"Blowin' In The Wind" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
"The song came at a good time in my life, during my years as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. But also came at a relatively optimistic time in my lifetime for the country. Thus, Dylan performed the song at the civil rights rally in 1963 at which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous 'I Have A Dream' speech. I say an optimistic time because, of course, the song itself and the Washington march preceded the assassination of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, all of which led to the riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention in Chicago, Woodstock and a real cultural revolution by primarily young people, but not solely young people, in America. ... The very title 'Blowin' In The Wind,' for me, came to symbolize the struggles that this country went through during the Vietnam war and later through Nixon's Watergate -- we were indeed blowing in the wind."\n- University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis
"Fresh out of college, I was making life-altering decisions on the road I would take -- politics, law, marriage/family. Hearing a song such as this and others of that period brings back those emotion-fraught moments, but from a perspective 40 years later having actually lived through those decisions and history-making moments. On a lighter note -- when I hear 'The Mighty Quinn,' my thoughts always turn to Quinn Buckner and IU basketball in the '70s. A great time."\n- Steve Ferguson, IU trustee
"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" from Bringing It All Back Home (1965)\n \n"Before I owned a single tune of his, a good friend of mine played me that song and made sure I absorbed every word. Shortly after, I went to Mexico with only that song and 'Subterranean Homesick (Blues)' on my iPod, and that is all I listened to. Not even a week had gone by (once) I had returned to the states (before) my collection had grown to four or five albums. Almost two years, 25 albums and a couple of books later, Bob Dylan continues to change my outlook on not only music, but literature, society, and ... life, to say the least. He is the epitome of cool and the only idol that hasn't and will never fail me.\n- Kraegan Graves, senior
"Lay Lady Lay" from Nashville Skyline (1969)
"It's not about great chivalry or chocolates and candy. It's stripped of all pretenses. It's just an unapologetic plea for a woman's love from a simple, unextraordinary man. It's about how love doesn't need to be anything else than that. And it's beautiful."\n- Katie Wilkinson, graduate student
"Just Like A Woman" from Blonde On Blonde (1966)
"It is a reminder that people are fragile no matter what kind of front we put up. It resonates with me because it is a reminder to not grow up too fast and not try to be more mature than I am and how painful it can be to others when I try to be someone I am not."\n- Meredith Levine, sophomore
"The Times They Are A-Changin'" from The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
"(It) has a timeless quality and resonance, especially today. I think everyone thought it was a song aimed directly at the political and social upheaval of the turbulent '60s, but it could just as well be for today's society, with the Iraq war, climate change, the change in our technological society and the change in career direction for students."\n- Mark Long, president and chief executive officer, IU Research and Technology Corporation
"It reflected my own changes in attitude and changes in latitude when I left medical residency to become a surgeon in the Army during the Vietnam war. Back then, the words seemed prophetic. Later, the song, as I recall, was used in a bank commercial, an amusing shift that seemed an accurate signal that the lyrics no longer generated intense political feelings."\n- William Cast, IU trustee
"It's just got that great folk feeling to it. It's got a real meaning, not necessarily really positive or really negative, just real. I feel like I should be sitting around a campfire, drinking a beer and singing the words in my best off-key Dylan voice."\n- Maggie Staab, senior
"All The Tired Horses" from Self Portrait (1970)
"It was the first song that was ever sung to me. When I was an infant, my mom never sang the traditional nursery rhymes or lullabies. Instead, she chose to sing Dylan. I'm very excited for the show because we haven't had a concert in Assembly Hall for years and also because I'll be able to give my mom the opportunity to see Dylan live."\n- Sarah McDonough, senior and Union Board president
"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" from Armed Forces (1979)
"(It) is one of those songs that manages to encompass the feelings that everyone seems to have every once in a while. I can listen to it in a hundred different moods and take something different from it every time."\n- Jeff Coover, junior and WIUX DJ
"He recorded (it) during a time of great political and social cynicism. There is great energy and optimism to that song, along with (again) the invitation to revisit a fundamental question. Everyone should ask themselves Costello's question, and not only while he's singing it."\n- Richard Miller, professor of religious studies
"Tramp The Dirt Down" from Spike (1989)
"(Costello) didn't write (it). But he sings it beautifully, and it's a really beautiful, staggering tune. Simply put, its political message, which is a condemnation of Britain, is utterly applicable to our own present political dilemma. In addition to the great twists of syntax to make the rhymes work (I teach poetry), the image, the depiction of the political leader is so accurate, so precise (if there's any one of us who can't picture George Bush doing the same thing, we've been sleeping), that there's little else that needs to be said."\n- Ross Gay, professor of creative writing
"Every Day I Write The Book" from Punch The Clock (1983)
"It provided part of the soundtrack for my own undergraduate days in Atlanta in the mid-'80s; furthermore, as a good English major who ended up doing graduate work and producing a dissertation, you have to love a song that emphasizes frequent writing while at the same time giving you an easy beat for dancing."\n- Leslie Robinson, director of Academic Support Centers
"No Action" from This Year's Model (1978)
"I have such vivid memories of my best friend greeting me in Madison, Wisc., with a brand new copy of This Year's Model, saying 'You're not going to believe this ... ' He put on the first song 'No Action,' and he was right. I couldn't believe my ears. My friend was a Dylan fanatic, and I was a Beatles obsessive, and somehow Costello managed to combine both: brilliant lyrics and colorful, inventive music, played with the power of a punk band. Fantastic."\n- Glenn Gass, professor of music in general studies
Online Only: \n"Desolation Row" from Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
"The rain was coming down in a fierce torrent; my windshield struggled to keep up. It was one of those dark, rainy days, right on the edge of autumn. The air feels heavy, and there is a feeling of great melancholy. It was then that I first heard 'Desolation Row.' I was fervently wishing that the song would be good, as it was 11 minutes along, and I felt I owed it to myself and to Bob Dylan to listen to his entire album. When the song reached the verse about Ophelia, I burst into tears. I think it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but something about that day and that song clicked. The only other song to affect me emotionally to such an extent is 'In My Life' by The Beatles. There is a good reason Rolling Stone ranked Dylan second only to The Beatles."\n- Andrew Crowley, freshman and WIUX DJ
"Veronica" from Spike (1989)
"My favorite Elvis Costello tune is 'Veronica' because the rhyme scheme and timbres of the words, the rhythms and melody all give a sensation that beautifully express (and heighten) the meaning of the text -- in other words, I think it is a beautifully crafted piece of music. Like all great songs, it helps us understand what's going on inside other people to help us empathize instead of pity or forget."\n- Katherine Strand, professsor of music education
