"Chimes of Freedom" is a song by Bob Dylan. It has been covered many times by various artists including Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, and Roger McGuinn. Dylan reportedly based the song on "Chimes Of Trinity," a song passed along by Dave Van Ronk from his grandmother. Portrait photograph of Bob Dylan taken by Daniel Kramer Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman May 24, 1941) is a highly influential American songwriter, musician, and poet. ... Bruce Springsteen on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. ... The Byrds’ original line-up. ... James Roger McGuinn (born July 13, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter, who was born as James Joseph McGuinn III in Chicago, Illinois. ... Dave Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 - February 10, 2002) was a folk singer born in Brooklyn, who settled in Greenwich Village and was nicknamed the Mayor of MacDougal Street. ...

Chimes of Freedom is also the title of a book, subtitled The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art, by Mike Marqusee (The New Press, NY, 2003) - the book's purpose, (according to reviewer Mike Davis), is to rescue Dylan's early work "from the condescension of his own later cynicism".

As Marqusee notes, the song marks a transition between Dylan's earlier "protest song" style (a litany of the down-trodden and oppressed, in the 2nd half of each verse) and his later more free-flowing poetic style (the fusion of images of lightning, storm and bells in the first half)

The song has often been used as a template as a near-perfect protest song. Most notably, it formed a strong influence (almost to the point of plagiarism) for Billy Bragg's song ideology. Stephen William Bragg (born December 20, 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is a British musician known for his blend of folk, punk-rock, and protest music. ...

Chimes of Freedom is also the name of the 1988 live Bruce Springsteen EP featuring Dylan's song. It was released to support the multi-artist tour to support Amnesty International which followed. It also featured three other songs, including a slowed-down acoustic version of Born to Run. 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An extended play or EP, is the name given to vinyl records or CDs which are too long to qualify as singles but too short to qualify as albums. ... Born to Run is a rock album by singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released in 1975 (see 1975 in music). ...