The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
Encyclopedia
"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a topical song
written by the American
musician Bob Dylan
. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album The Times They Are a-Changin'
and gives a generally factual account of the killing of 51-year-old barmaid Hattie Carroll by the wealthy young tobacco farmer from Charles County, Maryland
, William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (whom the song calls "William Zanzinger"), and his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail.
The lyrics are a commentary on the racism of the 1960s. In 1963 when Hattie Carroll was killed, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses, and the county fair. The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.
Spinsters' Ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Using a toy cane, Zantzinger drunkenly assaulted at least three of the Emerson Hotel workers: a bellboy, a waitress, and — at about 1:30 in the morning of the 9th — Carroll, a barmaid. In addition to her work at the hotel, Hattie Carroll, at 51, was the mother of eleven children (the song says "ten") and president of a black social club. ,
Already drunk before he got to the Emerson Hotel that night, Zantzinger, 24 years old and 6'2", had assaulted employees at Eager House, a prestigious Baltimore restaurant, with the same cane. The cane was a 25-cent toy. At the Spinsters' Ball, he called a 30-year-old waitress a "nigger
" and hit her with the cane; she fled the room in tears. Moments later, after ordering a bourbon
that Carroll didn't bring immediately, Zantzinger cursed at her, called her a "nigger
" also, then "you black son of a bitch," and struck her on the shoulder and across the head with the cane. In the words of the court notes: " He asked for a drink and called her 'a black bitch', and ' black s.o.b'. She replied, 'Just a moment' and started to prepare his drink. After a delay of perhaps a minute, he complained about her being slow and struck her a hard blow on her shoulder about half-way between the point of her shoulder and her neck." She handed him his drink. After striking Carroll, he attacked his own wife, knocking her to the ground and hitting her with his shoe.
Very soon, within five minutes from the time of the blow, Carroll leaned heavily against the barmaid next to her and complained of feeling ill. Carroll told co-workers, "I feel deathly ill, that man has upset me so." The barmaid and another helped her to the kitchen. Her arm became numb, her speech thick. She collapsed and was hospitalized. Hattie Carroll died eight hours after the assault
. Her autopsy showed hardened arteries
, an enlarged heart, and high blood pressure. A spinal tap
confirmed brain hemorrhage as the cause of death. She died 9a.m. February 9, 1963.
Zantzinger was initially charged with murder
. His defense was that he had been extremely drunk
, and he admitted to no memory of the attack. His charge was reduced to manslaughter
and assault
, based on the likelihood that it was her stress
reaction to his verbal and physical abuse that led to the intracranial bleeding, rather than blunt-force trauma
from the blow that left no lasting mark. On August 28, Zantzinger was convicted of both charges and sentenced to six months' imprisonment
.
Time magazine
covered the sentencing:
After the sentence was announced, The New York Herald Tribune conjectured he was given a sentence that short to keep him out of the largely black state prison, reasoning that his notoriety would make him a target for abuse there. Throughout the United States, sentences over a year are generally served in a state prison; sentences under a year are usually served in a county jail
or city lockup. Zantzinger instead served his time in the comparative safety of the Washington
county jail, some 70 miles (112.7 km) from the scene of the crime.
In September, the Herald Tribune quoted Zantzinger on his sentence: "I'll just miss a lot of snow." His then-wife, Jane, was quoted saying, "Nobody treats his negroes as well as Billy does around here."
delivered his I Have a Dream
speech in Washington
. Bob Dylan, 22 at that time, was one of the celebrities at the march and on the journey home to New York
he read about the conviction of Zantzinger and decided to write a topical protest song about the case. According to a Washington Post report in 1991 Dylan wrote the song in Manhattan, sitting in an all-night cafe. A recent radio documentary on the song said rather that he wrote it both in New York and at the home of his then lover, Joan Baez
, in Carmel
. According to Nancy Carlin, a friend of Baez who visited, "He would stand in this cubbyhole, beautiful view across the hills, and peck type on an old typewriter... there was an old piano up at Joan's... and peck piano playing... up until noon he would drink black coffee then switch over to red wine, quit about five or six." He recorded it on October 23, 1963, when the trial was still relatively fresh news, and incorporated it into his live repertoire immediately, before releasing the studio version on January 13, 1964. He also performed the song on Steve Allen
's network television program soon after its release.
The wording of the lyrics, "a cane / That sailed through the air and came down through the room", either describe the arc of the cane's descent, or assert that the cane was thrown, or is a metaphor for the baselessness of the attack and its impact on society. And the next line, "doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle" presumably draws on poetic license
as to the degree of malice evidenced.
