The premise seems simple, but the task may prove otherwise.
What are your 10 favorite Dylan tunes?
I know some of you will find it hard to come up with ten and I can't help but say, I just can't wrap my head around that.
Many things amaze me about this man, not the least of which is how 40 years after his first recording, he managed to write my single favorite Dylan tune.
I occasionally obsess over Bob Dylan, so much so that, the last time I saw him live, I could not take my eyes off of him. Even as he stood aside and drank some water while Charlie Sexton took a solo, I was riveted. There were also moments where he just stood still as the band played, and I focused on his inactivity. Just standing. It was that interesting to me.
So, the 10...
Note I said "favorite" and not "best."
I only ask that #1 needs to be #1. 2-9 can be in any order you'd like. Feel free to expound on your choices. Or just offer your choices. It's up to you.
MINE
#1- Mississippi
(Any version. I don't care. They all work wonders.)
2-9 (Alphabetically)
Abandoned Love
Every Grain Of Sand
Hurricane
Idiot Wind
Like A Rolling Stone
Mama You Been On My Mind
Positively 4th Street
Sweetheart Like You
You're A Big Girl, Now
(This wasn't easy.)
I'd also like to mention "Percy's Song," but it has to be the Fairport Convention version.
Remember, #1 needs to be #1.
Number one "Visions of Johanna"
ReplyDelete2-9 in no order
"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"
"Positively 4th Street"
"just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
"Sara"
"Tangled up in Blue"
"Shooting Star"
"Mississippi"
"Love minus Zero/ No Limit"
"Like a Rolling Stone"("Before the Flood" version)
I'm going to confine my 10 favorites to Bob's early folkie material, the pre electric first 4 official CBS albums no obscure boots or lives. He rocks so effortlessly. No one should have been surprised when he joined the band and went electric if they were familiar with the way he arranged this early material. O K Sal because one has to be #1 it's Oxford Town then in chronological order: You're No Good, Pretty Peggy-O, Freight Train Blues. Girl from The North Country, (insert Oxford here) Don't Think Twice, One Too Many Mornings, Only A Pawn in Their Game, I Don't Believe You and It Aint me Babe. That's 10 right? Now listen to them then some Loving Spoonful and Butterfield's first album and get ready for AMPS!
DeleteNo. 1 has to be that bootleg version of "Visions of Johanna" that I first experienced was back on a double vinyl LP (the other disc was the "Albert Hall" concert). Why? Well, it's great, but also because it was the one that opened up Dylan for me. On that one recording I finally got past the somewhat negative view I had toward him based on the praise and devotion (honestly) of people who were five to ten years older than me and I finally "got" it. Great music, fun and clever lyrics, and what a great singer (before then I always marked down his singing -- how stupid).
ReplyDeleteAfter that let's see:
#2 has to be that meanie "Positively 4th Street"
Filling out in no true order:
- Like A Rolling Stone
- Memphis Blues
- Highway 61
- Love Minus Zero/No Limit
- Tangled Up In Blue
- Please Crawl Out Your Window (one of the versions). I like the mean ones.
- Oh, god, I forgot about The Basement Tapes -- there must be a good half dozen on there, I ought to put on here. Just to be purely arbitrary, Clothesline Saga.
- And to be weird, but I really do like it, that poem to Woody on the Bootleg Series.
Bonus track:
- It Ain't Me Babe - as performed by Sebastian Cabot.
Ace K.
No.1 Most of the Time
ReplyDelete...and in no particular order
Red River Shore
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Dignity
Abandoned Love
She's Your Lover Now
Blood in My Eyes (I know it's a cover, but what a cover)
Jokerman
Fourth Time Around
Dirt Road Blues
I'm afraid all my top-10 are oldies (in no order)
ReplyDeleteI Shall Be Released
Just Like A Woman
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Like a Rolling Stone
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Tangled Up In Blue
Ballad of a thin man
Talkin John Birch Paranoid BLues
Lay Lady Lay
And that's only 9, but that's all I got...
