Bob Dylan - North Country Blues

Bob Dylan - North Country Blues

Folk Music

​J.F. Händel (1685-1759)

​Pieter Breughel the Elder (16th century)

​Classical music

​Folk music

Songs passed on

No clear composers
Nobody has musical training
Music is not written down

Folk Music

Original compositions

Famous composer
Classically trained
Music is written down

Real Music

Music before 20th century

Nobody has musical training
Music is not written down

Original compositions

Famous composer

Real Music is 'Folk' Music

Beatles & Bob Dylan & Taylor Swift

American Folk Music

Multiple Choice

Every American (except the Native Americans) is historically...

(20 sec)

• a white person

• a European

• an immigrant

• a christian

Multiple Choice

Which country is generally associated with yodeling?

• United States of America

• Switzerland

• Belgium

• Poland

• Tibet

Bob Dylan

Dylan amazed the old folkies

By writing original songs that sounded like century old ballads, passed on from parent to child. Even at the age of 22, in 1963.

He takes inspiration from folk music from black and white, European and American, to create a NEW AMERICAN MUSIC.

Melting Pot of Music: cultural interaction create new art.

Multiple Choice

Here's Bob Dylan's passport.

He was born in ...

(30 sec)

(Told you: bring your laptop)

• New York

• Minnesota

• California

Hotspot

Bob Dylan was born in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Find the state of Minnesota on the map.

Use Google if you are unsure.

Multiple Choice

How did Dylan feel as a young boy?

• happy

• unhappy

• eager to leave Minnesota

Multiple Choice

How can you easily tell that iron ore is being mined here?

• shape of the roads

• red color

• types of trucks used

Multiple Choice

Which statement is correct?

1min

• Almost all ranges are still active

• Half of the ranges are still active

• Only a few ranges are still active.

North Country Blues

Come gather ’round friends
And I’ll tell you a tale
Of when the red iron ore pits ran plenty
But the cardboard filled windows
And old men on the benches
Tell you now that the whole town is empty

Match

Match the following:

red iron ore pit

cardboard filled windows

old men on the benches

gather round

• red iron ore pit

• cardboard filled windows

• old men on the benches

• gather round

In the north end of town
My own children are grown
But I was raised on the other
In the wee hours of youth
My mother took sick
And I was brought up by my brother

Labelling

"In the north end of town
My own children are grown
But I was raised on the other"

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

speaker raised here

children brought up here

Multiple Choice

"In the wee hours of youth, my mother took sick"

(wee=small)

• when I was very young

• very early in the morning

• round midnight

The iron ore poured
As the years passed the door
The drag lines an’ the shovels they was a-humming
’Til one day my brother
Failed to come home
The same as my father before him

Multiple Choice

What can you pour?

What is the meaning of the verb 'to pour'?

• a cup of coffee

• a piece of cake

• the air around you

Categorize

Options (6)

water

molten iron

ice

water vapor

iron ore

the air

Organize these options into the right categories

a liquid

a solid

a gas

Multiple Select

"The iron ore poured"

This is a metaphor: the iron ore is described as if it is...

• coffee

• a skyscraper

• molten metal

• a steel beam

Match

Match the following tools for digging:

(60sec)

spade

hoe

pick axe

shovel

excavator

• spade

• hoe

• pick axe

• shovel

• excavator

PAUZE (5min)

The iron ore poured
As the years passed the door
The drag lines an’ the shovels they was a-humming
’Til one day my brother
Failed to come home
The same as my father before him

Multiple Choice

"The draglines and shovels they was a-humming."

Is a specific type of metaphor:

(1min)

• objects are presented as human beings

  PERSONIFICATION

• human beings are presented as objects

  OBJECTIFICATION

• a part is used to represent the whole

  PARS PRO TOTO

Reorder

The speaker faces the death of a number of family members.

Who dies when?

• mother

• father

• brother

1

2

3

• 1
• 2
• 3

Open Ended

The speaker has lost mother, father and brother.

What do you think is going to happen next?

Well a long winter’s wait
From the window I watched
My friends they couldn’t have been kinder
And my schooling was cut
As I quit in the spring
To marry John Thomas, a miner

Multiple Choice

Only in this verse do we discover essential information about the speaker in this poem.

The speaker is...

• the president of the mining company

• a young girl

• a miner

Multiple Choice

Which line informs us of the age of the speaker?

• my schooling was cut

• to marry John Thomas

• long winter's wait

• my friends couldn't have been kinder

Oh the years passed again
And the givin’ was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
But with three babies born
The work was cut down
To a half a day’s shift with no reason

Draw

Circle the three LUNCH BUCKETS in this picture

of iron miners from Minnesota around 1930.

Poll

What do you use to bring your lunch to school?

• lunch bucket

• lunch box

• tin foil

• I buy lunch, I'm rich!

• I'm on a diet

Oh the years passed again
And the givin’ was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
But with three babies born
The work was cut down
To a half a day’s shift with no reason

Multiple Choice

"Oh the years passed again
And the givin’ was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
But with three babies born
The work was cut down
To a half a day’s shift with no reason"

Why is there less work available now?

• 3 babies are born

• no reason is given

• the weather is bad

• iron prices are very low

Then the shaft was soon shut
And more work was cut
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen
’Til a man come to speak
And he said in one week
That number eleven was closin’

Then the shaft was soon shut
And more work was cut
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen
’Til a man come to speak
And he said in one week
That number eleven was closin’

Multiple Choice

"The fire in the air, it felt frozen"

Which of the four elements is missing?

(30 sec)

• fire

• air

• water

• earth

They complained in the East They are paying too high They say that your ore ain’t worth digging That it’s much cheaper down In the South American towns Where the miners work almost for nothing

Multiple Choice

"They say ... much cheaper down in the South American towns,

where the miners work almost for nothing"

• its

• it's

Hotspot

Complaints in the East, from the big money companies in the biggest city in the US before WW2.

What is that BIG city?

Multiple Choice

What is the main reason for the closing of the mines?

• all the iron ore is gone

• the mining company doesn't make enough money

• there are too many accidents

• nobody wants to work in the mines anymore

They complained in the East They are paying too high They say that your ore ain’t worth digging That it’s much cheaper down In the South American towns Where the miners work almost for nothing

So the mining gates locked
And the red iron rotted
And the room smelled heavy from drinking
Where the sad, silent song
Made the hour twice as long
As I waited for the sun to go sinking

Multiple Select

"So the mining gates locked
And the red iron rotted
And the room smelled heavy from drinking
Where the sad, silent song
Made the hour twice as long
As I waited for the sun to go sinking"

These lines contain two instances of ALLITERATION:

consonants are repeated more than two times.

Which 2 consonants are they?

(2min)

• R

• S

• T

• M

• G

I lived by the window
As he talked to himself
This silence of tongues it was building
Then one morning’s wake
The bed it was bare
And I was left alone with three children

The summer is gone
The ground’s turning cold
The stores one by one they’re a-foldin’
My children will go
As soon as they grow
Well, there ain’t nothing here now to hold them

Reorder

The woman in this song loses all her family.

Put them in the correct order.

• mother dies

• father dies

• brother dies

• husband leaves suddenly

• children leave one by one

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Newport Folk Festival 1963