# Favorite and least favorite Dylan lines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756 "2006-12-04T00:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/21 "2006-12-04T14:38:33Z")
Ah, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/22 "2006-12-04T14:42:42Z")
My fav lyrics are all of “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”- one stanza: Now all the authorities They just stand around and boast How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms Into leaving his post And picking up Angel who Just arrived here from the coast Who looked so fine at first But left looking just like a ghost ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/23 "2006-12-04T16:14:42Z")
“The pump don’t work cuz the vandals took the handles.” Good? Bad? I don’t know, but it’s funny. One of my faves is “The Ballad of Hollis Brown”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/24 "2006-12-04T17:10:30Z")
Favorite: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” especially the lines that **Qadgop the Mercotan** quoted. Also, in “It’s All Right, Ma” the line _Even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked._ Now that’s choice. When Dylan toured with the Band in 1974, shortly before Nixon’s resignation, that line got huge cheers! I hope he’s reviving it now. I didn’t listen to as much Dylan from the late '80s on, but “Blind Willie McTell” sure is one great song from his later period. I’ve never heard such a strong evocation of timeless Americana with such a pure distilllation of all the pain in it. _Seen the arrow on the doorpost Saying, “This land is condemned All the way from New Orleans To Jerusalem.” I traveled through East Texas Where many martyrs fell And I know no one can sing the blues Like Blind Willie McTell_ “Gates of Eden” and “Chimes of Freedom” form a pair in my mind, maybe a trinity with “Mr. Tambourine Man,” of all that was best about visionary lyrics in the Sixties. _Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing._ _Of war and peace the truth just twists_ Damn, you can sure say that again. P.S. Money doesn’t talk, it swears. Worst? That’s easy, the hardcore Christian phase. “When You Gonna Wake Up” was strident a call to the Reagan conservatives to undo the social reforms of the '60s. _Bob Roberts_ was not parody, Dylan was already making himself into a Bob Roberts when Reagan was getting elected. The album _Saved_ was the most holy-roller Dylan ever got, unrelieved by even a touch of humor or irony. I’m so glad he got over that. Eventually, he actually did make one really good Christian song, “Every Grain of Sand,” which was soft and reflective instead of fundamentalist and aggressive. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/25 "2006-12-04T17:20:20Z")
[QUOTE=Fretful Porpentine] _Close_ runner-up: “Chimes of Freedom”: [/QUOTE] The opening line has to be one of the worst: _Crimson flames tied through my ears…_ Best: _They say I shot a man named Gray, and took his wife to Italy; She inherited a million bucks, and when she died, it came to me. I can’t help it if I’m lucky._ ---
**Author:** ![waits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df788c/32.png) [@waits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waits)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/26 "2006-12-04T17:21:24Z")
Not his greatest and not his worst, but in “Thunder on the Mountain” from the new album, there’s the line: \*Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches I’ll recruit my army from the orphanages \* It’s a terrible rhyme. You can hear in his voice that he knows it’s a terrible rhyme. AND THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT GREAT!!! Plus, he namechecks Alicia Keys in the same song. I’ll be she was totally blown away when she heard that. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/27 "2006-12-04T17:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] The opening line has to be one of the worst: _Crimson flames tied through my ears…_ [/QUOTE] :smack: Of course, that’s “My Back Pages,” not “Chimes of Freedom.” I knew that. I was just testing ya. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/28 "2006-12-04T19:35:58Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] I always thought “Blowin’ in the Wind” was rather trite. [/QUOTE] I have never understood this song. The answer is blowing in the wind? I bought BD’s iTunes Essentials 1, but I have no idea what this means. It seems to be considered to be so deep by Boomers, but I’ve never heard an explanation about how the answer is in the wind. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/29 "2006-12-04T21:17:12Z")
My two favorites: “And her I sit so patiently, waiting to find out what price You have to pay to get out of going through all these things twice.” –Memphis Blues Again "Yes I received your letter yesterday, About the time the doorknob broke, When you asked me how I was doing; Is that some kind of joke? –Desolation Row He’s done some real crap, but mostly I don’t remember it. Why should I, when he’s written so much that was magnificent? ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/30 "2006-12-04T21:43:25Z")
