The Times They Are A-Changin'

Recorded in New York in the second half of 1963, this was Bob Dylan's third album and the one that cemented his reputation as the voice of the protest-song movement. Coming on the heels of the commercial breakthrough of his previous record, it doubled down on topical songwriting, addressing civil rights, poverty, and the Cold War arms race in direct, narrative terms rather than through allegory. The title track became an anthem for a generation grappling with social and political upheaval, while songs built around real events - a Baltimore barroom killing, a farmer driven to murder-suicide by poverty - showed Dylan working as a kind of folk journalist. The closing song found him already stepping back from the protest-singer label that the record had done so much to earn him, a tension that would define the rest of his 1960s work. Critically the album is regarded as a high point of the American folk revival and one of the most influential protest records ever made, its songs covered for decades afterward by artists across folk, rock, and country. It remains a cornerstone of Dylan's early catalogue and a touchstone for topical songwriting generally.