Responding to the coincidence of Beijing’s arrest of the artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei and Bob Dylan’s first ever tour of China - but playing only songs from a state-approved list - The Times decided to publish a leading article in the form of song lyrics on April 7, 2011. Leader-writer Joe Joseph wrote his own version of Subterranean Homesick Blues for the newspaper to acknowledge the irony of the famous 1960s protest singer making his debut in China at a moment of heightened repression in the country.
In the video above, Joe Joseph stands in for Bob Dylan in a homage to Dylan’s original video for the song, with vocals, guitar and harmonica provided by Times feature-writer Kaya Burgess.
Ai Weiwei’s Homesick