'How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?” Bob Dylan gave voice to these questions in 1962 in a song now iconic in music history – Blowin’ in the Wind. Although the 18-year-old musician wrote these words as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war rocked American society, today, in the midst of different wars, his words continue to ring true – the answer is as elusive or as obvious as it once was.
Now, with the rock legend set to turn 85 on May 24 (and still touring), Bengaluru’s musicians who lived through the heyday of rock recall how his impact was felt close to home. For MD of Tycoons and VRO Hospitality, Desmond Rice, coming of age in the 1970s, Dylan’s music was discovered one record at a time. “Before I started my career, I was a part time salesman at HMV Record Shop on Brigade Road and I used to play Dylan’s records there. Dylan was the music to listen to, especially among writers and people who understood western folk music.”
Radha Thomas was the charismatic lead singer of one of the most popular bands in the India of the ’70s – Human Bondage. On Dylan’s influence on Bengaluru’s rock scene, she compares to his influence on popular global acts at the time, saying, “Dylan’s tunes were being covered by so many rock and roll artistes… from Hendricks to the Byrds and even The Stones and Joe Cocker. His lyrics made Rock and Roll literally grow up and become intellectual.” Asked about her favourites, she immediately says, Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues. “I used to sing it too. Acoustic, playing guitar. But honestly, I love Dylan’s music with all my heart.”
Rice even recalls that back in the ’70s and ’80s, the city’s bands drew crowds of youngsters to venues around Brigade Road and MG Road. “Bands not only performed in Bowring Institute and Catholic Club but also at restaurants like The Three Aces, Hotel Bangalore International and Chin Lungs. For an entry fee of about `5, youngsters could enjoy themselves – jiving and rock and roll especially was famous.”
For some, Dylan’s music became a window into a different world telling stories so compelling that they shaped them in fundamental ways. As businessman Vasu Krishnamurthy explains, “India was different and in the ’80s, my world was very unexciting only revolving around studies and a bit of sports. Reading, and then music, especially Dylan, gave me windows to the world – his lyrics were intense (he did win the Nobel Prize for them after all).” Dylan inspired teenaged Krishnamurthy to pick up an instrument himself. He recalls trying to recreate Dylan’s guitar-mouth organ set up with a laugh, saying, “I don’t know what possessed me but I even managed to get hold of a guitar, found a Chinese harmonica lying with a street hawker and taped it to my guitar. I learnt how to play it by listening and using music booklet.” For the sixth year in a row, Krishnamurthy and his friends aged 20 to nearly 90 are set to perform a Bob Dylan tribute show at Bangalore International Centre on May 27 – showcasing a mix of classics and less known songs.
For younger musicians, like Thermal and a Quarter’s Bruce Lee Mani, entering Bengaluru’s rock scene in the ’90s, Dylan came to them more indirectly. “Every time we’d hang out with older musicians, there was this handing over of influence and inspiration. They would say ‘don’t look at him as the best singing voice in the world but listen to what he’s saying and how he’s playing it... look at the chances he took,” says Mani. While several other musicians of his time stuck to their strengths, Dylan’s penchant for experimentation never stopped and this is what makes him so special to Mani, who adds, “He was a folk singer and suddenly went electric even though everybody hated him for it. He has reinvented himself several times over. My favourite songs of his are from his album of jazz standards. He’s the last voice you’d associate with jazz but he does it in his own way.”
