Dylan’s first 60 years as a Columbia Recording artist is celebrated
To commemorate Bob Dylan’s 60th anniversary as a recording artist of immeasurable musical and cultural impact, a new music video, “Subterranean Homesick Blues 2022,” — featuring a kinetic collage of visuals by a diverse array of artists inspired by the original video’s lyric cue cards — has been launched. Release of the video was announced by Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, all of whom are also revealing, an Augmented Reality filter that provides a POV interactive experience featuring Dylan’s iconic Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
Developed by the independent creative agency Intro, and Sony Music’s Josh Cheuse, the new “Subterranean Homesick Blues 2022” clip pays homage to the iconic opening sequence of D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, the game-changing cinéma véritédocumentary chronicling Dylan’s 1965 UK tour, with new lyric/cue card visuals created by contemporary artists, filmmakers, musicians and graphic designers. The handwritten cue cards in Pennebaker’s original clip — featuring selected words and phrases from the song seasoned with deliberate misspellings, puns and “hidden” jokes — have been visually reinterpreted and redesigned for the new short film by Julian House, Patti Smith, Zep, Cey Adams, Francis Cabrel, Wim Wenders, Anthony Burrill, Naoki Urasawa, Michael Joo, John Squire, Azazel Jacobs, Bruce Springsteen, Futura, Noel Fielding, Jim Jarmusch, Bobby Gillespie, Paris Redux, Wolfgang Niedecken, Jun Miura, Kate Gibb, Jonathan Barnbrook, Dave Shrigley, and Eric Haze.
As a companion to “Subterranean Homesick Blues 2022,” fans may experience an Augmented Reality lens filter, on Instagram and Snapchat, that allows users to try on a virtual pair of Dylan’s iconic Ray Ban sunglasses while a select 10-second loop of the new “Subterranean Homesick Blues 2022” video plays in the lenses.
The new “Subterranean Homesick Blues 2022” music film and AR lens filter may be found on the new Dylan60 microsite, which also includes both the original and the newly-designed lyric/cue cards with artist attribution for the new images and the classic original clip starring Bob Dylan with background cameo appearances by Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth.
The lead track and first single from 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan’s fifth studio album for Columbia, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was one of the artist’s first releases to showcase his new electric sound and became the first Dylan record to break into the US Top 40. A groundbreaking highly influential record, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” has been cited as a precursor to rap while the song’s video clip — featuring Dylan staring into the camera while throwing out lyric/cue cards — is widely acknowledged as one of the cornerstones of music video history.
The Bob Dylan Center is scheduled to open in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 10th. Designed by Olson Kundig, the Bob Dylan Center will house and exhibit more than 100,000 exclusive cultural treasures created and owned by Bob Dylan over seven decades. These include handwritten lyric manuscripts to some of the world’s most treasured songs, previously unreleased recordings, never-before-seen film performances, rare and unseen photographs, visual art and other priceless items spanning Dylan’s unparalleled career as one of the world’s most important cultural figures.