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3 Session Course
Jan. 11, Jan. 25, Feb. 8
January 11, 2023 – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is arguably the single-most important figure in American popular music in the second half of the 20th century, a point made emphatically when he received the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. Though scholars had approached his work as serious poetry for decades, few had considered the matter of how Dylan’s Jewish heritage and upbringing affected his creative output. With help from all the critical and analytical writing about Dylan’s Jewishness, we will explore selected works of this enigmatic singer/songwriter through the lens of midrash, of the prophetic tradition, Yiddish humor and the past 100 years of Jewish-American songwriting. This lecture and PowerPoint presentation will include music and video clips and Dylan’s own words to tell the story. Featured songs: When the Ship Comes In, Forever Young, Father of Night, I Pity the Poor Immigrant, One More Cup of Coffee, Neighborhood Bully, and Hava Nagila.
January 25, 2023 – Paul Simon
Like his contemporaries, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon (with Art Garfunkel) began as a strongly confessional singer/songwriter, but unlike them has consistently presented his lyrics using polished production values and exceptional musicians. And, as this program will illustrate, Simon continues to evolve lyrically and expand musically. The biblically prophetic mode of Sound of Silence (1966) resurfaces in his mid-70s masterpeice, American Tune. Early ethnic incursions into world music (El Condor Pasa) culminate eventually in the world music of the politically controversial Graceland album. And gospel music seems to be a major influence throughout his career (Loves Me Like a Rock, Gone at Last). Drawing less upon his Jewish heritage than either Dylan or Cohen, his more recent songs seem to focus on spiritual questions and discoveries from mostly Christian and Hindu/Buddhist sources (Questions for the Angels, The Afterlife and Quiet). The exception is Silent Eyes from 1975. This hour-long program is an overview of the rich and varied career of Paul Simon.
February 8, 2023 – Leonard Cohen
Even more than his contemporaries Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen’s Jewish heritage informs his music. Both of Cohen’s grandfathers were prominent figures in Jewish leadership and scholarship in Europe and America. Bible references abound in his work; Story of Isaac and his most celebrated song Hallelujah are just two of them. A strongly biblically prophetic strain runs through his album The Future with the title track and Democracy as the best examples. In Who By Fire (his variation on Unetaneh Tokef ), If It Be Your Will and the title track of his final album, You Want It Darker he addresses deity through language and form familiar to Jewish worshippers(“hineni, hineni”). Dance Me to the End of Love lends itself beautifully to klezmer band performance. These are just a few of the highlights of this hour of the exploration of the Jewish roots of Leonard Cohen’s art. (Near the end of the lecture I will facilitate a brief open-ended discussion of the meaning of Leonard’s most famous song, the much-celebrated Hallelujah.
About John Clark: Music Historian, Lecturer
Great American Music Experience – Great American Music Experience
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
John teaches classes on Bob Dylan, American Roots music, fifties and sixties music for community education programs in Newton, Lexington, Brookline and Cambridge and in adult ed programs at Brandeis and Tufts Universities. He also presents the history of Jewish-American songwriters at various local synagogues.