My father got me hooked on Dylan as a kid. He's gone now and Bob Dylans music brings my father right back by my side.

At around age 15 , somehow I came across Dylan’s music . I was living in the country of Western Australia . It gripped me like a drug and I was hooked . I really knew nothing of who he was , or how the music came about . I was just mesmerised . No one else around me seemed to appreciate his music , if I put the tape on at a party the people would say “turn it off !”😢 I always felt a bit isolated in my love of his talent . Over time, when I was 19 and living in Sydney , I learnt a few songs , after begging an old hip , art teacher housemate , who had a dusty guitar case under his bed , to pull that guitar out and teach me , as he knew Dylan’s songs. He taught me Mozambique , and One more cup of coffee. It was very exciting ! But still, I got that feeling of , oh that’s old time stuff , from him as well . No one seemed to share my passion . Many many years later , like 30 yrs , when I joined choirs and started mixing with music people through a folk club , some of whom also appreciate that era and genre of music , I finally found some kindred spirits . And with Internet i learnt more about the history of lots of music and the artists. Which is great !! One day I found a whole book of the album Desire!! On an guitar tabs app. Finally, I read the words of the songs , and was absolutely blown away even more . There was so much I had missed in the lyrics , which I often didn’t pick up . Very exciting , & I was refreshed in my admiration for Bob’s creativity and skill . I set about learning Hurricane 😂🤣~ a bit obsessive . I did memorise the whole song . And enjoyed singing & playing some of the others from Desire . So many gems on that album !!! I LOVE that through documentaries like this , history is revealed, shared & explained. It’s really so priceless , for all , especially for an old fan, like me , from a far off remote place. And for future generations who will no doubt be drawn to his music . I also loved Joan Baez , as my dad played her music , and later I especially loved diamonds and rust which is about Dylan apparently. Another song I only recently had a go at playing and singing . Thanks to easy access to music and self teaching on the internet . And , I’m a fan of Melanie too ( a hippy aunt gave me her album collection when she went to India ) but again , my peers really couldn’t hear what I heard 🤣. And it was considered so out of date in the 80s. At that stage I had 3 lovely kiwi housemates , who kindly tolerated Melanie blaring out of the record player in the mornings before I went to my very boring job for the day ! Ha . Years Later , in my choir , ‘Lay down’ was a song we did in 4 part harmony , I couldn’t believe so many people knew and loved that song ~ it was awesome !! ~ we’d belt it out with much drama & passion , finally I had found others who felt the same . Yay ! Watching this I get that same feeling , hearing people who feel passionate about Bob Dylan’s music . So often I’d felt out of synch with my own times . Yet , I was actually only a decade or 2 out . A lot can change it seems over a short time . Thanks for this documentary !! ❤️‍🔥 I really loved hearing the full story and being reminded of how awesome Bob Dylan is and how much influence his music has had on me over my lifetime . 🥰 I even dug my harmonic & harp holder out , & guitar and practised after watching this ! ( I have a chronic back and just don’t practise or play much ) however , all this inspired me . I really love Bob Dylan . I missed him in concert in Perth once , I was so close . Crazy story , my flat mate borrowed ( stole ) my only jeans and when I got home from work & went to get dressed to go , I didn’t have anything to wear ! I must have had a ticket . Unbelievable really … I was poor then . Clothes were scarce ! I moved out after that and found new house mates , who didn’t help themselves to my clothes ! Anyway ~ sorry I missed that one op to see him in concert live 😢~ fate it seems . love you Bob !! ❤️‍🔥🎶🎵🎶❤️‍🔥 And It’s so fantastic that he’s going strong , has toured so much !!! And his painting is awesome too . I’m also a painter / artist . Kindred spirits . But like Joan Baez , I’m sure he’d have broken my heart had we met . 🤣😂🤣👋

I loved this documentary, but I seem to like them all. Only did I do a big deep dive into Dylan in my late 20s and he is by far the most influential artist of my life. He is a gift to us all, and he seems to never stop giving.

