POLLING THUNDER REVUE: The Bob Dylan Poll Results Thread (He Acts Like We Never Have Met)

AKA, When I was down, you just stood there POLLING

http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/la/celebrity_wine_300508/bob_dylan_47341.jpg

So here's how this will go: Because it took so long to get everything figgered, I'm on a compressed posting schedule. I'm going to Bonnaroo starting early Thursday, so the whole rollout will happen in the next three days. THREE DAYS! A lot to get through, so get yrselves ready.

SIDE POLLS:

There will be 10 "worst of" songs, 25 covers and 20 albums.

TRACKS:

There will be 100 tracks, except there's a tie at 100 so it will actually be 101.

Today I'll post the side polls and #s 100-80 in the tracks poll, followed by 40 tracks each on Tues and Weds.

Posting will probably come in clusters, depending on my schedule. It may carry on into the Eastern Standard Time evening, but I'll try not to post past 7 p.m. so as not to unreasonably exclude those on GMT.

And with that said, let's get going with the first side poll.

BOB DYLAN: THE WORST, I MEAN THE WORST

Only 14 people submitted most-hated lists, so I'm limiting the rollout to songs that got at least 3 votes. Here they go, from bad to worse.

10. "Union Sundown" Infidels (1983)
88 points, 3 votes

Well, the job that you used to have
They gave it to somebody down in El Salvador
The unions are big business, friend
And they’re goin’ out like a dinosaur

Going to post one more for now, then I'll let everyone wake up and catch up.

9. "Wiggle Wiggle" Under the Red Sky (1990)
96 points, 3 votes

Wiggle ’til you’re high, wiggle ’til you’re higher
Wiggle ’til you vomit fire
Wiggle ’til it whispers, wiggle ’til it hums
Wiggle ’til it answers, wiggle ’til it comes

Hooray for results! 155 results in 3 days is a heavy touring schedule. "Union Sundown" definitely would have made my worsts if I'd done that part.

If people would prefer a more elongated rollout, I can do part this week and pick up next week. But there would be radio silence from Thurs thru Mon.

radio silence from Thurs to Mon = no big deal (and as it happens I won't be near a computer then either)

Well the alternative schedule would be side polls today, 100-81 tomorrow, 80-61 Weds, and the top 60 next Tues-Thurs. I'm fine with that, not sure what it would do to Outkast rollout (or if that matters -- people can probably follow two polls at once).

Fast would be fine with me, but I guess slow would be ok too.

[b]8. "Is Your Love in Vain?" Street-Legal (1978)[/b ]
99 points, 3 votes

Can you cook and sew, make flowers grow
Do you understand my pain?

Oops, extra space in the bold tag.

8. "Is Your Love in Vain?" Street-Legal(1978)
99 points, 3 votes

Can you cook and sew, make flowers grow
Do you understand my pain?

woohooo rollout!

Union Sundown and Neighborhood Bully make respectively side a and b of Infidels hard listens.

Also terrible photo, looks like a photoshopped mashup of Dylan and one of the 1Direction singers (love it, tipsy!)

Union Sundown somewhat similar to that terrible superbowl ad

Danish musician Peter Viskinde named his band Big Fat Snake quoting "Wiggle Wiggle" and recently released a "Is Your Love in Vain" cover http://youtu.be/uHCPDiIHQW8 lol.

7. "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" Slow Train Coming (1979)
(3 votes, 1 worst-place vote, 100 points)

He saw an animal up on a hill
Chewing up so much grass until she was filled
He saw milk comin’ out but he didn’t know how
“Ah, think I’ll call it a cow”

"Wiggle Wiggle" is lots of fun.

hi, tipsy!

truly a silly song...

only doesn't seem as if it's supposed to be funny

"Man Gave Names", that is...

Here they go, from bad to worse to the sublime--"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" at #1.

man gave names is great! no qualms about the others so far though, they are terrible

So far, with the exception of "Is Your Love in Vain?" everything that's shown up are ones I voted for. Not defending "Vain," btw, I just wasn't about to relisten to Street Legal again for this poll to pick out individual duds.

Man Gave Names is awesome fuiud

Challops?

6. "Just Like A Woman" Blonde on Blonde 1966

(3 votes, 1 worst-place vote, 101 points)

...just like a little guurrl

5. "Lenny Bruce" Shot of Love (1981)
(4 votes, 1 worst-place vote, 113 points)

They stamped him and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts

Annie Hall, dismissal of Dylan in The chorus
of ‘Just Like a Woman’ ends with ‘. . . she aches
just like a woman / But she breaks just like a little
girl.’ This non-statement doesn’t describe an individual
characteristic, doesn’t say anything fresh
about a universal one yet pretends to do both.
What parades as reflective wisdom (‘. . . woman
but . . . girl’) is really maudlin platitude. It hasn’t
even engaged Dylan’s skill in minimising the badness.
It would be less bad if the ‘But’ of the payoff
line was an ‘And’—for at least we would then
be spared so blatantly lame and predictable a
‘paradox’.
This is exactly the ‘lameness’ honed in on in
Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall, in which a vacuous
hippie character played by the wonderful
Shelley Duvall recites the lines just quoted as if
they’re far-out and profound, and the character
played by Allen (the usual character played by
Allen), pulls a face that means he fails to see in
them anything less empty-headed than their
admirer.
In Chronicles Volume One, 2004, Dylan recalls
(without comment) that Woody Allen was one of
the comedians performing at the Cafe´ Wha at the
start of the 1960s.

But the sound of Just Like a Woman, thin mercury, is too enjoyable for me to hate.

4. "Disease of Conceit" Oh Mercy (1989)
(4 votes, 1 worst-place vote, 115 points)

Conceit is a disease
That the doctors got no cure
They’ve done a lot of research on it
But what it is, they’re still not sure

Haha, I seem to remember him being really happy with that one in Chronicles? The lyrics may be dumb, but it sounds really good too imo.

lol yes disease of conceit is very very bad

So is there a consensus or anything on extending the rollout? I'm OK either way, but will need to pace myself accordingly.

The options, to recap:

-- Do it all in 3 days, with side polls and first 20 tracks today, then 40 track each the next two days

-- Do sides today, first 20 tomorrow, next 20 on Wednesday, then pick up the top 60 next Tues/Weds/Thurs.

NOW NOW NOW

All this week plz!

Go for it. We want you exhausted and dehydrated for Bonnaroo.

yea whatever works for you tipsy but a brisk pace is fine.

Like, nowsville, daddy-o.

OK! In the absence of objection, I will plow ahead as planned.

3. "Joey" Desire (1975)
(4 votes, 128 points)

He did ten years in Attica, reading Nietzsche and Wilhelm Reich
They threw him in the hole one time for tryin’ to stop a strike
His closest friends were black men ’cause they seemed to understand
What it’s like to be in society with a shackle on your hand

a shackle ON your hand eh

Several of these songs on my worst list but what makes them terrible is Dylan's singing.

Hmm I like the vibe of Joey too, if only the lyrics weren't so bad. Emmylou Harris does great backing.

2. "Ballad in Plain D" Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
(5 votes, 2 worst-place votes, 173 points)

From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
Till the tombstones of damage read me no questions but, “Please
What’s wrong and what’s exactly the matter?”

lol

tipsy these little lyric excerpts are wonderful

Thx! Of course, even a lot of his great songs have lines that you could excerpt to make them seem awful.

true, very nice excerpting!

awful lyrics on that one :(

And as Clemenza predicted -- every person who voted for this song awarded it the maximum number of possible points, so it wins, or loses. I don't really mind it (I like the trombone), but having heard it bellowed at frat parties, I understand the antipathy.

