The Story of the Hurricane‘Hurricane’
by Bob Dylan 1. Research Bob Dylan’s life and write five key facts about him. 2. How did he come to write protest songs? 3. What are some of his most famous protest songs? 4. What happened to Rubin Carter? Summarise his story. 5. Identify three people in the song. What do we learn about them? How far are they each responsible for what happened to Rubin? 6. How is the justice system described in this song? Quote some of the lines to support your answer. 7. What is the song ‘Hurricane’ protesting about? 8. How is the press described? Quote some lines. Find and quote two lines that discuss the problem of racial prejudice. Research Homework task · Find a protest song to which you can relate. · Print out a copy of the lyrics and annotate it with your comments. · Explain who the songwriter / singer is and how he or she came to write this song. · Explain the context of your song and tell its‘story’. · Explain why you have chosen this song and how it fits in to the genre of ‘protest songs’. IN CLASS: Share your chosen song and your explanations with a small group of your classmates. ON BOB - FOR STARTERS: Born in 1941, Bob Dylan was a college drop-out from Minnesota who moved to New York in 1961 to pursue try his hand as a folk singer. One of his heroes was ‘Woody Guthrie’. His admiration for Guthrie a‘protest singer’ of an earlier generation can be heard in one his first recorded works, ‘Song to Woody’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlm1kzWTrOI&feature=kp. During his early years in New York, some of Dylan’s most successful works were his so called ‘protest songs’. These included ‘Blowin in The Wind’, Master’s of War, A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall and‘Only A Pawn in Their Game’. ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ has come to be regarded as one of his greatest songs of this type. By mid-1964 Dylan had begun to move away from the simple acoustic guitar based folk music. He began to play electric guitar, perform with a full backing band and his songs became personal, introspective and less overtly concerned with social issues. Currently aged 73, Dylan continues to write and record songs and tour the world performing them. Later this year he will release his 36th album of new material. For the most part he has never returned to writing the kind of ‘protest songs’ he produced in the early 60’s. A very famous exception, however was the song ‘Hurricane’ which he co-wrote in 1975. It tells the story of the wrongful trial and imprisonment for murder of African-American boxer, Rueben‘Hurricane’ Carter. |
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was an American middleweight boxer who was wrongly convicted of murder and later freed via a petition of habeas corpus after spending almost 20 years in prison. |
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll is a topical song written by the American musician Bob Dylan. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album, The Times They Are a-Changin' and gives a
generally factual account of the killing of a 51-year-old barmaid, Hattie Carroll, by William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (whom the song calls "William Zanzinger"), a wealthy young tobacco farmer from Charles
County, Maryland, and his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail.
The lyrics are a commentary on 1960s racism. When Hattie Carroll was killed
in 1963, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as
restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses, and the county fair.
The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonesome_Death_of_Hattie_Carroll
MORE:
The song was recorded in October 1963 and is based on an incident Dylan read about in a newspaper. William Zantzinger, the ‘villain’ of the song, was sentenced to six months prison for his role in the death of Hattie Carroll, on the same day as the “Great March on Washington”in August,1963. This march culminated in the famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech by
Martin Luther King at the Washington monument. The event was attended by many singers and artists and, prior to King’s speech, Dylan, had performed for thecrowd. On his way home to New York after the event, he read about the trial and decided to write the song.
At the time that Dylan wrote this song the United States was experiencing a period of political and social turmoil. The‘March on Washington’ is one of the better known examples of a much broader series of campaigns and protests that have come to be known as the Civil Rights Movement; which was aimed at ‘ending racial segregation and discrimination against African
Americans and enforcing their constitutional voting rights.
The song took a relatively ‘local’ story to a national audience and it resonated with many of the concerns shared by supporters of the Civil Rights Movement.
generally factual account of the killing of a 51-year-old barmaid, Hattie Carroll, by William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (whom the song calls "William Zanzinger"), a wealthy young tobacco farmer from Charles
County, Maryland, and his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail.
The lyrics are a commentary on 1960s racism. When Hattie Carroll was killed
in 1963, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as
restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses, and the county fair.