(there are probably more Dylan songs sung by other artists than by the man himself that I like better, now that I think about it...)
1) Tangled Up In Blue - so far in front of the others it just ain't funny. Would even go so far as to say if he only wrote this song, like if this was some kind of "Year of the Cat' one hit wonder phenomena in what kind of parallel universe that I never want to visit. At times I guess I thought this song was about me . . .
ReplyDelete2) One More Cup of Coffee - for the arrangement if nothing else (that fiddle, and much of Desire just knocks me out!)
3 - 5) If Dogs Run Free (does that song ever not make you smile?) / New Morning / One More Weekend
[this is getting hard]
6) Gotta Serve Somebody (May I select the Dylan/Dead version? Thanks.)
7) Visions of Johanna (speaking of which - Jerry made me absolutely fall in love with this song . . .)
[OK - so these are my 9 favorites now, today - are we clear on that?!?]
8) Positively 4th Street (for the title and for the fact that someone actually wrote this song)
9) Standing in the Doorway
10) Ballad of a Thin Man
Honoroable Mention: Queen Jane Approximately, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, What Was it You Wanted.
Where can I put Senor?!?
Oh my. This isn't easy at all. I stopped with the first ten I could think of, and there's some overlap with your list.
ReplyDelete#1:
Boots Of Spanish Leather
#2-10 alphabetical:
Abandoned Love
Ballad In Plain D
Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
Farewell Angelina
Mama You Been On My Mind
Standing In The Doorway
Tombstone Blues
Visions Of Johanna
You're A Big Girl Now (Biograph/NY version)
Not being such a "big" Dylan fan myself. I do have much respect for him as a songwriter. Having really stopped listening after The Desire LP, not much after that really interestingly moved or grabbed me. I have, what would be considered a common taste for the early material. My two favorite albums would probably be Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, along with a few others. Bringing It All Back Home, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline were solid for me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my numero uno fave would be The Times They Are A Changing. If only for it's lyrical execution, the message pertains until this day. Very strong and meaningful, hits you in the gut.
My other nine?
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
Mr. Tambourine Man
Blowin' In The Wind
I Want You
Just Like A Woman
Positively 4th Street
I Threw It All Away
It Ain't Me Babe
Subterranean Homesick Blues
There are others, most definitely. But you asked for 10, so there you go.
Nice idea.
ReplyDelete1. She Belongs To Me
2. Heart Of Mine
3. Positively 4th Street
4. Changing Of The Guard
5. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
6. If Not For You
7. Mozambique
8. Lonesome Day Blues
9. Everything Is Broken
10. Like A Rolling Stone
(11. Corrina, Corrina)
ok I'll give it a shot
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Sweet Marie
Tell Me Mama/Baby Let Me Follow You Down (off the guitars kissing boot)
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Most LIkely You'll Go Your Way
Just LIke Tom Thumb's Blues
John Wesley Harding (and the entire rest of the album, just think of it as one long song cycle)
Watching The River Flow
I Believe In You (but mostly by other people)
Isis
Romance In Durango
Black Diamond Bay and the rest of Desire
gee thanks sal for such and easy top ten.....I failed math so I think my ten is a little long
Some time back, I made a playlist for my iPod of my favorite Dylan songs, and it just happened to come out to ten songs. Later I made a second list ("Dylan Best II"), then a third... Anyway, for convenience I'll use that first list. For my #1, I'll go with Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, if only because I loved it so much when I was in college, thirty-some years ago. Indeed, none of the songs on my list came out after 1975.
ReplyDelete2-10, in no particular order:
When I Paint My Masterpiece
To Ramona
If You See Her, Say Hello
Just Like a Woman
Shelter from the Storm
Tangled Up in Blue
Like a Rolling Stone
Stuck Inside of Mobile...
