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Bob Dylan's Top 50 Songs

Henry Irving
Henry Irving Posts: 85,223
in Not Sports Related
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/09/bob-dylans-50-greatest-songs-ranked?CMP=twt_a-music_b-gdnmusic

I know there are a few Dylan fans like @bobmunro and @Nadou on here who stuck with him after "Desire" came out, unlike me, so for a friendly debate I thought I'd post this list.

Shelter from the Storm not there?  WTF

Glad to see "I threw it all away" in there.
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Comments

  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    Just a quick scan.

    I would most definitely have Love Minus Zero, No Limits and (without doubt) Blowin' in the Wind much higher - the latter in the top 10.
    Two notable exceptions at first reading, both from Desire - Sara and Oh Sister. I would have them both in ahead of Isis.
    There is no right answer though - and how many musicians could possibly have a top 50 tracks list with arguments for those missing out??

  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,223
    edited April 2020
    bobmunro said:
    Just a quick scan.

    I would most definitely have Love Minus Zero, No Limits and (without doubt) Blowin' in the Wind much higher - the latter in the top 10.
    Two notable exceptions at first reading, both from Desire - Sara and Oh Sister. I would have them both in ahead of Isis.
    There is no right answer though - and how many musicians could possibly have a top 50 tracks list with arguments for those missing out??

    agree on Sara  "Sitting up for days in the Chelsea Hotel writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you"


  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    Henry Irving said:
    bobmunro said:
    Just a quick scan.

    I would most definitely have Love Minus Zero, No Limits and (without doubt) Blowin' in the Wind much higher - the latter in the top 10.
    Two notable exceptions at first reading, both from Desire - Sara and Oh Sister. I would have them both in ahead of Isis.
    There is no right answer though - and how many musicians could possibly have a top 50 tracks list with arguments for those missing out??

    agree on Sara  "Sitting up all night in the Chelsea Hotel writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you"


    The Irish Times stated the song was "as beautiful an expression of the preciousness and frailty of human love as has ever been put on a record".
    I can't and won't argue with that.
  • seth plum
    seth plum Posts: 53,448
    bobmunro said:
    Henry Irving said:
    bobmunro said:
    Just a quick scan.

    I would most definitely have Love Minus Zero, No Limits and (without doubt) Blowin' in the Wind much higher - the latter in the top 10.
    Two notable exceptions at first reading, both from Desire - Sara and Oh Sister. I would have them both in ahead of Isis.
    There is no right answer though - and how many musicians could possibly have a top 50 tracks list with arguments for those missing out??

    agree on Sara  "Sitting up all night in the Chelsea Hotel writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you"


    The Irish Times stated the song was "as beautiful an expression of the preciousness and frailty of human love as has ever been put on a record".
    I can't and won't argue with that.
    Dylan is a genius.

    For the preciousness and frailty of human love there are others.
    'Lover you should have come over' by Jeff Buckley springs to mind in this context. Also 'God only knows' Beach Boys.
    Love is the eternal mystery and the explorations will forever be infinite. 
  • Coyotejohn1947
    Coyotejohn1947 Posts: 1,163
    Looking at that list reminded me of how significant Dylan was as a songwriter

    Agree with @Henry Irving that Shelter from the Storm really has to be there also:

    One more Cup of Coffee with its very pertinent verse:

    One more cup of coffee for the road
    One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
    To the valley below
  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    Coyotejohn1947 said:
    Looking at that list reminded me of how significant Dylan was as a songwriter

    Agree with @Henry Irving that Shelter from the Storm really has to be there also:

    One more Cup of Coffee with its very pertinent verse:

    One more cup of coffee for the road
    One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
    To the valley below

    Just more evidence of the brilliance of 'Desire' - bettered only by 'Blood on the Tracks' for me, but it's a close second. Two albums, just 12 months apart, show the maturing 35 year old Dylan at the peak of his powers.
    What an absolute God that man is.

  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,223
    BOTT remains my number one but always feel John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline are overlooked.

    Ditto the basement tapes. Some great songs nearly all covered before it was officially released.
  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    Henry Irving said:
    BOTT remains my number one but always feel John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline are overlooked.

    Ditto the basement tapes. Some great songs nearly all covered before it was officially released.
    Both great albums.
    He hasn't released many bad ones, Henners.
  • JaShea99
    JaShea99 Posts: 5,458
    The absence of ‘If You See Her Say Hello’ is madness.
  • EveshamAddick
    EveshamAddick Posts: 7,015
    There’s a few in this top 50 that shouldn’t really there:

    pay in blood
    brownsville girl
    murder most foul
    ain’t talkin’
    i want you
    i threw it all away
    One of us must know
    things have changed
    girl from the north country

    I would add instead:

    restless farewell
    shelter from the storm
    one more cup of coffee
    senor
    every grain of sand
    trust yourself
    ring them bells
    man in the long black coat
    Cross the green mountain 

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  • blackpool72
    blackpool72 Posts: 23,677
    Some brilliant songs both in this list and also not in the list. 
    The man's a genious 
  • McBobbin
    McBobbin Posts: 12,051
    Girl from the north country absolutely belongs there, if his duet with Cash counts
  • Johnnysummers5
    Johnnysummers5 Posts: 8,469
    Lay Lady Lay
  • charltonkeston
    charltonkeston Posts: 7,364
    The one about knocking on heavens door, done by Guns and Roses. I can’t stand Guns and Roses.

