My Top Ten Favourite Songs by Bob Dylan (Pt. 8)

Unfortunately for you, I'm no Dylanologist. I'm a Bobcat. The Bobcat is a curious creature—they appreciate Bob Dylan's music but they're not as smart as the Dylanologists who theorise and create books of extensive research on it. I would love to be one of them though, they seem real smart. Some famous Dylanologists include Harold Lepidus, Clinton Heylin, Seth Rogovoy, Scott Marshall, James Adams, and many, many more. These people are the staples of Dylanology. There are also a number of stations including: Dylan Radio, Definitely Dylan and the podcast "Is it Rolling, Bob?" that talk about various topics and play various things to do with Bob Dylan.

The fact that I still have new stuff to say about Bob Dylan and we are on part eight of this series means that if you haven't gotten into Dylanology readings already then you definitely should. There are over 200 books to read on Bob Dylan and they all say and suggest different things. There's even great photography books by the likes of Daniel Kramer, Jerry Schatzberg and Barry Feinstein on Bob and his various personas and anecdotes about him.

71. "Brownsville Girl" ('Knocked Out Loaded')

"Well, there was this movie I seen one time about a man riding 'cross the desert and it starred Gregory Peck..."

This song is not really liked by the Dylan community and the ones who do like it are always scared to say it. But not me. Knocked Out Loaded is a good album, you guys are just mean. I love this song because of its incredible storytelling techniques. Bob Dylan starts off by almost talking the entire of the first verse and then gets into singing the rest of it, talking occasionally in the different parts of the story to emphasise particular parts. I like this song—and I do not care who doesn't. It's brilliant and part of a great Dylan catalogue. Fun fact: I wrote one of my MA writing pieces on this song and I could've chosen any Bob Dylan song to do it on (as I wanted to do it on Bob only). I chose "Brownsville Girl"because it doesn't get enough love and appreciation.

72. "Highway 61 Revisited" ('Highway 61 Revisited')

"God said to Abraham, kill me a son..."

This album is brilliant and normally people think that the beginning of this song sounds really weird. I love this song because of its incredible ability to sound really pissed off and sarcastic. This song just sounds like a lot of fun and is a lot of fun to listen to, if you can pick out the references it's like a game! There's something timeless about this song that has a great amount of lyrical history involved. Just the first line alone has been theorised on so much that people have even suggested that Bob Dylan is talking about his own father in it instead of just the biblical story of the Binding of Isaac.

73. "Talkin' World War III Blues" ('The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan')

"One time ago a crazy dream came to me, I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three..."

I love this song because the lyrics are brilliant. It's true that The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is lyrically one of the greatest albums ever made. It has incredible potential to remain a timeless aspect of poetry as well as music. This song in particular is one of the most appreciated on the album, but I feel like it gets covered by other songs such as Masters of War and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall. This song is a great classic in it's own right and should be respected and revered just as much as the other protest songs on the album.

74. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" ('Bringing it all Back Home')

"Strike another match go start anew, and it's all over now baby blue..."

This song is a classic and normally one of the only songs people who don't really listen to Bob Dylan know. It's a very, very famous song and normally, Bobcats actually forget how famous it is. I wouldn't say it's one of the best from the album, but it's definitely one of the most famous from it. It has a great amount of poetry and potential to remain one of Bob Dylan's most popular songs and yet, seems to shadow some of the other songs on the album. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"has been covered numerous times by many people—but nobody sings this song like Dylan.

75. "Tight Connection to My Heart" ('Empire Burlesque')

"I'm gonna get my coat, I feel the breath of a storm. There's something I've got to do tonight, you go inside and stay warm."

Yes I like this album, no I don't care if you don't. Also guys, if you don't have something nice to say, please don't DM me or anything on Twitter—I want to be friends not enemies. DM-ing me nasty things will just get you blocked and I don't wanna do that. Anyways, back to the song. This song is a classic of the Dylan New Wave era and represents his want to do something more 1980s than he's ever done. I feel like there is a great amount of representation for the next change in Bob Dylan. He may only do one of these albums but it's enough for us. He does this genre really well and I think that this song is lyrically and musically actually pretty good compared to the other songs on the album.

76. "Maggie's Farm" ('Bringing it all Back Home')

"I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more..."

"Maggie's Farm"is one of those completely timeless songs. It is again, one of Bob Dylan's famous protest songs. I love this song because of its incredible beat rather than just the lyrics. When he sings the opening line "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more..." and that drum beat kicks up, it is a brilliant sound. I used to listen to this song on full blast on the train sometimes, just to block out the sounds of children crying or the sound of people talking really loudly—and it worked.

77. "Clean Cut Kid" ('Empire Burlesque')

"He was a clean cut kid, and they made a killer out of him that's what they did..."

I love this song because it sounds great. I really do like Empire Burlesque and I understand that most Dylanologists hate it and don't really like it when someone enjoys the album. I want to say I seriously, seriously, do not care from the bottom of my heart. If I am going to enjoy a song, nobody can tell me otherwise. This album has a number of good songs, especially this one—but it gets a bad rep for being part of the 80s new wave/dance music era. I think this song is heavily political and even works in our own day and the lyricism is brilliant. I feel like this song is about how the "system" can change a young person by doing them wrong and then, they have no choice but to act against the system and thus, go to jail. It has a relevant message and deserves more respect.

78. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" ('The Times They Are a-Changin')

"Come gather 'round people wherever you roam..."

This song is a Bob Dylan staple. Everyone who knows music knows this song. Everyone who knows 20th Century history knows this song. Everyone who knows the history of 20th century culture knows this song. Everyone who knows who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is knows this song. It is a timeless classic and has been covered many times—but nobody sings it like Bob Dylan. Here's a fun fact. Very recently, Jennifer Hudson covered that song and I have never in my life felt like my ears were going to bleed so much. It was a horrible noise. I had to listen to the Dylan original version all day just to get that terrible sound out of my head, it was the worst cover of a Dylan song I'd ever heard.

79. "Soon After Midnight" ('Tempest')

"They chirp and they chatter, what does it matter? They lie and dine in their blood. Two timing Slim, who's every heard of him? I'll drag his corpse through the mud."

I love this song so much I could cry. It's a beautiful love song and I feel like it's Dylan's under-appreciated love song as well. I feel like there's so many Dylan love songs which get acclaim and this one normally gets left out. It is lyrically a beautiful song and has an incredible almost jazz sound to it. It doesn't get enough love so, if you're on a Tempest binge of Bob Dylan then make sure you listen to this incredible love song. It's absolutely beautiful.

80. "I Shall Be Released" ('Bootleg 11: The Raw Basement Tapes')

"Any day now, any day now, I shall be released..."

This one is possibly a lot better than the original which appears on the Greatest Hits album, I can definitely say that it's the one that's covered more as well. Nina Simone did an incredible cover of the song which I adored, but not a lot compares to Bob Dylan's voice on this particular record. "I Shall Be Released," if I am correct, works with the ideas of Plato's Cave and Bob Dylan is really just showing off with that lyricism and that melody. If you haven't heard that version of the song then I suggest you listen to it, you'll like it more than the album version!

Conclusion

As I have said in this article, please don't DM me if you're going to say something horrible. I'm all up for discussion and even debate on my threads on Twitter: @3ftMonster is me. I am not up for name-calling or even insult. I love discussing Bob Dylan with the people who have appeared to me so far and I thank you guys for being civil and nice about it. We may not always agree, but I like hearing what other people have in their top tens as well. I have so far enjoyed the Dylanologists I have spoken to and the fellow Bobcats I've met through the publishing of these articles and I hope to meet more of you in the future!