I had bought Bob Dylan records, learned guitar and played woody Guthrie's songs as a young man. To this day I still am amazed by Dylans music. Thank the Lord for Mr Dylan he has changed our world for the best.

This is one of the best Dylan documentaries I've ever seen, and I'm only halfway through. All these educated people tell the story so well. People who were there. The beginning sets the stage so well. Everything is described perfectly. Thank you!

"Giving the [Nobel Prize for Literature ]to Bob Dylan is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain.” - Leonard Cohen

The more I learn about Dylan, the more in awe I am of this man.

At 50, I've been a lifelong fan of Dylan -when I first began hearing his music at age 17, hearing actual albums and not just the couple of staple Dylan songs you'd hear on radio like Lay Lady Lay I was completely and utterly enthralled - especially being a young musician myself, and since then, no one has taken his number one spot in my heart...this is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen on him and his music and his legacy (I've seen many) ... great work!

Never will forget the first time I heard Dylan..... So unlike anything my brother and I had heard before. I'm ironing, my brother sitting nearby, the radio on(always) and this guy starts singing. We stop and stare at each other, " do you like this?" one of us said, the other said, " yeah I think I do," we listened, electrified, and that was it! We joined the modern Era..... and never looked back.... We were gone.... he had that kind of effect!

Just think of the enormity of what Dylan has given to popular music. He transformed Folk into something greater than its parts, he virtually invented Folk Rock, he inspired every serious musician of his generation to a higher purpose (and still inspiring today's), he's written at least a hundred song standards that will be readily understandable to people riding in star ships going to other planets a millennium from now. His influence cannot be overstated.

Really great documentary. I went to a Dylan concert in 1966. He was into his Rock phase by then. I initially found his voice a little rough but, wow, what a word smith he was. I went out and bought most of his earlier albums and listened to them on my little inexpensive stereo at the time. I was amazed and forever transferred by BD. Thank guys for the doc.

This, to me, is the finest commentary on Bob Dylan that I have ever listened to in the 60 years I have been a Dylan fan. Not only speaks of Dylan but expresses my feeling of the journey of my personal life through the sixties. In the horrible place our country is at this time, we should all realize we too have been “a pawn in their game.” I will never not stop listening to truths I came to realize when Master of War, A Pawn in Their game , and With God On Their Side blew open a door to my mind. Thanks Bob for the knowledge.✌️

This is, hands down, the most incisive comprehensive presentation & critique of Dylan's early career & cultural significance I've ever seen. Just one example, the proper attention paid to his first album, often overlooked. How utterly distinct he was, the arresting quality of his performance, from the beginning. These commentators all totally get that, explain his impact expertly. Thank you.

What a time to be alive , i have been fascinated with early Dylan for 45 years now . I guess i always will be

Dylan changed the definition of a song. He changed the whole idea of what good singing was. He changed how you play the harmonica. He changed what the SUBJECTS of songs should be. He changed the definition of poetry. He made you laugh like Charlie Chaplin. He did all this with two albums. Then he changed what a an introspective song was, and what right and wrong was, and increased his poetic intensity into challenging the nature of perception in one album. Then he decided to take on rock and roll, and painted pages of lyrics into Chuck-Berry-style music that shot out images like a machine gun, so you didn't know if you were listening to a song or seeing a Prokofiev film or reading a Jack Kerouac novel. Then he decided to blur himself into the poetic equivalent of a Debussy piece, using old fashioned hymns and whisps of melody to create an emotional landscape that always seemed one step away from the real, yet was somehow was more intensely real than reality. Then he came out with a spare album of deeply reflective thought-poems of Biblical existentialism. Then he turned out a wonderful Country album of sad songs and happy melodies. Then he painted his self portrait by singing other people's songs! Then New Morning...a joyous romp of prayerful, exuberant, wry-humored songs, with a couple of mystical songs thrown in......all between 1962, and 1970...and we were all aghast...who is this scruffy kid? How can he be all these things at once? Is he in charge of reality? Is he real or a mirage...or both? He took a few years off....and got even better.....And no one has been able to duplicate it yet...except Bob himself.....

