I was asked to listen to Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited | First Reaction!!

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[@rickpetersen1745]

The man was spitting out bars long before Tupac or any other rapper.

[@jnagarya519]

Dylan wasn't a "Rapper".

[@maggiethecatroberts4197]

And then there's Blondie

[@jnagarya519]

@@maggiethecatroberts4197 Another group that became famous, and then the lead singer went solo and wandered off into irrelevance.

[@Flowerchild778]

​@@jnagarya519SO true

[@seapumpkin]

Indeed he was!

[@KrisHughes]

I wondered how long it would take you to get tangled up with the poetic imagery. 4 mins in ... Don't worry, us old folks have been trying to understand it for the past 60 years. Some of the best poetry around.

[@jnagarya519]

Hard to tell if it's good poetry if it can't be understood. If the intent is to communicate, then why "fail" at doing so?

[@TheGoldenCapstone]

​@@jnagarya519 Dylan's lyrics are filled with literary, biblical, and cultural references. It's not misunderstood because it's just nonsensical wording.

[@LilMissPatriot]

I don't ever try to compare anyone to Bob Dylan. He's in a class all his own. Been listening to him since the early '60s.

[@nelsonx5326]

And people be comparing Bob Dylan to God. God is great and all but he's no Bob Dylan.

[@LilMissPatriot]

@@nelsonx5326 it's actually the other way around, but I get what you mean...

[@jnagarya519]

@@nelsonx5326 And it can't be proven there's a "God".

[@jnagarya519]

@@LilMissPatriot Dylan isn't a "god," and it can't be proven there's a "God".

[@LilMissPatriot]

@@jnagarya519 I never said that I thought that Bob Dylan was/is a god. How did you get that from my comment? He has been a great artist since the early 60s but I've never worshipped him. I worship the Lord God. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else ... Or perhaps you misunderstood what I said in my other comments.

[@fivehead6675]

One of my favorite records! Highway 61 runs up through Mississippi and is known as “the blues highway”

[@michaelharrison350]

Also, Hwy. 61 and Hwy. 49 are the “crossroads” referred to in the Robert Johnson song and legendary origin story (his alleged deal with the devil story)

[@Blue-qr7qe]

Highway 61 runs through the Mississippi Delta, often called the birthplace of the Blues. Many famous bluesmen of old made their way out of the Delta on Hwy. 61, heading north to places like Chicago, seeking success with their music. Highway 61 has been called The Blues Highway. 61 goes all the way up into Minnesota, where Dylan was born.

[@johndoe-gt6gp]

It’s also the highway where Robert Johnson supposedly met the devil at the crossroads and traded his soul for his skills on guitar.

[@cojaysea]

That’s right !@@johndoe-gt6gp

[@dtrapp8958]

there is a young man called kingfish he is a self taught delt blues musician . you need to check him out. he has his music on KZbin!

[@johndoe-gt6gp]

@@dtrapp8958 I’ll do that.

[@maggiethecatroberts4197]

I took that road one time. Really beautiful

[@maryrice3760]

He makes it seem SO EASY to build these lyrics! A 'literal' genius!

[@jimmorris7712]

Thanks. I knew you'd love it. The first verse gets to me. For some reason it puts me right back in Vietnam. For me Highway 61 is the Ho Chi Minh trail.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

🫡

[@flatbreadthom]

Keyboardist was Al Kooper, a studio legend in his own right and the founder of Blood, Sweat and Tears. Check out "Child is Father to the Man" on Columbia from 1967.

[@cojaysea]

I always recommend that album but they never listen to it for some reason .

[@cliffwheeler7357]

Not forgetting the incomparable Mike Bloomfield on guitar.

[@taragreenetarotastro]

yes I love you more than you'll ever know by Al Kooper in the 1st Blood Sweat and tears album is legend.

[@jamesmoffatt6430]

Paul Griffin, another keyboard genius, is also on this track. When Griffin moved from the organ to the piano during the recording of "Like A Rolling Stone," Kooper took Paul's place at the organ. Al Kooper had never played the organ before that moment! Though Tom Wilson, the producer, wanted to delete the organ--because he knew Kooper as a guitarist--Dylan over-ruled him because he loved Al's sound. And that was the beginning of a beautiful musical friendship.

