George Jackson (song)

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This article is about the Bob Dylan song. For other uses of the name "George Jackson", see George Jackson.
Sleeve cover for the West German release of the single "George Jackson." The photo used is from The Concert for Bangladesh
Sleeve cover for the West German release of the single "George Jackson." The photo used is from The Concert for Bangladesh

George Jackson is a song by Bob Dylan, written in 1971, in tribute to the Black Panther leader, George Jackson, who had been recently shot and killed by guards at San Quentin Prison on August 21, 1971, an event that indirectly provoked the Attica Prison riot. Dylan's lyrics clearly identify the George Jackson of his song with the Black Panther leader by citing biographical details such as his being "sent [...] off to prison / For a seventy-dollar robbery" where "They [...] shot him through the head" [1].

Dylan recorded the song on November 4, 1971[2], and it was quickly released as a 45 rpm single, Columbia 4-45516, on November 12, 1971 [3]. The single consisted of a "Big Band version" of the song on Side A and an "Acoustic version" on Side B [4].

The single reached number 33 on the Billboard charts. [5] The "Big Band version" was later included on the 1978 album Masterpieces, released in Japan and Australia. Both versions are currently available on iTunes as part of Bob Dylan: The Collection [6].

Considered within the chronology of Dylan's work, the song "George Jackson" is of special significance, because, along with the single "Watching the River Flow," it represents the only wholly new work to appear from Dylan in the years 1971-72, the period between the albums New Morning (1970) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). From the time of the appearance of his first album in 1962 until the 1990s, this was the longest period that Dylan would go without releasing an album of new material (although he made several new recordings of older songs to be released for the first time in a Dylan performance on 1971's Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II). Along with the speed with which the song was written, recorded and released following the death of Jackson, its appearance in an otherwise creatively fallow period (an outlook suggested by the lyrics of "Watching the River Flow"[7]) suggests that Dylan was passionately motivated by this subject.

[edit] Personnel

Big Band Version:

Acoustic Version:

  • Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal)[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ |George Jackson lyrics at BobDylan.com
  2. ^ |"Still On the Road" (the Bob Dylan recording sessions)
  3. ^ |"Still On the Road (the Bob Dylan Recording Sessions)" 1971
  4. ^ |"Searching for a Gem (rarities): Audio: 1971 - George Jackson"
  5. ^ The Billboard Hot 100
  6. ^ iTunes page
  7. ^ |"Watching the River Flow" lyrics at BobDylan.com
  8. ^ "Still On the Road (the Bob Dylan Recording Sessions)" 1971