100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs- 1. Like a Rolling Stone 2. Tangled Up in Blue, Congratulations to Bonzai, winner of the contest (2 Viewers)

[rockaction]

Of course I'm chimin' in. #1?

I also loved especially loved the last lyrics too. Very feminine, I thought. 

Did not like the Tedeschi version. Too plodding. 

 

[otb_lifer]

6. “Idiot Wind” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/Ex05XUddWMk

The meanest, nastiest  song ever written? For my money it’s only close competitor is Queen’s “Death on Two Legs” (which ironically was written the same year.) But on “Idiot Wind” Dylan doesn’t hold back: 

You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies, one day you’ll be in the ditch, Flies buzzin’ around your eyes, blood on your saddle 

Damn. Or how about 

You’ll never know the the hurt I suffered, nor the pain I rise above. 

And most of all the last line of the chorus: 

You’re an idiot babe, it’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe. 

This is Bob Dylan using his lyrics as a sharp knife, stabbing someone in the heart

my choice for #1 

(bolded completes the lyric chain, and is too vicious to leave off).

 

[timschochet]

4. “Just Like a Woman” (1966, from Blonde on Blonde) 

https://youtu.be/dRLXZVojdhQ

The lyrics are so deceptively simple, and that’s what make them so brilliant: 

Nobody has to guess that baby can’t be blessed, till she finally sees that she’s like all the rest 

and 

Ain’t it clear that I just can’t fit 

Yes, I believe that it’s time for us to quit 

When we meet again, introduced as friends, please don’t let on that you knew me when I was hungry and it was your world 

As for the chorus, in terms of songwriting it was nothing short of revolutionary. Nobody wrote songs at the time about mature women and their needs, physical and emotional (actually nobody really wrote about women at all, at its still rare for a male artist to do so.) The line “she breaks like a little girl” has long been both praised and criticized by different sets of feminists. But I don’t think Dylan was out to make some larger statement here; he was trying to be poetic and introspective from personal experience. That’s true for a lot of his best songs and he rarely achieved success greater than in this one. 

Covers Of all the fine versions I’ve heard of this song, none is better than Richie Havens, first recorded in the same year (1966) as the original recording. I’ve not in love with the instrumentation but Haven’s raw vocals are so full of emotion that they make up for everything else: 

https://youtu.be/-9pgx3zSrDQ

 

[timschochet]

3. "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (1965, from Bringing It All Back Home)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYajHZ4QUVM

Greatest song lyrics ever? Consider:

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

And that's just the first verse. There's 3 more just as good. As good as any poetry you're ever going to read on the written page. So the only question is, why is this #3 and not the clear #1?

Melody is the only reason. Greatest lyrics ever but the melody is close to traditional folk, doesn't go anywhere. In terms of popular music it's not a complete song; it's certainly not something you're going to sing along to. I'm pretty certain it never appeared on the radio of it's own accord. I'm even more certain that nobody who is not a Bob Dylan fan has ever even heard it. (Though some years ago Dylan quoted some of the lines on Sixty Minutes with a marveled look on his face as if to say, "Can you believe I actually wrote this?")

The most famous line is in the 1st verse: "He not busy being born is busy dying." However, my personal favorite lines, in light of current events, is this:

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

Covers Not really, no. This is a really hard song to sing and play. The Byrds tried to do it, its their worst Dylan cover and I won't link it here. Nobody else notable has even dared to give it a go.

 

[timschochet]

2. “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/YwSZvHqf9qM

1. “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965, from Highway 61 Revisited) 

https://youtu.be/IwOfCgkyEj0

Time to wrap this up. The top 2 songs are pretty anticlimactic. Two of the greatest songs ever written and I don’t have much further to add to that. I also don’t have covers to present (even though there’s one I really like by the Indigo Girls of Tangled Up in Blue; the original songs are too good to consider them.) 

 

[timschochet]

I'll take a stab:

Like a Rolling Stone 
Tangled Up in Blue 
Don’t Think Twice, it’s Alright 
It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) 
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
The Times They Are a’ Changin’
Visions Of Johanna
Desolation Row 
Blowin' In The Wind

Congratulations to @Bonzai, winner of the contest with 6 songs in the top 10. You have great taste! Please pick your charity so that I can make a donation. Thanks to everyone who participated. 