The song juxtaposes Zantzinger's wealth and connections to the powerful with the brevity of that sentence. Despite the song's topical nature, Dylan continues to perform it in concert as of May 2009. His live-audience renditions of it appear on the albums The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
(2002) and The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
(2004).
In Chronicles: Volume One
, Dylan includes "Hattie Carroll" in a list of his early songs which he feels were influenced by his introduction to the work of Bertolt Brecht
and Kurt Weill
. He describes writing out the words of Pirate Jenny
(or The Black Freighter) in order to understand how the Brecht-Weill song achieved its effect. Dylan writes: "Woody
had never written a song like that. It wasn't a protest or a topical song and there was no love for people in it. I took the song apart and unzipped it—it was the free verse association, the structure and disregard for the known certainty of melodic pattern to make it seriously matter, give it its cutting edge. It also had the ideal chorus for the lyrics"
Literary critic Christopher Ricks
considers the song to be "one of Dylan's greatest" and the recording on The Times They Are A-Changin'
to be "perfect." He devotes an entire chapter to it, analyzing both the meaning as well as the prosody in his book on Dylan's songs as poetry. "But here is a song that could not be written better."
, still within Charles County. Eventually he moved to a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) home in Port Tobacco
, where he lived throughout the 1990s until moving to a new home in St. Mary's County around 2001 in Chaptico, Maryland
, called Bachelor's Hope.
In addition to federal tax delinquencies, Zantzinger fell more than $18,000 behind on county taxes on properties he owned in two Charles County communities called Patuxent Woods and Indian Head
, shanties he leased to poor blacks. In 1986, the same year the IRS ruled against him, Charles County confiscated those properties. Nonetheless, Zantzinger continued to collect rents, raise rents, and even successfully prosecute his putative tenants for back rent. In June 1991, Zantzinger was initially charged with a single count of "deceptive trade practices." After some delay, Zantzinger pleaded guilty to 50 misdemeanor counts of unfair and deceptive trade practices. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison and a $50,000 fine. Some of his prison sentence was served in a work release
program.
In 2001, Zantzinger discussed the song with Howard Sounes
for Down the Highway, the Life of Bob Dylan. He dismissed the song as a "total lie" and claimed "It's actually had no effect upon my life," but expressed scorn for Dylan, saying, "He's a no-account son of a bitch, he's just like a scum of a scum bag of the earth, I should have sued him and put him in jail." Zantzinger died on January 3, 2009, at the age of 69.
Clinton Heylin, author of the Dylan biography Behind the Shades Take Two, defends Zantzinger and chastises Dylan: "Dylan's portrait of William Zantzinger verges on the libelous… That the song itself is a masterpiece of drama and wordplay does not excuse Dylan's distortions, and 36 years on he continues to misrepresent poor William Zantzinger in concert."
Topical song
A topical song is a song that comments on political and/or social events. These types of songs are usually written about current events, but some of these songs remain popular long after the events discussed in them have occurred...
written by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
and gives a generally factual account of the killing of 51-year-old barmaid Hattie Carroll by the wealthy young tobacco farmer from Charles County, Maryland
Charles County, Maryland
Charles County is a county in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 146,551. Its county seat is La Plata. This county was named for Charles Calvert , third Baron Baltimore....
, William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (whom the song calls "William Zanzinger"), and his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail.
The lyrics are a commentary on the racism of the 1960s. In 1963 when Hattie Carroll was killed, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses, and the county fair. The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.
Killing
The main incident of the song took place in the early hours of February 9, 1963, at the white tieWhite tie
White tie is the most formal evening dress code in Western fashion. It is worn to ceremonial occasions such as state dinners in some countries, as well as to very formal balls and evening weddings...
Spinsters' Ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Using a toy cane, Zantzinger drunkenly assaulted at least three of the Emerson Hotel workers: a bellboy, a waitress, and — at about 1:30 in the morning of the 9th — Carroll, a barmaid. In addition to her work at the hotel, Hattie Carroll, at 51, was the mother of eleven children (the song says "ten") and president of a black social club. ,
Already drunk before he got to the Emerson Hotel that night, Zantzinger, 24 years old and 6'2", had assaulted employees at Eager House, a prestigious Baltimore restaurant, with the same cane. The cane was a 25-cent toy. At the Spinsters' Ball, he called a 30-year-old waitress a "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" and hit her with the cane; she fled the room in tears. Moments later, after ordering a bourbon
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
that Carroll didn't bring immediately, Zantzinger cursed at her, called her a "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" also, then "you black son of a bitch," and struck her on the shoulder and across the head with the cane. In the words of the court notes: " He asked for a drink and called her 'a black bitch', and ' black s.o.b'. She replied, 'Just a moment' and started to prepare his drink. After a delay of perhaps a minute, he complained about her being slow and struck her a hard blow on her shoulder about half-way between the point of her shoulder and her neck." She handed him his drink. After striking Carroll, he attacked his own wife, knocking her to the ground and hitting her with his shoe.