Idiot Wind
J. Loslo
I think I'm not very adventurous in my selections but I do think that my list manages to cover most of BD's phases. Not by design - it just worked out that way.
ReplyDelete#1 - Like A Rolling Stone -- what can I say, I've listened to it a thousand times, read books about it, etc, and it still sounds fresh and compelling).
#2-10 (alphabetically):
Chimes of Freedom
Everything is Broken
Forever Young (upbeat version)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Mississippi
Silvio
Stuck Inside of Mobile, WTMBA
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Tangled Up in Blue
Hello all, no please, remain seated.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic, Sal. Herewith, my humble opinions:
1) Like a Rolling Stone – I know it’s probably kinda un-hip to choose this as number one, but really, it’s definitive. Ascending chord structure, perfect meld of music, lyrics, vocals and timeframe. “You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal”. How the hell did this ever make it into a pop song on the radio?
in no particular order...
It’s Alright Ma (I’m only bleeding) – the live version from Before the Flood. Bob’s vocals and guitar strumming are clearly feeding back on energy from the crowd. He’s spitting out the lyrics in killer fashion. It’s got acres of energy, and it’s just him and an acoustic guitar.
Not Dark Yet – amazing lyrics (especially to a middle-aged guy like myself) and an amazingly complementary relationship of the backing music track. To me, this is a perfectly realized piece.
Most of the Time – The thing that cuts to the heart of things in this song for me is the understated vocals. Jeez, has he ever sung a song with greater regret? Some mystical law of physics in play here: the inverse relationship between quiet, simply-sung vocals and emotional power. This song and performance just kills.
Simple Twist of Fate – I’m a hobbyist acoustic guitar player and I NEVER get tired of playing this chord sequence. The guitars on the recorded version are tuned to Open D, I believe, but it sounds so great in standard tuning that even a hack like myself sounds good.
If You See Her, Say Hello – contains one of my favorite and painful Dylan verses: “Sun down, yellow moon, I replay the past/ I know every scene by heart, it all went by so fast/ If she’s passing back this way, I’m not that hard to find/ Tell her she can look me up, if she’s got the time”. Damn. Ouch. How’d he know?
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Boy, if you’re in the market to listen to a tune about lonely, impending-doom, isolation, etc…I’ve got one here for you buddy. Are you sure you want to do this?
One Too Many Mornings – What a great singer-songwriter performance of the pain of parting ways.
Masters of War – Is this just the greatest protest song of all-time, or what?
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – great melody, great chord structure, great lyrics, great vocal performance. Jeez, this song alone would’ve been a career capstone for anyone who ever picked up a Martin D-28 and thought they could write a tune.
regards,
RichD
1-Idiot Wind
ReplyDelete2-Every Grain of Sand
3-Sweetheart Like You
4-Vision of Johanna
5-Simple Twist of Fate
6-Ballad of a Thin Man
7-When the Deal Goes Down
8-She Belongs to Me
9-When the Ship Comes In
10-Isis
Growing up I never gave a shit about Bob Dylan. He wasn't the Beatles, I didn't like his voice and I hated that "Gee Dad It's A Wurlitzer" sound dominating everything I heard. Then back in 1980 or so a coworker, whose opinion I respected, said, "You can't go wrong with 'Bringing It All Back Home', 'Highway 61 Revisited', and 'Blonde On Blonde'." Of course he was right. I found room for 'Blood On The Tracks', too. So that's pretty much all I know.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite song that isn't 'Like A Rolling Stone' is, 'Bob Dylan's 155th Dream'. My favorite Dylan song by somebody else is this version of 'Up To Me' by Roger McGuinn from 'Cardiff Rose'(1976). I like Mick Ronson's production, and the other musicians were Rolling Thunder Revue alumni. Apparently a song about Richard Farina left off 'Blood On The Tracks'.
http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/up_to_me.mp3
And in case you don't know it, here's Bob's original:
Deletehttp://alanwalkerart.com/audio/bob_up_to_me.mp3
sal, you ask too much. i can't pick a clear number one. i can't pick as few as 10. i won't expound; i know my comments can be lengthier than any sane soul wants to read so just a few annotations.