[@alysmyers8772]

Another insight is that his father was named Abraham (English translation) so that makes the first verse even more personal.

[@joshuapress4249]

Polo, i can’t tell you how enjoyable it is to watch your progression as a fan of Dylan. He is special on so many levels. And unlike any other artist the deeper you dig the more true treasures you will uncover. You could do a channel on Dylan alone. Blood on The Tracks, Desire, Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 revisited. Its endless. A true genius. Keep digging. It keeps getting better.

[@alphajava761]

Time Out Of Mind (1997) is an excellent Dylan album, this is the album where his vocal becomes permanently and beautifully croaky, Oh Mercy album has some croaky tracks (1989) another excellent album. His catalog is solid and subgenre diverse. Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young are the best singer song writers there are in Rock. Country and Country Rock is my jam. The Dead, Byrds, Allmans, CSN/Y, Stones after Sticky Fingers. I love Merle Haggard.

[@sallymarkey3759]

Well said, my friends. And welcome, Polo.

[@JB-Deadskins]

Still waiting for you to get to Blonde on Blonde

[@Tolemac7]

I cannot wait until you react to It's All Over Now, Baby Blue and Tangled Up In Blue. Both are amazing stories.

[@THEDEEPDIVE]

One of my fav reactions on my channel is for It's all over now baby blue. such a classic song.

[@Tolemac7]

@@THEDEEPDIVE I just watched that. Glad to see how much it moved your friend. Have him listen to Diamonds & Rust and see if he changes his mind about Joan. ;-)

[@THEDEEPDIVE]

@@Tolemac7 I thought about showing him Joan and Bob doing Mama your on my mind from the Rolling Thunder tour. She is awesome on that.

[@djknox2]

Highway 61 Revisted is Dylan's best LP. A true great in Rock history.

[@zoetic12]

I'm going with Blonde on Blonde

[@kenkaplan3654]

@@zoetic12 A tie. Two masterpieces but different.

[@lynne8346]

Blood on the Tracks for me

[@lynne8346]

Or Oh Mercy

[@djknox2]

@@lynne8346 All decent LPs, but I'm still favouring Hwy 61 Revisited.

[@toni1724]

Polo! Bob Dylan was raised in Duluth MN at the western tip of Lake Superior. I was raised in MN & I also lived in Duluth, MN!!! Hwy 61 (which is now called "Old Hwy 61") in MN. Hwy 61 in MN follows some of the most majestic & beautiful landscape in the whole US. The mountainous region along what we call the "North Shore" of Lake Superior is breath taking & spectacular, which starts at US/Canadian border & follows the Big Lake south to Duluth. Duluth itself is very spectacular & sooo beautiful. I myself have written a couple poems about Lake Superior because it is HUGE - everything shrinks in comparison!!! No wonder Bob Dylan was poetic in such an awesome place. If you ever want to vacation someplace - get a room at Fitger's Hotel overlooking the Lake in July. There's a million things to do - or just stare out the window at the Lake. Guaranteed to HEAL YOUR SOUL🤗!

[@jennyjorgensen9935]

He actually grew up in Hibbing, MN., but it is close to Duluth.

[@Beatles4Sale.]

You found the sixties Dylan! “Good Luck” So many great songs on phenomenal albums.

[@jnagarya519]

Don't miss the fact that Dylan has a sense of humor.

[@ThoseBackPages]

GREAT F****** RECORD!

[@danielperezcabezas109]

Hi Polo.I read somewhere Bob Dylan had some inspiration for this song in the facts that happened I think in the late 1920es or so when a crowd of poor people trying to escape from poverty and starvation moved from their homes and gathered along highway 61 camping by the side of the road.I saw some footage of this in a documentary about the blues and it´s really touching.So Dylan seems to take Highway 61 as a place where a lot of desperate things can happen,from the killing of Isaac to the creation of a new world war.There are also some old blues from the thirties about highway 61.