Like a rolling stone, the first recording I ever bought, changed and improved my life in some ways. Sold to me by a fellow high school classmate from the local record store, he was killed in Vietnam, as it goes.

the sadness in "a hard rain gonna fall" immidiately drives tears in my eyes like nothin else, whenever i hear it even after all these years.

I believe it was Dylan's original melodies that carried him to the early heights that later defined his celebrity. His lyrics were funny, moving, hard-hitting, and persuasive, but they would never have sold as poems on their own. So many people believe Dylan's lyrics were responsible for his stardom, but, for me, his strong understanding of melody was far more significant. Songs like "A Hard Rain...", "Walkin' Down the Line", "Don't Think Twice", and "Blowin' in the Wind" (to name a few) have such captivating rhythmic atmospheres, that the lyrics could have really been anything and not diminished quality at all.

I was 13 years old and in HS and a writer of poetry when I 'discovered' Dylan. I loved his lyrics first and then loved the entire songs. I've loved Dylan ever since. I was always bothered by those who wouldn't bother to listen to his lyrics.

I’ve listened to his songs thousands of times and they are still delivering the goods !

Never knew that there was a connection of folk music and communism. First song I remember was ‘Good night Irene’ song by the Weavers back in 1948 when I was all of 6 years old. It was such a refreshing sound when Tin Pan Alley dominated the airwaves. Simple, centered on the sorrows of living and song with passion. There was nothing sentimental about it, just a kaleidoscope of images summing up life. Then along came the song writers and it was fair game to put your hand and guitar to make new sounds. What a time to live through. I’m almost 80 now and feel blessed to have lived when I did and played guitar on my dad’s Martin D-18 for most of those years. WHAT A TIME!!

Terrific! Great to see you talk to Peter Stampfel and Maria Muldaur. One of the best docs I've seen. Thank You.

Something that gets overlooked most of the time with Dylan is his sense of humour. He’s very funny if you listen carefully.

This is the best Dylan doco since "No Direction Home". I remember hearing Dylan songs on AM radio being covered by other artists.

A life long fan of Dylan and this is the best biography I've seen. Nigel Williamson was great. Thanks to all.

I’ve followed Dylan most of his lifetime and he depict so much of what was happening back in the sixties definitely makes a statement on every turn and have seen him in concert too… no one like Dylan ❤️🎆

I have a lot of respect for Dylan, not only for his talent but because he did what he wanted to do. Bob Dylan, in my eyes, will always be the greatest.

The times they are a changing where he says don't criticize what you can't understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond you command...his early songs held powerful influence over all the young ears who were listening. Brilliant lyrics in every song. Dylan was and is a master song writer. Luv him.

Really really well done! Got me to screw up my days schedule and sit here and watch it! A life long listener of Bobby D, it nonetheless gave me a new insight: Bob's electric change was the creation of his own garage band. Al Kooper was the secret sauce that made it grow...

Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter of all time. I’ve been listening to him since 1963. I will never get tired of his songs. The first album I bought was Freewheelin Bob Dylan. I was 9 years old. I did not know what lyrics were. I would ask my self, how does he come up with these words? Bob Dylan is an absolute Legend.

Dylan's first album came out in simulated stereo, one side vocal, and the other side guitar, discrete separation. Sounded odd but man it chilled me to the spine. Where I come from everyone and their dog played guitar so I tuned mine and hit the joints. I never made it big but the experience was priceless, I don't play anymore, no one to hear. Greenwich and old town Chicago died, the nails in the coffin were hammered in by bad record companies, MTV, karaoke, and Apple Music. There won't be any such good music anymore, not happinin, the culture was killed. Now this video has succeeded in helping to turn it into legend, and soon I'll be dead. Well, there is really good weed I guess, that's something…

Another underappreciated artist who hung out with Dylan in the NYC folk revival scene was David Blue. Maybe someone could do a documentary on him now. RIP David Blue.

Great documentary. It deserves millions of views.

Icon of my generation. Overwhelming well-deserved.

The fact that Dylan embraced change in his music (several times) is what contributed to the length of his career. His poetry has always been way up there.

