Recommendations of the Editorial team
Only two songs after the start of his set at the Outlaw Music Festival on Wednesday evening in the first bank amphitheater in Franklin, Tennessee, Bob Dylan used his protest song from 1964, “The Times They Are A-Changin”, which he had not played live since 2010. It was a slow, moving performance in which Dylan played piano and harmonica. Accompanied only by minimal instrumentation of his band. His voice was remarkably clear and present – just like all summer.
Dylan plays iconic song live for the first time
(We are still waiting for a video of the full song on YouTube. For the time being, a short clip of X is embedded at the top. There is another one here, a slightly longer version is available on bluesky, but you need an account there.)
Dylan had last played “The Times They Are A-Changin ‘” on February 9, 2010 in the East Room of the White House, at an event in honor of the civil rights movement. Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole and Jennifer Hudson were on the program. Until the performance, nobody knew which song Dylan would play in front of the audience – to which President Obama also belonged.
“He also considered playing ‘Chimes of Freedom’ or ‘Blowin’ in the Wind ‘,” said Bob Santelli, one of the organizers of the show, the Rolling Stone. “Believe me if Bob had chosen another song – nobody in the hall would have complained.”
Obama remembers special encounter
That evening Dylan was only accompanied by bassist Tony Garnier and pianist Patrick Warren. After the last tone of the song, Dylan went into the front row and shook his hand – it was her first meeting. “He was exactly the way you imagined it,” said Obama later in the Rolling Stone. “He didn’t want to get to the rehearsal. Usually all artists rehearse before the appearance. He didn’t. He didn’t want a photo with me either – usually all artists want to be a picture with Michelle and me before the show. But he just didn’t come.”
Obama continued: “He just came in and played ‘The Times They Are A-Man’ ‘. A wonderful version. The guy is so deep in this music that he simply shakes a new version out of his sleeve and the song sounds completely different. Then it is done, leaving the stage at the front-comes up, shaking my hand, giving me a little grin- It was away.
Why now?
It is unclear why exactly he brought the song back on Wednesday evening after all the years. Perhaps Timothée Chalamets interpretation in a complete unknown brought him to the thought. (Let’s ignore the film that he shows him how he sings the song at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 – which never happened.) Maybe he is also a big fan of Zohran Mamdani, and that was his subtle support of the democratic candidate in the race for the office of Manhattan Borough President. (Dylan’s current political views are a mystery – and the likelihood that the song was a comment on the election in New York City is probably almost zero.)
However, the most likely is: he just wanted to add a song to recognize the broad audience at an event like this. At the tour stop in Phoenix on May 13th, he played “Mr. Tambourine Man”-for the first time since 2010. Anyone who has tickets for another concert by the Outlaw Music Festival should not expect to hear “The Times They Are A-Man”. “Mr. Tambourine Man” was a unique event-and “The Times They Are A-Changin ‘” could also disappear from the setlist after Wednesday.