are we to vote for the worst song on this list, or the best?
best: "Forever Young"worst: I don't hate any of these. I am likeliest to skip "Rainy Day Women" but that's because I'm likelier to play Blonde On Blonde than Dylan or Self-Portrait, or to play a boot with it rather than one of the other songs on this list.
worst Dylan 60s songs would be better: I'd vote for much of The Times They Are A-Changin', plus any talking blues because once I've heard them once, the (lame) jokes have no further impact.
― Euler, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
all the tired horses and rainy day women are amazing. fuck this shit.
dunno any of the other songs except we are the world, which is just silly
no wait, forever young, that is pretty terrible
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 17:25 (twelve years ago) link
voting "Forever Young" since it's the most full-on boring
― da croupier, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
Gone too are his blinding early-80s Letterman performanceson some other dylan thread the dude who played bass (?) in that band showed up and told some stories.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
ha, desire is my favorite dylan album -- i even like 'joey.' 'sara' is probably his single most wrenching vocal performance, and 'one more cup of coffee' is perfect pensive late-night driving music.
am i wrong, or did they ignore the born-again albums entirely? those are still pretty awful. 'gotta serve somebody' is easily his worst hit.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
yeah sorta surprising. though i think slow train coming is pretty great. the other two, less great.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:07 (twelve years ago) link
Street-Legal has a few stinkers, especially the one that goes -
Can you cookcan you sewcan you make flowers growcan you understand my pain?
sung as if he were held at gunpoint.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
on some other dylan thread the dude who played bass (?) in that band showed up and told some stories.
Yeah, I saw that! Cool stuff. Frustrating that Dylan didn't hang onto that band.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
someone probably told him they were good.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:11 (twelve years ago) link
Street-Legal has a few stinkers
Yes. Changing Of The Guards and Where Are You Tonight? are two of his alltime best. The rest...not so much.
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:18 (twelve years ago) link
xp i dunno, i can see why -- no matter how good that letterman band sounded -- that dylan would go with tried/true stadium rockers for a big stadium tour. as cool as it would've been for him to go out with a punky/spiky LA band. believe it or not, real live to the contrary, there are some good 1984 euro tour performances.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:20 (twelve years ago) link
"joey" can hang (mostly bc of that awful chorus) but the rest of Desire is good-to-great
― I'm 11 and I love Gay Dad. Today's music is so formulaic its appalling. (will), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
'gotta serve somebody' is easily his worst hit.
NO
― metally ill (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
love that fuckin record
As for the Christian records, there's a song called "Something's Burning, Baby" on Empire Burlesque which boasts martial beats, Dylannettes yelling in your ear, and a synthesizer stolen from a Laura Branigan single that conjures hellfire more convincingly than anything on STC or Saved.
I wish Shot of Love was a better throwaway; he wrote better junk than "Trouble" and "Heart of Mine."
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
believe it or not, real live to the contrary, there are some good 1984 euro tour performances.
Seems like there should be, with that lineup. Ian McLagan's autobio All The Rage has some hilarious stories about the tour, like Dylan asking Ian for a list of songs he'd like to play, telling Ian, "Yeah, let's do those," and then never playing a single one of them for the whole tour.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 19:04 (twelve years ago) link
"Rainy Day Women" stopped me from listening to Dylan for 20-ish years so this is an easy choice for me.
― Deeez Nuuults (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
I'd vote for Ballad In Plain D as the worst Dylan song.
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
xxxp ha, i should read that. mclagan probably has a lot of good stories. check the barcelona 1984 date. there are some really great performances on there. does seem like dylan was trying to his best to mess with his high-priced stadium rockers on that tour -- he's definitely teaching them some of the songs onstage.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
Are we supposed to vote for the best? That would be "Forever Young" obv.
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 21:16 (twelve years ago) link
thought the best geir track here would be "all the pretty horses"...pure melody. no rhythm. perfect.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
lol!