The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonesome_Death_of_Hattie_Carroll
MORE:
The song was recorded in October 1963 and is based on an incident Dylan read about in a newspaper. William Zantzinger, the ‘villain’ of the song, was sentenced to six months prison for his role in the death of Hattie Carroll, on the same day as the “Great March on Washington”in August,1963. This march culminated in the famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech by
Martin Luther King at the Washington monument. The event was attended by many singers and artists and, prior to King’s speech, Dylan, had performed for thecrowd. On his way home to New York after the event, he read about the trial and decided to write the song.
At the time that Dylan wrote this song the United States was experiencing a period of political and social turmoil. The‘March on Washington’ is one of the better known examples of a much broader series of campaigns and protests that have come to be known as the Civil Rights Movement; which was aimed at ‘ending racial segregation and discrimination against African
Americans and enforcing their constitutional voting rights.
The song took a relatively ‘local’ story to a national audience and it resonated with many of the concerns shared by supporters of the Civil Rights Movement.
InvestigateLook at clips of Martin Luther King’s speech …march on Washington… look at a selection of other moments in the civil rights movement.
A Close Reading of the Song. Verse 1. 1. What crime is described here? Name the perpetrator and the victim. 2. What is on the killer’s finger? Why is this significant? Verse 2. 3. What is the killer’s occupation? 4. What words are used to describe his parents? 5. Describe his behavior in the court? 6. Why is it not surprising that bail was awarded ‘in a matter of minutes’ Verse 3 7. What three things do we learn about Hattie Carroll in the opening two lines of this verse? Why do you think we are told this information? 8. Why do you think the writer uses repetition in this verse? Verse 4 9. What point is being made about the legal system in the first six lines of this verse? 10. How is this ideal undermined by the Judge’s sentencing of Zanzinger? 11. Why has the writer changed the chorus at the end of this verse? RESPOND: Experience: a. Write about a time where you felt powerless. Or where someone treated you unfairly. How did you feel? How did you respond? Was the situation resolved? b. Imagine you are a journalist reporting on the sentencing handed down to William Zanzinger? Write an article reporting on the way you and the people around you responded to the verdict? c. Imagine you were in the crowd for Dr King’s Speech for the March on Washington. Describe the experience. CREATE YOUR OWN PLAYLIST and INVESTIGATE From the list of songs featured under the 'Songs' Voices of Rage through Time' tab, select a range of 4 -5 . Use the internet to research the selected songs. Use the following questions to make notes about each of the featured songs: § What is the song about? § When was the song written? Who wrote the song? Who performed the song? § Why is the song important? How does the song use language to convey its message of protest? More 'finger pointing'
'Ohio' Neil Young"It's still hard to believe I had to write this song. It's ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning." Neil Young
The four dead in Ohio
"What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?"
"When the United States began involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, the response was uproarious and rampant. Many young Americans despised the idea that their country was involved in an armed conflict that in no part was their own fault, and did not even directly affect them. They believed that the United States had no real business in Vietnam. One of the most outspoken songwriters of this era and calling was Neil Young. Whether it was with Buffalo Springfield or with his other group, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Neil Young expressed his opinion at every opportunity that presented itself. In his song Ohio, he expresses both his opinions about the war, and about a specific event that took place on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. On May 4, 1970, a student demonstration at Kent State, Ohio left four students dead, one paralyzed, and eight others wounded.
This demonstration, meant to be one of many peaceful demonstrations against the war, was ended abruptly and violently when the National Guard fired into the crowd for 13 seconds. The brief shootings ended the lives of students Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder, and Sandra Scheuer. The distances ranged from 270 feet to 390 feet. Some of these students were not even directly involved. Justified or not by self-defense, the "massacre" sparked a nationwide student strike that closed many colleges and universities. The line, "We're finally on our own" describes the feeling of freedom and independence in college, and the line "Four dead in Ohio" refers to the four slain students at Kent State. The "Tin soldiers" are the National Guard, and many people, including Young, felt that it was President Richard Nixon's fault. "Four young men and women had their lives taken from them while lawfully protesting this outrageous government action. We are going back to keep awareness alive in the minds of all students, not only in America, but worldwide…to be vigilant and ready to stand and be counted… and to make sure that the powers of the politicians do not take precedence over the right of lawful protest."
