“Blowin’ in the Wind”

• Country, Soul, Urban Folk, and the Rise of

Rock, 1960s
– Popular music that did not cross over to the
mainstream
• Counterculture- subculture existing in opposition to
and espousing values contrary to those of the dominant
culture
• Country music of the 1960s- wider impact than is
generally acknowledged
– Countrypolitan- fusion of “country” and “cosmopolitan”
 Patsy Cline and the Nashville Sound

• Patsy Cline (1932-1963)- crossover success in country and

pop
– “Walkin’ after Midnight” (1957)- indicative of her future
achievements
– Big hits: “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy” (1961- ballads of broad
appeal; sophisticated in phrasing and articulation, but had
sufficient hints of rural and bluesy inflections to show where her
roots lay
• Nashville Sound of the early 1960s
– Jim Reeves and Floyd Cramer- elements similar to that which
made Cline’s records successful
– Impact of Nashville sound on 1960s pop
• Influence extended into rhythm & blues
 Ray Charles and Soul Music

• Ray Charles (1930-2004)- born Ray Charles Robinson, was a constant

presence on the rhythm & blues charts during the 1950s; crossover
success began in 1959
– “I’ve Got a Woman” (1954)- secular song based on gospel models
– “Hallelujah I Love Her So” (1956)- expressed the connection in the song’s title
– “soul music”- would not ender the common vocabulary until the late 1960s,
but was the genre Ray Charles was pioneering in his gospel-blues of the 1950s
– “Georgia on My Mind”- did not attempt to turn the Tin Pan Alley standard into
a rhythm & blues song, or become a crooner, or use the jump band group that
backed him on his earlier records- sumptuous arrangement including
orchestral strings and accompanying chorus- elaborate and unrestrained
sentiment
– Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)- concept album
• Milestone in the history of American popular music
• Enlarged his audience further, despite derisive label by record company as “Ray’s Folly”
• Country oriented records did well on both pop and rhythm & blues charts, but did not
register on the country charts
 Sam Cooke, the “King of Soul”

• Sam Cooke (1931-1964)- one of soul music’s

pioneers
– Began his career as a gospel singer
– Began to explore secular music, initially recording
under a pseudonym, concerned that his gospel music
audience would question the sincerity of his Christian
beliefs if they found out he was also singing non-
religious music
– Combined the influences of pop and gospel music
– “A Change is Gonna Come”- response to “Blowin’ in
the Wind”- Cooke’s most political song
 Listening Guide:
“You Send Me” and “A Change is Gonna Come”

• “You Send Me,” written and performed by

Sam Cooke; recorded 1957
– Designed to appeal to a broad audience
• “A Change is Gonna Come,” written and
performed by Sam Cooke; recorded 1964
– Regarded as Sam Cooke’s greatest song
– Single released a few weeks after Cooke’s death
– Inspired by Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the
Wind” and Cooke’s experiences while on tour
 James Brown

• James Brown (1933-2006)

– First record, “Please, Please, Please” (1956)- repetitions of individual words so
that activity of an entire strophe centers around the syncopated, violently
accented reiterations of a single syllable
– Later abandoned structures of 1950s R&B behind and abandoned chord
changes entirely in many of his pieces
– Music that focused almost exclusively on the play of rhythm and timbre, in the
instrumental parts as well as in the vocal
• “Say It Loud- I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1968)- pares vocal down to highly
rhythmic speech backed by a harmonically static but rhythmically active
accompaniment
– Influence on the sound and style of black music
• Repetitive, riff-based instrumental style, which elevated rhythm far above harmony as
the primary source of interest- provided the foundation on which most dance-oriented
music of the period
• Records are sampled by hip-hop artists more than any other musician
• Focus on rhythm and timbre- interlocking polyrhythms
 Aretha Franklin

• Aretha Franklin (b. 1942)

– Breakthrough as a pop star in 1967
– Recorded with Columbia Records from 1960-1966
– Atlantic Records- indie label with R&B success
– “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (1967)- extraordinary and
virtually interrupted stream of hit records over a five-year period
• Power and intensity of vocal delivery
– Civil rights and black power movements at their heights; women’s
empowerment in its initial stirrings
– Franklin did not become a political figure in the way that James Brown
did but made political and social statements through the very
character of her performances
• Wrote or co-wrote a significant portion of her repertoire, excellent
keyboard player, provided vocal arrangements
 Listening Guide: Two Classics of Soul Music

