Bob Dylan has a fascinating connection with the 1960s – a pivotal figure in the development of counterculture on both sides of the ocean, he both inspired and distanced himself from the folk revival. The push-and-pull nature of his experiences can be seen in the songs he emphasizes – he has never been one to follow established paths, often defying expectations.
In 1968, after an enforced hiatus from the limelight, Bob Dylan chose to speak with the influential American magazine Sing Out. Essentially serving as the voice of the folk revival, the interview explored his views on contemporary songwriters.
Reflecting on the Beatles – whom he had met a couple of times by then – Dylan noted that they “work much more with the studio equipment, they take advantage of the new sound inventions of the past year or two. While I don’t know anything about that. I just focus on writing songs and performing them, and that’s it.”
His comments serve as a sort of manifesto for his simultaneous works – the minimalist ‘John Wesley Harding’ and the country-infused short piece ‘Nashville Skyline’.
Interestingly, Bob Dylan had praise for the Incredible String Band, a Scottish group that broadened folk influences and produced genuinely psychedelic music. At the time, the ISB were celebrated as leaders in psych-folk, with Sir Paul McCartney declaring their album ‘The 5000 Spirits or the Layers Of The Onion’ one of the best of 1967.
In his conversation with Sing Out, Bob Dylan mentioned the Incredible String Band’s ‘October Song’. He acknowledged that the Beatles had “continued their poetic legacy, while the Incredible String Band, who wrote this ‘October Song’… that was quite good.”
He remarked, “As a finished song, it’s quite good.”
It’s certainly an unconventional choice – perhaps Dylan was drawn to the song's clear pursuit of originality…
I’ll sing you this October song
Oh, there is no song before it
The words and tune are none of my own
For my joys and sorrows bore it
Bob Dylan shares an intriguing connection with the 1960s; as a pivotal influence in the development of counterculture in both America and Europe, he motivated,