1. "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" Blonde on Blonde (1966)
(5 votes, 5 worst-place votes, 200 points)

They’ll stone ya when you’re at the breakfast table
They’ll stone ya when you are young and able
They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to make a buck
They’ll stone ya and then they’ll say, “good luck”

http://coolalbumreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/dylan_bob_idiot_wind.jpg

i can't remember but i feel like ballad in plain d completely blew my mind at 15, it was some serious profound shit

I'm glad to see proper deference toward Christmas in the Heart -- all killer no filler

haha, another great photo.

Listened to RDW a few times recently, don't mind it at all - and it's funny too! Was surprised to learn that it was a big hit for him, the first one since 4th Street or something. Also seem to remember reading that it was the song on BoB that took most takes, but then again Heylin writes it was recorded in something like one continuous 17 minute take.

Onward!

BOB DYLAN: UNDER COVER

A total of 26 people submitted lists of favorite Dylan covers. Herein the 25 most appreciated.

25. "Goin' to Acapulco" Jim James and Calexico (I'm Not There Soundtrack, 2007)
(4 votes, 97 points)

http://listentothelion.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452439d69e20148c7d414b3970c-pi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R45yXcXUa3I

Well the alternative schedule would be side polls today, 100-81 tomorrow, 80-61 Weds, and the top 60 next Tues-Thurs. I'm fine with that, not sure what it would do to Outkast rollout (or if that matters -- people can probably follow two polls at once).

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, June 9, 2014 8:46 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

I vote for this btw

When's the album roll out

Yes, great cover, my introduction to basement tapes (now prefer that version)

I'm Not There was on cable the other night - kinda loses a little steam 2/3rds of the way through but man what a great version of Bob. I wonder what he thinks about it.

xpost

Album rollout will be later today, after the covers.

btw, did not mean to post the video, just the link. Will do that for the other covers, when there is one. (I'm not even going to bother posting links during the tracks poll, because Dylan stuff gets scrubbed so much it's not worth the effort.)

Yes, the line is bad, but I really like Ballad in Plain D, it made my list

24. "Lay Lady Lay" The Isley Brothers (Givin' It Back, 1971)
(3 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 98 points)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIIw-LsESqM

Huh. I thought if you left the https it just posted the YouTube link? Or do you take the s off? Or should I just not worry about it and post embeds? There will only be 25 of these, so it shouldn't overwhelm the thread.

I think stet fixed the https thing so you should probably through a [url] around it or something

xpost skeleton: yeah, it sounds good, well sung/played

you've got a lotta nerve to vote for just like a woman as worst. HIGH on my real ballot for the fragile reading on Live 1966. but hopefully more on that later?

re embedding maybe you can use the youtu.be short links?

How did forget to vote for the Isley's? The live version from the next year is just...y'know, you wanna make kids as soon as possible upon hearing it.

My #1 cover. I actually didn't know there was a single edit; I've only heard the 10-minute version.

23. "Mighty Quinn" Manfred Mann (Mighty Garvey, 1968)
(4 votes, 101 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/MightyQuinn45.jpg

http://youtu.be/MegdMhdseuI

22. "My Back Pages" The Byrds (Younger Than Yesterday, 1967)
(4 votes, 102 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/TheByrdsMyBackPages.jpg

http://youtu.be/h80l4XIPJC4

delivery of "but when Quinn the Eskimo GET'S here" instead of "get's HERE" annoys me but love the flute and overall sound of Manfredd Mann's

21. "All I Really Want to Do" The Byrds (Mr. Tambourine Man, 1965)
(5 votes, 108 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/TheByrdsAllIReallyWantToDo.jpg

http://youtu.be/9Xc-p0DlQEY

20. "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" Willie Nelson and Calexico (I'm Not There Soundtrack, 2007)
(6 votes, 123 points)

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g225/mintjulip/2368051286_524d7c7fce-1.jpg

http://youtu.be/neWugI4pafs

lame cover results so far, hope something cooler emerges

top 5 is gonna be the band prob

or hendrix. or gene clark. ha i just say that b/c that's what i voted for

I like Dierks Bentley's "Senor" cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsIHbOz-Eus

that's more like it

A-plus thread title

19. "If Not For You" George Harrison (All Things Must Pass, 1970)
(5 votes, 124 points)

http://johannasvisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/bobdylandylan_harrison.jpg

http://youtu.be/rLhculGmGn0

god help me I prefer George's version (first and only time I'll write those words)

it's better!

and harmonica!

18. "Tears of Rage" Gene Clark (White Light, 1971)
(5 votes, 126 points)

http://37.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9szvm1T2Z1rvfns3o1_500.jpg

http://youtu.be/FDTpK-RpYF4

17. "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" The 13th Floor Elevators (Easter Everywhere, 1967)
(4 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 128 points)

http://youtu.be/jGqEFQ5xmjU

15. (TIE) "I Shall Be Released" The Band (Music From Big Pink, 1968)
(4 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 132 points)

15. (TIE) "Tears of Rage" The Band (Music From Big Pink, 1968)
(6 votes, 132 points)

http://johannasvisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/the-band-big-pink-basement.jpg

http://youtu.be/EKirVyxf0do
http://youtu.be/Blz_sef-jj4

I didn't vote for this covers side-poll but Gene Clarke's version of Tears of Rage is what sold me on that song

Hey, The Band is tied with The Band.

14. "Blowin' in the Wind" Stevie Wonder (Up-Tight, 1966)
(6 votes, 136 points)

http://www.7inchrecords.com/Discography/StevieWonder/SblowininthewindUSA2.jpg

http://youtu.be/UIRwkqvQ_ZY

13. "Percy's Song" Fairport Convention (Unhalfbricking, 1969)
(5 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 145 points)

http://youtu.be/2C5EPmR7YdY

12. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" Rod Stewart (Every Picture Tells a Story, 1971)
(6 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 167 points)

https://lh3.ggpht.com/ObdQB21w9lLJTzCNIrksbUExu5LhJPplQOfxV0sY8BSM6QhZEmSJ5JuDHbKqpsQrstLhZe7KSV4

http://youtu.be/nW_lCvNEBp4

now we're cooking, though Elvis >>>> Rod on that cut

Gonna go ahead and finish the covers -- then a break for dinner -- then come back with albums for the evening crowd.

