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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsIn your opinion, best Bob Dylan song ever?
(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%) |
|
0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
Ferrets are Cool
(21,110 posts)red dog 1
(27,849 posts)but I only get 10 slots to fill
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)(Wasn't Allen Ginsberg in the background of that one?)
Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)Epic video and song
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)(My mistake)
Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)Heres the video for anyone interested:
cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)LisaM
(27,830 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)You've got a lotta nerve...
To say you are my friend.
When I was down, you just stood there grinnin'...
dmoyer
(114 posts)IcyPeas
(21,904 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,121 posts)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
(29,722 posts)Welcome to DU
rzemanfl
(29,568 posts)Pendrench
(1,358 posts)lastlib
(23,286 posts)The man is undeniably a genius, and I loved his early works, but that album was an abomination!
rzemanfl
(29,568 posts)lastlib
(23,286 posts)rzemanfl
(29,568 posts)blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)likesmountains 52
(4,098 posts)Eugene
(61,945 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(21,110 posts)SoCalMusicLover
(3,194 posts)shanny
(6,709 posts)Sh1t, OK, if I must: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall in honor of the occasion.
msongs
(67,441 posts)shanny
(6,709 posts)red dog 1
(27,849 posts)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
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall is probably his best. But so many are great that it is difficult to decide.
cos dem
(903 posts)Tangled Up In Blue is #2.
VOX
(22,976 posts)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
(220 posts)Hi,
Great song.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)but I only get 10 poll choices
brush
(53,847 posts)Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)EricMaundry
(1,619 posts)Seems timely.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)Mc Mike
(9,115 posts)Croney
(4,670 posts)And all the ones already listed.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)I'll consider putting it up there as a poll choice
(I love that song too)
Skittles
(153,193 posts)madaboutharry
(40,220 posts)But my favorite Bob Dylan song is Love Minus Zero/No Limit.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)and i also love Al Kooper's organ playing.
(Before that recording session, he was purely a guitar player)
SCantiGOP
(13,873 posts)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
(26,045 posts)LakeVermilion
(1,044 posts)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
(20,763 posts)underpants
(182,877 posts)I almost played the grooves off that album
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)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
(12,165 posts)There's an angry, up-tempo live version that's absolutely smoking.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)Jarqui
(10,130 posts)deserves some mention ...
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)(so I can't "mention" all of Dylan's great songs)
MichMan
(11,971 posts)Do not care for Jimi Hendrix cover at all
Bradshaw3
(7,529 posts)MichMan
(11,971 posts)Bradshaw3
(7,529 posts)Just interesting info to pass along for Dylan-loving readers of the thread.
MichMan
(11,971 posts)I voted for Like a Rolling Stone because of the organ, but really love Hurricane.
red dog 1
(27,849 posts)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
(11,122 posts)Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)The imagery in Desolation Row is absolutely haunting and it starts with the very first line Theyre selling postcards of the hanging...theyre painting the passports brown...
Visions Ive 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 Aint it just like the night to play tricks when youre trying to be so quiet. Its a song about love and heartbreak. Several years ago, I got the chance to see a string of Dylans 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 didnt 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.
Its 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
(7,964 posts)Quite a canon that man has to boast about.
Alpeduez21
(1,755 posts)I think Gates of Eden gets my vote for songs not on the list.
LuckyCharms
(17,457 posts)Hard to pick just one.
Bradshaw3
(7,529 posts)discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,482 posts)I kind of prefer the Patti Smith cover both I like them both a lot.
vimeo.com/217531018
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)of what it represents and the places it was sung, by Dylan and others.
missingthebigdog
(1,233 posts)Also absolutely love Madolin Orange's cover of it.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)rurallib
(62,448 posts)I admit I am an oddball on these things
GaryCnf
(1,399 posts)Chimes of Freedom
Only a Pawn in Their Game
One Too Many Mornings
Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
BluesRunTheGame
(1,620 posts)Easily, his most important song. The rest of his songs couldn't have been written if "Girl" wasn't written first.
cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)But in response to the OP, there's no such thing as the "Best Dylan song," just the right song for the moment.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)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
(3,763 posts)Jakes Progress
(11,122 posts)Can't pick just one.
Va Lefty
(6,252 posts)mia
(8,362 posts)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
(10,109 posts)I could list 100.
Peace
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Asking the question is akin to asking what my favorite Shakespeare work is.
Too many to choose from!!
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,198 posts)Third place goes to Like a Rolling Stone.
MiltonBrown
(322 posts)VOX
(22,976 posts)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
(4,924 posts)"I offered up my innocence, I got repaid with scorn, come in she said I'll give you shelter from the Storm.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)A Buddhist honky-tonk song.
Sit on this bank of sand and watch the river flow.