'The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind...' Happy birthday Bob Dylan!

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan! The American singer/songwriter, the voice of a generation is another year older, turning 81 on May 24, 2022. The musician, lyricist, poet, protester, and innovator has not only received numerous Grammys and an Oscar, but he was also the recipient of the Nobel prize for Literature. But what do you really know about the man who was born Robert Zimmerman?

Dylan is far more talented than most musicians. Of course, we know he is able to play the guitar, piano and sing. But, as if that wasn’t enough, he can also play the autoharp, bugle, bongo, cowbell, didgeridoo, drums, harmonica, harmonium, keyboard, mandolin, flute, saxophone, trumpet and whistle.

At the start of his career, Dylan signed to Columbia Records but was only able to sign on to the company by deceiving the producer. He was only 20 at the time and still considered a minor, so he needed his parents to cosign the contract. To avoid this the young singer convinced John Hammond that he was an orphan.

Dylan is a considered one of the greatest lyricist in music history. As well as penning his own songs he has written songs for other artists and seen his tracks covered, including by Adele and Johnny Cash. However, the first song he wrote as a teenager was dedicated to the French actress. He told Playboy in 1978: “The first song I wrote was a song to Brigitte Bardot. I don't recall too much of it. It had only one chord. Well, it is all in the heart.” Despite his songs' powerful and heartfelt lyrics, Dylan is an enigma and is famously reluctant to give interviews. He even kept his marriage to Carolyn Dennis and his daughter Desiree’s existence secret for 15 years in order to give Desiree a normal childhood.

Dylan became a part of American history, when aged 22, he was the opening act for Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in 1963 in front of more than 200,000 people in Washington. In a short introductory set, then protest singer Dylan played two songs; ‘When the Ship Comes in’ and ‘Only A Pawn In Their Game’.

Before Robert Zimmerman chose Bob Dylan as his stage name, he gained a notable reputation performing as Elston Gunn. However, by 21, he had changed his name to his most famous moniker. Dylan wrote in the Chronicles: “The Elston Gunn name thing was only temporary. What I was going to do as soon as I left home was just called myself Robert Allen. As far as I was concerned, that was who I was – that’s what my parents named me. It sounded like the name of a Scottish king, and I liked it. There was little of my identity that wasn’t in it.”

Dylan decided to take a vow of silence after Elvis Presley died in 1977. He later revealed that he "went over my whole life. I went over my whole childhood. I didn't talk to anyone for a week after Elvis died. If it wasn't for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn't be doing what I do today."

Although ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35’ both climbed to Number Two on the US Billboard charts in 1965 and 1966, respectively, it took until 2020 for Dylan to get a Number One single. Last April, the 17-minute-long 'Murder Most Foul' finally rewarded the singer-songwriter for his patience, when the epic about John F. Kennedy's assassination stole the top spot.

For a music legend like Dylan, it will come as no surprise that he has 11 Grammy Awards. However, most people are unaware that he also has an Oscar. The singer-songwriter received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song ‘Things Have Changed’, which he wrote for the 2001 film ‘Wonder Boys’.

In 2010, despite approaching 70, Dylan raced through a blizzard to perform at Barack Obama’s civil rights concert at the White House. The former President of the US told Rolling Stone: "He wouldn't come to the rehearsal. He didn't want to take a picture with me ... He came in and played. That's how you want Bob Dylan, right? You don't want him to be all cheesin' and grinnin' with you. You want him to be a little skeptical about the whole enterprise. So that was a real treat."