ReplyDeleteworkingman blues #2
visions of johanna
(this is a strong contender for number 1. the imagery is extraordinary; the vocal, particularly the '66 version, incisive almost beyond understanding)
absolutely sweet marie
(to live outside the law you must be honest/i know you always say that you agree. wow. everyone quotes the first part, but it is the second part that makes it brilliant and questioning)
red river shore
(this song is another stronger contender for number 1. it's the saddest damn song in the world. also the one that shows that most people shouldn't write anything about bob dylan. he makes the ineffable, effable. the people that try to explicate him just show they are orders of magnitude lesser)
tangled up in blue
(the BOTT version. later pronoun games didn't deepen it. they seemed almost to run from the depth of feeling caught once)
mississippi
(gun to my head, i likely pick the disc 1 version of tell tale signs as his best song ever. even more ineffable than red river shore. the old guy is more intense than the young guy was, which is saying so so much)
i don't believe you (electric '66)
("this song used to go like this" and nw we blow it out of the water and create a classic)
one too many mornings
most of the time
(the tell tale signs version. as someone said above, the understatement makes this among the most rending of songs. i don't think of her either.)
it's all over now baby blue
(if most people wrote one thing this good, their life would be entirely justified. for him, it's in the mix)
a hard rain's a'gonna fall
(ditto)
shelter from the storm
(ditto)
ballad of frankie lee and judas priest
(sometimes i think this is the smartest song ever written by anyone)
trying to get to heaven
(a perfect mark of bob's genius as shown by the fact that, upon hearing from sal that lucinda williams had covered this on the amnesty album i thought, wow. she's great on it, and she doesn't even get close to him. his ability to capture the emptiness and fear and uncertainty and necessity of life is unparalled. and i believe the album car wheels on a gravel road was sent straight from god to us.
obviously 5 believers
just like tom thumb blues
high water (for charley patton)
black diamond bay
tombstone blues
(the funniest song of the era)
i'll be your baby tonight
cold irons bound
sugar baby
as i went out one morning
po' boy
buckets of rain
and, yes, like a rolling stone
(because to leave it off would be simply churlish.)
i like the stones better for their sound. i love bruce springsteen more; he saved me and he's more like me. i love the beatles. i don't even think it a close question as to who the greatest artist of the rock and roll era is. that would be bob.
and not his song but i love he and ralph stanley on the lonesome river
Oh man, now we're talkin'. Thanks for givin' some lurv to Dylan on this site. He normally seems conspicuously absent from the conversation. I am a huge Todd Rundgren and soul music fan, love more modern stuff like the Strokes and Raphael Saadiq and Phoenix, love it all, but Dylan is the center of gravity for me. And I actually ponder this question a lot - what are Dylan's most perfect songs for me? The ones I can never skip a live version of on bootlegs - the ones I have 30 or more versions of on my iPod?
ReplyDeleteWell, OK, here ya go...
1. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
2. One Too Many Mornings
3. Standing In The Doorway
4. She Belongs To Me
5. Summer Days
6. Fourth Time Around
7. I Shall Be Released
8. Workingman's Blues #2
9. Eternal Circle
10. Dark Eyes
PHEW! That was difficult.
Hey, maybe I'll be adding a new one to the list tomorrow when big Bob's new album comes out. I already have it, but haven't listened yet b/c I want to relax with headphones and really take it in. With Bob, you have to really take some time to enjoy.
I am loving these lists and the enthusiasm. Good show.
ReplyDeleteMore Bob love here than over at BW.
