Troubadours of the 1960’s: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon (Class One)

Join us for a four-part series on song lyrics as verse in honor of National Poetry Month! In an essay on Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock,” the literary critic Camille Paglia comments that “in the 1960’s, young people who might have become poets took up the guitar and turned troubadour. The best rock lyrics of that decade and the next were based on the ballad tradition, where anonymous songs with universal themes of love and strife had been refined over centuries by the shapely symmetry of the four-line stanza.” This class will examine the songs of three of these “troubadours” who came to prominence in the Sixties and who have remained significant voices to the present day: Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon. While we will focus on these artists’ early work in the Sixties and early Seventies, we will also take a look and listen to the ways that each developed their craft in later years.

Songs/Poems for Class 1 (Bob Dylan):

“A Hard Rain’s A-Goin’ To Fall” 
“It Ain’t Me Babe” 
“Subterranean Homesick Blues…” 
“Like a Rolling Stone” 
“Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” 
“All Along the Watchtower”

[supplementary: “Lord Randall,” Jean Ritchie; ”Too Much Monkey Business,” Chuck Berry; ”Automobile Blues,” Lightnin’ Hopkins]
 

Attendants are encouraged to read the song lyrics for each session in advance, but no prior exposure is required. This class will be interactive, so you will be encouraged to participate as the spirit moves you. There will be four 90-minute class sessions, led by Cyrus Cook, a Wallingford resident and retired English teacher at Choate Rosemary Hall. 

By signing up for one class, you will sign up for all of the classes in the series going forward. Registration is required; please sign up below.