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George Jackson background
"George Jackson" is a song by Bob Dylan, written in 1971, in tribute to the Black Panther leader, George Jackson, who had been shot and killed by guards at San Quentin Prison on August 21, 1971, during an attempted escape from prison. The event indirectly provoked the Attica Prison riot.

George Jackson
The Chicago born George Jackson was convicted of armed robbery in 1961, and was punished with an indeterminate sentence in the San Quentin State Prison. It was in San Quentin that George Jackson found radical politics, and began his journey as a Black activist. Jackson, along with other politicized black inmates, began the Black Guerilla Family, and became involved with the Black Panthers after being transferred to Soledad Prison in 1969. Soledad's existing racial tension, as well as Jackson's increased criticism of the US prison system, caused problems for Jackson with white inmates and guards. Numerous parole hearings, denied appeals, culminated into an attempted prison escape, when George Jackson was killed in the prison yard by a guard from a watch tower.

Composition and recording
Dylan recorded the song at Columbia Studio B, on November 4, 1971[1] and it was quickly released as a 45 rpm single, Columbia 4-45516, on November 12, 1971.[2] The single consisted of a "Big Band version" of the song on Side A and an "Acoustic version" on Side B.[3]

Significance
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 went 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).

Bob Dylan political activism
Bob Dylan's involvement with specific civil rights groups and organizations is not clear, but his music made him a widely influential figure in the American protest movement of the 1960s, though he did not necessarily want to be associated with the label. After several albums and a traumatic motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan took a break from the public light. Bob Dylan's biographer Anthony Scaduto alleges that the song may have been written in part as a response to fellow musician and political activist, Joan Baez, who urged him to get back into political activism in her song "To Bobby"[10].

Composition

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Discussion of bob dylan’s political activism related to george jackson, bpp, other movements (look at some sources in Bob Dylan wiki page)?

Key, tempo information?

Breakdown of references in lyrics?

I woke up this mornin',

There were tears in my bed.

They killed a man I really loved

Shot him through the head.

Lord, Lord,

They cut George Jackson down.

Lord, Lord,

They laid him in the ground.

Sent him off to prison

For a seventy-dollar robbery.

Closed the door behind him

And they threw away the key.

Lord, Lord,

They cut George Jackson down.

Lord, Lord,

They laid him in the ground.

He wouldn't take shit from no one

He wouldn't bow down or kneel.

Authorities, they hated him

Because he was just too real.

Lord, Lord,

They cut George Jackson down.

Lord, Lord,

They laid him in the ground.

Prison guards, they cursed him

As they watched him from above

But they were frightened of his power

They were scared of his love.

Lord, Lord,

So they cut George Jackson down.

Lord, Lord,

They laid him in the ground.

Sometimes I think this whole world

Is one big prison yard.

Some of us are prisoners

The rest of us are guards.

Lord, Lord,

They cut George Jackson down.

Lord, Lord,

They laid him in the ground.

Recording

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Space for any information about where, how, and when the project was recorded

Reception and Interpretation

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space for information about public reception, criticism, various reactions

Did Dylan recieve backlash or praise?

The song comes out a long hiatus from Dylan after his motorcycle accident. The release did cause controversy in some radio stations due to both the song's contentious subject, and the use of an explicit lyric in the third verse. Some stations opted to censor the term, while others opted not to play the song at all.

Bob Dylan biographer Anthony Scaduto alleges that the song was written in part as a response to fellow musicians and political activists like Joan Baez, who urged him to return to the political activism.

Debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #93 on December 4, 1971, peeking at #33, and remained on the charts for 7 weeks.

Cover

Joan Baez, fellow political activist and former partner to Bob Dylan, performed a live cover of "George Jackson" on May 25, 1977 in New York, NY while on tour.

Personnel

Who else, if anyone contributed to the performance on the track?