What's your favourite Bob Dylan song?

[lazyred]

8 hours ago, Avalon_Fields said:

It's a great challenge to chose one, but I can't get past Desolation Row. I know it's special to me because every time I play it I listen very closely to the lyrics. Still doesn't mean I have a clue to what the words mean, such as this snippet:

Ophelia, she's 'neath the window for her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday she already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic she wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row

If the iron vest is an iron lung then Ophelia is a young woman paralysed by polio with a fixed view looking onto desolation row whilst dreaming of a better life after death.  

My personal favourite is Like a Rolling Stone

 

[grumpyhack]

For a song performed by Dylan himself it would be Desolation Row.  A more difficult question might be what's your favourite Dylan song performed by someone else?

For me it might be Danny Bryant's version of Girl From the North Country for the tender guitar.

Or prettty well anything done by Joan Baez.

[CaledonianGonzo]

16 hours ago, TASHMA BWABWE said:

Yeah, they're great. I've loved those mixes since they appeared on "Is It Rolling, Bob?"

I've got that CD somewhere. Sizzla's version of Subterranean Homesick Blues 😃 

[Mr.Tease]

Just finished working my way through most of his stuff (began during one of the lockdowns!) after not really liking him that much (I am now ready to repent!)- time well spent!

Aside from the ones already mentioned on this thread, I like these lesser known ones too:

 

and

 

 

I'm a bit worried as the other two things I got not were John Prine, who then perished and Nanci Griffith who also then perished soon after! Anyways, I like the latter's Bob Dylan cover a lot:

 

[Mr.Tease]

On 5/28/2021 at 10:50 AM, CaledonianGonzo said:

Tell Tale Signs is a good sampler of the era - including one of the best songs he's ever written:

 

Agreed! Tell Tale Signs is great, filled with loads of great stuff- inspired me to sift through the bootlegs series after initially thinking I'd just work through his studio albums

[The Nal]

Lawsuit dropped.

Worst lawsuit ever.

[downtherabbithole]

Overall best song: Tangled up in Blue

Best lyrics: It's Alright Ma (I'm only Bleeding)

Best moment: The final verse of Mr Tambourine Man (to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free...)

Best love song: Girl From The North Country

Most underrated song: Not Dark Yet