Scene from 'Don't Look Back'
When documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker followed [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Bob Dylan[/lastfm] around England during the young folk singer’s three week concert tour in 1965, it’s doubtful that the pair knew what an iconic film they would be producing.
Long before the standard “music video” was to come about, the amazing cue card-laden opening of Pennebaker’s amazing film Don’t Look Back ended up serving as a “promotional film clip” for his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” But the concept didn’t stop there. It’s since been used in other music videos of varying genres, been parodied, and even used as an online ad for Google with Bob Dylan serving as a demonstration of their search engine.
Since today is Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, let’s pay tribute by revisiting the original clip and see how the concept morphed along throughout the years.
Bob Dylan- Subterranean Homesick Blues
The original clip was the perfect opening for Pennebaker’s doc on the enigmatic young musician, replete with beat poet Alan Ginsberg standing nonchalantly in the left hand side of the frame.
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