gone wrong on Saturday night.

 

As EC says, Wooh.

[Martin Blank]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:25 PM, Pamela Brown said:

Dylan married his first wife, Sara, in secret, the second anniversary of the assassination, so it must have had an effect on them...

I think  the day was  picked because of his tour schedule more than anything else. she also was pregnant with her and bob 's first child. She had a daughter i believe with her first husband

[Martin Blank]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:04 PM, Ron Ecker said:

I recall a song Dylan wrote referring to the murder of civil rights workers in Mississippi, which included the line "Somebody better investigate soon." That line could also apply, in a sarcastic sense, to the JFK assassination, unless one considers the WC and HSCA to be real investigations.

 

 

The song  is "oxford town." oxford mississippi that is. it was released May 27, 1963 on the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and so couldn't have been addressing JFK's killing ]

[Ron Ecker]

1 hour ago, Martin Blank said:

The song  is "oxford town." oxford mississippi that is. it was released May 27, 1963 on the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and so couldn't have been addressing JFK's killing ]

I know it doesn't address the JFK killing, I'm just saying it could.

 

[Kirk Gallaway]

On 4/11/2020 at 5:45 PM, David Andrews said:

Bill Kelly's article on folk singer Phil Ochs provides some anecdotes reporting Dylan's early interest in the assassination:

http://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2013/05/phil-ochs-at-dealey-plaza-updated.html

Wow that's a good article Dave. I was actually more interested in Phil Och's alleged knowledge of the JFKA beforehand,  than necessarily what was going through Dylan's head about the JFKA, though interesting. I'm aware of a lot of Och's early affiliations. I knew quite a few who were gung ho American, some who went to Nam, some not, who went through complete changes about American foreign involvements. I also had heard that story about Ochs narrowly averting capture in Bolivia.

****

Pam, that's funny, thinking "Like a Rolling Stone" might have been written about you!   ha ha!

[David Andrews]

1 hour ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Wow that's a good article Dave. I was actually more interested in Phil Och's alleged knowledge of the JFKA beforehand,  than necessarily what was going through Dylan's head about the JFKA, though interesting.

Well, I did have an ulterior motive, since Bill's research is perhaps the best into the Ochs/CIA issue.  It's interesting how Ochs latched onto the cognomen "John Butler Train."  Not something he could have grabbed off the internet, was it?

Here's Bill Kelly's other article, with possible photo of Phil Ochs in Dealey Plaza:

http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2020/03/bob-dylan-and-phil-ochs-at-dealey-plaza.html

+++

Here's a couple of musicians who have written songs titled "John Butler Train" in tribute to Phil Ochs :

Paul Kmiec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxQWZ1KoPU8

Mark Tindall

https://soundcloud.com/mark-tindall-1/john-butler-train

+++

Here's another set of facts and opinion on Dylan and the CIA:

http://stevenhager.net/2016/08/19/tangled-up-in-spooks-the-bob-dylan-story/#comment-10268

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by David Andrews

[Martin Blank]

On 4/8/2020 at 10:45 PM, W. Niederhut said:

I've never paid much attention to pop music "rankings" during the past 60 years-- at least since the days when "Fun, Fun, Fun" was competing with "She Loves You-- Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" on our local KIMN transistor radio station in Denver--but as a long-time Dylan impersonator I'm, frankly, astonished that this would be his first #1 on Billboard (whatever that is.)

Geez... think of all the utterly ingenious, ground-breaking songs the guy has written through the years-- everything from Blowing in the Wind, Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, and Like a Rolling Stone to Knockin' on Heaven's Door and the Blood on the Tracks album-- Tangled Up in Blue, etc.

I wonder if the Byrds or Peter, Paul, and Mary recorded some pop #1 Dylan covers along the way.

 

Mister Tambourine Man by the Byrds made it to number 1

Dylan's version of like a rolling stone made it to number 2.

Blowing' in the Wind  by Peter Paul and Mary hit number 2

all single versions 

 

[David Andrews]

It was exactly this popular...

Dietrich also released an English version, it's a hidden track on the Blazing Saddles Blu-Ray:

"How many woads must ein mann walk down?..."

Belongs in one of those Michael Caine movies where he gets brainwashed in the GDR.

Edited April 13, 2020 by David Andrews

[Martin Blank]

On 3/27/2020 at 11:10 AM, Chuck Schwartz said:

If you look at the cover of the John Wesley Hardin vinyl album (came out in '68/'69), there are small faces embedded in the trees that you can only see with a magnifying glass. It could relate to the zapruder film, where some say you can see the real shooter (that killed JFK) behind the picket fence up on the grassy knoll, where a lot of the witnesses ran to minutes/ seconds  after the shots rang out.

Some say it's the Beatles. you also can see elephants in the trees even without chemical help.

[Martin Blank]

1 hour ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Wow that's a good article Dave. I was actually more interested in Phil Och's alleged knowledge of the JFKA beforehand,  than necessarily what was going through Dylan's head about the JFKA, though interesting. I'm aware of a lot of Och's early affiliations. I knew quite a few who were gung ho American, some who went to Nam, some not, who went through complete changes about American foreign involvements. I also had heard that story about Ochs narrowly averting capture in Bolivia.

****

Pam, that's funny, thinking "Like a Rolling Stone" might have been written about you!   ha ha!

The song could be about (seems to fit) Dylan's and Edie Sedgwick's relationship. she was a poor little rich girl who glommed onto andy warhol and his factory