11. "I'll Keep It With Mine" Fairport Convention (What We Did on Our Holiday, 1969)
(6 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 172 points)

http://driftwoodmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/fairport-convention1969.jpg

http://youtu.be/CUtFXmS9FmA

Erm, holidayS, but close enough.

for some reason I didn't know there was a Fairport Convention version of this song

10. "Every Grain of Sand" Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball, 1995)
(7 votes, 192 points)

http://johannasvisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bob-dylan-eric-clapton-emmylou-harris-1975.jpg

http://youtu.be/AUf-D749rWA

9. "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" Elvis Presley (Spinout, 1966)
(6 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 193 points)

http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/files/2012/03/doubleelvisdylan.jpg

http://youtu.be/wipPRxEXAPY

8. "Highway 61 Revisited" PJ Harvey (Rid of Me, 1993)
(8 votes, 209 points)

http://contests.eyeweekly.com/eye/issue/issue_10.29.98/music/photos/marcus29.gif

http://youtu.be/rxoU_E-OVRw

lol

7. "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" Nina Simone (To Love Somebody, 1969)
(9 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 225 points)

http://sweensryche.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/nina-simone1.jpg

http://youtu.be/wfesHDG9i78

6. "I'll Keep It With Mine" Nico (Chelsea Girl, 1966)
(9 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 233 points)

http://walrusmusicblog.com/wp-content/uploads/retro/1104blog_430385496_803bf1d7.jpg

http://youtu.be/EcXFunZfM7U

5. "You Ain't Going Nowhere" The Byrds (Sweetheart of the Rodeo, 1968)
(11 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 289 points)

http://die-augenweide.de/byrds/pic/youaint.jpg

http://youtu.be/m0vKc3jIjDo

4."Mr. Tambourine Man" The Byrds (Mr. Tambourine Man, 1965)
(11 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 297 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/TheByrdsMrTambourineMan.jpg/220px-TheByrdsMrTambourineMan.jpg

http://youtu.be/uPqAvgN6Tyw

3. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" Them (Them Again, 1966)
(12 votes, 320 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/It

http://youtu.be/zyn8BJ1Uvzw

2. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" Bryan Ferry (These Foolish Things, 1973)
(11 votes, 3 1st-place votes, 340 points)

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/5b/20/5b20a8b0d10ebdb3ca028d0efd49483e.jpg?itok=gjgXNgNA

http://youtu.be/7zwBHd4kll0

Was about to damn Nilsson not placing, then checked my ballot and oops, another one I missed.

I have my fingers crossed for the Soup Greens at #1.

Aaaaaaaaannnnnddddd .... a little bit of a jump in the point total to this one.

1. "All Along the Watchtower" The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Electric Ladyland, 1968)
(20 votes, 7 1st-place votes, 641 points)

http://www.covermesongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/thejimihendrixexperience-allalongthewatchtower.jpg

http://youtu.be/pJV81mdj1ic

damn! right on though, i couldn't imagine any of the other top 25 covers winning it. it was definitely my #1

much prefer harvey's version of 'highway 61' to the original (which i've always found annoying and grating despite the awesome lyrics).

jimi at number one was necessary and never in doubt but I don't regret giving my top points to Ferry's take on "gates of eden" which is no one's idea of a hit single but as a cover it's perfect. exposes new things that were always there.

much prefer harvey's version of 'highway 61' to the original (which i've always found annoying and grating despite the awesome lyrics).

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.),

otm. Very high on my ballot.

I completely forgot about PJ Harvey's cover -- should have been on my ballot.

Bob Dylan: Albums

34 voters. 68 albums of various kinds received votes. Here's the top 20.

20. Before The Flood (1974)
(8 votes, 154 points)

http://0.tqn.com/d/create/1/0/a/q/6/-/Dylan-Flood.jpg

This has some of my all-time favorite Dylan live cuts, including "Most Likely You Go Your Way," which just rages.

19. World Gone Wrong (1993)
(13 votes, 230 points)

http://classicrockmag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/bdwgw.jpg

cool ass poll folks wish i woulda had the gumption to vote

you bum!

18. Oh Mercy (1989)
(11 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 231 points)

http://untappedcities.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Bob-Dylan-Oh-Mercy-Album-Cover.jpg

don't worry EZ i have plenty of energy to second-guess you guys :P

(no mercy is my least fav of his "great" albums)

At least you have your priorities straight.

is it a Great Album or Part #131 in The Comeback Series

17. The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)
(12 votes, 255 points)

http://www.vinylweb.nl/3425-2317-thickbox_default/bob-dylan-the-times-they-are-a-changin-mono-first-release.jpg

http://www.vinylweb.nl/3425-2317-thickbox_default/bob-dylan-the-times-they-are-a-changin-mono-first-release.jpg

Didactic sumbitch on this one, but he sings it like he means it.

i used to kind of hate on the early ones but the mono version kinda won me over, he was a great folksinger

This one is entirely too low, imo.

16. Modern Times (2006)
(13 votes, 293 points)

http://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0828768760611.jpg

My favorite of the late era, and one of my favorite vocal albums by anyone.

I have zero love for Modern Times. A few good songs, but I hate how it sounds.

world gone wrong too low but i didn't vote

world gone wrong eats oh mercy alive

Yup. Would have voted for it but I voted for a ton of boots instead.

OK, here's where I had to make Controversial Poll-runner Decision #1: Most people (including me) voted for Vols. 1-3 as a single unit, because that's how it was released and generally presented. I know that the discs are also available separately, or at least have been. But clearly most people think of this as one album, not three. So that's how I counted it. For the few people who voted for multiple volumes of it in different slots, I awarded the points based on your highest placing of any of the volumes, and then moved up any of your lower votes to compensate for the gaps in your ballot. Feel free to second-guess me, but this is how it shook out.

15. The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased) 1961-1991 (1991)
(15 votes, 339 points)

https://a2-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/149/397aa12367384ab2a723c3f40314b018/600x600.jpg

14. Time Out Of Mind (1997)
(18 votes, 347 points)

http://img.maniadb.com/images/album/111/111086_1_f.jpg

13. Desire (1976)
(15 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 376 points)

http://tangledupinmusic.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/bdylan-desire_08.jpg

12. New Morning (1970)
(16 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 394 points)

https://highfidelityla.com/covers/big/R-1485331-1312855985.jpeg

11. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
(18 votes, 412 points)

http://www.vinileshop.it/vinili/images/bob-dylan-Another-Side-of-Bob-Dylan-vinile-lp2.jpg

oh hey just catching up here, fast is fine!

LOL at:

every person who voted for this song awarded it the maximum number of possible points, so it wins, or loses.

Shakey u need to listen to that Fairport version ASAP

I'm gonna be digging into those cover versions for a while, it's like a having tribute album that's actually good

Depending upon Royal Albert, probably most could guess the top 10 at this point. Just hope Love and Theft isn't #1 (doubtful, I would think).

xposts I love the gulf between that photo on Another Side, where he still seems precocious and trying a little hard, and the cover of Bringing It All Back Home, where it all clicks and he becomes something else.

lol who voted for Desire #1?

Sort of vindicating to see the maligned Desire place just above the overrated Time Out of Mind. Does the first place voter wish to reveal themselves? I'd like to shake yr hand.

I had it at #3

Into the top 10, and speaking of becoming something else.

10. Nashville Skyline (1969)
(20 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 459 points)

http://static.usenetmusic.com/covers/sources/b/ba/ba0/ba0d672b-58dc-779c-3b07-326894ea3e87.jpg

My #1

I love the gulf between that photo on Another Side, where he still seems precocious and trying a little hard, and the cover of Bringing It All Back Home, where it all clicks and he becomes something else.

absolutely. Cover of BIABH is like Lou Reed's line: "my week beats your year"

U.S. Maple was robbed in the covers poll, btw.

And here we go with Controversial Poll-runner Decision #2: The votes reflected here were for The Basement Tapes specifically, which imo is a discrete collection of recordings made commercially available in 1975. There were, however, also some votes for the full A Tree With Roots set, and also a few for Mixin' Up the Medicine/The Safety Tape. So. Depending on your own prejudices, you can add the votes for A Tree With Roots (137 points) and/or The Safety Tape (81 points) to this one. Which, by my calculation, would bump it up to 5th place.

9. The Basement Tapes (1975)
(19 votes, 4 1st-place votes, 544 points)

http://robbie-robertson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-Basement-Tapes-Dylan-Band1.jpg

This one is entirely too low, imo.

