Lecture 6: “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965): This tune, from Bob Dylan’s fifth studio album Bringing it All Back Home (1965), was his first Top 40 hit, reaching #39 on the Billboard 100. Dylan drew on influences from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Chuck Berry, and the beat poet Jack Kerouac when writing “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” a song that alludes to contemporary issues such as the emerging counter-culture and civil rights. The early music video was also innovative, particularly Dylan’s use of giant cue cards. Fun fact: Beat poet and counter-cultural icon Allen Ginsberg (with the beard) can be seen in the background, to the left. This scene is a clip from the late, great D. A. Pennebaker‘s landmark rockumentary, Don’t Look Back (1967).