And thanks to everyone who bothered to read this. I’m thinking about doing another one for Paul Simon. Should I? Let me know. 

 

[Dr. Octopus]

 I’m thinking about doing another one for Paul Simon. Should I? Let me know. 

Sure. Why not?

Nice work.

 

[johnnycakes]

2. “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/YwSZvHqf9qM

1. “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965, from Highway 61 Revisited) 

https://youtu.be/IwOfCgkyEj0

Time to wrap this up. The top 2 songs are pretty anticlimactic. Two of the greatest songs ever written and I don’t have much further to add to that. I also don’t have covers to present (even though there’s one I really like by the Indigo Girls of Tangled Up in Blue; the original songs are too good to consider them.) 

Thanks for a great thread, Tim.  Fwiw, I thought the Jerry Garcia Band did a respectable cover of Tangled Up in Blue.  

 

[otb_lifer]

i was hoping to get at least a whiff of Eden burning - am i the only one that worships the living #### outta that one?

the lyrics are scintillating  ... top 5 for me   

 

[kutta]

Totally agree with the top 2. Two of the greatest songs ever.

 

[rockaction]

And thanks to everyone who bothered to read this. I’m thinking about doing another one for Paul Simon. Should I? Let me know. 

Does it include Garfunkel? If not, I can't see a hundred Paul Simon solo songs, thought that may be just me. 

 

[rockaction]

2. “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/YwSZvHqf9qM

1. “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965, from Highway 61 Revisited) 

https://youtu.be/IwOfCgkyEj0

Time to wrap this up.

Worthy choices. Nice thread. Tangled Up In Blue is a little down on my list, but still fine. No quibbles to ruin things here. 

 

[timschochet]

Does it include Garfunkel? If not, I can't see a hundred Paul Simon solo songs, thought that may be just me. 

Of course. It would consider all songs composed by Paul Simon. 

 

[rockaction]

Of course. It would consider all songs composed by Paul Simon. 

One never knows...sounds good to me. I'd love to be able to see that. Simon and Garfunkel blow me away, frankly. 

 

[otb_lifer]

Worthy choices. Nice thread. Tangled Up In Blue is a little down on my list, but still fine. No quibbles to ruin things here. 

pretty compelling breakdown/endorsement of "Blue" here ... but i tend to agree with your take. 

 

[rockaction]

pretty compelling breakdown/endorsement of "Blue" here ... but i tend to agree with your take. 

Huh. Perhaps this, then. A great song for sure. Great clip. I'm through about nine minutes of it. The interesting part about the use of time and the verses and the subject matter is cool, especially the broad strokes of 3-6 and the minutiae of 4-5. I think pointing out its intent in repetitiveness is important to the song, one that I might have just taken as droning on along the same lines. What I had identified from the naked ear to soul as, "Will this ever finish?" takes on new meaning after watching that. 

 

[otb_lifer]

Huh. Perhaps this, then. A great song for sure. Great clip. I'm through about nine minutes of it. The interesting part about the use of time and the verses and the subject matter is cool, especially the broad strokes of 3-6 and the minutiae of 4-5. I think pointing out its intent in repetitiveness is important to the song, one that I might have just taken as droning on along the same lines. What I had identified from the naked ear to soul as, "Will this ever finish?" takes on new meaning after watching that. 

i recall earlier in the thread when "Hurricane" was discussed ... i believe a lack of subtlety was referenced as to why it didn't place higher ... now, to me, the visceral chugging along of that song, and it's sledgehammer narrative, drops my jaw every time, still some 43 or so years after first hearing it ... it ####in' blisters and rocks and careens along at a breakneck pace.  

"Blue" is quite the opposite in structure and delivery, as we saw so painstakingly extrapolated in that clip ... and it all begins to win me over so much more when seen/heard thru that prism ... though i still prefer "Hurricane" and "Idiot" and "Changing of the Guards" more, as i find them to be a more biting Bob, which is the Dylan i most love and dedicate listening time to.  

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Au contraire

Love Jerry's backing vocals on a couple last lines of verses...they all play on the pennywhistle, you can hear them blow...

Einstein disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend a jealous monk
And he looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
And went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
You wouldn't think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing electric violin on Desolation Row

Was at that show. 

