14 LIFE BOB DYLAN
end of that year we were not satisfied with his progress he’d
go back to school.” It was precisely the kind of mutually
respectful bargain a million and more young people have
made with their parents through the ages, and if it doesn’t
fit so conveniently with the boho/rebel/beatnik story of
the soon-to-be-invented Bob Dylan, so be it. At least Mr.
Zimmerman admitted that his son probably did hitchhike
his way east, rather than take a bus or train: “He got himself
a ride to New York.”
What had built Bob’s surety that he had to go, and that
he might find success where he was heading? Well, atuniversity, where it had been thought he would concen-
trate on the liberal arts and science, young Zimmerman
had instead found himself spending his time in a pizza
joint, where he sang and played guitar and harmonica for
his fellow students. In this period, he was drifting from
Danny and the Juniors to the blues and the Weavers, as he
later explained: “The thing about rock ’n’ roll is that for me
anyway it wasn’t enough... [T]he songs weren’t serious
or didn’t reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I
got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing.
The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, moreSHARON NESS, LEROY HOIKK AL A & BOB HOCKING
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