Some of my faves are from ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’ “Up on housin’ project hill It’s either fortune or fame You must pick one or the other Tho neither of them are to be what they claim If you’re lookin’ to get silly You better go back to from where you came Because the cops don’t need you An’ man they expect the same.” and also from ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ "You raise up your head And you ask, “Is this where it is?” And somebody points to you and says “It’s his” And you say, “What’s mine?” And somebody else says, “Where what is?” And you say, “Oh my God Am I here all alone?” Because something is happening here But you don’t know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?" ---
**Author:** ![Senor\_Pina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Senor\_Pina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senor_Pina)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/31 "2006-12-04T23:57:41Z")
[QUOTE=waits] Not his greatest and not his worst, but in “Thunder on the Mountain” from the new album, there’s the line: \*Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches I’ll recruit my army from the orphanages \* It’s a terrible rhyme. You can hear in his voice that he knows it’s a terrible rhyme. AND THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT GREAT!!! Plus, he namechecks Alicia Keys in the same song. I’ll be she was totally blown away when she heard that. [/QUOTE] I also found the Alicia Keys reference jarring the first time I heard the song. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/32 "2006-12-05T00:22:51Z")
[QUOTE=Señor Piña] I also found the Alicia Keys reference jarring the first time I heard the song. [/QUOTE] I don’t like it at all. It seems totally forced. The worst Dylan line I’ve heard comes from _Thin Man_: > [@](#): > > Now you see this one-eyed midget > Shouting the word “NOW” > And you say, “For what reason?” > And he says, “How?” > And you say, “What does this mean?” > And he screams back, “You’re a cow > Give me some milk > Or else go home” There ain’t enough :rolleyes: in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/33 "2006-12-05T02:42:14Z")
There’s just too much great Dylan for me to have a favorite, but this verse from “Desolation Row” has always knocked me out—especially the first two lines. _Cinderella, she seems so easy “It takes one to know one,” she smiles And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis-style And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning “You Belong to Me I Believe” And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place, my friend You better leave” And the only sound that’s left After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up On Desolation Row_ It’s not just the lyrics that make it great, it’s the way Dylan sings them. It ain’t a pretty voice, but it’s devastatingly effective when he’s on. Few things make me roll my eyes as quickly as hearing someone say, “I like his lyrics, but I don’t like his singing.” OK, fine. But people who say that also tend to find folks like Charlie Patton or Son House or the Carter Family or Bill Monroe unlisteneable. And, well, those aren’t folks with whom I’m likely to talk about music much. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/34 "2006-12-05T03:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Subterraneanus] It’s not just the lyrics that make it great, it’s the way Dylan sings them. It ain’t a pretty voice, but it’s devastatingly effective when he’s on. Few things make me roll my eyes as quickly as hearing someone say, “I like his lyrics, but I don’t like his singing.” OK, fine. [/QUOTE] Our Prime Minister, John Howard - that global reference point for coolness - is on record as liking Bob Dylan’s music, except for the lyrics. Boggle at will. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/35 "2006-12-05T04:11:10Z")
Choosing a favorite is impossible, but two that come to mind are: From the recent “High Water (For Charley Patton)”: _High water risin’, six inches ‘bove my head Coffins dropping in the streets like balloons made outa lead Water pouring into Vicksburg, don’t know what I’m gonna do “Don’t reach out for me,” she said, "can’t you see I’m drownin’ too?" It’s tough out there High water everywhere …_ From “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” a masterpiece: _I’m a’thinkin’ and a’wonderin’, walkin’ down the road I once loved a woman, a child I am told I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul But don’t think twice, it’s alright_ As for worst, there are many contenders even without his Christian phase in the mix. I for one always hated the forced, anticlimactic end of “Motorpsycho Nightmare”: _Without freedom of speech I might be in the swamp_ It’s worse in context. > [@Subterraneous](#): > > It’s not just the lyrics that make it great, it’s the way Dylan sings them. It ain’t a pretty voice, but it’s devastatingly effective when he’s on. Few things make me roll my eyes as quickly as hearing someone say, “I like his lyrics, but I don’t like his singing.” 'Struth. A whole 'nother thread could be devoted to Dylan’s singing, lines that are perfect not just because the lyric is great (assuming it even is) but because of that Magic Dylan Thing™ he does with it. The way he hits the first line of “Visions of Johanna” in the live version on _Biograph_ gives me the shivers. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/36 "2006-12-05T04:34:22Z")
