Confessions of a Fanboy

The Shakespeare of our times turns 66 years old today. Robert Zimmerman, more famously known as Bob Dylan, was born May 24, 1941. Dylan is an icon and as such there aren’t a lot of original things to say about the man. He’s been analyzed, interviewed, dissected, hailed, cheered, jeered, and all things in between.

When I was a kid growing up in Iowa, Dylan was booked to play the Mississippi Valley Fair. I didn’t know much about him at the time. I did know the name. I didn’t realize this was a period of his career where he had somewhat fallen out of favor with critics and audiences, although even then I knew the MVF was not where the Big Boys were playing. The reason I remember this is not because I went and saw Dylan at the fair. I was in grade school.

What I remember was the commercials run on our local television affiliates. When they’d flash the picture of Dylan on the screen, they played a clip of “Lay Lady Lay.” I remember laughing the first time I heard it because it was the most awful singing I think I’d ever heard at the time. That voice. It just made no sense to me whatsoever. I didn’t know how anyone could be a big shot with a voice like that.

A few years later, I heard “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” By this time, I knew he had indeed been a big shot and I still had no idea why. For years, that voice was a barrier I couldn’t break through regardless of how brilliant the songs supposedly were.

I don’t know what it was or exactly when it happened, but I not only got past the voice. I actually came to like it… within the context of his songs. It’s not a thing of beauty but it does make sense when the song is taken as a whole. Since that time, my admiration of Dylan and his music has grown and I now consider myself a fan of his work.

In honor of his 66th birthday, here is a playlist of a few of my favorite Dylan songs. These are only a few of my favorites. Feel free to bounce a couple of your favorites off the rest of us.

• “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
  Freewheelin’ isn’t a breakup album, but this is a great breakup song and a terrific acoustic guitar melody.
• “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”
  Highway 61 might be my favorite Dylan album. It’s a fabulous record and this has always been one of my favorites. The piano and the vocal are just super.
• “Highway 61 Revisited”
  Only “Route 66″ is a more famous stretch of road in America. The opening verse of the song is one of the best ever.
• “Desolation Row”
  He played this when I saw him Nashville. It was one of the early songs of the evening. I was almost ready to leave right after that because I didn’t think it could get any better. Masterpiece.
• “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again”
  How could I not have something from Blonde on Blonde? I could have picked a lot, but this one struck my fancy today.
• “All Along The Watchtower”
  Self-explanatory.
• “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”
  There’s something charming in this simple song from the John Wesley Harding album.
• “Tangled Up in Blue”
  Had to have one from Blood on the Tracks. “The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on…”
• “Every Grain of Sand”
  This was sung at Johnny Cash’s funeral (though not by Bob). One of the most powerful and moving songs ever written…
• “I Shall Be Released”
  and so is this one.
• “Not Dark Yet”
  If “Every Grain of Sand” isn’t my favorite Dylan song, this one is. Glorious.
• “Things Have Changed”
  An Oscar-winning song and another of a string of great songs he’s written in the last few years.
• “Mississippi”
  “Love & Theft” is one of my favorite Dylan records. I could have put a lot of songs from that record on here.
• “Moonlight”
  Dylan the romantic.
• “Beyond the Horizon”
  I don’t like Modern Times as well as I like “Love & Theft”, but it’s a good album and this is the best song from that album.

Filed under: Tags: Bob Dylan, Musical Musings and Random Ramblings