Bob Dylan had already been putting records out for 3 years before I caught on. I missed his eponymous debut (early 1962) but years later I discovered “Now, a very great man once said, That some people rob you with a fountain pen” from that album, “Talkin’ New York.” I also paid no attention to the release of Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), even though two iconic songs, “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” from the album caught my attention when I was still in high school. There were already kids in school who were devotees (of this "protest singer"). People were calling him the voice of my generation. The two 1964 albums, The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Another Side of Bob Dylan finally convinced me, though not ’til the following year when I met people at the Bill Ryan for Mayor campaign who were listening to his music and only his music. It was Bringing It All Back Home, the rage among the campaign workers, with one greatest-song-in-the-world after another that cemented in my mind that Bob Dylan was the greatest songwriter who ever lived.
Harold was one of my friends from my freshman year at Stony Brook. We did a lot of drugs and listened to a lot of Bringing It All Back Home together. We took acid together one day and listened over and over and over. The next day, I was fine— as fine as anyone is who alters their mind— but Harold never came down; he was on that trip for the rest of his life, which wasn’t too long. He would keep listening to the album and tell me that Dylan wrote it to him and was speaking to him. He meant it too. The next year he was in a mental institution, got out, threw himself off the Brooklyn Bridge. It made me think maybe I should take less acid— but never made me think I should listen to less Dylan.
When I asked some of my friends to tell me what they think are the 6 most profound songs Dylan has ever written, I was surprised no one just said ‘any 6 from Bringing It All Back Home.’ I think everybody included at least one song from that album though. Except Alan Grayson. He seemed uber-obsessed with “Tangled Up in Blue” from Blood On The Tracks. 3 of his six lyrics came from that one song. I bet that was his entree into Dylan world, the way mine was, 10 years previous, Bringing It All Back Home.
OK, so we’ll start with Grayson and the 3 “Tangled Up in Blue” lyrics
“All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now.”
“The only thing I knew how to do,
Was to keep on keeping on.”
“She opened up a book of poems, and handed it to me,
Written by an Italian poet from the 13th century,
And every one of them words rang true,
And glowed like burning coal,
Pouring off of every page,
Like it was written in my soul, from me to you.”
And the 3 others:
“All the criminals, in their coats and their ties,
Are free to drink martinis, and watch the sun rise” from “Hurricane”
“Don't criticize,
What you can't understand” from “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
“The Commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a fly,
Saying, ‘Death to all those who have whimper and cry,
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky,
Saying, ‘The sun's not yellow, it's chicken” from “Tombstone Blues”
My friend Jeff Gold, the former general manager of Warner Records and now the Record Mecca guy, was getting ready for a trip to Paris, Brussels and Bruges, so he didn’t do all six but he sent me the first one that popped into his head, from “My Back Pages”
“But I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now”
Our boss was Danny Goldberg, the chairman of Warner Bros Records and, earlier many other things, like the manager of Nirvana. First lyric up is from “Blowin’ In The Wind,” which is almost on everyone's list.
"How many times can a man look away and pretend that he just doesnt see?"