"Crosby once said that Young calling Nixon's name out in the lyrics was 'the bravest thing I ever heard.' Crosby noted that at the time, it seemed like those who stood up to Nixon, like those at Kent State, were shot. Neil Young did not seemed scared at all." |
The Life Magazine (May 15, 1970) issue which inspired Neil Young
to write the song "Ohio"
The lyrics help evoke the turbulent mood of horror, outrage and shock in the wake of the shootings, especially the line "four dead in Ohio," repeated throughout the song. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming" refers to the Kent State shootings where Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four student protesters and Young's attribution of their deaths to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, even though the National Guardsmen had not been federalized and were under orders from the Governor of Ohio. Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon's name in the lyrics was "the bravest thing I ever heard." The American counterculture took the group as its own after this song, giving the four a status as leaders and spokesmen they would enjoy to varying extent for the rest of the decade.
After the double's release, it was banned from some AM radio stations because of the challenge to the Nixon
Administration in the lyrics, but received airplay on underground FM stations in larger cities and college towns.
Today, the song receives regular airplay onclassic rock stations. The song was selected as the 385th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone in December 2004.
to write the song "Ohio"
The lyrics help evoke the turbulent mood of horror, outrage and shock in the wake of the shootings, especially the line "four dead in Ohio," repeated throughout the song. "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming" refers to the Kent State shootings where Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four student protesters and Young's attribution of their deaths to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, even though the National Guardsmen had not been federalized and were under orders from the Governor of Ohio. Crosby once stated that Young keeping Nixon's name in the lyrics was "the bravest thing I ever heard." The American counterculture took the group as its own after this song, giving the four a status as leaders and spokesmen they would enjoy to varying extent for the rest of the decade.
After the double's release, it was banned from some AM radio stations because of the challenge to the Nixon
Administration in the lyrics, but received airplay on underground FM stations in larger cities and college towns.
Today, the song receives regular airplay onclassic rock stations. The song was selected as the 385th Greatest Song of All Time by Rolling Stone in December 2004.
'Iron Sky' Paolo Nutini - April 2014
This six-minute song finds Nutini urging politicians to turn modern fears "into freedom." He explained to The Sun: "The more I watch politicians in action, it just makes me angry. I watch certain politicians get asked questions that need answers and may just prance around with a big laugh and smile on my face. Politicians have an arrogance. I just do not understand.
I've seen more constructive debate since high school."
"People get disillusioned and voting has little value to some people," he added. "That's sad."The song features a sample from Charlie Chaplin's speech in his Hitler–lampooning 1940s film, The Great Dictator ("You are not machines! You are not cattle!").
A live performance of this song at London's Abbey Road studios saw an enthusiastic Adele tweet: "This is one of the best things I've
ever seen in my life, hands down."
Paolo Nutini (from The Independent): "The world throws
up new meanings for that one every day, but it's mainly that man-versus-machine
thing. You know: you go into WH Smith these days and they steer you to the
electronic checkout. I always think: 'Why so calm?' Don't you realize that thing
that doesn't have a family to feed is going to have your job?"
I've seen more constructive debate since high school."
"People get disillusioned and voting has little value to some people," he added. "That's sad."The song features a sample from Charlie Chaplin's speech in his Hitler–lampooning 1940s film, The Great Dictator ("You are not machines! You are not cattle!").
A live performance of this song at London's Abbey Road studios saw an enthusiastic Adele tweet: "This is one of the best things I've
ever seen in my life, hands down."
Paolo Nutini (from The Independent): "The world throws
up new meanings for that one every day, but it's mainly that man-versus-machine
thing. You know: you go into WH Smith these days and they steer you to the
electronic checkout. I always think: 'Why so calm?' Don't you realize that thing
that doesn't have a family to feed is going to have your job?"