Here is a short selection of great Bob Dylan tunes in
celebration of the coolest Nobel Prize winner ever. I first tried to compile this list in honor of
Bob’s 70th birthday by picking my top 7 seven songs (one for each
decade). Couldn’t do it. There is no way I could pick seven and leave
others off. So I went to a standard Top
10 list. Couldn’t do it. Ten is not enough space if you want to cover
even the basics. So I’ve forced myself
to stop at an even dozen, despite the pain this caused me. I’ve got approximately 450 Dylan songs on my
iPod and I suppose I could have comfortably left the list at about 200. OK – 250.
But I left off any live songs and kept any alternate versions out of
scope. I still don’t know how I didn’t put
some songs on here, (“What – no Don’t
Think Twice!”), but here’s a selection of what I think covers off a range
of Bob’s best. (Alphabetical order –
don’t make me choose amongst these). The
songs are great but what I’m really looking forward to now is the ceremony when
the award is bestowed – that is going to be one hell of a speech.
- Baby Stop Crying – Off the Street Legal album this song really showcases the song part of Dylan’s “songwriting”. There is nothing particularly profound about the words, but the combination of a great band, very good timing from Dylan on his lead vocal (yes – it’s good) and most of all incredible backup singing makes this a classic. Oh yeah – Dylan name-checks The Supremes “Come See About Me” in the tune as well. See it here (with the added bonus of Top of the Pops "Legs Inc." dancing to it - hilarious): http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI1ODM0NzUy.html
- Everything is Broken – Off Oh Mercy this song is the best Dylan song to drive to ever. Seriously, get in the car, get out on an open highway, crank this up and drive. There are a few other Dylan songs you might want to take on that trip – Silvio, Tight Connection to My Heart and Someday Baby come to mind. Here’s a link to the song: http://videos.sapo.pt/EZNZizOUtzpQctOD4U1U
- Hurricane – OK – put this one in the car too. Dylan pretty much left off singing “protest songs” after about 1964, fearing he was getting pigeonholed. This was an exception – the story of the wrongful imprisonment of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the song also features a tremendous violin accompaniment and has one of the best openings of any Dylan song (which is saying something). “Pistol shots ring out in a barroom night…”. You can find it on the Desire album. Here’s the link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xr3q27_bob-dylan-hurricane_music
- If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Little change of pace here, but the fact that this comes from an earlier phase of Dylan’s career doesn’t mean that this song rocks any less. In fact, the difference between the “electric” versions and the acoustic one done at the Newport Folk Festival (easily googled) I think show how Dylan’s progression from folk to electric was a natural and valuable step (not the betrayal it was originally seen as). The song just sounds better on electric. You can find this on the first Bootleg Series album and here’s a link to an electric version of the song: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTc0NzA5MjU2.html
- Love Minus Zero/No Limit – However – here’s one that shows there was nothing wrong with the earlier phase of the career – it was just different. This is some of the best wordplay off the Bringing it All Back Home album – which is famous for the wordcraft used in its creation -“she knows there’s no success like failure, and failure’s no success at all”. Brilliant. http://videos.sapo.pt/JlQLVVV26f69KCbWsye8
- Make You Feel My Love – This one’s on the charts at the moment (for Adele) and is one of the best representatives of a genre that has many entrants – the Dylan song everyone loves to cover. From the days of the Byrds (Mr. Tambourine Man) through Manfred Mann (Quinn the Eskimo) on to Rod Stewart (Forever Young) and on to today everyone loves Bob. One of these lists will be made up of my favorite Dylan covers (Johnny Cash wins) but on this list I’ll stick mostly to originals – one exception here since it seems everyone covers this one (the originals on Time Out of Mind). I had a hard time choosing who to put as the cover artist (Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Bryan Ferry, and many more) I decided to go with Joan Osborne’s version – eat it Adele. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rumOb2-EwK4&feature=related#
- The Man in Me – Yeah, I know, this is not just from New Morning – it’s also from The Big Lebowski. Great movie (“The Dude abides”), but also a great song. The song kind of reminds me of The Beatles “Hey Jude”, with an extended play-out and a good deal of “La-la’s” that make it one of the better Dylan sing-along songs. Here’s a link: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/HQbyZ3JIFmY/
- On the Road Again – This, I think, is the funniest Dylan song (and there is a good bit of humor in his work). Confronted with the family from hell this becomes the ultimate “fear of commitment” song – mainly because there is a hell of a lot to fear. “Even the butler – he’s got something to prove…” This is a short section of the song off "Bringing it All Back Home" (I gotta find a full version on line)http://www.juno.co.uk/miniflashplayer/SF413213-01-01-06.mp3
- Thunder on the Mountain – Off the Modern Times album, this is Dylan at his current, super-grainy voiced best. The song really rocks and the writing is amazing. “Gonna raise me an army of some tough sons-of-bitches, gonna get that army from the orphanages…”Consider this – this song came out in 2006 and name checks Alicia Keys. Dylan’s first album came out in 1962 and name checks Woody Guthrie. That’s a journey. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RPkJeziNyI
- Tomorrow is a Long Time – “If today was not an endless highway…”. This is the only Dylan song that I know of that was covered by Elvis, and The King made a good choice. The story is that this is the first in a trio of songs Dylan wrote that charted the curve of his relationship with Suze Rotolo (there were many others but these three were connected). This tells of the immediate loss felt after Rotolo left on a trip to Europe. “Boots of Spanish Leather” chronicles the increasing separation that a trip of that sort creates. Finally, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” tells how things can end. The last two songs are better known, (the Dylan version is stuck on “Greatest Hits 2”) but give me this one. http://tu.tv/videos/tomorrow-is-a-long-time
- Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You – Man, I love Nashville Skyline – it’s a really short album and some criticize it as slight, but Dylan’s voice sounds great and the obvious affection he has for country music shines through. There are many good tunes on the album but I’ll throw my suitcase out for this one. Link here: http://mp3.xalo.vn/bai-hat/bob-dylan/tonight-i-ll-be-staying-here-with-you/a5a16528
- You Ain’t Going Nowhere – Another where the best version can be found on Greatest Hits 2. Done with The Band, this song features one of the few Genghis Khan references in all pop music and name checks Roger McGuinn (The Byrds ended up doing a cover). Great story about McGuinn and Dylan – Bob was approached to write the title song for the film Easy Rider, but was too busy – so he just jotted the words “The river flows, flows to the sea” on an envelope and told Dennis Hopper to “give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do”. The resulting song and movie became classics. Here’s the link for Going Nowhere: https://vimeo.com/150077648 and as a bonus here’s Easy Rider: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8jC1lRZGTU
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