Very soon, within five minutes from the time of the blow, Carroll leaned heavily against the barmaid next to her and complained of feeling ill. Carroll told co-workers, "I feel deathly ill, that man has upset me so." The barmaid and another helped her to the kitchen. Her arm became numb, her speech thick. She collapsed and was hospitalized. Hattie Carroll died eight hours after the assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
. Her autopsy showed hardened arteries
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
, an enlarged heart, and high blood pressure. A spinal tap
Lumbar puncture
A lumbar puncture is a diagnostic and at times therapeutic procedure that is performed in order to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for biochemical, microbiological, and cytological analysis, or very rarely as a treatment to relieve increased intracranial pressure.-Indications:The...
confirmed brain hemorrhage as the cause of death. She died 9a.m. February 9, 1963.
Zantzinger was initially charged with murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. His defense was that he had been extremely drunk
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
, and he admitted to no memory of the attack. His charge was reduced to manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
and assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
, based on the likelihood that it was her stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
reaction to his verbal and physical abuse that led to the intracranial bleeding, rather than blunt-force trauma
Blunt trauma
In medical terminology, blunt trauma, blunt injury, non-penetrating trauma or blunt force trauma refers to a type of physical trauma caused to a body part, either by impact, injury or physical attack; the latter usually being referred to as blunt force trauma...
from the blow that left no lasting mark. On August 28, Zantzinger was convicted of both charges and sentenced to six months' imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
.
Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
covered the sentencing:
After the sentence was announced, The New York Herald Tribune conjectured he was given a sentence that short to keep him out of the largely black state prison, reasoning that his notoriety would make him a target for abuse there. Throughout the United States, sentences over a year are generally served in a state prison; sentences under a year are usually served in a county jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
or city lockup. Zantzinger instead served his time in the comparative safety of the Washington
Washington County, Maryland
Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...
county jail, some 70 miles (112.7 km) from the scene of the crime.
In September, the Herald Tribune quoted Zantzinger on his sentence: "I'll just miss a lot of snow." His then-wife, Jane, was quoted saying, "Nobody treats his negroes as well as Billy does around here."
Song
Zantzinger was convicted of manslaughter on August 28, 1963, and was not tried by a jury of peers but by a panel of three judges. The sentence was handed down on the same day that Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
delivered his I Have a Dream
I Have a Dream
"I Have a Dream" is a 17-minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination...
speech in Washington
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was the largest political rally for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr...
. Bob Dylan, 22 at that time, was one of the celebrities at the march and on the journey home to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
he read about the conviction of Zantzinger and decided to write a topical protest song about the case. According to a Washington Post report in 1991 Dylan wrote the song in Manhattan, sitting in an all-night cafe. A recent radio documentary on the song said rather that he wrote it both in New York and at the home of his then lover, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, in Carmel
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Carmel-by-the-Sea, often called simply Carmel, is a small city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated in 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, the town is known for its natural scenery and rich artistic history...
. According to Nancy Carlin, a friend of Baez who visited, "He would stand in this cubbyhole, beautiful view across the hills, and peck type on an old typewriter... there was an old piano up at Joan's... and peck piano playing... up until noon he would drink black coffee then switch over to red wine, quit about five or six." He recorded it on October 23, 1963, when the trial was still relatively fresh news, and incorporated it into his live repertoire immediately, before releasing the studio version on January 13, 1964. He also performed the song on Steve Allen
Steve Allen (comedian)
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...
's network television program soon after its release.
The wording of the lyrics, "a cane / That sailed through the air and came down through the room", either describe the arc of the cane's descent, or assert that the cane was thrown, or is a metaphor for the baselessness of the attack and its impact on society. And the next line, "doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle" presumably draws on poetic license
Artistic license
Artistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of...
as to the degree of malice evidenced.