• “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” composed by James Brown;

performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames; released 1965
– Intense vocal performance and use of call-and-response technique
characteristic of soul music
– Twelve-bar blues pattern with an eight-bar bridge section
– Lyrics- dance-oriented rock ‘n’ roll songs
– Riff-dominated- repeating instrumental riff
• “Respect,” composed by Otis Redding; performed by Aretha
Franklin; recorded 1967
– Cover of Otis Redding’s song
– Shift of the sense of who is in control of the relationship
– Performance structured around a steadily building intensity
 Tin Pan Alley Still Lives!
Dione Warwick and the Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David

• Resilience of the Tin Pan Alley aesthetic in the

1960s in the songs written for Dionne Warwick
(b. 1940) by composer Burt Bacharach (b. 1928)
and lyricist Hall David
– Warwick- crooning approach
– David’s lyrics- intelligent and adult-oriented,
cleverness of structure and rhythm
– Bacharach’s music- emphasis on melodic and
harmonic sophistication, highly original phrasing, and
rhythms
 The Broadway Musical in the Age of Rock

• Bye Bye Birdie (1960)- music by Charles Strouse,

lyrics by Lee Adams
• West Side Story (1957)- striking use of modern
jazz and Latin American elements
• Fiddler on the Roof (1964)- music by Jerry Bock,
lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
• Hair (1968)- music by Galt MacDermot, lyrics by
Gerome Ragni and James Rado- rock musical that
celebrated the late 1960s counterculture
 Urban Folk Music in the 1960s: Bob Dylan

• Bob Dylan (b. 1941 as Robert Zimmerman)- first established himself as an acoustic singer-
songwriter in New York City’s urban folk scene
– Dylan stood out for two reason:
• Remarkable quality of his original songs, which reflected from the beginning a strong gift for poetic imagery and
metaphor and a frequently searing intensity of feeling, moderated by a quirky sense of irony
• Style of performance- rough-hewn, occasionally aggressive vocal, guitar and harmonica style that demonstrated strong
affinities to rural models in blues and earlier country music
• “Blowin’ in the Wind”- recording by Peter, Paul, and Mary
– Comparison of Peter, Paul, and Mary recording with Dylan’s recording on his second album, The Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan (1963)
• Folk trio- touching sincerity and simplicity
• Dylan’s rendition- throws rhythmic weight on the most pointed words in the song
• Dylan distinguished himself as a composer of more intimate but highly original songs about human
relationships
– Ties with folk traditions
• Original compositions modeled on the musical and poetic content of preexisting folk material
• 1965-moved from his role as the most distinctive songwriter among American urban folk artists to
influence on the entirety of American popular culture
• Mid-1960s: electric style and other manifestations of folk rock- growth in the pop music scene
• 1965- many artists covering Dylan songs or producing imitations of Dylan’s songs and style
• Became one of the first rock musicians whose career was sustained by albums rather than singles
 Listening Guide: Like a Rolling Stone

• Composed and performed by Bob Dylan (with unidentified

instrumental accompaniment); recorded 1965
– Recording put an end to restrictions on length, subject matter, and
poetic diction in pop records
– Sound- timbre and sonic density that were unique for its time
– Prominence of organ and piano, dominating texture over electric
guitars, bass, and drums
– Distinctive sound of Dylan’s voice
• Form: strophic verse-chorus pattern: strophes are extremely long
(40 bars)
• The Song/The Recording: each succeeding strophe widens its focus
– Connection with acoustic folk traditions- live studio performance with
minimal editing or “production” effects
– 6 minutes: longest 45 r.p.m. pop single ever released up to its time
 Simon and Garfunkel

• Paul Simon and Arthur Garfunkel- “The

sounds of Silence”
– Urban folk duo
– Producer overdubbed a rock band
accompaniment to the original recording, speeded
it up, and released the single without Simon or
Garfunkel’s permission
• Became a number one pop hit
 The Counterculture and Psychedelic Rock

• Later 1960s- emergence of what was called the

counterculture
– Mythical member of the counterculture- young rock music
fan who supported the civil rights movement and opposed
the Vietnam War
– Notion of a counterculture provides a convenient label for
the more innovative, rebellious, and radical aspects of
1960s musical, political, and social culture taken together-
oversimplification
– Characteristic jargon, fads, fashions, slang
– “be-ins”- emphasized informal musical performance,
spontaneity, and camaraderie
 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

• 1967- Summer of Love- young participants in the newly self-aware

counterculture followed the advice of a pop hit that told them to head to
San Francisco wearing flowers in their hair
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
– Album cover- wild collage of faces and figures surrounding the Beatles dressed
in full formal band regalia
– Use of Indian instruments (sitar and table), unusual meters and phrase
structures, deeply meditative, philosophical lyrics
– Album structured to invite listeners’ participation in an implied community
• Conceit of Sgt. Pepper as a “performance” even though it is not a recording of an actual
live performance
• Beatles abandoned live performing and assumed an identity solely as a recording act
– Definitively redirected attention from the single-song recording to the record
album as the focus of where important new pop music was being made
– Sgt. Pepper conceived as a totality rather than a collection
• None of the songs released as singles
 Their Satanic Majesties:
The Rolling Stones After Sgt. Pepper

