At the 1965 Newport festival, Pete Seeger recalls: “The band was so loud, you couldn’t understand one word. I kept shouting, ‘Get that distortion out!’ If I had an ax I’d chop the mike cable right now!” For Seeger, it was always about the words and the message. For Dylan, it was about the words, and then it became about the words and the music, and it was never particularly about the message.
