In your opinion, best Bob Dylan song ever?

[red dog 1]

(Only songs written by Bob Dylan)

19 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Blowin' in the Wind
	2 (11%)
	Desolation Row
	1 (5%)
	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
	2 (11%)
	Shelter From the Storm
	2 (11%)
	It Ain't Me Babe
	3 (16%)
	Just Like a Woman
	0 (0%)
	Knockin' on Heaven's Door
	1 (5%)
	The Times They Are a-Changin'
	2 (11%)
	Like a Rolling Stone
	4 (21%)
	Mr. Tambourine Man
	2 (11%)
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[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Positively 4th Street

[red dog 1]

19. I love that one

but I only get 10 slots to fill

[red dog 1]

22. One of my all-time favorite music videos

(Wasn't Allen Ginsberg in the background of that one?)

[Docreed2003]

38. That was Subterranean Homesick Blues

Epic video and song

[red dog 1]

42. Oh yeah, you're right

(My mistake)

[Docreed2003]

45. No worries...

Here’s the video for anyone interested:

[cemaphonic]

66. Lots of artists have done their take on this video, but Weird Al is the champ

[Docreed2003]

67. Very true...and Al is hilarious with this one.

[LisaM]

29. I'd have voted for that if it was on there. n/t

[Wounded Bear]

59. Yeah, that would be mine...

You've got a lotta nerve...
To say you are my friend.
When I was down, you just stood there grinnin'...

[dmoyer]

2. Tangled up in blue

[IcyPeas]

6. Tangled Up in Blue also

[Eliot Rosewater]

30. Like that one too. Man is a genius. To think the same species can produce

Bob and the likes of filth like trump and bannon

i posted pics of the filth but dont want to dirty this thread with images of such filth

[WhiteTara]

77. That's my choice too.

Welcome to DU

[rzemanfl]

3. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

[Pendrench]

17. One of my favorites :)

[lastlib]

64. Everything Not on 'Slow Train Runnin'.......

The man is undeniably a genius, and I loved his early works, but that album was an abomination!

[rzemanfl]

71. I think you meant to reply to the OP.

[lastlib]

72. (yeah, sorry)

[rzemanfl]

73. No problem. n/t

[blueinredohio]

4. Maggie's Farm

[ailsagirl]

83. I recall reading that Maggie's Farm is Obama's favorite Dylan song

[likesmountains 52]

5. You're a Big Girl Now

[Eugene]

7. Other: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. I love that one too. nm

[SoCalMusicLover]

31. Jeff Sessions' Favorite Song nt

[shanny]

8. All of them.

Sh1t, OK, if I must: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall in honor of the occasion.

[msongs]

9. well maybe 90% of them. nt

[shanny]

11. mebbe some are less perfect than others (lol) nt

[red dog 1]

15. A hard Rain's Gonna Fall is a great song

In fact, it was one of the original choices I had up there; but I had to take it down to make room for another one

[thbobby]

34. I agree

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall is probably his best. But so many are great that it is difficult to decide.

[cos dem]

57. Yes, Hard Rain is my vote for best.

Tangled Up In Blue is #2.

[VOX]

87. "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" is an absolute masterwork.

Dylan's songs are like looking at an exhibit of gemstones in a museum -- they're all different, and they're all individually breathtaking. But for whatever reason, some shimmer in one's mind more than others. Who knows why?

But "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"-- that particular song somehow comes from a deeper source. Like another poster, it'd be my first choice as well, but in limiting it to one, I chose a later classic: "It's Not Dark Yet," only because it speaks to losses caused by the passages of time and people. It manages to describe a soul who's isolated and in desperate straits, and yet there seems to be a measure of peace (and some time left), even with that.

[johnsolaris]

10. sad eyed lady of the lowlands

Hi,
Great song.

[red dog 1]

12. I agree - that is a great song

but I only get 10 poll choices

[brush]

60. Lay Lady Lay?

[Docreed2003]

40. Beautiful choice

[EricMaundry]

13. I'd have voted for "Idiot Wind"

Seems timely.

[red dog 1]

16. It does seem timely, doesn't it?

[Mc Mike]

14. Just like Tom Thumb's Blues. nT

[Croney]

18. I Threw it All Away. Lay Lady Lay.

And all the ones already listed.

