Dylan has never included his controversial 1971 protest song
George Jackson, on any album, including his greatest hits collections or his bootleg series. George Jackson was a young Black Panther Party member who was killed by San Quentin prison guards during an escape attempt on August 21, 1971. Jackson's death became a
cause célèbre among American leftists who believed that Jackson was set up for murder by San Quentin guards for his radical political views.
About two years ago, several digital recordings of
George Jackson appeared on YouTube, but the videos were promptly pulled for copyright violations. Somebody had gone to a great deal of trouble to assure that
George Jackson wouldn't be heard by anybody. Whoever got
George Jackson banned on YouTube did an complete job of scrubbing off every recording of the song.
Could it be Dylan himself?
It's odd, because Dylan doesn't go to great lengths to protect the content of any of his other songs. Like many other artists, Dylan tolerates unauthorized versions of songs on the internet because it broadens his audience which offsets any loss in royalty payments. Dylan's back-catalog of album sales have actually increased since his music has been widely posted on the internet. So why would Dylan go to great lengths to keep the public from hearing
George Jackson?
Perhaps Dylan is embarrassed by the fact that many former Black Panther leaders drifted into lives of drug use and criminality, following the decline of the Black Panther Party in the late Seventies. Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton was shot and killed by a drug dealer while leaving a West Oakland crack house in 1989. The Black Panther Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver served time for burglary & was arrested for possession of crack cocaine by Oakland and Berkeley Police in 1992 and 1994.
I did find one of two different versions of
George Jackson on an obscure socialist website titled
The Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle at this link:
George Jackson- Version with a backup band
The above version was the one Dylan recorded with a backup band. I couldn't find a copy of the original single which Dylan recorded playing acoustic guitar only. It's a much better version because Dylan's vocal is far more passionate and his voice has the angry edge we once associated with Dylan during his early incarnation as a protest singer.