OH here goes:
ReplyDelete1. Blind Willie McTell (incredible song and goose bump inducing
vocal performance)
2. Precious Angel
3. Hurricane
4. Just Like a Woman (Concert For Bangla Desh)
5. Under The Red Sky
6. Groom's Still Waiting At The Alter
7. Tangled Up In Blue
8. Mississippi
9. Absolutely Sweet Marie
10. Dirty World (Traveling Wilburys)
1- Visions of Johanna
ReplyDelete2- Tangled Up in Blue
3- Like a Rolling Stone
4- Subterranean homesick Blues
5- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
6- Stuck Inside Of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
7- Hurricane
8- Girl From the North Country
9- Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
9.5- Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
9.9- Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
10- One More Cup Of Coffee
-whew, just enough room...
-BlakeS
1 I Want You
ReplyDelete2 Simple Twist of Fate
3 Every Grain of Sand (demo version from box set)
4 Forever Young (demo version from box set)
5 Idiot Wind (band and acoustic versions)
6 I Believe in You
7 Caribbean Wind (unreleased/more rock version)
8 Bob Dylan's Dream
9 Brownsville Girl
10 Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Honorable Mentions: Wigwam, I Shall Be Released (acoustic version on greatest hits set), Visions of Johana (live acoustic on box set), Thunder on the Mountain, I Remember You (version used in Masked & Anonymous), It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Going to Acapulco, It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, On the Road Again ...
When there's an option, I prefer to listen to them in mono:
ReplyDelete1. Positively 4th Street
2. North Country Blues
3. Blind Willie McTell
4. Changing of the Guards
5. Gospel Plow
6. As I Went Out One Morning
7. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
8. If you See Her Say Hello
9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
10. Down in the Flood
Marie
This is too hard, so I will just write what comes to mind, not "best" as you said just favorites. And I really wish one pick could be, "all of Highway 61 Revisited, please, thank you..."
ReplyDeletePositively 4th St/Like a Rolling Stone (cannot choose, cannot choose between)
Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
Mississippi
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
If You See Her Say Hello
All Along the Watchtower
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Boots of Spanish Leather
From a Buick 6
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
I almost said all of "Highway 61" revisited, but it's only nine tunes, and when I looked for a tenth on "Bringing It All Back Home, I realized it was more complicated than that.
ReplyDelete1. Tom Thumb's Blues
ReplyDeleteVisions of Johanna
Memphis Blues Again
Blind Willie McTell
Tangled Up In Blue
Every Grain Of Sand
Don't Think Twice
I Don't Believe You
Trying To Get To Heaven
Most Of The Time
Though I'll stand by my taste, I have to admit that I'm not very good at discussing the music itself. However, this topic has really inspired me to reflect today on the amazing multi-faceted talent of Bob Dylan and the huge body of work that contains so many varied and original compositions, as well as his unique approaches to 'borrowed' or traditional songs.
ReplyDeleteThe word 'genius' is unfortunately bandied about so much these days to describe even the most run-of-the-mill pop 'stars' and songwriters. It seems to have lost a connection with its original intended meaning, "an exceptional intellectual or creative power . . ." In the case of Bob Dylan, it's no exaggeration to say that he has consistently demonstrated his own brand of 'genius.' In addition, leaving the music aside, there are his riveting lyrics that can stand on their own as legitimate poems (so unrelated to the boring 'prose without the periods' which often tries to pass itself off as poetry in our times.)
Thanks for another thought-provoking topic, Sal.
Marie
In no particular order:
ReplyDeleteGoing Going Gone
You're A Big Girl Now
I Shall Be Released
Like A Rolling Stone (the Hendrix version, natch)
Visions Of Johanna
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Down In The Flood
Masters Of War
Don't Think Twice It's All Right
And (off topic) let me plug "Self Portrait" as favourite album!!
