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Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE , was born on April,16, 1889, and died on Christmas day, 1977. Bob Dylan has been influenced by the famous movie star and director throughout his career. Dylan was often described as "Chaplinesque" early on in his career for his stage mannerisms. The title of his 2006 album, Modern Times, is thought to have been influenced by Chaplin's classic 1936 film of the same name.
Chaplin got his start in the era of the silent film. He also dabbled in music - his most famous song was "Smile", from Modern Times. (Side Note: Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden's father was also a half -brother to Charlie Chaplin.)
While researching this article, I confirmed some definite connections between Dylan and Chaplin, as well as some humorous coincidences:
From the liner notes of his debut album:
Devotees have found in him the image of a singing rebel, a musical Chaplin tramp . . . Another strong influence on Bob Dylan was not a musician primarily, although he has written music, but a comedian -- Charlie Chaplin. After seeing many Chaplin films, Dylan found himself beginning to pick up some of the gestures of the classic tramp of silent films. Now as he appears on the stage in a humorous number, you can see Dylan nervously tapping his hat, adjusting it, using it as a prop, almost leaning on it, as the Chaplin tramp did before him.
Jon Landau's 1975 review of Blood On The Tracks for Rolling Stone magazine featured many comparisons between Dylan and Chaplin. Plus this from another review in 1981:
Like Charlie Chaplin's twirling cane and funny swagger, Dylan's beautifully idiosyncratic harmonica playing has metamorphosed into an archetype that pierces the heart and moistens the eye.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has this article from February of this year: Bob Dylan: the Charlie Chaplin of rock.
June 16, 1943: Charlie Chaplin married Oona O'Neill. Her father, playwright Eugene O'Neil, wrote the play Beyond The Horizon, which Dylan used as a song title for a track on his album, Modern Times. (Dylan recorded "Like A Rolling Stone" on June 16, 1965.)
Phil Gounis on Dylan and Chaplin:
I was thinking about it, and in a lot of ways I was thinking of how Bob Dylan is like Charlie Chaplin. He created this persona, just like Chaplin created the “Little Tramp”, and what gets weird and screws most people up, is when they try to nail down this Robert Zimmerman who lives in Malibu and is a multi-millionaire and there is this contradiction. Like wait, I thought you were this scruffy guy that knocked around like in "Tangled Up In Blue” – that’s a persona he created, just like the Little Tramp is a persona in “City Lights” or other Chaplin films.
Charlie Chaplin Studios, in Hollywood, California, became A&M Studios in 1966, where Bob Dylan participated in the 1985 recording of "We Are The World". Many of Chaplin's classic films were shot at the studios, including The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Great Dictator (1940), Limelight (1952), and Modern Times.
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Comments
Interesting
Paul Williams has made numerous comparisons between Chaplin and Dylan. From Performing Artist Vol. 3:
"...the pace of the music and imagery in "Series of Dreams" evokes for me Charlie Chaplin's great 1936 film Modern Times. And, neatly enough, one of the subtexts of the songs seems to its author's relationship with modern times via his work and how he did and didn't arrive at his essential oeuvre.
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