"I am hanging in the balance of the perfect finished plan,
like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand" from “Every Grain of Sand”
“Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
and for each and every underdog solider in the night
and we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing” from “Chimes Of Freedom”
“Sing of heroes who stood alone
whose names are engraved on tablets of stone
who struggled with pain so the world could go free
Mother of Muses sing for me” from “Mother of Muses”
“Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship
my senses have been stripped
my hands can't feel to grip
my toes too numb to step
wait only for my boot heels to be wandering” from “Mr Tambourine Man”
And Danny’s last set of lyrics is from “I Believe In You”
“Don't let me drift too far
keep me where you are
where I will always be renewed”
Michael Bart is one of my oldest friends, from Stony Brook. He’s a bass player. He started with some lines from “Blowin’ In The Wind”
“How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man”
Then two from “Like A Rolling Stone”
“How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man”
And
“When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal”
“I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you” from “Positively 4th Street”
“l see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released” from “I Shall Be Released”
“God said you can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run” from “Highway 61 Revisited”
“Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul” from “Masters of War”
Charlie Rich went to Stony Brook too but I didn’t know him there. We met kind of randomly on the street in Mumbai or Delhi in 1970 and then worked together in Amsterdam. Yesterday he was flying back to L.A. from New York and jotted these down while he was waiting for his plane. First from “Masters of War”
“You've thrown the worst fear, that can ever be hurled, fear to bring children into the world”
“Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial,
voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while” from “Visions of Johanna”
“She was born in spring but I was born too late
blame it on a simple twist of fate” from “Simple Twist of Fate”
“You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows” from “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
“Well Abe says, ‘Where you want this killin' done?’ God says ‘Out on Highway 61’” from “Highway 61 Revisited”
“You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last, but whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast” “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”
Peter Case is a great songwriter too and he was happy to share these Dylan lines. First from “Mr Tambourine Man”
“Forget about today until tomorrow”
“To live outside the law you must be honest” from “Absolutely Sweet Marie”
“We sit here stranded doing our best to deny it” from “Visions Of Johanna”
“Some of us are prisoners the rest of us are guards” from “George Jackson”
“Everything passes, everything changes, do what you think you should do” from “To Ramona”
“Something's happening but you don't know what it is” from “Ballad of a Thin Man”
Rickie Lee Jones, no slouch when it comes to songwriting herself, knew which Dylan lyrics had a profound impact on her, although she complained that “a line is hard!” These are the ones she suggested:
“And I ride on a mail train, baby, can't buy no thrill” from “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Lot To Cry”
“You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows” from “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
“She’s got everything she needs, she’s an artist
She don’t look back” from “She Belongs To Me”
“The answer is blowing in the wind” from “Blowin’ In The Wind”
“You know something is happening here but you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mr Jones?” from “Ballad Of A Thin Man”
Denise Sullivan and I were djs at KUSF, then we worked together at 415 Records, then Warner Records and now she’s helping me with my memoir. She writes books. Her first lyric is from ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”
“He not busy being born is busy dying”
“How many deaths will it take til he knows that too many people have died” from “Blowin’ In The Wind”
“He's only a pawn in their game” from “Only A Pawn In Their Game”
“Even Jesus would never forgive what you do” “Masters of War”
“Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed
To live in a land where justice is a game” from “Hurricane”
“Your old road is rapidly aging…” from “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Digby, the intellectual engine of the blogosphere said she’s not a Dylan expert but her selections belie that. She started with lyrics from “Sweetheart Like You”
“They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king”
“I can’t even touch the books you’ve read
Every time I crawl past your door
I been wishing I've been somebody else instead” from Idiot Wind”
“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin” from “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
“May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young” from "Forever Young"
She told me the “Positively 4th Street” lyrics “really spoke to me at moments in certain relationships when I was really pissed off.”
“I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you”
“You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you” from “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”
You know Noah, the author of the Midnight Meme series? He helped me navigate the corporate morass at CBS after I told 415 to them. He’s a music guy but he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have the energy to write it up the way he wanted, so he suggested I should just take “Idiot Wind” in its entirely. It is a great song; listen:
The he offered
“Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown
And there was nobody aroun'
I got into the driver's seat
And I drove down 42nd Street
In my Cadillac
Good car to drive after a war” from “Talkin’ World War Three Blues”
He wasn’t letting not feeling well keep him from suggesting
“I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand” from “Every Grain Of Sand.”
"Now the Senator came down here,
Showing everyone his gun,
Handing out free tickets
To the wedding of his son" from “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”
By the end of the day, Noah had recovered sufficiently to write a whole post!
I got an email from Howie late Sunday night and he asked if I would like to provide some input as to six lines from Bob Dylan songs that I find to be profound. On the surface, that's easy, besides, I'm a big fan, I've done some work on his behalf, and I always have his songs running through my head. The difficult part is that there are so many songs to center in on. In the end, I decided to go with lyrics that always seem to pop into my mind with regularity. I figure they do so for a reason. So here goes.