What an annoying, absurd, impossible, hair-pulling, designed to frustrate and taunt you puzzle of a request. The Spanish Inquisition has nothing on you, Sal. And yet #1 is easy
ReplyDelete1. "Highway 61 Revisited" -- I was delivering pizzas for Domino's one summer when I bought the album this is the title track for out of a dutiful sense of needing to tackle Dylan. It didn't take long. The humor in this song, delivered in the musical arrangement, the lyrics and the inimitable phrasing (the pause after God tells Abraham, no, he's not kidding he really wants the guy to kill his son and if he doesn't why he better head for the hills and there's that pause and then "Well Abe says, 'Where do you want this killin' done?") makes me smile every damn time. Humor is not the "key" to Dylan or any truly great artist, but it's certainly an overlooked facet of his talent and what made me love him first.
No order:
"Tangled Up In Blue" -- as some here already said, I was riding not driving in a car through Manhattan late at night with my friend Noam and this song was playing and when it was over, he said, "For almost anyone else, this would be a career peak and for Dylan it's just one more of a huge, long list of great songs." I almost typed "great sons." That works, too.
"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" -- I'm very protective of my favorite artists and songs and really resent when a movie or tv show appropriates a genuine classic for some quick emotional pull or cool quotient. Nancy Savoca's Dogfight is not an absolute classic but it's a very good film indeed, one of my favorites of its year and containing two marvelous performances by River Phoenix and Lili Taylor and a distinctively feminine perspective too often lacking in films. And it's use of this song is absolutely heartbreaking and wonderful, managing to both mine the song for its full emotional impact without letting the song overwhelm the moment in the film or the film overwhelm the song. I still enjoy it on its own without flashing to the film (try that with "The Ride of The Valkyries," for example. You're settling into a 16 hour Ring Cycle and flashing back to Vietnam whether you want to or not) and yet it's completely embedded in that film. Used with complete integrity. (con't)
"Like A Rolling Stone" -- of course. Historically it is #1 and deserves to be. My favorite memory of the song is seeing Dylan in concert during those many, many years (even today sometimes) when he so distorts a tune and mumbles the lyrics so completely that you're just standing there trying to figure out what the hell he's singing and then like a life preserver, like a beacon in the night suddenly out flash the words "How does it feel?" as clear as day! "Like A Rolling Stone!" you think excitedly. He's singing "LIke A Rolling Stone!"
ReplyDelete"The Times They Are A'Changing" -- so obvious you're tempted to leave it off. But it's such a malleable "protest" song that it never dates, never fades, the sort enduring standard of a protest song that Dylan did and does better than anyone else. This is the difference between Dylan and, say, Pete Seeger and the countless others who penned very specific, potent protest songs about a cause that sound ridiculous or dated or just plain boring a year or two after the protests have ended. Plus, Divine quotes it in "Hairspray" while ironing" and it's not just a tweak or a winking reference or funny (though it's all of those things), it's also exactly right. Yes, they are a'changing when Divine can play a woman in a family friendly comedy by John Waters and quote Bob Dylan and everyone gets the reference and yet Dylan is still a potent, dangerous talent and not some safe commodified product like say Elvis became at the end of his career to the public (even though he was still singing great -- that's a story for another day).
"Dark Eyes" -- I think the firt Dylan album I reviewed was Empire Burlesque, which was not exactly an auspicious beginning. Dylan seemed to have entered that stage where everything he did got respectful reviews (the best thing he's done since...) no matter it's quality. You know, like the Rolling Stones after Tattoo You. But what a beautiful ballad and it helped me realize this album was actually a good collection of songs burdened with horrible, horrible production. It's great in its own right and a helpful hint that Dylan had much more left though god knows we'd have to hear Knocked Out loaded and Down In The Groove and Under The Red Sky too.
"Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" -- I actually got stoned for the very first time while hearing this song. How great is that? Unlike most other experiences with pot (where any old thing can seem mind-blowingly brilliant) this actually proved just as amazing the next day when I was straight again (so to speak). Thanks fellow employees of Publix Supermarkets! (con't)
"Visions Of Johanna" -- a lifetime of emotion in one song. Or should I pick the hilarity of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" or the raucous, master class of phrasing known as "Stuck Inside Of Memphis With The Mobile Blues Again" or "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands" which used to try my patience when I was younger but I was too ashamed to cut it off short and then I grew up and now I'm upset when it ends? Can I pick Blonde on Blonde as a song?