[red dog 1]

21. If Lay Lady Lay gets a couple more votes,

I'll consider putting it up there as a poll choice
(I love that song too)

[Skittles]

48. Lay Lady Lay

[madaboutharry]

23. I voted for Like A Rolling Stone

But my favorite Bob Dylan song is Love Minus Zero/No Limit.

[red dog 1]

25. I love the lyrics to "Like a Rolling Stone"

and i also love Al Kooper's organ playing.
(Before that recording session, he was purely a guitar player)

[SCantiGOP]

80. You do, he didn't

A few years after "Like a Rolling Stone" came out Dylan described the song as "vomit on a sheet of music." But, that was just Dylan being Dylan.
It's probably my favorite Dylan song, but I voted for "Blowing in the Wind" because of its historical importance and how it early on captured the essence of the moral issues behind the civil rights and anti-war movements. And yes, he has said before that he no longer likes to hear that song.

[regnaD kciN]

24. Wigwam!

[LakeVermilion]

26. My selection is the haunting "Heart of Mine."

I heard it performed by Nora Jones at the end of a CBS Cold Case episode. I had to chase it down, but was dumbstruck when I found out that Dylan wrote it. Her interpretation is worth a listen.

[TygrBright]

27. You left off "Positively 4th Street."

[underpants]

28. Anything on "Bringing it All Back Home"

I almost played the grooves off that album

[red dog 1]

35. Mr. Tambourine Man is up there

From that album I also love:

- It's Allright Ma (I'm only bleeding)
- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
and Dylan's cover of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again"

[klook]

32. Masters of War

There's an angry, up-tempo live version that's absolutely smoking.

[red dog 1]

37. Great song!

[Jarqui]

33. All Along the Watchtower

deserves some mention ...

[red dog 1]

36. I only get 10 slots to fill

(so I can't "mention" all of Dylan's great songs)

[MichMan]

41. Like Dave Mason's cover of it best

Do not care for Jimi Hendrix cover at all

[Bradshaw3]

52. Dylan said he loved Jimi's version

[MichMan]

58. That doesn't mean I have to

[Bradshaw3]

65. Didn't say it did

Just interesting info to pass along for Dylan-loving readers of the thread.

[Sedona]

51. This

[MichMan]

39. Hurricane is one of my favorites

I voted for Like a Rolling Stone because of the organ, but really love Hurricane.

[red dog 1]

44. Hurricane is a great song

Written about middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.

Have you seen the movie, "Hurricane"?

btw, I also loved Al Kooper's organ playing on Like a Rolling Stone.
(The record producer invited Kooper to the recording session as a guitarist, not to play organ)

[Jakes Progress]

75. Agree. One of the greats.

[Docreed2003]

43. Desolation Row and Visions of Johanna

The imagery in “Desolation Row” is absolutely haunting and it starts with the very first line “They’re selling postcards of the hanging...they’re painting the passports brown...”

“Visions” I’ve always loved for a bunch of reasons. The lyrics are gorgeous and heartbreaking. The opening harmonica riff speaks to the emotional toil of the lyrics “Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re trying to be so quiet.” It’s a song about love and heartbreak. Several years ago, I got the chance to see a string of Dylan’s shows in a row, would have been 2006. On the night he played Birmingham, Al I was on the front row and I screamed out between songs “Visions of Johanna” and then, to my surprise, I see Bob call the band over to him and damn if they didn’t break into “Visions” the first, and I think only, time they played the song that tour and he tipped his hat to me after it was over.

It’s so hard to chose any one song or hell even one album. My other favs include “Tangled up in Blue”, “Chimes if Freedom”, “Like a Rolling Stone”, “One more cup of coffee”, “Sad eyed Lady if the Lowlands”, “Not Dark Yet”, “Boots of Spanish Leather”, and “Abandoned Love” just to name a few.

[Boomerproud]

46. I would have voted for all of them if I could have done so technically.

Quite a canon that man has to boast about.

[Alpeduez21]

47. I understand the limits of setting up the pole.

I think Gates of Eden gets my vote for songs not on the list.