[@davidkostelnik8481]

That’s a good take on highway 61. I can see that

[@kenkaplan3654]

Interesting. We know that the first line of Desolation Row was from a real event where he lived where they made postcards of 3 black men hanged for supposedly raping white woman.

[@Reddogg57-w5k]

Gotta hear Johnny winter version. Rocks

[@HamiltonRb]

Of course Dylan wrote these classics but I like Johnny Winter’s cover as well, same as Hendrix’s cover of All Along the Watchtower

[@joewehlage6832]

Hope you doing well too polo. Just saw bob dylan mural in Minneapolis last night for the first time.

[@bonya4585]

Paul Simon’s “Slip Sliding Away” is beautiful and deep dive.

[@jonhunter3841]

the message is constantly moving. that's the genious of it

[@peterginger]

As good of an interpretation as anyone else. Good job.

[@hipgnotist777]

Mike Bloomfield on guitar and his bandmate from Paul Butterfield Blues Band on drums. Great stuff.

[@rashomon351]

My interpretation would not to be highway 61 a place for atonement, but the road of bad decisions. At least to us non-americans, highways seems to be a famous symbol of american freedom and lifestyle, where in this song, many bad things happen and go wrong. I think this song is quite political and a criticism of the american society.

[@kenkaplan3654]

That's putting it mildly. It is as savage an assault on the depravity of American culture as you can find and that assault permeates the entire album.

[@EShelby2127]

When Dylan was young, Highway 61 extended north past Duluth into Canada. That would have been the escape to musical America, following the Mississippi to New Orleans. The other major highway of that day, in NE Minnesota was US Highway 2, which heads west towards the Pacific Northwest, West Coast. Lakes and trees, breeding into farms and then aired plains and mountains. White people... "Until 1991, the highway extended north on what is now Minnesota State Highway 61 (MN 61) through Duluth to the Canada-U.S. border near Grand Portage, then continued to Thunder Bay, Canada, as Ontario Highway 61. Its southern terminus in New Orleans is at an intersection with U.S. Route 90 (US 90). The route was an important south-north connection in the days before the interstate highway system. The highway is often called the Blues Highway because of its long history in blues music; part of the route lies on the Mississippi Blues Trail and is denoted by markers in Vicksburg and Tunica.[1][2] It is also the subject of numerous musical works, and the route inspired the album Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan.

[@drgwhatsthetruth3783]

I was born and raised on Hiway 61...my section runs through the bootheel of Missouri.

[@jvblhc]

A lot of Bob's songs at this time were just crazy, but with a purpose - telling us how crazy the world is!

[@theschaf69]

This brings me back home a little. All the small little old time towns I grew up on Highway 61 near Lake City, Minnesota.

[@Dr3amtime]

My favorite version of this song is probably Johnny Winter's, given at the Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert. He kicked the energy of that event up 2 or 3 notches when he took the stage.

[@melissagerber7231]

I have the DVD and CD set of that. It's so good! I even like the Ravi Shankar music,unlike some crabby reviewers.

[@admiralbillom7559]

good stuff! the album is one gem after another.

[@cojaysea]

Highway 61 revisited is an awesome album , every song is killer . Highway 61 runs from Minnesota where Dylan was born to the Deep South and the Delta . I always thought it had something to do with the blues and country music that came from that area . And other stuff too.

[@mikeoverton5700]

BANGER!!! Got a new subscriber now Sir. One of my fave Dylan songs ever. And used with perfection in the under-rated film Where The Buffalo Roam. (If you know it ya know it.) Thanks.

[@allisonspringer8889]

About the whistle: "The piercing whistle sound at the beginning of the record has an interesting back story. Al Kooper tells the tale in the booklet that accompanies the documentary, No Direction Home. Kooper says that he used to carry a police whistle around his neck, and would blow it at parties where illegal substances were being consumed. Of course, blowing this whistle would arouse a panic in the crowd, much to the amusement of Kooper and his friends. At the recording session, Kooper suggested that Dylan replace the original harmonica part with the whistle. The inferior non-police whistle version is available on No Direction Home."