*16. /Modern Times/ (2006)*
/(13 votes, 293 points)/

otm. This was in my top 5 (might've been my #2). Easily up there with Blonde for me.

I voted for From the Reels as my Basement collection. All the various "unsweetened" collections are better than the released one.

8. The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1966, the "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)
(20 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 547 points)

http://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0886977328923.jpg

yeah I'm good with imagining Basement Tapes or whatever you wanna call it at #5, thanks for the clarification.

7. Love and Theft (2001)
(22 votes, 562 points)

http://eboutique.ric-vintage-records-shop.com/WebRoot/Orange/Shops/d3d8e5da-2056-11de-a9cd-000d609a287c/4B1A/936D/573C/5AF6/CCD0/0A0A/33E7/ABC9/CD-BobDylan-LoveAndTheft-1.jpg

relieved it outscored TOOM.

6. John Wesley Harding (1967)
(23 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 574 points)

http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/93/product_large/DYDD18.JPG

Of all his albums, this one to me sort of stands outside the rest of his stuff. It's connected, obviously, but it has such an odd particular vibe to it. Like a branch he found and explored and couldn't really take anywhere else, but I go back to it over and over.

otm

It's such an outlier that I didn't even put it on my albums ballot despite some really great songs on it.

Top 5! Pour one out for Suze.

5. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
(26 votes, 2 1st-place votes, 650 points)

http://lossless-galaxy.ru/uploads/posts/2010-12/1293363149_the-freewheelin-bob-dylan.jpg

dang, didn't expect to see Freewheelin' so high, but yeah it's a favorite of mine as well. of course, i didn't vote (due to not knowing what i'm talking about) so i should go back to the peanut gallery

The hidden weapon is "Corrina, Corrina."

love the alternate solo corrina, such a great vocal and guitar line. http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Corrina+Corrina+Alternate+Solo+Version/368L1v?src=5

Funny--I was in the middle of listening to this off Grooveshark:

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Talkin+John+Birch+Paranoid+Blues/jxbMB?src=5

4. Blonde On Blonde (1966)
(28 votes, 3 1st-place votes, 820 points)

http://images.junostatic.com/full/CS413211-01A-BIG.jpg

Coming in 5 minutes: The top 3, posted in one block.

3. Blood on the Tracks (1975)
(27 votes, 5 1st-place votes, 854 points)

http://cdn-images.9cloud.us/288/piccit_bob_dylan__blood_on_the_trac_415048472.jpg

2. Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
(33 votes, 1 1st-place vote, 905 points)

http://www.bobdylan.com/sites/bdylan/files/5701847_147.jpg

1. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
(32 votes, 9 1st-place votes, 1,030 points)

http://www.wnyc.org/i/raw/1/1000x1000.jpg

I was a little surprised by Bringing It All Back Home, because it was almost nobody's top pick. But it just hung around near the top of most ballots.

I guess I'm the great Dylan mean when it comes to albums. Voted for five, the top five, almost in exact order (had #3 and #4 reversed). I believe this is the only poll where I submitted an album list.

It's hard to do a decade breakdown because so many of these were released years after they were recorded, but even if you just go by studio releases there are albums in the top 20 from every decade '60s-'00s. Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

BIABH at #2 is a surprise.

Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

That is mind-blowing to me.

bringing it all back home his best album cover. highway 61 rose in my estimation revisiting (EH?) it for the first time in many years for this poll, blonde on blonde fell.

I feel like Highway 61 gets a little snubbed in the canon because of the double-album hype around Blonde on Blonde. I love plenty of BoB, but 61 is all killer.

OK, obviously too late to start tracks tonight. I'll crank them up in the morning and get through as many as we can.

Everybody must go home.

Range of 43 years from Freewheelin' to Modern Times.

Also kind of amazing that only about 6 months separates the recording of the #1 and #2 albums. I guess '65 was the year Dylan could do no wrong.

Yay @ BoB not being #1!

OK, well, I hate to do this, but looking ahead at the next few days, I do not have the space-time capabilities to post the tracks. Too much stuff has piled up in the rest of the world that needs to be dealt with. So rather than drive myself crazy, I'm going to punt. The tracks will return next week, with a more stately rollout. My apologies. This ended up being a way busier couple of weeks than I initially anticipated.

Until then -- stay cool kids.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bEfdjVTDRmc/TjK8tpmYesI/AAAAAAAAAUw/P4UH-uj1EVs/s1600/dylan-hearts-of-fire.jpg

good results!

Shall we amuse ourselves by posting our lists for the side polls during the hiatus?

Very good album list, has 19/20 from my ballot - only missing Pat Garrett soundtrack and personally I don't really need Another Side of Bob, but I remember when a friend played it for me in high school and we thought it was soooo crazy so yeah, all cool with me. My top 5:

1. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
2. Blood on the Tracks (1975)
3. Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
4. The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 (1991)
5. The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)

BoB did not make my top5 because of sequencing/length, which may be unfair because Boots 1-3 isn't as much an album as a collection of songs.

I didn't get it together to vote for albums. The results look fairly reasonable to me, though I would agree with those who said that "Modern Times" was too low.

thanks tipsy! have a good time at bonnaroo. also i think it's cool to wait until next week. feel like with the brisk pace there wasn't enough time between results to chat about it.

here's my ballot for albums:

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Blood on the Tracks
3. Basement Tapes
4. Bootleg Series 4: Live 1966 Royal Albert Hall
5. Self-Portrait
6. Time Out of Mind
7. Nashville Skyline
8. Another Side of Bob Dylan
9. Bringing it All Back Home
10. John Wesley Harding
11. Slow Train Coming
12. New Morning
13. Planet Waves
14. Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
15. Bob Dylan
16. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
17. Blonde on Blonde
18. Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
19. The Times They Are A-Changing
20. Saved

Just want to say, I'd never seen a large version of the Highway 61 cover art and had always interpreted his floral shirt as a leather jacket.

An illusion enhanced by the motorcycle t-shirt he's sporting underneath.

also suze is really beautiful

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/03/01/gettyimages_74261714-ec3efc964a076d939d2fd26574a2dc5e3adb969b-s6-c30.jpg

a stoner friend of mine in 8th grade asked me if bob was holding a pipe on the hwy 61 cover. no it's his sunglasses

My cover versions ballot. All of these are natch "better than the original".

01 William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
02 Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower
03 Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
04 PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited
05 Klaus Wunderlich - Weil Ich dich so liebe (aka Wigwam)
06 Trombones Unlimited - The Mighty Quinn
07 Olivia Newton John - If Not For You
08 Alan Lorber Orchestra - Don’t Think Twice (It's Alright)
09 The Spokesmen - Love Minus Zero/No Limit
10 Robert Palmer with UB40 - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
11 Sebastian Cabot - Like A Rolling Stone
12 The Byrds - All I Really Want To Do
13 Claude Denjean - Lay Lady Lay
14 Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - This Wheel's on Fire
15 US Navy Steel Band - Blowin’ In the Wind*
16 Nico - I'll Keep It With Mine
17 Unit 4 + 2 - You Ain't Going Nowhere
18 Jimi Hendrix - Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (from BBC session)
19 Johnny Cash - Wanted Man (from 'At San Quentin')
20 Tom Robinson Band - I Shall Be Released

*toss up between this and the Neil Young version on 'Arc/Weld', but no Dylan covers list is complete without some steel drum

01 William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man

no way dogg

that's the least controversial pick in that list, catt!

Oh cool, someone else voted for "Wanted Man".

10 Robert Palmer with UB40 - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

almost voted for this!

The Ferry-cover is amazing enough.