Bob Dylan is my favorite! Love his voice @ his great songs he wrote. I wasn't upset when he went electric! I was like sooo? Anyway thanks for this wonderful film! In 1961 I was 7 yrs old ! Been listening to his records a long time!

Thank you for this documentary! FINALLY somebody puts it altogether for us about just what DID happen to Mr. Dylan in his monumental transformation from skinny jeans-clad folky, to skinny, perm-frizzed-hair, black suit wearing "Mod" of the ever-growing Pop/Rock music scene. For years I couldn't find it, and Bob said nothing about this transformation in his autobiography...so thanks agin for spelling it all out for me at your doc's end--MUCH OF THE MYSTERY IS OVER FOR ME!

This is really great, thanks for posting. Massive Dylan fan here from Scotland! C

In Britain Dylan was really popular. Out of his first 11 albums 6 reached #1 in the album charts. In 1965 his debut album which did not chart in the USA got to #13. Blowin in the Wind became a song that all the folk groups had in their repertoire.

I was born in the 40's so I enjoyed all the memories this production brought. Thanks.

Started with highway 69 in 6th grade my young friends told me that nobody understand dylans lyrics- i was hooked in Enjoying and try to get a grip of it until i understand it was poetry i am very grateful for that🤩

Seeing him when I had just turned 18 at the Cafe' Wha in Greenwich pronounced Grenich Village New York, I think Jimmy Hendrix and Janet Joplin all played that same night, no one heard of them, yet. We didn't realize the time, we left at sunup and didn't get home till 7 am, ooooeeee did I get in trouble that memorable morning!

As a singer he was pretty good, but what made Bob Dylan was that he was a brilliant and gifted poet...

The mutual influence of Dylan and the Beatles is fascinating. THey gave him permission to reach back to his own roots; he further stimulated their song-writing, esp Lennon's. "The Beatles opened up the aesthetic" of many folkies. "House of the Rising Sun" by Animals is possibly the first "folk-rock" song.

Being an amateur musician and from a musical family I named my little girl after Dylan. Dylan Rose. She's learning to play uke and guitar. Loves to sing. I hope she sticks with it. Nothing would make me prouder.

Was fortunate to see Bob play live with The Dead. On the further festival tour back in the late 90s. He was such a great entertainer. Stage presence was phenomenal.

That guitar sound in Maggie’s Farm in the first song of the Newport show couldn’t be any better….amazing bite that cuts through everything!

The hardest part is playing and remembering all them lyrics.

He writes Hard Rain and When the Ship Comes In in his twenties, and pushing 80 he writes Murder Most Foul. I continue to be dumbfounded by that enduring creative fire; by the sheer length of time he has kept it burning.

Really enjoyed the variety of commentary. They all had really valid stuff to say about our hero. I remembered going out years ago and buying 4 of Dylan’s first 5 albums all at one time.

Loved this, thank you for posting. That's the fabulous Maria Muldaur (hits: Midnight At the Oasis, Don't Ya Feel My Leg) being interviewed. I did not see her identified like the others.

Mike Clark, the Byrds' original drummer, was my friend. After our summer spent in North Beach coffee houses, we were both back at university in southern California when Mike & I drove from the beach to Gene Clark's mom's house where the Byrd's were rehearsing Mr. Tamborine Man, for the first time... in the basement. That moment, standing on a cold cement floor, it was as if folk song became Rock Opera... Joey Tranchina. Sète France

Whenever I get out my harp holder a do some Bob it goes over really well. I'm a bag of bones like Dylan and I do a good imitation of his voice (of younger years like Rolling stone) his fans get a huge kick out of it and tip well. Other young people seem to be a bit confused but the college crowds know Bob. Even the Beatles were inspired by Bob. Long live Dyan!

Those that say Dylan can't sing have never heard his lyrics. After all, he's a poet that clearly didn't blow it. In that way, I consider Dylan a grandfather of punk, he's always done his own thing regardless of critique. His legacy proves the value in that. There's a documentary of the first electric performance that saw him booed off stage where an attendee says, "he's not the same as he was"... I beg to differ, he's always been exactly as he is. It's just that noone really knows him... And he's free to change; that's called progression.

