Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks poll

With regard to special and exceptions, what about "Sara"? Despite the nymph and Scorpio sphinx comment (again interpretation), I think it's a nice love song.

I can see how his real life kind of puts a strain on the songs themselves, because everyone sees Dylan vs. Baez.

haha I tend to forget he dated her, and every time I watch a clip of her talking I understand why he left her.

i didn't bring up sara cuz i get the sense everyone hates it. i like the clip-clop vocal rhythm.

maybe the only desire-able track on the thing

because everyone sees Dylan vs. Baez

nah I never think about this. I mean, he'd ditched her by the time he got really interesting anyway. the marriage to Sara seems to inform his writing more.

i like the sad eyed lady line too, honestly

RAYDEEANT JEW-WELL

now the beach is deserted. except for some kelp.

Prefer Dylan vs Hardy

http://cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/bd/18/bob,dylan,bw,francoise,hardy,photography-bd18b044cd7f036a3a077014738caa53_h.jpg?ts=93246

i love love love love 'sara' -- it's probably my single favorite dylan song. kind of a dick move that he actually used her name, though.

now imagine him singing:

"Wait a minute BAY-bee
Stay with me a while
Said you give me life
But you nevah TOLD me bout the FIYAH

now imagine him singing "i'm just a notch in your bedpost but you're just a line in a song"

SUGAH we goin DOWWWWN

a really romantic Dylan song is "queen Jane approximately." Which I love. But not as much as "idiot wind."

how did i forget that; it's the only dylan song i've ever put on a girlmix and i think i've done it three times :/

i am a monster

w a small repertoire

I guess "I Want You" is romantic if you realize instead of the girl he wants a rhyming dictionary and a Norton Anthology of English Verse.

aw i would love getting "QJA" on a mix! that is smoothly done, dlh.

"To Romana" is pretty romantic for early Bob

:D xp

wrt "i want you" he prob has a lil flirt going w yr dancing child in his chinese suit, when he takes the flute, i mean

shit mean Ramona, otherwise it sounds like a song to the macaroni grill or something, which Bob might do also

'song to woody' is kind of a love song, and a pretty sweet one.

actually "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a good answer, as Elvis & Rod understood

i didn't even know that song!

I've only heard Rod Stewart's.

Listening to Hard Rain version of "Idiot Wind." Pretty good but gets a little shouty at times, so much so that I picture Dylan singing and playing drums at time, like Levon Helm.

Elvis' "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" competes for my fav Elvis song, mf goes into the deeps

yeah that whole album's shouty. "shelter from the storm" in particular. xp

voted "Shelter" btw, sounds like codeine after what's come before

Gone my whole life up until now without using the word 'shouty' but there just didn't seem to be any other word that fit. Need to check out that Elvis cover as I have been meaning to since the writings of Greil Marcus, I think it must have been, first informed me of it a long time ago.

Looks like there is an Elvis comp album named after that song which also has some of his Jerry and Jimmy Reed material and other good stuff.

I like the Dylan albums from the 60s, but this one never struck me as particularly good for whatever reason.

i'm burned out on most of his '60s classics, i'm much more likely to reach for this one (or even 'desire').

Me too. Although I never owned a copy of Desire but always enjoyed the tracks off of it on the radio way back when.

Ditto. I haven't played The Sixties Trilogy in years. I said on another Dylan thread that his "minor" albums like New Morning, Empire Burlesque get more play...and I've worn out Love & Theft.

Guess listening to BOTT or Desire instead of The Big Three is roughly equivalent to listening to The Rutles instead of The Beatles which I am also wont to do.

Voted for Buckets of Rain b/c I'm a sap.

Never understood the plot line of "Isis. " Had some vague idea it was some kind of HP Lovecraft stuff.

On the proper album, my vote goes to "Meet Me in the Morning" -- if we include the NY Sessions, then it's "Idiot Wind".

Some discussion above the quality of his vocal performance -- his best single delivery must be the Bootlegs version of "Moonshiner" (his best harmonica playing, as well).

listened to most of this today, have two songs left to go. it would be really hard not to vote for "Idiot Wind."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

xp I agree that Dylan's "classics," especially the 60s ones, are less "listenable" than some of his "minor" albums. I want to put in a word for "Planet Waves," which gets a lot of spins when I am sitting in my room reading.

is Dylan one of the few canonical rock dudes folks still moralize over a bit? it's interesting, you see it here with people talking about "Idiot Wind" being less good bc he comes off abusive, the ongoing hand-wringing over "Joey" of course, etc. I'm not sure what it is, but you don't really see people apply that to old canonized rock types (exception: "Run for Your Life" with the Beatles, I guess). there's a greater point here about people maybe identifying with Dylan's narrators or something but I'm tired and don't know where to make it

I've never thought of Dylan as a person so

hm, i am almost inclined to say the opposite is true. dylan's persona has always been acerbic -- not the type to suffer fools gladly -- and part of the thrill of songs like "like a rolling stone" is the gratuitousness of its cruelty, the way he just eviscerates the addressee past the point of reasonableness... i mean, he is kicking this girl when she is down. the redemptive factor, i think, is that dylan's anger is often self-directed, or like, there are times when it is obvious his narrator is projecting. only naive bob-o-philes would believe that his anger is always righteous though.

on a related note, i never understood wtf is going on with "run for your life" that song always freaked me the fuck out and i'm a fan of "under my thumb", which i think is as much a song about the narrator's insecurity as it is a "sexist" work.

folx around here know I dismiss biography so when "Joan Baez" or "black eyeliner" come up I just listen to "Joey" or "Black Diamond Bay" and think "Christ on a crutch these things are long and stupid."

Love this whole abum but "Simple Twist of Fate" is the winner.

because you love the Steve Martin movie.

xp yeah I agree with that, just think "Joey" is a long-winded and sorta crappy song (and I love Desire otherwise), but you know the dominant narrative is "how dare Dylan romanticize a gangster"