Dylan Revisited: Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

The first in Bob Dylan's trio of classic mid-60s albums sees the protest icon begin his thrilling transformation into a rock star.

This is a series by DylanRevisited based on former Twitter threads, now available here in an easier to read and longer lasting format.

In late 1964, Bob Dylan heard I Wanna Hold Your Hand by The Beatles and decided he wanted some of that for his next album, Bringing It All Back Home. But that didn’t mean he was coveting a number one or itching to plug his guitar into an amp and play some rock’n’roll.

When Dylan heard Lennon and McCartney’s chart-topping single, what he craved more than anything was a sense of hand-holding harmony. The solo artist listened to the way the Liverpudlians blended their voices, to the band’s tight combination of rhythm and melody and decided this is what he wanted to do next.

Then comes the story we all know. Dylan went electric on Bringing It All Back Home, a bunch of people booed his live shows and popular music was never the s…