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
add a thumpa thumpa to all for Eric
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
Lawrence from Felt on some of those later Dylan records:
"What I liked about…Bob Dylan were the brilliant lyrics, but after ‘Desire’ why didn’t Dylan use synths instead of saxes and soul backing singers? He wore flares, didn’t acknowledge the new wave, and that dated him"
anyway...
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
Didn't he listen to Empire Burlesque? DOR Dylan!
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:12 (twelve years ago) link
evidently not? i've never understood that quote. unless he meant that he felt dylan came too late in the game and really shoulda been making bleep-bloop-bloop records when he was immersed in his born-again period
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
Mozambique from Desire is pretty terrible. Patronising colonialist drivel. Lester Bangs' demolition of that album is a great read.
― Count Palmiro Vicarion (Stew), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:26 (twelve years ago) link
did dylan ever acknowledge disco in any sense btw?
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
some of the 78 live stuff is pretty disco-ed out. "shelter from the storm" gets a funky re-working.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
the Street-Legal tour employed a bongo player. There may have been a disco ball.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:28 (twelve years ago) link
yeah srsly. Even if you put Bangs' reading aside, you have to deal with how execrably Dylan sings.
i like bangs and all but his focus on how 'joey' was undermined by its subject being an asshole seemed sort of blinkered to me -- i mean, jesse james was a bad guy too!
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
had just about enough of this desire bashinglive version of mozambique from 76. http://www.bigozine1a.com/MPX3/BDsanant/BDsanant03.mp3sure the lyrics are dumb! i don't think that's entirely unintentional.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
i used to own a copy of street legal and once borrowed a copy of desire from a friend, but never managed to get into anything on them, except maybe for changing of the guards and one other song which escapes me. but now i'm thinking maybe i should revisit them, even if only out of perverse curiosity, b/c this was like 15 years ago or more when i first tried listening to them. but i imagine they would still fall flat on my ears. i'm someone who never appreciated blood on the tracks, other than you're a big girl now. i like his loud albert hall-ish rock stuff and nashville skyline and self-portrait, but much of the other time in listening to him i kinda just want him to shut up. oh, and oh mercy. i feel like i should check out that one properly
― dell (del), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
street legal is pretty flawed, but i like most of it. actually "no time to think" might be one of my candidates for worst ever Dylan song, now that I think of it. but i only came around to street legal when it was remixed in the late 90s -- it sounded so much better then!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:45 (twelve years ago) link
"Senor" is the best thing on the album by some distance, and it really took off when I saw him perform it in '05.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
yeah there's something kind of silly about senor as a whole, but dylan really sells it -- all the versions I've heard, you can tell he really enjoys singing it.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:49 (twelve years ago) link
well, it's a set of Dylan-parody lines looking for a home, right? The world's best Dylan imitator writing his own Dylan song.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:52 (twelve years ago) link
lincoln county rooooad ... or armageddon?! haha
― tylerw, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
I've just spent 15 minutes looking for something I can't find: a late-'70s interview where someone asks him if his new music's disco, and he says something like, "No, the Village People are disco, I'm not disco." He says it in a way that's funny and playful, not resentful, and in a way that made it seem like he was very aware of what was happening elsewhere musically. (I thought it would have been the '78 Rolling Stone interview, but it's not there.)
There's this, though, from his '84 Rolling Stone interview: "I've seen a lot of stuff written about me. People must be crazy. I mean responsible people. Especially on that Street Legal tour. That band we assembled then, I don't think that will ever be duplicated. It was a big ensemble. And what did people say? I mean, responsible people who know better. All I saw was "Bruce Springsteen" because there was a saxophone player. And it was "disco" — well, there wasn't any disco in it."
He seemed a little less playful at that point. Earlier in the same interview he mentioned Cisco Houston.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
yeah but if you write a song "About" jesse james that's just a bunch of self-pitying cliches, contrasting them with the actual facts of james is a good way to point out what crap it is
― da croupier, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
I love all those Emmylou Harris harmonies on Desire.
― banjoboy, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 23:41 (twelve years ago) link
Not Heard "Wiggle Wiggle" so in my imagination it sounds a lot like Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby".
Does it?
― Mark G, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 09:47 (twelve years ago) link
I love Mozambique - it's funny.
