What are your 3 most favourite Bob Dylan Songs?
Bob Dylan and Sara Dylan at Toronto's Mariposa Folk Festival
Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot at Toronto's Mariposa Folk Festival
What are your 3 most favourite Bob Dyan songs?
It would be difficult to say that Bob Dylan is not respected for his writing, having been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for it. However, we cannot forget that Arafat was actually awarded the Peace Prize. In that regard, Atilla the Hun could have been chosen instead. But Bob is a songwriter, a musician, an author and an artist. He has written about 1000 songs, so there certainly are enough from which to choose.
Over the years I had the privilege of watching him perform concerts live, the first being the first time he appeared in Toronto when he was just starting out, and he played in a large auditorium called Massey Hall. The second time was at the iconic 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he was booed off the stage for having betrayed the folkies by going electric. In the mid 70s I was given tickets by Neil Young's brother to watch the Rolling Thunder Concert when it came to Toronto, but in the early 1970s, when I was the President of Toronto's Mariposa Folk Festival he unexpectedly came with his wife Sara and son Jesse, not to perform but he had heard about the festival from his friends who had performed there previously. Many wanted him to perform as a guest performer. We were running 6 stages and a First Nations area on Olympic Island, one of the Toronto islands, all stages busy all day long with different performers and programs. When the performers learned he was there, some of our regular local performers who worked the festival for union scale every year, told me that if he got on a stage, they would all lose their audiences, and would never perform for us again. And so the decision was up to me, and I had to say that Bob Dylan could not perform at the festival. He and his family spent the day wandering around and taking in the performances, which is what he had come to do. I had a friend shadowing him to make sure he didn't get into any problems with the crowd and almost nobody recognized him (probably because they would not have believed that, he, the virtual folk music / rock music icon, would be at our festival, as it was not announced, and was even a surprise to us that day. However one person went up to him (as related by my friend shadowing him) and said *Hey man, you look just like Bob Dylan." Bob said nothing. The person then asked "What's your name, man?" Bob answered "Jerome Avenue". (a street in or near Greenwich Village NY). I don't think that not being asked to perform bothered him at all because when I met with him, Sara and Jesse, a bit later he shook my hand and told me "I really dig your festival, man." Later on, a friend who was an impressario for a big local rock concert told me that there probably wasn't a person running a concert or festival who wouldn't have given his eye teeth to have been in my position and for sure they would have put him on the stage.
There are so many great songs written by him - from folk to rock and everything in between. There are so many of his songs that I like that choosing only 3 is almost impossible. At first I was going to ask for only one favourite but how can anyone choose just one? So my choices in no particular order are:
Like A Rolling Stone:
Mr. Tambourine Man:
A Hard Rain's A'Gonna Fall
For sure you will be able to find them on YouTube so I'll not bother to provide a link.
What 3 songs would YOU choose?
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What 3 Bob Dylan songs would be your favourites? If you post a link, please also state the name of the song.
everybody must get stoned,then list their three songs
LOL. .Don't know if that would change my choices.
Like a Rolling Stone will be my all time favorite, but so many great songs. I am a huge Bob Dylan fan, always have been. Just saw him a few weeks ago. If I hadn't been afraid of getting tackled and arrested, I would have jumped up on the stage and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Forever Young and Knockin on Heavens Door.
1. Dylan and the Dead playing All Along the Watchtower
2. Dylan and the Dead - Slow Train Coming
3. Dylan and the Dead - Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again.
Lol, i sense a pattern here Dean ...... are you a Deadhead?
Yes, they will always be my favorite band!
I have some friends who are as well. I never got into the Dead myself. I was more into bands like the Stones, Seger, Eagles, Doobies and anything Motown.
When I was a teen the Beatles and the Stones were all the rage. I liked both groups, but I could listen to Diana Ross and the Supremes all day long.
"Motown"…..theeeee Best …. EVER !
But I Digress.
And, don't forget Nancy Wilson.
Used to ok with Dylan but then I worked in a warehouse for two years with a boss who played Dylan loudly on repeat all day every day. Haven't been able to tolerate Bob since
I used to do that when I was a teenager and my Dad would say..."please turn that crap off for awhile"
Not gonna post 3 links, but Knockin' on Heaven's Door for sure makes the list.
The Times They Are A'Changin'
And I'm AM going to post a link to my favorite; Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.
This is a breakup song which dovetails rather nicely into my Cheatin' Songs article
I used to like the way Ramblin' Jack Elliott played and sang that song. He told me that when Bob heard him play it he said "I give ya that song, Jack."
When I was a boy my mom had a Peter Paul and Mary album with this song on it. It was one of favorite songs.
My favorite Dylan songs are those sung by other people. He is an amazingly talented songwriter, but he can't sing. Merely thinking about "just like a woman" makes me cringe!
As for his songwriting - I don't think I could choose only 3 favorites. Like A Rolling Stone would probably have to make the cut. Hearing the Seldom Scene cover "Boots of Spanish Leather" is always good.
Hearing the Seldom Scene cover "Boots of Spanish Leather" is always good.
Ahem, I say, Ahem.
LOVE MINUS ZERO NO LIMIT - Rick Nelson
MY BACK PAGES -
DON'T THINK TWICE - Billy Strings
I like Bob's songs sung by "Others" !
I never could stand "HIS" singing.
Lay Lady Lay - Adam Holt !
1. "It's all right, Ma"
2. "Tangled up in blue"
3. "Like a Rolling Stone"
Ok. What I'm hearing here Buzz, is that maybe we should have an article featuring covers. Lot of interesting stuff there.
For many years I had no problem with his voice - thought it matched the tone and topic of his songs, until later when it became too much like a screech. There are probably as many covers of his songs as there are his songs. What do you suggest? We could partner on an article if you want - do our back and forth using Private Notes.
I didn't just mean covers of Dylan songs necessarily. Although there would probably be a lot of them, but cover songs in general. It's a very interesting topic, to me at least, because there are covers that are more famous than the original. Also there are some artists, Johnny Rivers, the King of covers, who are known for their cover work. Linda Ronstadt also springs to mind. There are also covers that, while they never achieved the level of fame of the original artist version are still very good covers. That cover of Spanish Boots by Mandolin Orange for example, is an excellent cover I know, I know, I'm showing some favoritism for a North Carolina group, but so what? Favorites get to be favorites for a reason . I like the idea of partnering an article, but I don't really spend enough time here to know all the ins and outs of how this site works. I would really like to give it a shot.
For example, I don't know private messages work here.
I'm going to send you a Private Note (PN) now. If you don't get it let me know. I knew you meant covers in general, not specifically of Dylan.
There are many albums that are nothing but other people singing Dylan songs, which is a tribute to his iconic songwriting.
I like covers too, and have posted many of them on various music seeds on Newstalkers. I especially like to hear younger musicians playing old songs.
Covers can absolutely be as good as the original. Here is one (not a Dylan song) that comes close. Peter Cincotti is a professional musician and singer with top notch recording equipment, so that helped him.
Viva La Vida - Peter Cincotti