3 Rock Songs From the 1960s With Lasting Harmonica Performances

In the 1960s, rock music and the harmonica went together like peanut butter and jelly. It wasn’t strange to go to a concert and see several of your favorite singers pull out the instrument and go wild with it.

Here below, we wanted to highlight three songs from back in the decade that continue to shine thanks to the unique sound. Indeed, these are three rock songs from the 1960s with lasting harmonica performances.

“Mr. Tambourine Man” by Bob Dylan from ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ (1965)

No one in the 1960s made the harmonica more famous than Bob Dylan. In a way, it was strange to see The Bard up there playing the toy-like instrument in between his vivid, poetic, storytelling tunes. But there he was, blowing on the thing in songs like “Mr. Tambourine Man”. The harmonica offered a nice juxtaposition to the often intense lyrics Dylan put in his music. But it also offered him a chance to play a lead-like solo on the “mouth harp” while he continued to strum away on his acoustic.

“Midnight Rambler” by The Rolling Stones from ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)

While Bob Dylan often used the harmonica to play a lead guitar-like solo, Mick Jagger used the harmonica on this song to offer big, bold accentuation to the rhythms. Jagger’s harmonica playing takes you to the American Deep South. It’s born of the blues music concocted and created in the ramshackle venues that dotted the Mississippi Delta and the bayou swamps. Indeed, Jagger brings a harmonica authenticity to this sweaty, humid, delightful track from the end of the 1960s.

“I Was Made To Love Her” by Stevie Wonder from ‘I Was Made To Love Her’ (1967)

Few, if any, artists could make the harmonica sing quite like Stevie Wonder. While artists like Bob Dylan helped make the instrument famous, Wonder made it beautiful. The songwriter and performer breathed life into the harmonica and turned it from something that resembled a toy to something that resembled divinity. For evidence of this, check out his 1967 song “I Was Made To Love Her”. It’s as sweet as any track from the era, made especially so by, yes, the harmonica.

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