ReplyDelete"All I Really Want To Do" -- some people don't like Dylan. Most people don't own a Bob Dylan album and will never even listen to an entire Bob Dylan album. I don't mean most people as in most people in the world, but just most people who actively listen to music and own some albums. Isn't that strange? Could they really listen to this song and not smile and laugh and tap their toes and want to hear more? The sing-songy descending melody, the playfulness of the lyrics, the whooping vocals, the harmonica playing that only Stevie Wonder can top for sheer melodic charm, the way he makes himself laugh and wins over every girl in the room the way any guy who stands on stage with an acoustic guitar deep in his really wants to do a whole lot more than change the world, I mean what exactly do they WANT from pop music anyway?
"Shelter From The Storm" -- son of a bitch he did it again (and again and again and again). Just another brilliant epic length song that is overflowing with wisdom and compassion and pain and honesty and insight and makes you feel older when you're younger and younger when you're older because it keeps speaking to you over the years.
"Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" -- let's begin where we started, with the humor that is always present in Dylan's best work. This I first heard on one of the Bootleg Albums (official, I don't do genuine bootlegs because good god that way lies endless madness) and as with a hundred other songs like "Blind Willie McTell" and so many others you think, how did this one never make it onto an album? Pure goofiness, a story song goof about a disastrous outing but of course Dylan is so good in the details and so funny in the telling that it transcends its rather minor ambitions to become for me a prototypical Dylan song. He could do anything and...oh, what am I saying? I just burst out laughing when the boat overturns and everyone riots and swims for dear life and Dylan straggles onto shore and details how beat up and awful he feels and says his head is busted and his stomach is cracked and then, rather improbably, he blurts out "I was bald!" and then follows it up with a faux exuberant "Felt lucky to be alive though!" Makes me laugh every damn time.
Yeah, yeah, that's eleven. Dylan always runs on too, doesn't he? Damn you Sal and your word taunts!
Bravo to all, and it's only Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone is reading the fabulous comments here.
Nope, I haven't read any of the comments.
DeleteHello all...no, please remain seated.
ReplyDeleteok...this is fun.
I note approvingly that others above have broken through the “10 song barrier” (free at last!). So, after a period of deep inner contemplation, a cycle of binge & purge, and a good night’s sleep, I offer my eleventh favorite Dylan Song (hey, no pushing! Let me finish):
Subterranean Homesick Blues. This is one of Dylan’s contributions to that type of song that Chuck Berry did so well: lyrics that just come tumbling out rhythmically, verse after verse, with a lotta one-note singing followed by a merciful chord change. I love that stuff. Think about Berry songs like Let It Rock and You Can’t Catch Me. To my ears, some other examples of this format in rock are Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up and End Of The World As We Know It by REM. I’m sure there are scads of others.
But, back to His Royal Bob-ness. Homesick Blues has that great chugging rhythm and all that treble-y instrumental backing and teriffic vocal phrasing. And of course, in our minds eye, we think of Bob showing all those flashcards from the film. “The pump don’t work cause the vandals took the handles”. Still don’t know what that means, but I love it. Makes me smile.
Regards,
RichD
Great comments, Michael Giltz. And William Repsher, you reminded me that I was insane to leave "I Believe In You" out of my Top 10.
ReplyDelete- A Walk In The Woods
Big time fun Sal!
ReplyDeleteI originally came over from BW and thought I'd remark about how Dylan never did all that much for me. Just looking at everyone's lists is reshaping that view. I don't have a top 10, but I can say a few words about a few songs.
