Woody Guthrie, and the atmosphere of early-mid ’60s America, with the civil rights struggle, Vietnam, and President Kennedy’s assassination. All grist to the Dylan mill.
Dylan was quite heavily involved in the civil rights scene, playing in Mississippi, with friend and major influence Pete Seeger, and also playing on the same podium, and on the same day, as where Martin Luther King delivered his legendary “I have a dream” speech – a speech which still leaves Dylan awed, as he reflected: “I was up close when King was giving that speech, and to this day it still affects me in a profound way.”
Dylan, in his early days, comes across as a taciturn interviewee amidst a haze of cigarette smoke, obviously happy to let his songs do the talking. Dylan never wanted to be a malleable star. It was success on his terms. Dylan: “I’ve never been that kind of performer