[@alphajava761]

Should have done the harmonica. That whistle is the only thing I dislike about this album. Dylan is my favorite. Thanks for explaining how the whistle got there.

[@kenkaplan3654]

@@alphajava761I think the whistle is genius, It amps up the careening wild nature of the song.

[@BarbaraRosen-uc4dl]

Listen to Bob deal with it in the band. They were phenomenal.

[@michaelt.b264]

Highway 61 otherwise known as The Avenue of saints as it runs from Saint Paul to St Louis also is the highway of the famous or inFAMOUS Crossroads (hw 49)where Robert Johnson and others supposedly sold their souls

[@garylee3685]

Highway 61 goes thru Duluth MN, which is the biggest city near Hibbing where Dylan grew up.

[@user-fi7db8ig8t]

He lived on 6th st east

[@garylee3685]

@@user-fi7db8ig8t but lived in Hibbing longer than Duluth.

[@sharondavid-melly1498]

Thank you, thank you for this,, love Bob Dylan💕

[@jennyjorgensen9935]

I love this whole album. Dylan became who he is after seeing Elvis and saying it was like "busting out of jail" and he knew he wanted to emulate Elvis. BTW, you haven't reacted to Elvis in a while. ❤

[@nodice8312]

I compliment you on your presence and commentary...

[@maggiethecatroberts4197]

A favorite of mine as well. But there's a lot to wrap your mind around Dylan. I usually listen to it three or four times, but this one has been hundreds. He's a national treasure, has won an Emmy, and received a presidential award. If you like story songs you may want to check out Percys song, Every Grain of Sand, The lonesome death of Hattie Carole, and I Used to care but things have changed. Maybe Jokerman too. All Dylan

[@EShelby2127]

My favorite Dylan songs: Tangled Up in Blue, Joker Man, Girl from the North Country, Shelter from the Storm, Forever Young...

[@27Alpson]

Highway 61 runs North/South from upper Minnesota, where Dylan was born, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. He saw that you could buy and sell everything along the way on the Highway. He’s a poet, so he just created various odd scenarios to make the song interesting.

[@m.ericwatson968]

There is an alternate version on the "No Direction Home" soundtrack w/out that damn slide whistle, Bob must have agreed to Ken Kessey or someone playing that thing in the studio, he might have regretted it later haha, it is a great song though, my fave Dylan track for the lyrics alone, has more context regarding the era of the early '60's, Vietnam, civil rights movement etc.

[@THEDEEPDIVE]

oh hell yeah. This is one of the most distinct and amazing songs of all time. Bob is a legend.

[@GayleKazanis]

It's All good ❤ peace ✌️ Polo

[@lindaraereneau484]

Love this song

[@cdwplw]

I just came across your channel and am enjoying it. Off music topic, what is that perpetual motion thing behind you?

[@bluesrock1]

If you want to hear an interesting arrangement of this song, checkout Johnny Winter's cover. He puts a little blues spin on it, and shreds on slide guitar.

[@dantallman5345]

Great song. Some possibly relevant trivia Minnesotans of a certain age might know:: (1jHighway 61 goes through Red Wing, MN right past the reformatory (The Walls of Red Wing) which is now a (minimum security?) prison. It unclear Bob was there or not but many of us had friends or knew of kids that were sent there. It was no picnic. (Shout out to the 1987 Jon Hassler novel, Grand Opening, which seemed eerily reflective o the town where I attended high school. The first kid to befriend me was a reform school veteran by age 15.) (2) Highway 61 was notorious for the number of highway fatalities. I think US 61 was the deadliest highway in MN back then. Traffic fatality stats were read on the radio almost daily and the numbers were gruesome. As soon as I heard the song (early 1970’s I think), I vaguely figured he was connecting the Vietnam War and the binding of Isaac story using HW 61 as a killing floor, pointing out how the father’s generation continues to be willing to kill its sons in service to higher power. I forgot about the whistle….”whee ain’t we having fun now”. Brilliant. (Like we needed another opinion on this song. LOL).

