My Top Ten Favourite Songs by Bob Dylan (Pt. 2)

Bob Dylan's name is associated with quite possibly the greatest songwriter who has ever lived. From names like the King of Folk Rock, the God of Folk, the Voice of a Generation and even, if you're lucky, Robert Zimmerman. Bob Dylan's history has filled the memories of over four generations of humankind and will remain timeless throughout world history. He is one of the greatest and most talented people on this planet and near on every songwriter of his time and ours cannot hold a candle to him.

As Bobcats and Dylanologists, it is our job to make sure Bob Dylan is appreciated as a writer as well as a singer. He is not just a singer, he is not just a songwriter, he is a poet, he is a businessman, he is the ultimate hero of ancient literature—he is a modern Odysseus. Some people ask us why we revere him so much and not anyone else, well our heads so hard, must be made of stone...o kay, I'll stop with the Dylan lyrics. But it's because he is one of the most formidable human beings in all of history. We are witnessing a modern miracle.

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 and well, it was well deserved no matter what anyone else says. He has written books and he has penned poetry. His songs have had more of an impact on to literature than nearly every other writer in modern literature out there. You could count on one hand those who possibly could get within ten feet of him.

This is a personal account from a Bobcat who appreciates his music through her own memories. Some people say that Bob Dylan's music is too hard to understand—well, that's because you're not really listening are you? This is a personal account of a girl to a woman who really did listen. Hopefully you'll enjoy this as much as you liked the last one.

Again, it will work the same way: 11-20 this time with the album title written in brackets. Each will have a small anecdote so I hope you can sit through my little memories of listening to Bob Dylan:

11. "Romance in Durango" (Desire)

"No llores, mi querida, dios nos vigila. Soon the horse will take us to Durango..."

This song is one of the most timeless and eternal songs from the 70s writings of Bob Dylan and I have a cute story to go along with this. I was sitting in class, I believe it was a literature theory class, with one of my headphones wound into my jacket and into my ears—I was eating from a bento I'd picked up on the way to university. The chorus actually played so loud that instead of turning it down, I accepted the fact that I missed those few seconds of the lecture. Amusing yes, interesting, probably not—but potentially harmful to my education, most likely.

12. "Dignity" ('Greatest Hits')

"Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade. House on fire, debts unpaid..."

I remember hearing this song for the first time and thinking it was really poetic. I worked it into an assignment for my MA after some studying of it. It was a post-modern poem that used size to depict how loud a person would say something in the poem. It also used hyphens to show the rhythm of the poem, I tried to make it look very post-modern because that's what the professor enjoyed, not because I wanted to. It was a crazy poem and well, I'm going to spare you the hurt of having to read it. It was awful to a degree that you do not want to understand—I got a good mark on it and that's all that counts.

13. "Pay in Blood" ('Tempest')

"I drink my fill and sleep alone. I pay in blood but not my own."

This song holds special memories for me because it was the very first song I listened to on the day I arrived at university to start my undergraduate degree. It was the very song I listened to the first time I walked through the doors and made my way down the stairs to my first lecture—I believe it was Critical Theory or something like that. I do remember I was carrying a copy of Caryl Phillip's Crossing the River though and I recall enjoying that book so much I actually read the book Cambridge by the same author even though it wasn't on the reading list.

14. "Dark Eyes" ('Empire Burlesque')

"I live in another world where life and death are memorised. Where the earth is strung with lover's pearls and all I see are dark eyes."

Oh no, run for the hills all Dylanologists and Bobcats alike because here's a song from the dreaded Empire Burlesque. I like that album, you guys are just mean. Anyways, Dark Eyes is one of the songs I listened to when I couldn't sleep properly in the second year of my undergraduate degree. I couldn't sleep because I had so much work to do and well, this song got me through it. I actually fell asleep on a trip at university in my second year; I fell asleep at 4 AM on a couch in a random hostel outside the kitchen. An old man picked my dropped laptop up from the floor, put it on the table and woke me up because I'd been tangled up in my headphones. I had not slept in three days and when I awoke, it was only 7 AM.

15. "Hurricane" ('Desire')

"Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame..."

One of Bob Dylan's more controversial songs and the one where everyone goes "did he just say the "n" word?" Yes he did, Shirley, but it's not what you think. This song is so great that when I was last in London I just felt the urge to listen to this song on repeat. There was absolutely no reason for it, but it was on so loud that apparently my Dad could hear it from the front of the car. I remember having the window slightly open and not being able to hear the bustle of central London near the Harrods because I had my headphones on. I don't think anyone in the Harrods wanted to hear "Hurricane,"though. I couldn't hear my music because of how loud it was on those escalators!

16. "Isis" ('Desire')

"I married Isis on the fifth day of May but I could not hold on to her for very long..."

This song was an early Dylan discovery of mine, but my biggest memory of it was during my dissertation because I had the coolest revelation. I was looking through the books to research my undergraduate dissertation on and I decided to use Dante's Divine Comedy. I don't know whether that had anything to do with the song. I love the way the song inspired my choice though, I feel like it did. I always think that song has themes from Dante's Divine Comedy—like the want to get to Beatrice after that long journey is kind of like the want to get back to Isis.

17. "My Back Pages" ('Another Side of Bob Dylan')

"But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

One of those songs that is absolutely beautiful to listen to, it is a brilliantly written and beautifully composed piece. I remember when I received my copy of Chronicles: Volume 1 and wanted to stay up all night reading it. I found it only appropriate to listen to this song on repeat whilst doing so. He actually talks about this song in the book and the song and the book go together perfectly. It's like having a perfect situation that you don't want to move out of. There are not many perfect songs, but My Back Pages is definitely one.

18. "Trying to Get to Heaven" ('Time Out of Mind')

"I've been all around the world, boys. Now I'm trying to get to Heaven before they close the door..."

This song was a staple whilst I was on my MA. It felt like such an inspiring song. The song was also a staple because I felt like everything was going too quickly in that year. I wanted to slow things down. This song did that for me—it slowed everything down. It slowed down me getting my first train out of two trains home and being squeezed into the 6 PM from the station along with about 200 other people, it slowed down the noise of getting into the city centre, and finally, it slowed down sitting on the next 40 minute train home. It really does make a good song for slowing down the inner-city lifestyle.

19. "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" ('Shot of Love')

"West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar..."

I love this song so much, it's such a great song on an amazing album. The Gospel Era was one of my favourite eras of Bob Dylan's music (stares at Clinton Heylin in "Slow Train Coming"). I remember listening to this song every time I left church and it was just a really nice addition to my day. When I was on my MA I would go to church by myself and there would be nobody else there, so when I took off my headphones, you could hear the music echoing through the church and it was the nicest sound. This song is obviously one of the more loved songs from the Gospel Era and is even on the Apple Music "Next Steps" of Bob Dylan playlist (which I can't understand because it's a really popular song, it should really be on the "Essentials").

20. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" ('Blood on the Tracks')

"Situations have ended sad, relationships have all been bad. Mine have been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud..."

This song is like an anthem and I remember listening to it a lot in the second year of university because it was one of those songs that really made you want to analyse some poetry. The song is filled with beautiful imagery and I remember vividly taking the song apart and using various lines in different creative assignments I had. Especially the lines that you see above, I loved working those into creative assignments in different forms, maybe using different names. It was such a perfect song.

Conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed reading part 2 of this series. There will be another part on the way shortly, but this one is quite important since there's a lot that has contributed to my study at university. I would love to hear about your top tens, twenties and however many you want to tell me on Twitter. So if you want to contact me, it's @3ftMonster on Twitter—we can talk about Bob Dylan and you can tell me why certain songs are important to you!