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Why it matters
His second album was made almost entirely of his own songs, and it turned a promising folk interpreter into the most talked-about songwriter of his generation. It holds protest anthems, apocalyptic visions and tender love songs side by side, under the famous cover photo of Dylan and Suze Rotolo on a snowy Greenwich Village street.
Dylan recorded his second album over many sessions between the spring of 1962 and the spring of 1963, first with John Hammond and then with Tom Wilson producing, and the running order changed more than once before release. Most of it is just Dylan alone with guitar and harmonica, though "Corrina, Corrina" carries a small backing band. The songs move freely between moods: furious protest, long visionary ballads, wry talking blues and gentle, rueful love songs shaped by his relationship with Suze Rotolo, who was away in Italy for much of the time. A song mocking the John Birch Society was dropped before release, reportedly over the label's legal worries. When Peter, Paul and Mary turned "Blowin' in the Wind" into a hit in 1963, Dylan's name spread far beyond the Village, and the album became a touchstone for the folk revival and for countless songwriters who followed.
Track list · 13 songs
A string of unanswerable questions about war, freedom and indifference, with the answers left drifting in the air.
protest · freedom
Its page ›A traveler asks for news of a lost love living far north and hopes she is well cared for.
love · loss
Its page ›A bitter denunciation of the people who build weapons and profit from wars they never fight.
protest · war
Its page ›A man whose lover has gone far across the sea takes to the highway, lonely and unsure she will return.
loss · the road · love
Its page ›A light, rambling joke song about the singer going his own way and keeping clear of fads and fakes.
freedom
Its page ›A young traveler returns with a torrent of nightmarish images and vows to keep telling what he saw.
protest · death
Its page ›A man leaving a failed love tells her, with a mix of hurt and shrugging pride, not to dwell on it.
love · the road
Its page ›A dreamer longs for the lost days of youthful friendship before the world got complicated.
time · loss
Its page ›A brisk, ironic look at a Southern town erupting in violence over one Black student's right to attend college.
protest · America
Its page ›A man tells a doctor about his dream of wandering an empty city after the bombs, and finds everyone else has the same dream.
war · protest
Its page ›A man misses the woman who has gone and says he cannot rest until she comes back to him.
love · loss
Its page ›A man begs a woman for just one more chance, in a lighthearted song that never quite sounds heartbroken.
love
Its page ›A string of tall tales and jokes about politicians, women and celebrities from a singer who insists he will be free.
freedom
Its page ›
Where its songs lead
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