--- title: Why Bob Dylan Walked Off the Ed Sullivan Show description: May 12, 1963: Bob Dylan walks off the Ed Sullivan Show canonical: https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-12T14:30:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:09.112Z article:section: History og:title: Why Bob Dylan Walked Off the Ed Sullivan Show og:description: May 12, 1963: Bob Dylan walks off the Ed Sullivan Show og:url: https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6dbc3dd9d2160/6987ee7a55a859cdc8a89f55/dylan.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bob Dylan On The Ed Sullivan Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Bob Dylan Walked Off the Ed Sullivan Show twitter:description: May 12, 1963: Bob Dylan walks off the Ed Sullivan Show twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6dbc3dd9d2160/6987ee7a55a859cdc8a89f55/dylan.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When Bob Dylan Took a Stand Against Censorship by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson May 12, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  Bob Dylan during rehearsals for the Ed Sullivan Show on May 12, 1963 Bob Dylan during rehearsals for the Ed Sullivan Show on May 12, 1963CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson May 12, 2015 2:30 PM UTC Performing on _The_ _Ed Sullivan Show_ might have helped launch the careers of [Elvis Presley](http://time.com/3308576/elvis-presley-ed-sullivan-fan-culture/) and the [Beatles](http://time.com/5845/the-beatles-invasion-50-years-ago-sunday-feb-9-1964/), but Bob Dylan took a different approach to fame: courting celebrity by _not_ performing. Dylan was slated to appear on the massively popular variety show on this day, May 12, in 1963 — a year before the Beatles. At the time, he was little known by mainstream audiences, although [TIME had referred to him](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,829501,00.html) a year earlier as “a promising young hobo.” “He dresses in sheepskin and a black corduroy Huck Finn cap, which covers only a small part of his long, tumbling hair,” TIME’s 1962 story attests. “\[H\]e delivers his songs in a studied nasal that has just the right clothespin-on-the-nose honesty to appeal to those who most deeply care.” On _Ed Sullivan_, Dylan planned to put a spin on his clothespin-on-the-nose honesty with “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” a satirical song written from the perspective of a John Birch Society member who is so terrified of communist infiltration that he looks for Reds everywhere, including in [his chimney, toilet and glove box. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCxi5VOYKOY) Sullivan himself apparently had no problem with the song when Dylan auditioned it, but a CBS executive who heard it during dress rehearsal found it [too controversial](http://www.edsullivan.com/bob-dylan-on-the-ed-sullivan-show/). Dylan was told he’d have to sing a different song or change [the lyrics](http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/talkin-john-birch-paranoid-blues), which included, “Now Eisenhower, he’s a Russian spy/ Lincoln, Jefferson, and that Roosevelt guy/ To my knowledge there’s just one man/ That’s really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell.” (Rockwell was the founder of the American Nazi Party.) Dylan refused to change the song or pick another, and walked out instead. ### Musicians on the Cover of TIME  The Dixie Chicks (May 29, 2006) JILL GREENBERG FOR TIME  Kanye West (Aug. 29, 2005) KWAKU ALSTON FOR TIME  Ricky Martin (May 24, 1999) TIME  Lauryn Hill (Feb. 8, 1999) TIME  Jewel (July 21, 1997) HERB RITTS  Pearl Jam (Oct. 25, 1993) NEAL PRESTON  Garth Brooks (March 30, 1992) JAMES SCHNEPF / GAMMA LIAISON  Madonna (May 27, 1985) FRANCESCO SCAVULLO  Michael Jackson (March 19, 1984) ANDY WARHOL  David Bowie (July 18, 1983) TIME  The Who (Dec. 17, 1979) TIME  Linda Ronstadt (Feb. 28, 1977) MILTON GREENE  Paul McCartney (May 31, 1976) RICHARD E. AARON  Elton John (July 7, 1975) DON WELLER  Cher (March 17, 1975) RICHARD AVEDON  Joni Mitchell (Dec. 16, 1974) BOB PEAK  James Taylor (March 1, 1971) J. H. BRESLOW  The Band (Jan. 12, 1970) BOB PEAK  Aretha Franklin (June 28, 1968) BORIS CHALIAPIN  The Beatles (Sept. 22, 1967) TIME  Joan Baez (Nov. 23, 1962) TIME  Frank Sinatra (Aug. 29, 1955) TIME  Rosemary Clooney (Feb. 23, 1953) BORIS CHALIAPIN  Louis Armstrong (Feb. 21, 1949) BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF  Bing Crosby (Apr. 7, 1941) ERNEST HAMLIN BAKER It wasn’t the first time a musical act had been censored on Sullivan’s show. The [Rolling Stones](http://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-rolling-stones) were told to change “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” — and obliged. [The Doors](http://www.billboard.com/articles/6436569/rolling-stones-ed-sullivan-censored-lets-spend-night-together) were told to change a line from “Light My Fire” from “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher” to “Girl, we couldn’t get much better.” Jim Morrison agreed to make the switch, but sang the original live, and the band was banned from the show. The trouble didn’t end for Dylan when he left the _Ed Sullivan_ set, however. CBS also owned his record label, Columbia Records, and when executives there heard that the song’s lyrics might be grounds for libel, they pulled it from his second album, [according to _Rolling Stone_.](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-an-intimate-biography-part-one-19720302?page=10) Even though he never got to play the song, Dylan still got some press from the non-appearance. He clearly occupied the moral high ground in the [New York _Times_’ dispatch](http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A06E5D8133CE63ABC4C52DFB3668388679EDE) about the dustup, headlined “Satire on Birch Society Barred from Ed Sullivan’s TV Show.” And, per _Rolling Stone_, he bounced back from the crushing disappointment when someone told him, “Man, you got a lot of free publicity. A real underdog.” **_Read TIME’s 1962 cover story about folk music, here in the archives_**: [Sibyl with Guitar](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,829501,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/"},"headline":"When Bob Dylan Took a Stand Against Censorship","datePublished":"2015-05-12T14:30:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:09.112Z","description":"May 12, 1963: Bob Dylan walks off the Ed Sullivan Show","url":"https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/","keywords":["Music","protest","Bob Dylan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6dbc3dd9d2160/6987ee7a55a859cdc8a89f55/dylan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6dbc3dd9d2160/6987ee7a55a859cdc8a89f55/dylan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bob Dylan On The Ed Sullivan Show","caption":"Bob Dylan On The Ed Sullivan Show","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3847730/bob-dylan-ed-sullivan-john-birch/","name":"When Bob Dylan Took a Stand Against Censorship"}}]}] ```