I agree with the guy who says that Mr Tambourine Man was/is the greatest Dylan song. It takes your breath away. And the melody is just lovely. Each verse is astounding, but each verse tops the one before it....that's the amazing part. I was seven when my older brother, who was 21, brought Freewheelin" to our Brooklyn home. One by one, each of my three older brothers were captivated, and I heard these songs in the background of my consciousness growing up. When I was in High School, becoming a musician, and guys started raving about Neil Young, I was listening and thinking, "there's nothing here". They had never really heard Dylan. They were musicians. They didn't understand. My friends who wanted to be writers understood. So Tambourine Man was the greatest song ever....but then there were Subterranean Homesick blues, Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Highway 61, Visions of Johanna, Forever Young, Sign on the Window, and Lilly, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts and Blind Willie McTell......each of which was the best song ever......

Wonderful documentary... I had no idea he was so young at the time. I was also unaware that there was so much controversy over his playing the "electric" guitar.

This documentary captures the spirit of the scene. Eric Anderson put it plainly, "The Good guys lost" and the 'Dominion' of capitalism now communism (lets call it fascism) won the time. However, I'm still writing folk songs and singing them when I can. Thank you Bob!

He is a poet that was gifted to make his lines sing, a very simple loving human !!!

great artists create their own market.

well done.... one thing not mentioned in dylans early period, wh/ ties to guthrie is who dylan chose to meet when he first moved to nyc... it wasnt a singer, it was the rail riding, tough as nails hero to guys like guthrie when he was a kid: the legend boxer, jack dempsey. who himself crawled out of the West, on his own since age16, riding the rails & fighting in colorado saloons & mining camps of the 1910's. kid blackie, is what he was called then. half cherokee & morman. raised dirt poor in southern colorado, manassas.... a lot of people dont know, but dylan is a huge boxing fan. I found it fascinating & fitting, he was driven to meet dempsey when he came into the city. dempsey thought he was a young boxer & gave him advice accordingly. I dont think dylan ever forgot that. dylan was always wiry tough career wise.

Bob Dylan, 24 of may he'll be 80 years but forever young..

I love Bob Dylen he opened my eyes when I was young. I'm 71 now.

Subterranean Homesick Blues got me interested & more! Then the documentary on Dylan's life, career & work with the Band @ Big Pink...he was lambasted for bringing rocknroll to Folk music but I loved it.

Like others here, I discovered both of Dylan’s mid sixties electric LPs and listened hard. You can’t be a word person without having both those LPs blow your mind with what’s possible.

I used to think dylan was a terrible guitar player, as some of his songs were the first (easy) songs I learned... how wrong I was, just goes to show, GREAT songs can be simple songs, as simple as G C D.... then when I heard don't think twice, I was blown away by his guitar playing... since picking up a guitar I have idolised Dylan

Excellent overview... helped me rediscover Bob Dylan, the greatest singer song writer of our time...

Nobody mentions anything about how well Dylan plays guitar or how good of a melodist he is

The story of Dylan's journey from obscurity to super-stardom has always fascinated me since I read one of his biographies when I was in Jr. Highschool, 1968...

Wonderful doco People who don’t like Dylan’s singing are NOT understanding his AMAZING phrasing

Let's settle this once and for all: Bob Dylan CAN SING! He just doesn't have a conventional vocal quality, he has a nasal tone and delivers the melody in a rollicking, rap like style BUT he can sing! Trust me, if you wanna hear people who truly can't sing, KZfaq is full of them. Theres alot of character in Dylans voice. He sings just fine 🙂

Play my music of today because of what you did. Thank you much Bob

When Bob came out with his first release of "Just Like a Person" you could tell he was going to be a global superstar.

Brilliant documentary. Thanks!

So far so good. Gonna get opera so I don't have to skip an ad every 4 minutes.

