His Other Voice

This chapter traces the evolution of Bob Dylan’s harmonica playing, from his first album into the mid-1960s. From the beginning, his harmonica served as Dylan’s second “voice,” employed as a vehicle for melodic and rhythmic expression and frequently performing an essential structural role in delineating the forms of both his songs and of his performances of them. Important songs discussed in detail are “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Chimes of Freedom,” and “Desolation Row.” Dylan continued to feature the harmonica throughout most of his career, and a striking example of his later usage is provided through a discussion of the 1989 song “What Was It You Wanted?”