[@barbaramay1866]

Imagine throwing 1000 telephones onto Highway 61. The annoying weee is a police siren.

[@RonD108]

Good commentary.

[@moptop7944]

I hope you listen to A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall & Masters of War... Those are 2 essential Dylan listens.

[@ericcarlson8576]

I Love the penny whistle! Lol

[@sandybourdeau9300]

The very first album I ever bought. I was 12 at the time. I grew up to live just off HWY 61❤

[@barbaramay1866]

Lol. Dylan’s a riot. You should review Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.

[@anoldmannameddave7455]

Cool reaction, Polo. Try ‘Senor’, from Street Legal album.👍

[@RazzleDazz72]

Banger

[@ardalla535]

In the middle 60s, Bob took a road trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and then to the west coast. Passing thru America -- whatever highway he took, it became 61 on the album -- this album is his spin on what was happening at the time: schlock, desolation, drugs. That's the way he saw it at the time and what he was surrounded by. "You walk into the room like a camel and then you frown You put your eyes in your pocket and your nose on the ground There oughta be a law against you comin around You should be made to wear earphones Cause something is happening and you don't know what it is Do you, Mr. Jones?" Desolation Row, according to Bob: "This is what my life has become. Come down here and see what it's like."

[@darkstar1074]

Three Dylan songs that I'd rank amongst his best that often get looked over : "Boots of Spanish Leather" The lyrically brilliant correspondence across the sea between two lovers realizing it is over. "Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts" Outstanding story of among other things, an old west bank heist & "Desolation Row" with the surreal images created by Dylan's lyrics.

[@gdmyers47]

Thoughtful reaction: nice to listen to someone who actually does research; police siren goes along with the highway theme and symbolism, I think.

[@poloreacts27]

Great point

[@stevenbreen7243]

The heart of the song is the highway.

[@vedantapdx]

Mike Bloomfield was brought in from Chicago, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Dylan said he never heard anyone who could play like him. Bloomfield was singular. He played with a lot of people and eventually overdosed on drugs out in San Francisco, but he certainly did lend an air to this album with his wonderful riffs. He died young. A great loss of a great talent. He said when playing with Dylan, he never really understood what was going on, but he sure liked Bob's music.

[@frankgarcia1]

Lucky for you that you werent trying to figure it what this song meant in the early 80s when you were doing a bunch of LSD. lol

[@rodneysisco6364]

Classic Dylan.Other goodies , Ramona , Motor Psycho Nightmare, Knockin' on Heaven's Door , Positively 4th Street , Like a Rolling Stone

[@michaelwelsh7362]

Ballad of a Thin Man has some interesting lyrics also, and is on the album Highway 61 revisited🎶🎶🎶

[@seanh4841]

Highway 61 is an Outlaw MC gang in New Zealand

[@11elyon]

When in the mood for beautiful harmonies & guitars with lovely poetic lyrics, try The Byrds’ covers of Dylan’s My Back Pages & Mr. Tambourine Man.

[@albertalberico467]

Dylan spitting bars as usual❤

[@JuniorFarquar]

Blood on the Tracks lp has lots of gems...

[@shemanic1]

I know what you mean about that sound. As much as I love this blues folk Dylan, album & Tune, it get's to me. His talking blues songs are a story in them selves.

[@inexplicablyleft2729]

I love the police siren, played by Dylan. Maybe it's like Bob's voice, something that you have to acquire a taste for?

[@BillViets]

Even today, Bob attends synagogue on random Friday nights

[@charliecochran3035]

You'll want to hear this whole album. Tombstone Blues, Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues, and Desolation Row are mandatory listens. Ballad Of a Thin Man too. God said to Abraham "Kile me a son". Abe said "Man you must be puttin me on". That wholw verse is one of the funniest things ever written.

[@Miss_Califfa]

Johnny Winter does a version of this song that has some fire.

