Bob Dylan’s Oxford Town Impacts All Around

“Two men died beneath the Mississippi moon.” Don’t fret the death mentioned because this is an influential quote from Bob Dylan’s song Oxford Town. This is a song about a Mississippi student trying to enroll into college, which led to raised emotions of his rights to being admitted. Bob Dylan, the artist who wrote and sang the song, influenced many people of all ages with his music. His music was commonly written on highly debated and touchy topics such as segregation and the Vietnam War. Overall, Bob Dylan was at the head of the impacts of music at the time, which could ultimately lead to resolutions of major issues. Bob Dylan’s great skills with music influenced many people, which resulted in a song that is not commonly known, but is immensely effective called Oxford Town.

Although Dylan was immensely talented, he had to start somewhere. Dylan was born Robert Allan Zimmerman and in the city of Duluth, Minnesota. His family moved around to adjust for jobs which caused Dylan to not like where he lived therefore he ran away more various times before finally leaving home at 18. He lived off of the roads with minimal education, but focusing on his love and passion for music (The H.W. Wilson Company). At this time and so on in his life, Dylan’s songs would hit the topics that were stressed at the time. His songs were labeled as social protest songs with the genre of Folk and later forming to Folk-Rock (ABCCLIO Interactive). Bob Dylan’s major success came once he was found and represented by a “folk-music critic of New York Times, Robert Shelton” (The H.W. Wilson Company). Dylan began his fame in the world playing his guitar, harmonica, or piano and even created the stage name Bob Dylan during his years shortly after high school (ABCCL...

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...sage, for people to begin to take notice and reason out actions of civil equality between not only blacks and whites but all people. Dylan stands by his belief of the relevance that his songs, even Oxford Town, are to the society during the time written and future years for as long as it is heard. To conclude Dylan’s ballad, his influences are neither gone, nor disappearing, but he continues to ask in the lyric, “Why doesn't somebody investigate soon” (Oxford Town).

Works Cited

ABCCLIO Interactive. Bob Dylan. 1 January 2001. 22 April 2014 .

Doyle, Jack. Only A Pawn in Their Game. 13 October 2008. 25 April 2014 .

Oxford Town by Bob Dylan. n.d. 25 April 2014 .

The H.W. Wilson Company. "Dylan, Bob." 1972. Ebsco Host. 21 April 2014 .