Must've been drunk earlier - 17/20 of my albums placed - did not vote for Another Side, World Gone Wrong (out of ignorance) or Before the Flood (don't like shouting Dylan) but did vote for Pat Garrett (favorite Dylan morning album) s/t (not many originals, but lovely (guthriesque?) playing/singing and overall sound) and Bootlegs 8 (far better than 9 and also better than 10 imo)

Feel like Modern Times could be a bit overrated because it's so listenable, it's a very enjoyable album but maybe lacks a bit of drama/tension. Still, it's probably the album after 75 I've listened to the most.

pat garett is great, it made my albums ballot

I bashed my ballots out with what I thought were mere hours to spare. Ergo I think some of what I included here were representing for things I left off the main ballot.

1. Bryan Ferry: A Hard Rains A Gonna Fall
2. Jimi Hendrix Experience: All Along The Watchtower
3. PJ Harvey: Highway 61 Revisited
4. The Band: When I Paint My Masterpiece
5. Byrds: You Ain't Going Nowhere
6. Johnny Cash: Wanted Man
7. Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man
8. Them: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
9. The Faces: The Wicked Messinger
10. The Band: Don't Ya Tell Henry
11. Elvis Presley: Tomorrow Is A Long Time
12. Rod Stewart: Mama You've Been On My Mind
13. The Grass Roots: Mr Jones (Ballad of A Thin Man)
14. Willie Nelson: What Was It That You Wanted
15. Al Kooper/Super Session: It's Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
16. Byrds: Spanish Harlem Incident
17. Turtles: It Ain't Me Babe
18. The Replacements: Like A Rolling Pin
19. Stevie Wonder: Blowin' In The Wind
20. Sir Douglas Quintet: One Too Many Mornings/Got To Sing A Happy Song

i have world gone wrong but i've probably only listened to it a couple times, bought it at the end of a major dylan plunge that lasted many months and at that point i was starting to listen to other things

albums

the basement tapes
the bootleg series vol. 4: bob dylan live 1966 the “royal albert hall” concert
highway 61 revisited
new morning
blood on the tracks
another side of bob dylan
the bootleg series vol 5: bob dylan live 1975 , the rolling thunder revue
bringing it all back home
world gone wrong
the freewheelin’ bob dylan
before the flood
the bootleg series vol 8: tell tale signs: rare and unreleased 1989-2006
time out of mind
shot of love
slow train coming
blonde on blonde
infidels
john wesley harding
nashville skyline
a tree with roots

covers
elvis presley - tomorrow is a long time
them - it’s all over now baby blue
jimi hendrix experience - all along the watchtower
julie driscoll & the brian auger trinity - this wheel’s on fire
the byrds - you ain’t goin’ nowhere
pj harvey - highway 61 revisited
bryan ferry - a hard rain’s gonna fall
nina simone - just like tom thumb’s blues
gene clark - tears of rage
13th floor elevators - it’s all over now baby blue
patti labelle - forever young
fairport convention - i’ll keep it with mine
the band - when i paint my masterpiece
o’jays - emotionally yours
jerry garcia band - simple twist of fate
lou reed - foot of pride
sinead o’connor - property of jesus
nazareth - the ballad of hollis brown
miley cyrus - you’re gonna make me lonesome when you go
telly savalas - i shall be released

Albums (didn't do covers):

1. Nashville Skyline
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Desire
4. Highway 61 Revisited
5. Love and Theft
6. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live, 1966
7. Thin Wild Mercury Music
8. Blood on the Tracks: New York Sessions
9. From The Reels
10. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait
11. Biograph
12. The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991
13. Christmas in the Heart
14. Borgholm, 2001 (7/3/01, Borgholm, Sweden)
15. Rundown Rehearsals Remastered
16. Rock Solid (4/19/80, Toronto, Canada)
17. Deeds of Mercy
18. Don't Think Twice, It's OK (11/2/12, Tulsa, OK)
19. The Genuine Supper Club Soundboards (11/16/93, NYC)
20. Paint the Daytime Black (2/14/74, Inglewood, CA)

The Byrds and the Band are underrepresented in my covers ballot because I didn't want them to crowd out other performers.

albums
1. blood on the tracks
2. blonde on blonde
3. highway 61 revisited
4. bootleg series vol. 4: live 1966: the royal albert hall concert
5. bringing it all back home
6. john wesley harding
7. another side of bob dylan
8. a tree with roots
9. freewheelin' bob dylan
10. the times they are a-changin'
11. bootleg series vol. 1-3: rare and unreleased 1961-1991
12. the basement tapes
13. love and theft
14. tempest
15. infidels
16. planet waves
17. world gone wrong
18. time out of mind
19. modern times
20. street legal

are polls free from the chains of the skyway?
1. disease of conceit
2. ballad in plain d
3. is your love in vain
4. in search of little sadie
5. neighborhood bully
6. joey
7. big yellow taxi
8. wiggle wiggle
9. lenny bruce
10. mozambique

covers
1. all along the watchtower (jimi hendrix, "electric ladyland")
2. it's all over now, baby blue (them, "them again")
3. nobody cept you (16 horsepower, "secret south")
4. i pity the poor immigrant (angels of light, "akron family & angels of light")
5. a hard rain's a-gonna fall (bryan ferry, "these foolish things")
6. i'll keep it with mine (nico, "chelsea girls")
7. tears of rage (gene clark, "white light")
8. just like tom thumb's blues (nina simone, "here comes the sun")
9. moonshiner (cat power, "moon pix" - not technically a cover but modeled on dylan's version)
10. all i really want to do (the byrds, "mr. tambourine man")
11. death is not the end (nick cave and the bad seeds, "murder ballads")
12. emotionally yours (o'jays, "emotionally yours")
13. highway 61 revisited (pj harvey, "rid of me")
14. this wheel's on fire (the band, "music from big pink"
15. abandoned love (everly bros., "born yesterday")
16. you ain't goin' nowhere (the byrds, "sweetheart of the rodeo")
17. señor (tales of yankee power) (bonnie 'prince' billy, "lay and love" ep)
18. pressing on (antony and the johnsons, "thank you for your love")
19. si tu dois partir (fairport convention, "unhalfbricking")
20. blind willie mctell (the band, "jericho")

lol who voted for Desire #1?

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, June 10, 2014 3:35 AM (15 hours ago)

Sort of vindicating to see the maligned Desire place just above the overrated Time Out of Mind. Does the first place voter wish to reveal themselves? I'd like to shake yr hand.

― Funk autocorrect (cryptosicko), Tuesday, June 10, 2014 3:36 AM (15 hours ago)

I had Desire at number 1. It's not the best Dylan album, but it's the first Dylan album I loved, and it got some great great songs.

@ EZ Snappin that's a very interesting albums list would you like to elaborate a bit or should I just go listen?