The song juxtaposes Zantzinger's wealth and connections to the powerful with the brevity of that sentence. Despite the song's topical nature, Dylan continues to perform it in concert as of May 2009. His live-audience renditions of it appear on the albums The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue is a live album by Bob Dylan released by Columbia Records in 2002. It documents the Rolling Thunder Revue, led by Bob Dylan prior to the release of the album Desire...
(2002) and The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall is a complete recording of Bob Dylan's October 31, 1964 "Halloween" show at New York's Philharmonic Hall. It was released in 2004....
(2004).
In Chronicles: Volume One
Chronicles: Volume One
Chronicles, Volume One is the first part of Bob Dylan's planned 3-volume memoir. Published on October 5, 2004, by Simon & Schuster, the 304-page volume covers selected points from Dylan's long career. The book spent 19 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction books...
, Dylan includes "Hattie Carroll" in a list of his early songs which he feels were influenced by his introduction to the work of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
. He describes writing out the words of Pirate Jenny
Pirate Jenny
"Pirate Jenny" is a well-known song from The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht. The English lyrics are by Marc Blitzstein...
(or The Black Freighter) in order to understand how the Brecht-Weill song achieved its effect. Dylan writes: "Woody
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
had never written a song like that. It wasn't a protest or a topical song and there was no love for people in it. I took the song apart and unzipped it—it was the free verse association, the structure and disregard for the known certainty of melodic pattern to make it seriously matter, give it its cutting edge. It also had the ideal chorus for the lyrics"
Literary critic Christopher Ricks
Christopher Ricks
Sir Christopher Bruce Ricks, FBA is a British literary critic and scholar. He is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University and Co-Director of the Editorial Institute at Boston University, and was Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford from 2004...
considers the song to be "one of Dylan's greatest" and the recording on The Times They Are A-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin'
The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
to be "perfect." He devotes an entire chapter to it, analyzing both the meaning as well as the prosody in his book on Dylan's songs as poetry. "But here is a song that could not be written better."
Impact on Zantzinger
The song continued to haunt Zantzinger in later controversies until his death in 2009. After serving his sentence for manslaughter, Zantzinger returned to running the farm in Charles County. He also began selling real estate, and moved to more urban Waldorf, MarylandWaldorf, Maryland
Waldorf, Maryland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland, United States. It is south-southeast of Washington, D.C. The population of the census-designated area only was 67,752 at the 2010 census...
, still within Charles County. Eventually he moved to a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) home in Port Tobacco
Port Tobacco Village, Maryland
Port Tobacco, officially Port Tobacco Village, is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15 at the 2000 census, making Port Tobacco the smallest incorporated town in Maryland....
, where he lived throughout the 1990s until moving to a new home in St. Mary's County around 2001 in Chaptico, Maryland
Chaptico, Maryland
Chaptico is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. It lies on Chaptico Run, which forms a bay as it enters the Wicomico River.-History:...
, called Bachelor's Hope.
In addition to federal tax delinquencies, Zantzinger fell more than $18,000 behind on county taxes on properties he owned in two Charles County communities called Patuxent Woods and Indian Head
Indian Head, Maryland
Indian Head is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,422 at the 2000 census. It has been the site of a naval base specializing in gun and rocket propellants since 1890. Production of nitrocellulose and smokeless powder began at the Indian Head Powder Factory in 1900...
, shanties he leased to poor blacks. In 1986, the same year the IRS ruled against him, Charles County confiscated those properties. Nonetheless, Zantzinger continued to collect rents, raise rents, and even successfully prosecute his putative tenants for back rent. In June 1991, Zantzinger was initially charged with a single count of "deceptive trade practices." After some delay, Zantzinger pleaded guilty to 50 misdemeanor counts of unfair and deceptive trade practices. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison and a $50,000 fine. Some of his prison sentence was served in a work release
Work release
In prison systems, work release programs allow a prisoner who is sufficiently trusted or can be sufficiently monitored to leave confinement to continue working at his or her current place of employment, returning to prison when his/her shift is complete...
program.
In 2001, Zantzinger discussed the song with Howard Sounes
Howard Sounes
Howard Sounes is a British author, journalist and biographer.Howard Sounes began his career as a newspaper journalist as a staff reporter for the Sunday Mirror. He broke major stories concerning one of the most notorious murder cases in British criminal history, that of Fred West and Rosemary West...
for Down the Highway, the Life of Bob Dylan. He dismissed the song as a "total lie" and claimed "It's actually had no effect upon my life," but expressed scorn for Dylan, saying, "He's a no-account son of a bitch, he's just like a scum of a scum bag of the earth, I should have sued him and put him in jail." Zantzinger died on January 3, 2009, at the age of 69.
