Favorite Dylan song

Considering how many great songs Mr. Zimmerman has, it would be a little nuts to waste a slot for Other. Rest assured that I know that if it were there, Other would win the balloting; register Other votes, as ever, by replying below.

I voted for "The Times they Are a Changing" anyway.

but I voted for Idiot Wind

I love all things DYLAN

because, it so disturbingly true to this day.

That's today. Tomorrow will be different.

I think it's impossible to choose just one......no way can you narrow down his genius to just one song.....

and that's saying something

NT

even without knowing them. Uh, I'd suspect that DUers would say that, like everybody, Dylan can be an idiot from time to time. Here they are, since all lyrics sites are infested with Gator. For those that don't feel like reading through the lines, it's a little ditty about Israel:

Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He's criticized and condemned for being alive
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he could apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a licence to kill him is given out to every maniac
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one's command
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for ?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars ?
Does he change the course of rivers ? Does he pollute the moon and stars ?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully.

around the time of the Infidels album, Dylan was involved personally with the Lubavitchers.........

Isn't the cover a picture of Jerusalem?


on edit-wrong album.... twenty years is a long time...

The year before Infidels was released Dylan went to Israel for his son's bar mitzvah, so that picture on the back cover of the album was taken during his time there.......

albums. Infidels had Mark Knopfler as well as Sly & Robbie if memory serves me correctly.

it would have been an even greater album had Dylan included Blind Willie Mc Tell and Foot Of Pride....both fabulous songs......

Joey

Shelter From The Storm

Just Like A Woman

Lay Lady Lay

Isis

Sarah

Oh Sister

1.)Series of Dreams
2.)Desolation Row
3.)Visions of Johanna

They generally switch from day to day.

Love that one.

Of the songs listed I had to go with Hurricane. Good poll.

That's the song I play for ignorant people who say he can't sing, don't understand his appeal, hate him, etc. Usuually they sit and look taken aback when hearing it for the first time. What a life changer that song is. My goal in life is to write a set of lyrics and a melody that is 1/80th as good as that.

Runners-up:

Positively 4th Street
She's Your Lover Now
Hurricane
The whole New Morning album (god, so underrated! my favortie album of his.)
Goin' to Alcupolco
Can you Please Crawl Out Your Window?
Changing of the Guard (what is this song about? I love it, but cannot for the life of me understand it.)
Ballad of a Thin Man
Minstrel Boy
One of us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
"A Public Execution" by Mouse and the Traps

OOoooh, gotta mention this: there's a new book out of the late Lester Bangs's writing. In it there's piece taking Dylan to task for glorifying Joey Gallo, the psychotic Gangster in "Joey." Fantastic article.

I guess if I had to choose one today it would be "Senior". Tomorrow it may be different.

Others:
Everything... :)

If you know people who think Dylan can't sing, play them "As Good As I've Been To You". Or the first album.

I remember when the critics smacked on his harmonica and now everyone tries to play it like he does. Except Popper, of course.

is another great song to play for those who claim he can't sing..........

BEST SONG EVER WRITTEN EVER.

the entire second side of BIABH..........It's Alright,Ma along with Mr. Tambourine Man, Gates Of Eden and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue....... brilliant and extraordinary.........

My favorite under appreciated Dylan song is "You're Going To Make Me Lonesome When You Go" from Blood on the Tracks.

Other less appreciated songs

When The Ship Comes In
Absolutely Sweet Marie
Live Minus Zero
Girl From the North Country (Johnny Cash duet version)
I Want You
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Only A Pawn In The Game (great political song)
Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol
You're Ain't Going Nowhere.

And that's just off the top of my head.

I always thought that was a religious allegory. But Bob didn't do that, did he? :)

Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams,
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
Cross the valleys and streams,
For they're deep and they're wide
And the world's on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride.

Ring them bells St. Peter
Where the four winds blow,
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know.
Oh it's rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down
Upon the sacred cow.

Ring them bells Sweet Martha,
For the poor man's son,
Ring them bells so the world will know
That God is one.
Oh the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled
With lost sheep.

Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf,
Ring them bells for all of us who are left,
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through.
Ring them bells, for the time that flies,
For the child that cries
When innocence dies.

Ring them bells St. Catherine
From the top of the room,
Ring them from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom.
Oh the lines are long
And the fighting is strong
And they're breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong.

B.Dylan
Oh Mercy
1989

peace
dp

I can smile in the face
of mankind
Don't even remember
what her her lips felt like on mine
Most of the time...

Enjoy the imagery -- "Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, with his memories in a trunk," etc.

Good stuff.

:toast:

Oppps, thats a song that may feature thematic elements that refer to Bob Dylan.

Sorry Don Macclean.

And many many others!

:shrug:

And may you always be.