Nov. 1, 1964 - Bob Dylan gave a program of his songs at New York’s Philharmonic Hall tonight. This was the third major performance in New York in the last year and one-half by the singer-songwriter. An audience that overflowed onto stage seats greeted him reverently.
Reversing the procedure of other concerts, Dylan’s unannounced guest was Joan Baez, who sang several songs with him.
The program included several of the songs on which the 23-year-old Dylan’s reputation has been built: “Times They Are A-Changin,’” “Talking John Birch Society Blues,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” In well-rehearsed duets with Miss Baez, he sang his “With God on Our Side” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”
Dylan’s new material made good impressions. “If You Got to Go, Go,” was an infectious song of seduction. “Mr. Tambourine Man” was an introspective piece with surrealistic lyrics. “Gates of Eden,” satirically introduced as “a sacrilegious lullaby in D minor,” actually explored bold new poetic frontiers.
Perhaps the most important of his new songs was “It’s All Right, Ma.” Played out against dramatic guitar figures, the song is a corrosive inquiry into the nature of personal freedom, the dread of tyrannical authority, the horrors of war, and the demonic visions of a sensitive modern musical poet.
It all added up to a spellbinding evening by the brilliant singing poet laureate of young America.
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