Bob is my hero. I’ll grant that he gave us a lot of crap. He also gave us every word of “Idiot Wind,” “Hurricane’” and “Tangled Up in Blue.” These are songs that only get better each time you hear them. Then we get “My patron saint is a-fighting with a ghost He’s always off somewhere when I need him most.” from Abandoned Love. What a quick sysnopsis for being left behind. Or “The way is long but the end is near Already the fiesta has begun. The face of God will appear With His serpent eyes of obsidian.” from Romance in Durango. He takes us to an older, scarier god. This is not the god of the Christian Bible, but a harder maybe Aztec god. And you feel Him looking at you. I get chills each time I hear that line. He has been covered by every artist from A to Z. There is a site that tracks covers, [http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/dylancov/main](http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/dylancov/main) that recognizes almost 17,000 covers of Dylan’s songs. That, to me, indicates a large measure of his popularity and his universal appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/37 "2006-12-05T04:49:21Z")
I was trying to think of what my least favorite of his lyrics would be, and I think it’s probably what **Marley23** quoted from Ballad of a Thin Man. I also don’t really like the “The sun isn’t yellow, it’s chicken!” line from “Tombstone Blues”. As for lyrics I do like, they’ve mostly been mentioned. Mr. Tambourine Man, A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall, Chimes of Freedom are great. I like Masters of War and his more political stuff too. And I really like the lyrics to Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 and his delivery. Overall, I’m really not as familiar with his music as I should be. I have three actual albums of his, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Of those, I think I like Blonde on Blonde the best in terms of music. I also have the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese documentary on him that came out about a year ago, and I like the first disc better. I love the last six songs on there, and I think I prefer those versions to the album ones I’ve heard. I’m not a big fan of the electric blues type music, so the songs of his like that are the ones I like the least. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/38 "2006-12-07T02:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] I was going to nominate “Chimes of Freedom” not just as the best Dylan lyric but the best song lyric ever, period. To me, it is magnificent. Worst - pick anything from “Union Sundown” or “Neighborhood Bully” And to think they made that album in place of “Blind Willie McTell”! [/QUOTE] Oh my God, what might have been. _Infidels_ with “Blind Willie McTell” and “Foot of Pride” instead of those two would have been one of the greatest albums ever made. (And I think _Blood on the Tracks_ is already one of the greatest albums ever made, but how much better would it have been with “Call Letter Blues” instead of “Meet Me In the Morning”?) He’s such a frustrating artist, I think, because he’s _just that good_ yet could have been _just that much better_, and you don’t know what to make of it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/39 "2006-12-07T03:09:37Z")
Thanks for reminding me how much I disliked those turkeys from _Infidels_. It seemed like an unusually cranky year for Dylan. In the _Rolling Stone_ interview with the release of that album, he said “Women run everything. They always have.” Excuse me? That was a WTF moment all right. I thought Dylan’s third Christian album, _Shot of Love_ in 1981, had lots of good moments compared to the two that went before. It was a more easygoing version of Christianity. I decided I liked that album mainly on the strength of “Lenny Bruce.” Lots of fundamentalist Christians would probably have fits if they knew what he was singing in support of. 🙂 “Every Grain of Sand” is so quiet and reflective, and not aggressively Christian, that it holds a more universal spiritual appeal. That was a relief after the previous two albums. By contrast, “Infidels,” instead of warm fuzzies, has more of the reactionary attitudes like a hangover from the fundie period. The inclusion of “Blind Willie” would have totally changed the character of the whole album. But I liked how in the song “License to Kill” he has a woman speaking in the refrain, telling her point of view. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756/40 "2006-12-07T10:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] But I liked how in the song “License to Kill” he has a woman speaking in the refrain, telling her point of view. [/QUOTE] “Licence to Kill” seems to be one of those songs it’s fashionable to hate, but I quite like it too. However - “Man has invented his doom first step was touching the moon” has to be one of his barmiest lines ever. “Something There is About You” from “_Planet Waves_”, I think, is a masterful lyric which is often overlooked. mm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-and-least-favorite-dylan-lines/382756.md?page=3)