"Desolation Row"- First of all, any song that opens with the line "They're selling postcards of the hanging" has to get your attention. For me it's one of the greatest opening lines, a line worthy of Dickens. It fills one's mind with profound and maybe not so profound possibilities and it's just the beginning. The whole song is profoundly desolate, maybe even Dylan's best. Then, there's more. The song starts out painting a very visual, bleak existence but Dylan goes deeper, twice. At this point I should direct you to googling the complete words of the song. In the first verse and a half, Dylan sets up the environment. You are in a world of desolation. The second half of the second verse warns of an escalation of the darkness with the words "you better leave." Then comes the line "And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go is the sound of Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row." For me, listening as a teen in the 1960s, Dylan had somehow captured my surroundings. It was certainly profound for me, and nice to know that someone else "got it." Oh well, off to school I go in the morning!
Then Dylan takes it darker a short time later with a tale of Ophelia. "To her, death is quite romantic, she wears an iron vest. Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness." After mentions of Dr. Filth's "nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hole" and "The Phantom Of The Opera in the perfect image of a priest," and insurance men with heart attack machines, Bob wraps it up with the announcement the the Titanic sails at dawn and asks that we not send him any letters, unless we mail them from Desolation Row. It's a comfort thing. That was profound to me.
And mine… I couldn’t limit it to 6; I’m a bum.
“She knows there’s no success like failure
and that failure’s no success at all” from “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”
“And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time” from “Mr. Tamborine Man”
“Yes, I wish that for just one time,
You could stand inside my shoes” from Positively 4th Street”
“Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’” from “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
“Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
And how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind” from “Blowin’ in the Wind”
“People tell me it’s a sinTo know and feel too much within” from “Simple Twist of Fate”
"May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation,
When the winds of changes shift." from “Forever Young”
“I try my best,
To be just like I am,
But everybody wants you,
To be just like them” from “Maggie’s Farm”
“When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose” from “Like A Rolling Stone”
"...to live outside the law you must be honest" from “Absolutely Sweet Marie”
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" from “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
"Now, a very great man once said,
That some people rob you with a fountain pen” from “Talkin’ New York”
“Love is all there is, it makes the world go ’round,
Love and only love, it can’t be denied,
No matter what you think about it,
You just won’t be able to do without it,
Take a tip from one who’s tried” from “I Threw It All Away”
“Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul” from “Masters of War”
And here are a couple of Dylan covers you might have missed. First up, Ministry's version of "Lay Lady Lay."
Them, Van Morrison’s old band, covered "It’s all Over now Baby Blue” and so did Roky Erickson’s old band, The 13th Floor Elevators.
Springsteen’s 1988 version of “Chimes Of Freedom is pretty awesome.
The Clash covered “The Man In Me" a decade before it was in The Big Lebowski.
My Chemical Romance: "Desolation Row" is... something else, especially for anyone who enjoyed what Noah had to say about this masterpiece above.
Instead of ending with Jimi Hendrix’s classic, mind-blowing 1968 cover of “All Along the Watchtower, here’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” by Nina Simone:
UPDATE from our Cuba correspondent, Nigel Best:
Having only stumbled across a man who mumbled and may have been Dylan at a WEA Juno Awards after party, I submit to you:
Say, okay, I've had enough
What else can you show me?
("It’s Alright Ma")
("It’s Alright Ma")
Flowers on the hillside blooming crazy
Crickets talking back and forth in rhyme
Blue river running slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.
("You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome")
Well, you look so pretty in it
Honey, can I jump on it sometime?
Yes, I just wanna see
If it's really the expensive kind
You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine
Your brand new leopard-skin pillbox hat
("Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat")
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I'll follow your casket
On a pale afternoon
I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
("Masters Of War")
There's a lone soldier on the cross
Smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door
("Idiot Wind")