Dylan made it look easy! His music encouraged me to learn guitar and write songs. Never came close! Lol 😝

Surviving the period between Dylans first "hyped" concert on Sept. 29, 1961, and the release of Freewheelin' on May 27, 1963, may be the artist's greatest personal accomplishment of all.

Wonderful what an absolutely eye opening Anthology of the folk genre and a sixties legend of the music a real eye opener to me. Thank you NVNorling

BOB DYLAN IS THE GREAT KING OF ALL TIME. BOB DYLAN OPENED EVERYTHING UP FOR EVERYBODY TO DO EVERYTHING. BE WELL. -SENIOR EMERITUS PROFESSOR BJNG.

So many great songs ! Some feel blessed to write a couple of slam dunks ! Dylan turned them out by the dozens.

At Monterey....gone electric......hey, Bob that act alone actually makes me LOVE you.

This two hour epic tour of creativity is brilliant, and it gets 8417 views over a few months. But a video of a cat chewing wool gets half a million. Strange world.

For me he is a true American icon like Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix or Howling Wolf or Prince. All total geniuses.

So happy yo have found this Doc...truly great a tribute to the greatest.

Started out as a biker in the 70's with all the bands we listened to and Bob Dylan was the balancer because of the words not the music.

A giant in artistry, genius and one of a kind in the world of culture and multitude of talents ❤

One of the best, if not the best documentaries of the subject.

lmpressing/intresting interviews and historical film-cuts, thank you for having it!❤😊

Dylan has been so good for so long ,this made me dig out his records again it reminded me just how brilliant he is , a master wordsmith .

What the guy is saying is what Dylan has almost said. He is not political. It’s material. He’s a song writer. He isn’t a union organizer. He has never hopped a freight train. It’s just material.

I really loved this video, wonderful to see footage of Dylan in his folk period. Hard to fathom how one so young could have such a prolific outpouring of great songs.

Flamin' excellent!

When someone blazes a trail they don't stand still to be consumed by the flames.

Scorsese's 'No Direction Home' implies much the same, but still I'm glad to hear Nigel Williamson offer a more direct assessment here on BD's safety concerns after the end of '63. I'm sure Bob didn't want to go the same way as Jack Kennedy and he had plenty of reasons for taking seriously the idea that he might. Here though, the film's narrator says that Bob shifted his focus "from political to aesthetic concepts and ideas" during '64, which is just little simplistic I would say. Anyone who's really listening to the 3 albums that followed 'The Times they are a 'changin'' can still hear evidence of his social conscience cleverly sewn in between all that poetic expression. I don't doubt that he was also getting sick of being expected to play a role on behalf of a 'movement' instead of being true to himself also. I've often wondered though whether these intelligent and self-protective moves of '63/'64 also resulted in some criticisms from one or two of his Greenwich Village contemporaries that may have rankled, especially after Mark Lane's 'Rush to Judgement' was released in '66 (the same year as his motorcycle accident) . Is this perhaps why we are seeing, as he now approaches the end of his life, that he still felt the need, after all these decades, to make sure to 'set the record straight' by releasing 'Murder Most Foul' in 2020(?)

These artists that have sung Dylan’s songs over the years but no one can ever imitate Dylan not only is voice so unique but the way he sung his songs was unique. Unfortunately when I got to see him his voice had gone.

Hank Williams Joni Mitchell Woody Guthrie Arlo Guthrie Melanie Safka Bob Dylan ETC..... Are STILL SOME of the BEST EVER Singer-songwriters !

I miss the IDs of the speakers. I may have recognized them when young, but we change and i find it a challenge to recognize them. Put the IDs in if possible. Otherwise this is a great video!

PLEASE SUPPORT ALL OF OUR FOLK SINGER-SONGWRITERS ! WE ARE REALLY ALL STILL STRUGGLING .....

This is an amazing channel and all I have watched each one gets better than the last. Please do one on Zappa.

The Folkies thought that Dylan had captured the power of THEIR movement. What they didn't realize was that Dylan had imbued THEIR movement with HIS power. It was Dylan's songs that had the power, not their politics.

Easily the greatest and most influential songwriter ever and definitely won’t be taken over in rock n roll or even popular music.