Clinton Heylin, author of the Dylan biography Behind the Shades Take Two, defends Zantzinger and chastises Dylan: "Dylan's portrait of William Zantzinger verges on the libelous… That the song itself is a masterpiece of drama and wordplay does not excuse Dylan's distortions, and 36 years on he continues to misrepresent poor William Zantzinger in concert."
Cover versions
- Billy BraggBilly BraggStephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
used the melody of Dylan's song for his own "The Lonesome Death of Rachel CorrieRachel CorrieRachel Aliene Corrie was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement . She was killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israel Defence Forces bulldozer when she was standing or kneeling in front of a local Palestinian's home, thus acting as a human shield, attempting to prevent the IDF from...
" in 2006, commemorating activist Corrie who was killed in the Gaza StripGaza Stripthumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003. - The progressive rock/reggae band Rx BanditsRx BanditsRX Bandits is a four-piece band based in Seal Beach, California. The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California. They have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and at The Bamboozle.-Early years :Originally known as...
recorded a cover of the song in 2005 for the Drive-Thru RecordsDrive-Thru RecordsDrive-Thru Records, established in 1996, was a California-based record label owned by siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines. It has produced various pop punk bands, many with a distinct SoCal sound....
compilation Listen To Bob Dylan - A Tribute. - The reggae singer Michael Rose, formerly of Black UhuruBlack UhuruBlack Uhuru are a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru . The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Duckie Simpson always maintaining group control and ownership...
, also did a cover of this song for a compilation produced by Dr. Dread titled Is It Rolling Bob?. - The singer/songwriter folk artist Christy MooreChristy MooreChristopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
performed a cover of the song on the 2006 Live in Dublin album. He released a studio version of the song on his album Burning TimesBurning Times (album)Burning Times is an album by Irish folk singer Christy Moore. The album is dedicated to Rachel Corrie, an American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003...
. - The Minnesota-based singer/songwriter Mason JenningsMason JenningsMason Jennings is an American pop-folk singer-songwriter. He is well known for his simple yet catchy melodies, intimate lyrics, literary and historical themes, and distinctive voice...
does a cover of the song in the biographical Bob Dylan movie I'm Not ThereI'm Not ThereI'm Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw...
released in November 2007. - The English folk singer Martin CarthyMartin CarthyMartin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
recorded the song on his Signs of Life album in 1998. - Robert Levon BeenRobert Levon BeenRobert Levon Been is an American indie rock bass guitarist, guitarist, and singer. He is currently a member of Los Angeles-based band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and was, for a time, a bass player in The Beggars. He is the son of the late Michael Been of The Call...
, bassist and guitarist of the band Black Rebel Motorcycle ClubBlack Rebel Motorcycle ClubBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T...
, often performs this song live. - PhrancPhrancPhranc is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades.-Biography:She began her performing career in the late 1970s and early 1980s punk scene in Los Angeles...
, an American folk singer, covered the song on her debut album FolksingerFolksinger----Folksinger is an album by folk singer-songwriter Phranc, released in 1985.Phranc's first solo LP fused elements of her punk rock past with acoustic folk music...
(Island RecordsIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, 1985). - Julie FelixJulie FelixJulie Ann Felix is a folk rock recording artist, who was notably produced by Mickie Most on his RAK Records label.-Career:...
, an English (American born) female folk singer, covered the song on her Dylan tribute album Starry Eyed And Laughing: Songs By Bob Dylan.
External links
- Legacy of a Lonesome Death Mother Jones November/December 2004 Issue
- Maryland Court Records
- "Rich Brute Slays Negro Mother of 10", August 29, 1963 article by Roy H. Wood as transcribed from book Absolutely Dylan by Patrick Humphries and John Bauldie, (1991). ISBN 0-14-016823-0 and ISBN 978-0-14-016823-5
- Song Lyrics and Meaning
- The Art of Bob Dylan's "Hattie Carroll", 1964 critique by Phil OchsPhil OchsPhilip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
in Broadside MagazineBroadside MagazineBroadside Magazine was a small mimeographed publication founded in 1962 by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and her husband, Gordon Friesen. Hugely influential in the folk-revival, it was often controversial. Issues of what is folk music, what is folk rock, and who is folk were roundly discussed and debated...
. - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll Lyrics from Columbia Records
- The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (BBC Radio 4 programme)