Nashville Skyline
New Morning
A Tree with Roots
John Wesley Harding
Love and Theft
Blonde on Blonde
The Bootleg Series, Vol 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966
Highway 61 Revisited
The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait
Self Portrait
The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991
The Bootleg Series, Vol 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975
Before the Flood
Blood on the Tracks
Bringing It All Back Home
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
World Gone Wrong
Good As I Been To You
Planet Waves
Oh Mercy
Desire

Bringing It All Back Home
Blonde on Blonde
Blood On The Tracks
Highway 61 Revisited
Time Out Of Mind
Nashville Skyline
"The Royal Albert Hall Concert" Bootleg Series Vol. 4
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Modern Times
Slow Train Coming
The Basement Tapes
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
John Wesley Harding
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Desire

ALBUMS:
The Basement Tapes
Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3
Bootleg Series Vol. 4
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bob Dylan (1962)
Planet Waves
Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2
Biograph
Before the Flood
Bootleg Series Vol. 9
Bringing It All Back Home

COVERS:
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
Nico - I’ll Keep It With Mine
Yo La Tengo - I Threw It All Away
Fairport Convention - Percy’s Song
Stevie Wonder - Blowin’ in the Wind
Flying Burrito Bros. - If You Gotta Go, Go Now
Sonic Youth - I’m Not There
Glen Campbell - I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
Bill Frisell - Masters of War
Odetta - Baby, I’m in the Mood for You
Yo La Tengo - 4th Time Around
Willie Nelson & Calexico - Señor
The Association - One Too Many Mornings
Joe Cocker - Dear Landlord
The Band - This Wheel’s On Fire
The Byrds - You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
The Byrds - Nothing Was Delivered
The Byrds - My Back Pages
The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
The Ventures - Quinn the Eskimo

covers:

1. "Lay Lady Lay" - the Isley Brothers
2. "Please Mrs. Henry" - Cheap Trick
3. "Blowin' In The Wind" - Duke Ellington
4. "Can You Please Crawl Out Your WIndow" - the Jimi Hendrix Experience
5."It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" (live 1988) - Robyn Hitchcock
6. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" - Them
7. "Wicked Messenger" - the Faces
8. "I'll Keep it With Mine" - Fairport Convention
9. "Million Dollar Bash" - Fairport Convention
10. "Highway 61 Revisited" - PJ Harvey
11. "All Along the Watchtower" - the Jimi Hendrix Experience
12. "Like a Rolling Stone" (live at Monterey) - the Jimi Hendrix Experience

albums:

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Blonde on Blonde
3. Modern Times
4. 1966 Live: The Bootleg Series, volume 4
5. Bringing It All Back Home
6. World Gone Wrong
7. "Love and Theft"
8. Time out of Mind
9. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

My album ballot:

1. Blood on the Tracks
2. Freewheelin'
3. Nashville Skyline
4. Modern Times
5. Oh Mercy
6. Bringing it All Back Home
7. Blonde on Blonde
8. John Wesley Harding
9. New Morning
10. Highway 61 Revisited

Dig my favorite Dylan covers:
A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall—Bryan Ferry (These Foolish Things)
Tomorrow Is A Long Time—Elvis Presley
Wanted Man—Johnny Cash (Live at San Quentin)
License To Kill—Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (30th Anniversary Tribute)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues—Nina Simone
All Along The Watchtower—Jimi Hendrix (Electric Ladyland)
Lo and Behold—Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint (Lo and Behold)
Nobody ‘Cept You—Sixteen Horsepower (Secret South)
Si Tu Dois Partir (If You Gotta Go, Go Now)—Fairport Convention (Unhalfbricking)
Mr. Tambourine Man—The Byrds
I’ll Keep It With Mine—Bettie Serveert (I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack)
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door—Television (The Blow-Up)
Absolutely Sweet Marie—Jason & The Scorchers
Senor—Willie Nelson (I’m Not There)
Mama You Been On My Mind/Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie—Jack Johnson
New Pony—Dead Weather (Horehound)
Abandoned Love—Everly Brothers (Born Yesterday)
Mississippi—Sheryl Crow
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go—Miley Cyrus

@ EZ Snappin that's a very interesting albums list would you like to elaborate a bit or should I just go listen?

What would you like to know? Instead of going off on all my odd picks I'd happily answer more specific questions.

one of my favorite covers, rod stewart's "only a hobo," didn't place :(

list results quite disappointing so far :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4StcC5DtZA

yeah rod was good at dylan -- that one, mama you been on my mind, tomorrow is a long time ... there's a faces version of "wicked messenger" that's pretty happening too.

1. Bryan Ferry – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
2. Rod Stewart – Tomorrow is a Long Time
3. Siouxsie and the Bansheers – This Wheel’s On Fire
4. George Harrison – If Not For You
5. Miley Cyrus – You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
6. Calexico and Jim James – Goin’ to Acapulco
7. Bryan Ferry – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
8. PJ Harvey – Highway 61 Revisited
9. Rosanne Cash – Girl From the North Country
10. O’Jays – Emotionally Yours
11. Lou Reed – Foot of Pride
12. Craig Finn – Sweetheart Like You
13. Caetano Veloso – Jokerman
14. Nico – I’ll Keep It With Mine
15. Johnny Cash – One Too Many Mornings

Lou Reed – Foot of Pride
this one is so out of control, what a crazy song/performance
"They like to take all this money from sin, build big universities to study in / Sing “Amazing Grace” all the way to the Swiss banks!"

It's like Dylan wrote it especially for Lou!

yeah! maybe bob should've just been writing songs for lou reed in 1980s. and vice versa.

or for Don 'n' Glenn!

don henley and steve nicks - "union sundown" b/w "wiggle wiggle"

GLENN: "Wiggle Wiggle" was what Henley and Stevie did at the Chateau Marmont!

DON: Well, yeah.

1. Nico - "I'll Keep It with Mine"
2. Soup Greens - "Like a Rolling Stone"
3. Neil Young - "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
4. Byrds - "Mr. Tambourine Man"
5. Them - "It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue"
6. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - "She Belongs to Me"
7. Turtles - "It Ain’t Me Babe"
8. Byrds - "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere"
9. Jason & the Scorchers - "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
10. Fairport Convention - "I'll Keep It with Mine"

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Blonde on Blonde
4. Blood on the Tracks
5. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

I was surprised the Turtles didn't place; a little less so with the Jason & the Scorchers cover, which got some attention at the time but I guess is forgotten by now.

Something I discovered as I listened to "Ballad in Plain D" for the first time in a while yesterday: no matter how self-serving or self-pitying or mean or long or whatever it is, I'd much rather listen to it than anything Dylan has done after 1975. The melody's beautiful, and he still sings like Bob Dylan.

i once made a huge mix of dylan covers and went really deep/obscure w/ it (lots of french and russian language covers etc.). there were some AMAZING things on there but I can't find the mix and can't remember all the tracks that i loved. so i went with some stuff I remembered off the top of my head.

if i really wanted to do that part of the poll right i'd probably have had to spend days on it.

albums
Bootleg Series 4: Live 1966
Love and Theft
Bootleg Series volume 2
Blonde On Blonde
Tell Tale Signs
Saved
The Safety Tape: June-October 1967
No Direction Home
John Wesley Harding
Bringing It All Back Home
A Better Contract: November 16, 1979 @ Warfield, SF
Bootleg Series Live 1964
Bootleg Series volume 1
Bootleg Series volume 3
World Gone Wrong
Blood on the Tracks
Highway 61 Revisited
Slow Train Coming
Nashville Sessions
Pecos Blues

covers
Bruce Springsteen - I Want You [Live at the Main Point, 1975]
PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited
Elvis Presley - Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Neil Young - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Crust Brothers - Goin' To Acapulco
Van Morrison - Just Like A Woman
Emmylou Harris - Every Grain of Sand
Stevie Wonder - Blowin' In The Wind
Fairport Convention - I'll Keep It With Mine
Jimi Hendrix - Like A Rolling Stone
Nina Simone - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Uncle Tupelo - Moonshiner
License To Kill - Tom Petty
Rod Stewart - Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Byrds - Chimes of Freedom
Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Linda Rondstadt - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
The Staple Singers - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir

worst songs
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
Who Killed Davey Moore
If Dogs Run Free (New Morning version)
Ballad of A Thin Man
The Times They Are A-Changin'
The Ballad of Hollis Brown
Lay Down Your Weary Tune
My Wife's Home Town
Boots of Spanish Leather
Isis

i really hate the chorus of hattie carroll.