  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    charltonkeston said:
    The one about knocking on heavens door, done by Guns and Roses. I can’t stand Guns and Roses.

    Brilliant live cover by The Grateful Dead with the great Jerry Garcia.


    Stunning version also with Dylan singing on the 'Dylan and the Dead' album.
  • seth plum
    seth plum Posts: 53,448
    I even like Must be Santa.
    Feel free to shoot me now.
  • Solidgone
    Solidgone Posts: 10,208
    edited April 2020
     My favourite Dylan song is Rainy Day Woman. It always reminds me of St Peters Youth Club in Woolwich and the pin ball machine...and Purple Hearts. 
  • AddicksAddict
    AddicksAddict Posts: 15,791
    I think Dylan is one of the few people, if not the only person, for whom you could do a top 100 and not have too much difference in quality between the first and the last.

    As someone on the comments section on that article said, everything from Blood on The Tracks could be in that list and why wasn't Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts?  It really is a film encapsulated.
  • AddicksAddict
    AddicksAddict Posts: 15,791
    It's also pertinent how many of his songs have been covered and have inspired people to make great versions.  Hendrix with All Along The Watchtower and The Byrds with My Back Pages to name just two, and Only A Hobo could have been written for Rod Stewart.
  • StreekDerek
    StreekDerek Posts: 352
    I think my top 50 would change dat to day. Different lyrics just pop into my head every day to suit the situation or mood. Today Ring them bells seemed particularly poignant after today’s death rate figures were announced.
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  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    Watched the Scorsese film this afternoon on Netflix - 'Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story'.

    Very good.
  • EveshamAddick
    EveshamAddick Posts: 7,015
    Two things I wondered after watching the Rolling Thunder Review movie:

    1) why did Scorsese just basically remake Renaldo and Clara?

    2) As with R and C, this was a massive missed opportunity to make a concert movie showing Dylan’s explosive live performances of the time
  • Addictedoldgit
    Addictedoldgit Posts: 1,826
    A hard rain's a gonna fall.

    Allowed me to imagine I was a protester, which I never was in those days as a student at Woolwich Poly in 1964.
  • bobmunro
    bobmunro Posts: 20,843
    EveshamAddick said:
    Two things I wondered after watching the Rolling Thunder Review movie:

    1) why did Scorsese just basically remake Renaldo and Clara?

    2) As with R and C, this was a massive missed opportunity to make a concert movie showing Dylan’s explosive live performances of the time

    Agreed but there were still a few passages where a whole song was played - notably 'Knockin on Heaven's Door', 'Oh Sister', 'One More Cup of Coffee' 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' and 'Hurricane'.

    It was infinitely better than Renaldo and Clara as well!
  • Sarrf_London
    Sarrf_London Posts: 523
    edited April 2020
    .
  • thewolfboy
    thewolfboy Posts: 2,927
    A few of my favourites are missing: Up to me; Million Dollar Bash and What Good am I. Pleased to see Blind Willie Mctell on the list. Perhaps my favourite Dylan song is Corrina, Corrina (ironic I know!) the flip side to his withdrawn Positively 4th street single. But it wasn't written by Dylan, being a blues classic.
    Anyone else appreciate 'The Bob Dylan Show' tribute act? I thought the singer (forget his name) was outstanding.
  • EveshamAddick
    EveshamAddick Posts: 7,015
    Bob seems pretty determined to trash his own reputation.

    Following the fairly execrable Murder Most Foul, a one note recitation of a list of Bob’s record collection, mixed in with so so recollections of JFK’s assassination, comes this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgEP8teNXwY

    Not only is it the same one note that he could manage for MMF, it’s in the same key with an identical arrangement.
  • superclive98
    superclive98 Posts: 4,766
    Managed to let this thread pass me by. Probably spending too much time depressing myself on the "Shenanigans" thread.
    Surprised that "Masters of War" wasn't included (although I accept that the same could be said of dozens of others).
    Genius. 
  • JamesSeed
    JamesSeed Posts: 17,380
    edited April 2020
    bobmunro said:
    Just a quick scan.

    I would most definitely have Love Minus Zero, No Limits and (without doubt) Blowin' in the Wind much higher - the latter in the top 10.
    Two notable exceptions at first reading, both from Desire - Sara and Oh Sister. I would have them both in ahead of Isis.
    There is no right answer though - and how many musicians could possibly have a top 50 tracks list with arguments for those missing out??

    Agreed. But never really liked Sara much. Too repetitive for me. 
    Shelter from the Storm surely should be Top 50 though?
  • JamesSeed
    JamesSeed Posts: 17,380
    JaShea99 said:
    The absence of ‘If You See Her Say Hello’ is madness.
    Good call. 

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