[@breft3416]

The '67 documentary 'Don't Look Back' is interesting. Bob doesn't look back much as far as interpreting his art. He lets the beholder figure out what it means to them.

[@tomday5161]

Take me back to my 20's.......................

[@jimwilcox2964]

Another song that happens right along highway 61 in Minnesota , but don't think it's mentioned, Walls of Red Wing.

[@justagirlsd3000]

@polo have you reacted to Mike Ness, “Dope Fiend Blues” and his version of “Long Black Veil”?

[@Sumotori.]

Thank you Polo for this reaction to one of if not the greatest songwriter of all time. My request would be “ Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” which Roger Waters says : “it changed his life” when he listen to this song. And everything started for him from that moment. Amazing song, which I think is underrated. Thanks again❤

[@nerdnam]

I think one of the central things about Bob that people sometimes miss is that he's a comedian and very funny.

[@janicemccabe6990]

Did you know Dylan loved Elvis. He thought they both broke new ground. When Elvis died he didn’t speak for a week! Just read about this.

[@jennyjorgensen9935]

So true. I wish Polo would do more Elvis reactions. ❤

[@marilynmontgomery4579]

Dylan is known for his lyrics. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He's not got the greatest voice. Then he came out with Lay Lady Lay and his voice was great! Probably my favorite! He says he doesn't know how many songs he's written. It's estimated around 500. He's a one of a kind! In his own category!

[@misterx1969]

This is THE Bob Dylan album that did it for me, so descriptive esp desolation row

[@MrPstack]

Need to hear Johnny Winter do Highway 61

[@michele-33]

I don't know if you've listened to Subterranean Homesick Blues yet but there's a pretty cool video that goes with it. Some people call the song "Proto-rap".. Bob spittin bars..😊

[@rosiebinmd]

so incredible that he won a NoBel Prize for literature

[@RachaelHall-12.35]

oh my gawd! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. DYLAN IS XHURCH AND GOD TO ME (my mom raised me right) but I've never heard a reaction

[@mattwilson174]

You should do “Not Dark Yet” or “High Water”

[@ronreynolds1610]

''Desolation Row'' by Dylan ,if you have not heard yet , is a great ''overview'' of humanity , culture etc.... IMO

[@11BlackLamb]

I'm #413 Like makin 420 jealous, my Lucky13Day eh! Bob😝🤪

[@nedludd7622]

You should also test "Maggie's Farm" and "Mottor-psycho Nitemare" in the genre.

[@user-mp4yb4wh8i]

@polo have you reacted to janice ian's At Seventeen? Or perhaps Twilight Zone by Golden Earring?

[@jacksonizzy1]

Master of War. That should be the next one.

[@gingertunstall7739]

Significance of highway 61: Known for its modern association with blues history, Highway 61 also witnessed the movement of countless African American migrants escaping the harsh realities of Jim Crow and shifting agricultural patterns in the Mississippi Delta and Deep South.

[@11BlackLamb]

HARRY CHAPIN- Taxi, LEON RUSSELL- Tightrope, JIM CROCE'- Bad Bad LeRoy Brown, all writer/singer/players top of industry and AMROSIA- Holdin On To Yesterday w/ ALAN PARSONS of A.P.'s Project- another must listen, all major influencers in 70's rock

[@user-zk5rt3gb3e]

Dylan just wants to ef with everybody. This just one more iteration Also, Dylan was very into gospel. Please listen to his album and songs "Got to Serve Somebody" That song "Gotta Serve Somebody" changed my life. I'm going to go watch reactions to "Gotta Serve Somebody" It's a very simple way to go through life.

[@sherryherrick6567]

Dylan was caught between Beatniks & the Laurel Canyon Hippies! 😮

[@scottyoung3501]

Highway 61 runs from Minnesota where Dylan was born straight through the Delta where the blues were born and country and the song at least the way I interpret it is how important the music of the Delta and the south and Dylan's journey of finding that music.

[@warrenhughes911]

Great reaction.. Keep digging.. Bob is the G.O.A.T...not those sports guys!!!! SHAKESPEARE WITH A GUITAR