"Boots of Spanish Leather" -- such a pretty tune!!

also, poll-runner, do you think after the top picks are all done, you could post all of the stuff voted for?

Absolutely! They are long lists.

albums:

1. Live '66
2. John Wesley Harding.
3. Highway 61 Revisited.
4. Blood on the Tracks.
5. The Basement Tapes (complete "Tree w/Roots" set)
6. Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
7. Love and Theft
8. Live '75
9. Bringing It All Back Home.
10. Blonde on Blonde.
11. Desire.
12. Nashville Skyline
13. Oh Mercy
14. Time Out of Mind

duds

1. Rainy Day Women 12 & 35
2. It Ain't Me Babe (I know, I know---i just irrationally hate this one)
3. Ballad in Plain D.
4. Joey
5. Lenny Bruce.

How many folks voted for bootlegs? I assume some version of the Basement Tape recordings made a lot of ballots, but what else? Looks like Euler voted for a few (that Warfield show is awesome; I need to track down a copy of Pecos Blues).

a tree with roots only one i voted for as i thought it stood the strongest chance plus i wanted to in some way note that i really really really like the basement tapes.

I thought I remembered a particularly arachnid take on Boots of Spanish Leather that I hate---I'm hearing it in my head right now---and that's why I voted for it. But I can't find it! And I like the album version. So wtf me.

Pecos Blues is nice, love the lazy vibes of those Pat Garrett era songs, and the boot is a better trip through that than the official album

I looked Pecos Blues up on Bob's Boots and I definitely need to hear it. Only a google search away these days.

i voted for a bunch of boots

including tree w/ roots, but also new morning sessions, dylan/cash sessions, and some other stuff

i have like eight CDs worth of stuff from the pat garrett sessions, it's not uniformally great and i wasn't sure which session to vote for

ok, not eight, more like four

prob my vote for most underrated dylan album

Does nobody else rate Phil Flowers' version of "Like a Rolling Stone"?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-ZqLsUYWc

I'm bummed that Ellington's lone Dylan cover didn't make it:
http://youtu.be/zT_7zWSjxys

I liked that the cover artists voted for ranged from Ellington to Miley.

Anybody else familiar with Coulson Dean McGuinness & Flint? They made an early 70s Dylan cover record that's real good called Lo and Behold.

surely i wasn't the only vote for miley

(xpost) I have the LP, on Christgau's recommendation. Forgot all about it.

surely i wasn't the only vote for miley

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Wednesday, June 11, 2014 4:02 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You were not.

@ez sry if that was lazy questioning, I was just surprised to see "real" bootlegs place - I only ever really listened to boots of concerts I saw, Tree w Roots and the Infidels sessions. I guess I should just check them out.

Lou Reed on "Foot of Pride" in nice RS interview:
That's the song I picked to do at Bobfest [in New York in 1992]. I'd been listening to it almost every day for two months. It's so fucking funny: "Did he make it to the top? Well, he probably did and dropped." There are so many verses, it was impossible to learn. G.E. Smith, who was playing with me, turned the pages. There is a lot of anger here. It's not the Three Stooges.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/playlists/lou-reed

According to Encyclopedia Dylan told interviewer Bill Flanagan that his
own ‘Brownsville Girl’ was written partly in response to a song by Lou Reed, ‘Doin’ the Thing That We Want To’, which starts by referring to going to see a play—the SAM SHEPARD play Fool for Love—and describing its impact on the singer.

Super bummed I didn't vote for this, especially considering my songs ballot was basically intact three weeks ago. Moving + no internet at the new place for a week = bad timing.

I liked that the cover artists voted for ranged from Ellington to Miley.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

For a split second I thought, "Ellington's trumpeter Bubber Miley did a Dylan cover?!"

Coulson, Dean, McGuinness & Flint…." (xpost) I have the LP, on Christgau's recommendation. Forgot all about it.

I really like it. Title track, Lo and Behold is the standout.

I love Ellington even better than I love Dylan, but that "Blowin' in the Wind" cover, ughhhh

one of Dylan's weakest melodies, sounding even more rinky-dink than usual in the absence of the lyrics, and a feeble/cynical gesture toward relevance by Ellington ... he and his band always did covers of contemporary hits, but he must have been perplexed to watch tunes like "Blowin' in the Wind" climbing the pop charts ... its hype as a civil rights anthem probably did not diminish the amount of side-eye the band gave this in the studio

on the other hand, that wa-wa-wa muted horn line is hilarious ... maybe I'm taking this a little too seriously

No, I'm with you on that one.

haha, yeah, the ellington cover does not strike me as particularly inspired. you can practically hear the band falling asleep.

My understanding is that Ellington and Strayhorn, having gone through as much as they'd gone through, thought the sentiment was quaint; "What do these white college kids know about civil rights?" He wasn't trying to be relevant; the arrangement was giving side-eye to the song.

as far as dylan jazz goes, i actually kinda liked this from a few years back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8bu-NWHmGc

kind of feel like i should have voted for will oldham's cover of "brownsville girl" if only for the reason that no one else has covered that wonderful song. oldham's lacks the intensity of the original (apart from the chorus) though.

feel like it takes him a 6-8 minutes or so to get into the groove and spirit of the song

WORST
Lenny Bruce
Wiggle Wiggle
Gotta Serve Somebody
Man Gave Names to All the Animals
Union Sundown

COVERS
“Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” – Nina Simone
“Every Grain of Sand” – Emmylou Harris
“I’ll Keep It With Mine” – Bettie Serveert
“Mr. Tambourine Man” – The Byrds
*“Make You Feel My Love” – Adele
*only because I forgot about Them.

ALBUMS
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Desire
Highway 61 Revisited
Bringing It All Back Home
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Tempest
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Oh Mercy

i didn't have enough time to throw a ballot together but going to enjoy this countdown.

same. always been something of a Dylan neophyte, look forward to learning something.

Here are my side polls:

COVERS:
I Shall Be Released – The Band
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Bryan Ferry
My Back Pages – The Byrds
Tears of Rage – The Band
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – The Byrds
All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? – The Hold Steady
Just Like a Woman – Nina Simone
Goin’ To Acapulco – My Morning Jacket & Calexico
If Not For You – George Harrison
Masters of War – The Roots
Highway 61 Revisited – PJ Harvey
Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) – Willie Nelson
One More Cup of Coffee – The White Stripes
I Was Young When I Left Home – Antony
This Wheel’s On Fire – Siouxsie & The Banshees
Pressing On – John Doe
It Ain’t Me Babe – Johnny & June Carter Cash
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Nina Simone

ALBUMS:
Blonde on Blonde
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blood On the Tracks
Love & Theft
Desire
John Wesley Harding
Time Out of Mind
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Modern Times
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
Oh Mercy

colson dean mcguiness flint LP is pretty damn good sez me!

way looking forward to this

my albums list with lots of official bootlegs but no actual ones:

01. JOHN WESLEY HARDING
02. HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED
03. "LOVE AND THEFT"
04. THE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOL. 6: CONCERT AT PHILHARMONIC HALL, 1964
05. Bob Dylan and The Band - THE BASEMENT TAPES
06. BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
07. NASHVILLE SKYLINE
08. BLONDE ON BLONDE
09. THE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOL. 4: THE "ROYAL ALBERT HALL" CONCERT
10. BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME
11. NEW MORNING
12. THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'
13. MODERN TIMES
14. THE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOL. 10: ANOTHER SELF PORTRAIT
15. THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN
16. THE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOLS. 1-3: RARE AND UNRELEASED, 1961-1991
17. BOB DYLAN
18. WORLD GONE WRONG
19. UNDER THE RED SKY
20. BOB DYLAN AT BUDOKAN

my worst (regret not doing more of this, also kinda regret voting for "disease of conceit"):

01. Ballad in Plain D
02. Roll On John
03. Is Your Love in Vain?
04. Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight
05. Disease of Conceit

i would have put "roll on john" but I don't think I even made it through that one on first listen.

