1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the album that ignited sea changes in pop culture, music, songwriting, poetry, and the social consciousness. The creation of a 22-year-old visionary, Dylan exponentially surpassed the potential he demonstrated on his debut, writing and singing with penetrating honesty, observational wit, moral conviction, and scathing emotion. He digs into the madness of war ("Masters of War," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"), hypocrisy of segregation ("Oxford Town"), urgency of civil rights and freedom ("Blowin' in the Wind"), and multiple angles of unrequited love ("Girl From the North Country," "Don't Think Twice It's All Right") with a literate astuteness and depth that still leave audiences slack-jawed. Viewed as protest songs, love songs, folk songs, or talking blues songs, the material on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan remains amongst the most astonishing and imaginative ever committed to tape.