ABSTRACT
Bob Dylan was creating completely new and unprecedented techniques of both song writing and recording, which were to continue on his next studio album, Blonde on Blonde. Dylan himself, so often an implacable critic of his own work, also appeared impressed by the end-result of Highway 61 Revisited. Highway 61 has a very raw edge to it, because half the people involved were studio musicians, and half weren’t, so it’s got that rough thing which Dylan loves.’ In terms of song writing, what was groundbreaking, too, about Highway 61 Revisited was the innovative nature of its lyrical content. The individually distinctive songs on Blonde on Blonde were more directly personal than those on Highway 61 Revisited. Lyrically, they were, as Bob Spitz observed, ‘full of wit, passion, rich and poetic language, vitriol, double entendre, bravado, high and low camp, chutzpah, and charm’.
