A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
First just let me say that I’ve never heard a cover of Dylan that’s as good as the original. Even the Beatles had songs done better by others (With A Little Help From My Friends) but not Bob.
- Ballad of a Thin Man (Do you mr. Jones?)
- Visions of Johana
- Dear Landlord
- House of the Risin’ Sun (I dare you to listen to his version and say that The Animals’ is better)
- Tangled Up In Blue
But “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is not really an example of the talking blues at all. Its meter, assonance/alliteration, verbal cadences, and urban imageryÑto say nothing of the fact that it contains drums and electric guitarsÑconstitute a very clear and distinct departure from the talking blues, a distant relationship to the talking blues notwithstanding. It is definitely a “rap,” and likely the first on record.
I couldn’t possibly single out one Dylan song as “the best.”
This is one of my favorite songs of all time. For some reason, it wasn’t on any of the zillion Dylan CDs we had in my house as a kid and I haven’t been sufficiently motivated to buy any of my own since then.
**1. Desolation Row ** The lyrics in that one is something else. I’ve yet to hear a better one.
*“They’re selling postcards of the hanging
They’re painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town” *
Man, what a beginning to a song…
2. Ballad Of a Thin Man I heard a bunch of explanations to this lyric but the main thing is that it cracks me up every single time.
- 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”*
**3. Hurricane ** A great song about an important event that needs to be high lighted.
I know a lot of people love him live but not me. The lyrics is a huge part of it for me and can listen to a song five times in a row. Then saw him two years ago at the Roskilde festival. It was the worst! Hehe, It was great to see him live for once but I stuck to the albums after that.
The Ballad of Hollis Brown
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Blowin’ In The Wind
The Times They Are A Changin’
Tangled Up In Blue
I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here…