ReplyDeleteHard Rain's Gonna Fall: I find it a hilarious cliche to play Dylan to middle school age school kids to connect with them. And this song works every damn time. Want kids to connect to Cold War Fear? Tell them about this song and play it. Want kids to connect to their own mortality, ask them, "If you thought you were going to die and wanted to write one last song, what would come out?" Like, wow, man.
Highway 61: I actually prefer Johnny Winter's version, and I think that's the only song I can say that about.
Here's one I didn't see on anyone else's list: Forever Young. Again, looking at someone else's version of it, I triple dog dare anyone to watch the film "Young at Heart" (about the geezer choir) and watch the scene where they sing it at a prison after they find out one of their members has died and not choke up.
Well, now I believe I have some Dylan Review Homework to catch up on!
Thanks everyone
@Aaron- "Forever Young" was on my list.
ReplyDeleteLooking at my own collection, I realized I only have 23 Dylan albums. I have some Dylan Homework to do too.
I just don't know how to pick ten, but these are not in any way what I think are the best Dylan songs but rather if I had to put ten on my ipod to listen to on a plane or in the car or just before I was executed.
ReplyDelete(In no particular order)
Love Minus Zero -- but, the live at budokan version. I love that one with the flutes.
Simple Twist of Fate - hard not to include everything from Blood on the Tracks
Buckets of Rain - see above
Tangled Up in Blue - see above
Stuck Inside of Memphis - When I was a sportswriter in Jersey, the FDU baseball team went down to Mobile and got the shit kicked out of them by Memphis State. Want to guess the headline I wrote that day?
Blind Willie McTell
Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart - but the slow, gorgeous version off the first Bootleg series album
Like a Rolling Stone
Tom Thumb
Subterranean
except I got the title of stuck reversed, obviously. sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteBuckets of Rain
ReplyDeleteIt’s the well nigh flawless capper on a well nigh flawless album; it’s when the master of ceremonies comes back on stage and says thank you and goodnight and get home safely; it’s having a friend who’ll make sure you don’t have to do it all alone; it’s the knot in the ribbon that ties the gift together. It’s heartfelt and poignant and has a simple, unadorned beauty that it takes exquisite craftsmanship to pull off, and it gets right inside me every time.
Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must
You do what you must do and ya do it well
These are my other choices. I’ve been cutting and changing for days and if I don’t hit send I’ll just keep on tinkering. Dylan is always going to be a work in progress.
Shelter from the Storm
Desolation Row
Girl from the North Country
Like a Rolling Stone
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Motorpsycho Nightmare
My Back Pages
Tangled Up In Blue
This was tough to do but here goes...
ReplyDelete1) Desolation Row
2-10 in no particular order
Tangled Up In Blue
Not Dark Yet
I and I (Love the Mark Knophler guitar)
Like A Rolling Stone
Shelter From The Storm
Mississippi
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
Idiot Wind
Masters of War
three out of 10 from BOTT, but for me that is an all time favorite. It never gets old. By the way I am still finding lots to like on Tempest..I even kind of like how his voice fits that pre-war kind of sound that he and his band have been making over the past decade. Now if you ask my wife...that's a whole other story! Great post Sal.
Been on vacation and could not wait to get home to post. Have not looked at any other choices other than Sal's. Not sure if we can include other artists versions of Bob's songs so I'll avoid those selections other than a special shoutout for Mama You've Been on My Mind done by Rod.
ReplyDeleteYears ago friends of mine created a To The Moon cassette and the rules were one song one artist so that song still is Knocking On Heaven's Door.
The rest
Blind Willie McTell
Santa Fe
Dear Landlord
I'll Keep With Mine
Positively 4th St
Lay Lady Lay
Shelter From The Storm
New morning
and Visions live 66 which I have discussed before here
Sal thanks once again for a great, thoughtful subject and the opportunity to expound upon it
Many things amaze me about this man, not the least of which is how 40 years after his first recording, he managed to write my single favorite Dylan tune.Agreed!
ReplyDelete