Thread · 12 songs
Protest and after
From the civil-rights songs to the ones that came later.
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1963Greenwich Village
1 of 12A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Dylan premiered it in 1962, and it borrows its question-and-answer frame from the old ballad "Lord Randal".
↓ the same year
1963Greenwich Village
2 of 12Blowin' in the Wind
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Its melody adapts the spiritual "No More Auction Block", and it became a civil-rights anthem.
↓ the same year
1963Greenwich Village
3 of 12Masters of War
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
It sets a furious attack on arms makers to the tune of the traditional "Nottamun Town".
↓ 1 year later
1964Greenwich Village
4 of 12North Country Blues
The Times They Are a-Changin'
A mining woman's account of her town dying as the work goes overseas.
↓ 1 year later
1965Going Electric
5 of 12It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Bringing It All Back Home
Running about seven and a half minutes, it is the longest song on the album.
↓ the same year
1965Going Electric
6 of 12Maggie's Farm
Bringing It All Back Home
It was the opening number of his electric set at Newport in 1965.
↓ 8 years later
1973Blood on the Tracks
7 of 12The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Dylan
Peter La Farge's protest ballad about the Pima Marine of Iwo Jima neglected by the country he fought for.
↓ 2 years later
1975Blood on the Tracks
8 of 12Hurricane
Desire
Co-written with Jacques Levy, it argues that boxer Rubin Carter was wrongly convicted of a 1966 triple murder.
↓ 8 years later
1983The '80s
9 of 12License to Kill
Infidels
Dylan played it on Late Night with David Letterman in March 1984 with the punk band the Plugz.
↓ the same year
1983The '80s
10 of 12Neighborhood Bully
Infidels
It is widely heard as a defense of the state of Israel.
↓ the same year
1983The '80s
11 of 12Union Sundown
Infidels
It targets the shift of American manufacturing to cheap labor overseas.
↓ 6 years later
1989The '80s
12 of 12Political World
Oh Mercy
The opening track sets the album's mood of a corrupt world.