Classic - Sara, IsisV good - Hurricane, Mozambique, One More Cup of CoffeeOK - Oh Sister, Romance in Durango, Black Diamond BayDud - Joey
― We need to talk about Bevan (DL), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 10:08 (twelve years ago) link
I like Desire, but the tracklisting is always Hurricane, Isis, Mozambique, Coffee, skiiiip, Sara
Hurricane probs my favourite Dylan song.
― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 10:34 (twelve years ago) link
Is this Lester Bangs takedown of Desire available online anywhere? Sounds fascinating.
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 10:49 (twelve years ago) link
here you go... http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/smalltalkatthewall/message/42037
― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 10:56 (twelve years ago) link
― dell (del), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 8:08 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I love Lawrence so so so much
Ballad In Plain D is clearly the worse. No-one has ever listened to it more than once. NO-ONE.
― Spikey, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 12:12 (twelve years ago) link
Any lover knows you skip the first songs on each side of Desire. Then you only get the Jung psych cross the border tales.
― David Allah Coal (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 12:52 (twelve years ago) link
whoa, really? you skip Hurricane? why?
― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 13:01 (twelve years ago) link
"Mouldy Old Dough" about a million times as good, of course
― Tom D has taken many months to run this thread to ground (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 May 2011 11:50 (twelve years ago) link
On the "Worst Lieutenant Pigeon songs" poll, it came last.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 31 May 2011 12:56 (twelve years ago) link
I've realized I just don't like "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" at all.
― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link
i actually really like the version on the Live 1975 in the bootleg series..
― ryan, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
ILM voters otm.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 11 November 2017 12:28 (six years ago) link
I suspect a lot of people were voting for the one they liked the best. I may have done so myself.
― o. nate, Saturday, 11 November 2017 16:25 (six years ago) link
calling rainy day women the worst dylan song is so disrespectful to his catalogue
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 11 November 2017 16:38 (six years ago) link
(ballad in plain e 4eva)
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 11 November 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link
all the tired horses and tight connection are both really great imo
― marcos, Saturday, 11 November 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 11 November 2017 12:28 (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Loving these Worst Songs Ever pieces btw. LOL Eagles fans.
― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Saturday, 11 November 2017 19:08 (six years ago) link
Quinn < Stoned
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 11 November 2017 19:12 (six years ago) link
All the Tired Horses is one of my top 10 Dylan songs >:(
― ◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝ (Moka), miércoles 25 de mayo de 2011 22:03 (six years ago)
Still is and also Wigwam is in there. Sorry.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 11 November 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link
I'd understand if someone had Hattie Carroll as a worst..
Zanzinger wasn't his name, he didn't strike Battle with his cane or anything else, apart from that: enough happened for real that there wasn't need to change details, etc.
It isn't really a candidate for worst, but I'd understand etc..
― Mark G, Saturday, 11 November 2017 23:43 (six years ago) link
Hattie not battle, stupid spelling corrector!
― Mark G, Saturday, 11 November 2017 23:44 (six years ago) link
Zantzinger, fine, but he did hit her with his cane. Great song.
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Saturday, 11 November 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
"hattie carroll" is the masterpiece of his protest era imo, light-years ahead of the more famous stuff
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 11 November 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
never SAT ONCEat the head of the tableSHE JUST CLEANED UPall the food from the tableand emptied the ashtraysON A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 12 November 2017 10:47 (six years ago) link
can't believe time magazine didn't throw in even one boomer troll pick btw. how utterly joyless. a-changin's always a good one.
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 12 November 2017 10:55 (six years ago) link
"forever young"'s a feint in that direction i guess.
― difficult listening hour, Sunday, 12 November 2017 11:00 (six years ago) link
Tangled up in blue is just so bad
― eeshTrip (darraghmac), Tuesday, 14 November 2017 02:10 (six years ago) link
yes also Like a Rolling Stone, in fact Bob Dylan is a bad songwriter, come to think of it most canonical art is trash esp rock from 60s and 70s
― niels, Tuesday, 14 November 2017 06:11 (six years ago) link