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10 of the Best Songs by Bob Dylan, Rock Music's Poet Laureate
Associated Content ^ | Sept 2006 | C. McCarthy

Posted on 04/13/2009 8:04:27 PM PDT by pissant

Bob Dylan, the poet laureate of rock music, has written some of the greatest songs of all time. Whether in the form of a send-off to a former friend, a protest song, or a feel-good ballad immortalizing a good relationship, Dylan consistently delivers interesting, often timeless music. The following is a list of some of Dylan's best from early in his career.

10) Lay Lady Lay, on the country music album Nashville Skyline, features a softer-voiced Bob Dylan (he had temporarily quit smoking during his recuperation from a near-fatal motorcycle accident). It is a very interesting and very, well, strange song. At once haunting and tender, it is one of his best. One thing about Bob D: his most impressive or hardest-hitting songs, rhetorical-wise, are about women. Lay Lady Lay is one of the tender, mellow ones. More on this later.

9) Masters of War (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan), is an unabashed protest song. No rhetorical or lyrical pussy-footing here. Dylan lays out exactly how he feels about war and the concomitant wartime profiteers. No oblique or cryptic lyrics to be found in this song. It resonates today.

8) Ballad of a Thin Man on Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan's second electric album. People did not know how to take it. The lyrics are about as cryptic and surrealistic as you can get, yet are interesting and make sense, sort of. Pounding piano and a strong organ riff carry the song, but amidst the whirlpool of sound, Dylan's delivery and timing shine.

7) Blowing in the Wind (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan), perhaps Dylan's most famous song, is a cry for peace, love, and equality in the generalized, vague, and all-encompassing vein of John Lennon's later Imagine. I mention it because it is a great song and one worth listening to.

(Excerpt) Read more at associatedcontent.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: bobdylan; dylan; music
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To: The SISU kid

Oh No! Now you’re poor and living in the wetlands. I sure hope it works out for you! I know the ladies will be beating a path to your door.


61 posted on 04/13/2009 8:57:31 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Salamander

Sorry Sal’....

see post 47 for a lame explaination!!

promise I’ll do better in the future

8^)


62 posted on 04/13/2009 8:58:44 PM PDT by The SISU kid (I feel really homesick all the time & so do all the other aliens.....)
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To: Nathan Jr.

There are some very good covers of Dylan tunes. Rod the Mod does a credible version of Tomorrow is a Long Time as well - back when he had talent. But the intimacy of the original captures a vibe that is difficult to duplicate.


63 posted on 04/13/2009 8:59:00 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Salamander

Sounds like it worked out for you!! You’ve been chipper as a meadowlark since I’ve known ya! :o)


64 posted on 04/13/2009 8:59:51 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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Comment #65 Removed by Moderator

To: Republican Party Reptile
While I like U2’s and Guns N Roses’ take on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, only Dylan’s original can properly serve the score for Slim Picken’s dying scene in “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid”.

I agree with you. For some odd reason I thought Dylan's version of Heaven's Door was done by somebody else. It was also well produced like Lay Lady Lay.

66 posted on 04/13/2009 9:03:39 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Republican Party Reptile

That’s for damn sure. Up till about 10 years ago, his voice was used much like an instrument. Not pretty sounding, but full of wisdom, wariness and weariness. Now it is more of a croak, but sometimes he nails it. When I listen to Lonesome Day Blues, for example, I still hear it.


67 posted on 04/13/2009 9:04:07 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Baynative

Boy, you had to did deep for that one. LOL


68 posted on 04/13/2009 9:04:53 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Mr. Blonde

excellent list, sir. As for telling ‘em off, nothing could ever compare to Idiot Wind


69 posted on 04/13/2009 9:06:01 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: donaldo

One of Dylan’s great love songs.


70 posted on 04/13/2009 9:17:07 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant

Bob Dylan & Eric Clapton - Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ole7-bR_r-M

Bob Dylan & Eric Clapton - Crossroads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHHVi7tBqk&feature=related


71 posted on 04/13/2009 9:23:03 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather (CONGRATULATIONS U.S. NAVY AND CAPT. PHILLIPS! WE ARE AMERICANS!)
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To: pissant

When talking about women I tend to agree, but when it comes to telling people off in general there is one better, Positively 4th Street.

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning

You say I let you down
You know it’s not like that
If you’re so hurt
Why then don’t you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that’s not where it’s at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You’re in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don’t know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
But you don’t mean it

When you know as well as me
You’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I’d rob them

And now I know you’re dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don’t you understand
It’s not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you

Singers and especially rappers have been trying to tell off others in song with some regularity in the more than 40 years since that came out and I don’t think anyone has come close.


72 posted on 04/13/2009 9:23:54 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: pissant
I lived with them on Montague street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
73 posted on 04/13/2009 9:25:01 PM PDT by Tainan (Where's my FOF Indicator?)
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To: pissant

While I truly love many of his songs mentioned here, nothing surpasses ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ for the transforming song it was and is.

I remember hearing it for the first time, where I was and what I was doing. It’s that kind of song for me.


74 posted on 04/13/2009 9:28:34 PM PDT by Swede Girl
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To: Tainan

Everybody Must Get Stoned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zab6DH_ViD8


75 posted on 04/13/2009 9:29:01 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather (CONGRATULATIONS U.S. NAVY AND CAPT. PHILLIPS! WE ARE AMERICANS!)
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To: pissant
Have you heard Cross the Green Mountain from the God’s and Generals soundtrack (also on Tell Tale Signs). Most excellent

My fave. My dear Lord, I love that movie, and I love Dylan for his contribution. add:
Lay Lady Lay
Shelter from the Storm

76 posted on 04/13/2009 9:33:51 PM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great... ...until it happens to YOU.)
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To: Mr. Blonde

Ahhhh Desolation Row. Kinda describes my family reunions.


77 posted on 04/13/2009 9:34:27 PM PDT by investigateworld ( Abortion stops a beating heart.)
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To: pissant

So many songs, so little time. Yes to all of the above, and here are some that have not yet been mentioned.

I’ll Keep it With Mine
If You See Her, Say Hello
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Mr. Tambourine Man
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
She’s Your Lover Now
One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)


78 posted on 04/13/2009 10:03:48 PM PDT by drjimmy
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To: The SISU kid

Leon Russell / A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sMSSm0x2A


79 posted on 04/13/2009 10:13:25 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather (CONGRATULATIONS U.S. NAVY AND CAPT. PHILLIPS! WE ARE AMERICANS!)
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To: donaldo
Maybe I’m nuts here buy I really like “If Not For You.”

Only half-nuts (for being interested in Dylan's stuff, like me); but "If Not For You" is a stratospheric piece!

80 posted on 04/13/2009 10:14:45 PM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great... ...until it happens to YOU.)
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