From “The Death of Emmett Till” to “Boots of Spanish Leather,” Suze Rotolo had immense inspiration in Bob Dylan's songwriting as well than in his journey to folk music fame. Dylan also had a reciprocal influence on Rotolo, who would eventually separate from Dylan at the age of 19 due to "the pressure, the gossip, the truth and the lies that life with Bob entailed", as stated in his memoirs (cited in Greene 2011). ). Ultimately, Rotolo not only influenced Dylan by writing his masterful protest songs and love songs that captivated entire movements and people of the 1960s, but that same influence would be a big reason behind the fame and Dylan's success throughout his life and generations. to come.Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As a young adult traveling to Greenwich Village to join the folk music scene, Bob Dylan didn't have much experience with protest songs. He mainly focused on channeling his inner Woody Guthrie and covering and performing classic folk songs from the past and present. As much as Woody Guthrie had a big influence on the young singer-songwriter, Rotolo may have had a similar influence. Of course, this was barely apparent, even when they first met at Riverside Church and spontaneously at local clubs and gathering places around Greenwich Village (Rotolo 94). After meeting Suze, Dylan wasn't too interested in politics. But as Rotolo strove to rise to the political vanguard, there was bound to be some overlap of his interests with his own. In Dylan's first written protest song, "The Death of Emmett Till", which he performed in front of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) benefit. concert booked by Rotolo, dealt with the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till of Chicago, Mississippi, by white racists in 1956. Till's murderers eventually went free, sparking outrage in the activist community ( Marquesee 52). This was just the beginning of a series of political protest songs, all originally inspired by young Rotolo's interest. From there, Dylan would go on to write over 200 songs over the next two years. As Marqusee describes in Wicked Messenger, these compositions would consist of subjects such as poverty, race, war, class, violence, the excluded, prisoners, social change, friendship and love ( 53). When Dylan wrote another famous racial protest song "Oxford Town" that appeared on Bob Dylan's The Free Wheelin', he addressed events at the University of Mississippi where, after future African-American student James Meredith attempted to register, where many white citizens and even Governor Ross Barnett refused Meredith entry. In fact, the Kennedy administration and federal guards intervened by escorting James Meredith to his dormitory. Local and regional police along with white college students stormed federal guards in a crowd scene brandishing lead pipes and Molotov cocktails, where, as Dylan explains in the lyrics, "Two men died under the Mississippi moon. Another 28 people were shot, 160 injured, and Dylan only performed the song live once in this “Oxford town” in 1991 (Marqusee 66). As previously noted, racial violence was not the only subject of protest Dylan wrote aboutSince. his relationship with Suze Rotolo develops. After “Oxford Town,” Dylan wrote poetically about “John Brown,” a young soldier sent to fight for his country. In the song, "John Brown"'s mother was proud of her son who was going to fight as a soldier and "holding a gun" and that he would win medals. Dylan writes and “John Brown” explains to his mother: “Oh, and I was thinking when I was there, God, what am I doing here? I try to kill someone or die trying, but that scared me. The most important thing for me was when my enemy came closer and I saw that his face looked like mine. To his mother, he gave her the medals that she had promised to win (Marqusee 67). The song's popularity was not only celebrated in the activist culture of the 1960s and 1970s, but also more recently when Dylan appeared on MTV Unplugged in November 1994 (Williamson 218). The idea that a song like “John Brown” transcends decades and entire generations speaks volumes about how meaningful Dylan's songs are, but also how willing and dedicated his listeners are. A song like “John Brown” is always about mothers, soldiers and people today – as many Dylan songs can be. The longevity and meaning of Dylan's Rotolo-influenced love songs early in his career are just as strong as the songs about political protest and activism. Not only did Rotolo influence Dylan's songwriting and lyrics, but she also appeared on the cover of arguably his most famous album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. In 1962, when Rotolo left for Perugia, Italy, a heartbroken Dylan wrote three of his most famous love songs; “Tomorrow's a Long Time,” “Spanish Leather Boots,” and “Don't Think Twice, It's All Okay” (NPRMusic). As Marqusee describes in Wicked Messenger, "Don't Think Twice," along with other Dylan love songs, was decidedly modern and broke new ground in the way relationships between men and women were represented in popular music ( 184). Dylan is also brutally honest at times, such as in "Don't Think Twice" when he writes: "I loved a woman, a child, I was told / I give her my heart, but she wanted my soul / Don't think twice, it's okay. This honesty and sincerity is found in “Ballad in Plain D,” based on a fight Suze Rotolo and her sister had with Dylan, when he writes: “For her parasitic sister I had no respect / Related by his boredom. , his pride to protect. Dylan, of course, later in his career, would disagree with the release of "Ballad in Plain D," the song that Williamson criticized as being "mourning, vicious and self-pitying, but as irresistible as hell." calm a highway accident” (179). However, this song would permanently end Suze and her relationship, so her bitterness and self-pity may be entirely justifiable (Williamson 179). The connection between these two different types of love and protest songs can be seen in their lyrics. the styles as well, not just the fact that they were all directly or indirectly influenced by Suze Rotolo. As Marqusee so aptly points out in Wicked Messenger, all of these songs were written around the same time, and all of these songs are "both moody and tenderly utopian" (54). So although Dylan educated and developed his own artistic style throughout his career, there appears to be a direct source of the interests that inspired him to write the songs that would take him to the pinnacle of folk music culture . This direct source of his first interests which became.