10 Favorite Bob Dylan Songs

Submitted by AJDaGreat on Sun, 03/07/2004 - 08:23
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  • Top 10
  • I Shall Be Free
  • All I Really Wanna Do
  • It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
  • Ballad of a Thin Man
  • Desolation Row
  • Visions of Johanna
  • Just Like a Woman
  • Tangled Up in Blue
  • Idiot Wind
  • Joey
  • Honorable Mentions
  • Like a Rolling Stone
  • Love Minus Zero / No Limit
  • Mr. Tambourine Man
  • One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
  • You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Author Comments: 

Unranked. In chronological order.

professor03/08/2004


Positively Fourth Street (top three) !

Others I would have to include on my list include:

He Was A Friend Of Mine
I Shall Be Released
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

AJDaGreat03/08/2004

I've actually never heard the first two you suggest. "Lily" came close, but no cigar.

I'm glad you posted your own list. Very interesting.

professor03/09/2004


Thanks for the inspiration for my own list ! My Top Ten Favorite Bob Dylan Songs by professor.

He Was A Friend Of Mine is from the album: Bob Dylan - the bootleg series volumes 1-3 (rare and unreleased) 1961-1991 (Box Set)
It is an exceptional, slow, sad ballad, Dylan on the accoustic guitar (and harmonica) with no accompaniment. Originally recorded for Dylan's very first album Bob Dylan (1962) but not used, Dylan wrote it as an adaptation of a traditional southern prison folk song (from the 'liner notes' booklet). About a beatnik friend who dies alone on the road, destitute, very moving.

I Shall Be Released is a Dylan standard, covered by over 50 other artists, but never included on his studio albums (I believe), again this is from 'the bootleg series volumes 1-3'. It is very nearly spoiled by another singer's awful falsetto accompaniment, but it cannot spoil Dylan's great performance of a great song.

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts is a song I love for the story, the lyrics and the delivery, in particular the line 'Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair', which makes my hair stand on end when I hear it.

professor03/12/2004


I just realised, the link above to the Dylan bootleg series includes a sample of the song 'He Was A Friend Of Mine' - the sample is a good representation of the song - check it out.