NY

Bound For Glory

When Robert Allen Zimmerman graduated from Hibbing High School aged 18, he wrote under his photo in his class yearbook that he was going to “Follow Little Richard”. He had grown up in his hometown of Hibbing listening to Rock ‘n’ Roll on late night radio. He had not yet heard of WOODY GUTHRIE, later his idol. This was soon to change.
Robert, now calling himself BOB DYLAN, moved on to the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis. Here he enrolled into a literal arts program, with music as his major. At first, he lived in the Jewish fraternity house, Sigma Alpha Mu. This was the best Jewish frat house at the university,

and showed that his parents had connections. However, Bob was soon asked to leave by his fellow ‘Sammies’ as he was not fitting in. Adjacent to the university campus was a bohemian neighbourhood known as Dinkytown. The people he met here, and the music he discovered were to be very important in his future.
           Dylan was heavily into the Bohemian scene and Folk music, when one of his friends lent him a book called ‘BOUND FOR GLORY’. It was Woody Guthrie’s autobiography. It was a romanticised account of Woody’s travels around America during the Depression. It gave Bob the spark he needed. He was going to travel. He soon had only one destination in mind, NEW YORK. He had not tried to get a job in college, and paid less and less attention to his studies. With an understanding girlfriend, there was nothing stopping him.
           In December 1960, Bob learned that Guthrie, aged only 48, was dying of Huntington’s chorea. Woody was staying in a New Jersey hospital, where Bob phoned him, telling the nurses he was a family member. Dylan was told that Woody couldn’t get to the phone but liked having visitors. Bob set off immediately.
          Before reaching New York, Bob stopped in Chicago, then Madison for a few weeks. Whilst travelling, he made up a fake autobiography, which changed several times. This created a mystery around Dylan, and helped improve his self-confidence.
          On the 24th January 1961, he finally arrived in New York, and that night he played Guthrie covers in CAFÉ WHA?, in Greenwich Village. The next day, he went to visit Guthrie.
          Dylan soon became friends and a regular visitor at the Guthrie household, and played living-room hootenannies there with Woody’s friends, including PETE SEEGERS and RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOT.

This was about the time when Bob began writing songs. His lyrics and style were very Guthriesque at first. The first song he wrote and performed in public was ‘SONG TO WOODY’, which appears on his eponymous debut album ‘BOB DYLAN’. It was a beautiful, honest and poetic song in celebration of Dylan’s idol. This was the start of a flood of the finest, and most extensive lyrics written in the modern era, and certainly in pop music. Bob believed from then on that he was a channel, and the songs didn’t come from him, but through him.

Bob’s New York professional debut came on the 11th April, supporting JOHN LEE HOOKER at GERDE’S FOLK CITY. He was lent one of Guthrie’s jackets for the occasion. His next big break came on the 26th September, when New York Times critic Robert Shelton saw him at Gerde’s supporting the GREENBRIAR BOYS. He received a rave review, which got his foot in the door. Four days later he appeared on a CAROLYN HESTER album session, playing guitar and harmonica. It was here where he met JOHN HAMMOND, who signed him on a five-year contract with COLUMBIA the following month.