 

[Bonzai]

Congratulations to @Bonzai, winner of the contest with 6 songs in the top 10. You have great taste! Please pick your charity so that I can make a donation. Thanks to everyone who participated. 

And thanks to everyone who bothered to read this. I’m thinking about doing another one for Paul Simon. Should I? Let me know. 

Thanks for doing this. Great job! It was fun to follow along.

As for my charity, I'm going to go with The Jed Foundation.

The Jed Foundation

Every four seconds, someone loses their life to suicide. Suicide prevention is also the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day. If you want to help tackling this issue, you can donate to The Jed Foundation, a non-profit organization working to prevent suicide for American teens and young adults. Founded in 2000 by Phil and Donna Satow, a couple who lost their youngest son to suicide, the organization has been rated 4-stars (the highest rating) by Charity Navigator for its financial health, accountability and transparency. 

 

[timschochet]

Thanks for doing this. Great job! It was fun to follow along.

As for my charity, I'm going to go with The Jed Foundation.

The Jed Foundation

Every four seconds, someone loses their life to suicide. Suicide prevention is also the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day. If you want to help tackling this issue, you can donate to The Jed Foundation, a non-profit organization working to prevent suicide for American teens and young adults. Founded in 2000 by Phil and Donna Satow, a couple who lost their youngest son to suicide, the organization has been rated 4-stars (the highest rating) by Charity Navigator for its financial health, accountability and transparency. 

Done. Sounds like a great organization so I’m happy to do it. 

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Can we get the top 100 put in the OP some high ranked songs I’m not familiar with that I’d like to come back and reference 

 

[Bonzai]

Done. Sounds like a great organization so I’m happy to do it. 

Right on.  You're a good dude, tim.

 

[Galileo]

Thanks for the effort, Tim  

 

[timschochet]

Can we get the top 100 put in the OP some high ranked songs I’m not familiar with that I’d like to come back and reference 

Sure- I’ll get to that later tonight. 

 

[Galileo]

Maybe I overlooked it, but did neither Watching the River Flow nor Lay Down Your Weary Tune make your top 100???

 

[Ilov80s]

Good collection that every Dylan fan will agree with  

 

[timschochet]

Maybe I overlooked it, but did neither Watching the River Flow nor Lay Down Your Weary Tune make your top 100???

Both missed out. I did consider both songs. 

 

[timschochet]

100 countdown listed in the OP

 

[peaces]

100 countdown listed in the OP

 

[BobbyLayne]

100 countdown listed in the OP

This was fun to read through the last couple days. Completely missed it the first time around.

I know why....it was the darkest time in my life. I was in an deep abyss, and could barely function. I had neglected my mental health for decades - combat PTSD and severe depression. WRT the latter, my evaluation included several different tests, and I was on the extreme end of the spectrum for a good long while. Like barely get out of bed or function level of darkness.

I bring that up bc many months later - whilst in a 5 day, 30 hours per week outpatient program through the VA, which lasted two full years - at the encouragement of my music therapist, I embarked on a review of the entire discography. I analyzed and wrote about every composition Bob Dylan ever published. I would share my research (& a song of the day) with my fellow veterans. It was very cathartic.

(each day concluded with an hour of veterans sharing music with each other & what the song means to them)

Music therapy was one of a dozen classes I was attending, but along with mindfulness meditation to start off, the only one I did daily. I researched, wrote, and introduced a Dylan song every weekday for 104 weeks, less holidays. Might have skipped a few basement tapes dittys or a couple other obscure ones but basically covered everything he ever released.

Drove the other veterans bonkers but don't you understand, its not my problem?

Wouldn't say Dylan is especially effective as a directed therapeutic method, but it gave me some measure of joy each day. At the time, that was in short supply, so there is that.

***************

Same same for @Eephus and the epic Walks with Bosley & Bob thread. Didn't catch it the first time, but thoroughly enjoyed reading your wonderfully crafted review of all his albums recently. In particular, enjoyed the concluding paragraph of each post. In fact, so much that I had to go find the Sinatra thread bc I just had to know how the end was for the old boy. Not ashamed to say I cried for that black dog on more than one occasion.

You're a mensch. Thank you for taking us on that journey.