• Stones released their “answer” to Sgt. Pepper

in their album Their Satanic Majesties Request
– Thick, guitar-centered sound texture
• 1968- Keith Richards began to use open tunings- chord
may be played without fretting any of the strings
– Technique commonly used in blues and folk music
• Morally ambiguous and malevolent image
– Association between the Stones and rock ‘n’ roll,
violence, Satanism- film Gimmie Shelter (1970)
 San Francisco Rock:
Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead

• “alternative” rock music scene- inspired by the

Beatles’ experimentalism
– Established in San Francisco
• Center for artistic communities and subcultures,
including the “beat” literary movement of the 1950s,
urban folk music scene, and highly visible and vocal gay
community
• “Psychedelic rock”- variety of styles and musical
influences- folk rock, blues, “hard rock,” Latin music,
Indian classical music
 San Francisco Rock:
Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead

• Jefferson Airplane- first nationally successful band to emerge out of the

San Francisco psychedelic scene
– Grace Slick (b. 1939)- one of the most important female musicians in the San
Francisco scene
– “Somebody to Love” (1967)
• Janis Joplin (1943-1970)- the most successful white blues singer of the
1960s
– 1968 album Cheap Thrills with song “Piece of My Heart”
• The Grateful Dead
– Career of the band spanned more than three decades
– Jerry Garcia (1942-1995)- guitarist, banjoist, and singer who founded the
Grateful Dead
– The Dead pioneered transition from urban folk music to folk rock to acid rock,
adopting electric instruments, living communally, and participating in public
LSD parties before the drug was outlawed
– “Deadheads”- devoted fans were a social phenomenon
 The Doors and “Light My Fire”

• The Doors- one of the most controversial rock bands of the

1960s, formed by keyboardist Ray Manzarek and singer Jim
Morrison, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby
Krieger
– Adopted their name from philosopher Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book,
The Doors of Perception
– Sound of the band- dominated by Manzarek’s ornate electric
organ and Morrison’s deep baritone voice and poetic, often
obscure lyrics
– Recorded “Light My Fire” (1967)
• Greatest impact on the way that rock music was experienced and
consumed in the late 1960s
• 6:56 long- deemed too long for AM radio airplay
– Shorter version released, and once it was an established hit, Top 40 radio
stations began to play the longer version
– Record companies began to promote rock albums on the radio, because they
were more profitable than singles
 “Cloud Nine”
The Motown Response to Psychedelia

• Supremes Summer of Love hit- “Reflections”-

opened with sounds of a strange, repeated
electronic beep, followed by an explosion
• Temptations- 1960s and 1970s response to
counterculture
– “Cloud Nine” (1968)- drug reference with gritty
depiction of slum life
 Guitar Heroes: Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton

• Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)- most original, inventive, and

influential guitarist of the rock era, and the most prominent
African American rock musician of the late 1960s
– Creative employment of feedback, distortion and sound
manipulating devices like the wah-wah pedal and the fuzz box,
fondness for aggressive dissonance and incredibly loud volume
– Explored the borderline between traditional conceptions of
music and noise- links him to the ways composers explored
electronic sounds and media in the world of art music at the
same time
• Eric Clapton (b. 1945)- the most influential of the young
British guitarists who emerged during the mid-1960s
– 1966-1968- played in a band called Cream
 Listening Guide: “Crossroads”

• Written by Robert Johnson; performed by Cream;

recorded 1968
• Cream’s version of Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road
Blues”
– Represents the deep respect that many rock guitarists
held for Robert Johnson
– Style more indebted to postwar urban blues and R&B
than to the Delta blues
– Highly exposed- only bass and drum set
accompaniment
 Roots Rock: Creedence Clearwater Revival

• Creedence Clearwater Revival- deliberately

old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll band
– Two guitarists, a bass player, and a drummer
– Performed original material and 1950s rock ‘n’ roll
tunes in a style untouched by the psychedelic era
– Singles band- spate of catchy, up-tempo 2-3
minute pop records
– Original songs- up-to-date political awareness
 Key Terms

Counterculture Sampled Soul music

Countrypolitan
 Key People

Aretha Franklin The Doors Jimi Hendrix

Bob Dylan Eric Clapton Patsy Cline
Burt Bacharach Grace Slick Paul Simon
Creedence James Brown Ray Charles
Clearwater Revival Janis Joplin Sam Cooke
Dionne Warwick Jerry Garcia