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The 1963 folk song that Robert Plant said moved music up a level. And the communist lover who inspired it
Robert Plant said Bob Dylan’s 1963 song “Down the Highway” changed how he understood music when he heard it at 15. The song showed him that a simple blues structure and a love story could carry personal depth, helping inspire his own ambitions as a musician.
The song reflects Dylan’s separation from Suze Rotolo, who went to Italy to study and whose parents belonged to the American Communist Party. Their parting brought together heartbreak, acceptance and conviction in a song Plant regarded as a turning point, although it is not widely remembered as one of Dylan’s best-known tracks.
In short
- Plant said “Down the Highway” changed his view of music.
- Dylan wrote it amid his separation from Suze Rotolo.
- A simple blues song carried unusually personal depth.
Explained simply
Bob Dylan was a leading figure in the American folk revival of the early 1960s, when singers often used traditional folk and blues forms to tell personal or political stories. “Down the Highway”, released in 1963, uses a simple blues pattern to describe a relationship coming to an end.
The song is linked to Dylan’s separation from Suze Rotolo, his partner at the time, who went to Italy to study. Her parents were members of the American Communist Party, a detail that connects the song’s personal story with the political climate around the couple.
Robert Plant later became lead singer of the British rock band Led Zeppelin. His account of hearing Dylan’s song as a teenager offers an example of how a relatively little-known track influenced another musician’s ideas about what a song could express.