[LuckyCharms]

49. Visions of Johanna/Joey/Isis/Idiot Wind/Tangled Up in Blue

Hard to pick just one.

[Bradshaw3]

50. Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

53. Changing of the Guards

I kind of prefer the Patti Smith cover both I like them both a lot.

vimeo.com/217531018

[Hoyt]

54. Just about any one of those -- or 25 other Dylan songs -- but Blowin In the Wind is special because

of what it represents and the places it was sung, by Dylan and others.

[missingthebigdog]

55. Boots of Spanish Leather

Also absolutely love Madolin Orange's cover of it.

[RandomAccess]

56. Forever Young

[rurallib]

61. "My Back Pages"

I admit I am an oddball on these things

[GaryCnf]

62. Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol

Chimes of Freedom
Only a Pawn in Their Game
One Too Many Mornings
Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

[BluesRunTheGame]

63. Girl From The North Country

Easily, his most important song. The rest of his songs couldn't have been written if "Girl" wasn't written first.

[cemaphonic]

68. I'm very fond on Sam Bush's version

But in response to the OP, there's no such thing as the "Best Dylan song," just the right song for the moment.

[Hoyt]

69. Excellent rendition. Hes tearing it up on mandolin and vocals. Never heard that before.

[cemaphonic]

74. Yeah, Sam Bush is interesting for the way he brings rock rhythms and riffs into his mando playing.

In retrospect, it's a natural fit, as the job of a bluegrass mandolinist is to emphasize the backbeat, but no one else was playing like that when he got started.

Jerry Douglas on the dobro.

[retread]

70. Since Jan 2016 this one

[Jakes Progress]

76. Too many. Too many.

Can't pick just one.

[Va Lefty]

78. A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

[mia]

79. One More Cup Of Coffee

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky
Your back is straight, your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie
But I don't sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above

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

Your daddy he's an outlaw
And a wanderer by trade
He'll teach you how to pick and choose
And how to throw the blade
He oversees his kingdom
So no stranger does intrude
His voice it trembles as he calls out
For another plate of food

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

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark

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

Bob Dylan - One More Cup Of Coffee

[hibbing]

81. Depends on my mood

I could list 100.


Peace

[ailsagirl]

82. I'm not actually comparing Dylan to Shakespeare but...

Asking the question is akin to asking what my favorite Shakespeare work is.

Too many to choose from!!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

84. Either Knocking on Heaven's Door or Lay Lady Lay

Third place goes to Like a Rolling Stone.

[MiltonBrown]

85. My favorite is 'When the Ship Comes In'

[VOX]

86. They're ALL like gemstones. But as I've aged, "It's Not Dark Yet" haunts and comforts me.

It gets to me in the same way his wonderfully crazy, righteously angry, masterworks did in the mid-1960s (and still do). In retrospect, one can see the hallmark of true genius. He had a river of thought coursing through his head, as if he were a scribe, scratching furiously to capture the words and rhymes before they made their way to some ocean.

"Not Dark Yet" (1997) is one of Dylan's late classics. He captures isolation and depression, and describes an aging soul that's hit rock-bottom. But oddly, the song can give one a sense of peace. As a poster on YouTube put it succinctly: "That moment when every line of the song describes your current life situation, even the goddamn weather."

I can't top that.

"Not Dark Yet" by Bob Dylan

Shadows are falling and I been here all day
It's too hot to sleep and time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun didn't let me heal

There's not even room enough to be anywhere
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
Well my sense of humanity is going down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain

She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin' what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even care
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

Well I been to London and I been to gay Paree
I followed the river and I got to the sea
I've been down to the bottom of a whirlpool of lies
I ain't lookin' for nothin' in anyone's eyes

Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

I was born here and I'll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I'm movin' but I'm standin' still

Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don't even hear the murmur of a prayer
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there

[Danmel]

88. My favorite is Shelter from the Storm

"I offered up my innocence, I got repaid with scorn, come in she said I'll give you shelter from the Storm.

?list=PLY5Nw3gWq3a7Gw2xFcg0F5-TEAjkd03X2

[kwassa]

89. Watching the River Flow

A Buddhist honky-tonk song.

Sit on this bank of sand and watch the river flow.