Mr. Listening Hour, you have good taste in bad Bob songs. I was the other #1 for Ballad In Plain D. And I had Love and Theft at 2, behind Highway 61

Was listening to my Dylan CD-mix on the way home. It starts with "She Belongs to Me."

She's got everything she needs
She's an artist, she don't look back
She's got everything she needs
She's an artist, she don't look back
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black

Those might be my favorite opening lines ever. Every verse is brilliant.

Was also thinking about "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "Desolation Row." It's 1965, there's all this amazing, joyous music on the radio, and Dylan--even though he had his own contributions to that mood--already has his head somewhere closer to 1968. He really does nail all the bad stuff just around the corner, the riot squads and the Titanic sailing at dawn and running to tell everybody but not being able to get across.

i prefer the exhaustive formalist exercise of blonde on blonde to highway 61 revisited, but just barely.

um, clem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLsElbW9Xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5-I0LJMdY

1965

Fair point. Dylan wasn't the only one--the Mothers' "Trouble Every Day," etc.--but, for me, he was far and away the most prophetic, or at least the most brilliantly allusive and ambiguous. "Eve of Destruction" and most songs in that vein were very concrete, almost like news reports. "Desolation Row" is at a whole other level.

by the time it's actually the late 60s he's already in the 70s

by the time it's actually the late 60s he's already in the 70s

this is so true. Dylan's '60s end ca. spring 1966 at latest

wassa "exhaustive formalist exercise"?

i mean, the white album, yes, but BonB?

Been on a huge Dylan trip since compiling my ballot for this, including loads of albums that I'd never given the time of day before. Of course I now wish I could change my ballot completely. Slow Train Coming is such a bizarrely great album

https://twitter.com/Country_Steve/status/477028875491622912

balls you totally had the chance to say "uh, clem" and blew it. blew it!

btw bringing it all back home at #2 is totally awesome even tho i had it at #10

@clem opening of She Belongs To Me is so beautiful, sound and lyrics both - was going through my collection to put together my ballot, and when I got to that song on BIABH I knew that album was top3 for me.

"she belongs to me" opening live 1966 is even better. the room sounds like a cathedral and bob has to summon his voice, or wake it up. he's so tired, despite being free of her, now he's just a walking antique.

live 1966 is the bestest of the best.

jeez, when is this gonna start?

When the ship comes in (or when Tipsy gets back from Bonneroo).

how many festivals must a tipsy attend before we get poll results?

the answer, my friend, is blowing in the web.

En route home now. Unless I'm killed in a fiery wreck, the tracks will start rollout in the morning. If I am killed in a fiery wreck, you all have my permission to petition the court for access to my hard drive for the results.

You're not on a motorcycle, are you?

you're not converting to christianity, are you?

You're not joining a ragtag group of fellow aging rockers under an assumed name?

I'm rumored to be in the studio with Daniel Lanois.

you're not going to leave in a huff and vow to produce your next record yourself under the pseudonym "Jack Frost," are you?

Tipsy in the Heart

does he understand our pain?

http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/musicvideos/2009/12/bob-dylan-must-be-santa.jpg

HO HO HO!

BOB DYLAN TRACKS POLL: OBVIOUSLY 50 BALLOTERS

Lo and behold!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Man_Long_Black_Coat_zpsdc7f0daf.jpg

100. (TIE) "Man in the Long Black Coat" Oh Mercy (1989)
86 points, 9 votes

I voted for it: the only time Lanois' spooky voodoo jive works.

I voted for it too. Thank you Joan Osborne for introducing me to this track way back when, but I like Dylan's better.

One more quick one, then I gotta run for a bit. Will continue on through #75 today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Gates_of_Eden_zpsdba2d9f8.jpg

100. (TIE) "Gates of Eden" Bringing It All Back Home (1966)
86 points, 9 votes

Oops, obviously that should say 1965 (the jpg is correct).

Not quite as scouring as "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", but still one of my favorite melodies on BIABH, and I love the single-note harmonica punctuation between voices. I probably should have voted for it.

yea both of those BIAB songs were not on my ballot, i admire them a ton obviously but i rarely want to listen to them

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Shes_Your_Lover_Now_zps942ad913.jpg

98. "She's Your Lover Now" The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (1991)
87 points, 6 votes

That one is actually another tie, with this one (which also represents our first first-place vote on the countdown):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/corrina_corrina_zpse5816f82.jpg

98. (TIE) "Corrina, Corrina" The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
87 points, 5 votes, 1 1st-place vote

Tipsy's approach to the images, by the way? Magnifique!

The Hawks version of "She's Your Lover Now" is probably my favorite fragment in the Dylan corpus; I can't believe it wasn't on my ballot (but I'll stop saying this about my omissions). The sheer concentrated venom in "You sit and ask for ashtrays, can't you reach"!

xp

I didn't vote in the end, so have no right to complain - but way way way too low for 'She's Your Lover Now' (I seriously wondered if it might be top three!)

Like "Corrina, Corrina," btw, but couldn't justify voting for a non-original (see also, "Froggie Went a Courtin'").

Wow, Gates of Eden is seriously too low. Love the way it mixes the literary dreamscape that would later define "Desolation Row" with the portentous vibe of "It's Alright Ma."

Great image concept! Gates was one of my first Dylan faves.

Really thought "Lover" would place higher; definitely as good as anything else on BoB.

I voted for a few non-originals, but a #1 vote for "Corrina" is a surprise. Used to like "Gates of Eden" a lot, but rarely listen to it now. Side 2 of Bringing It All Back Home is kind of a unique chapter in Dylan's output - acoustic psychedelic epics.

I didn't think the mono mix of side 2 would reveal much that's new, but it's pretty amazing, with some reverb and a bit of slap-back echo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/lily_rosemary_zps99c78cc8.jpg

97. "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" Blood on the Tracks (1975)
88 points, 7 votes

voted for it! (the nyc sessions version, not expecting that one to make the list though)

Sort of like the satyr play on BotT, and probably the only Minneapolis take I prefer to the New York versions--I think it needs that tension between the jauntiness of the performance and the proximity of the void (the Jack of Hearts as an emotional and narrative cipher, Rosemary's fate)....

(Also the first song from my ballot to have placed.)

Oh yeah marcos, I should have noted that. Like I said, I counted all votes for any version as the same song, but I will try to mention alternative versions voted for as we go.

And our second 1st-place vote...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Time_Passes_Slowly_zps44ce6af4.jpg]

96. "Time Passes Slowly" New Morning (1970)
89 points, 4 votes, 1 1st-place vote

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Apple_Suckling_Tree_zps034f830c.jpg

95. "Apple Suckling Tree" The Basement Tapes (1975)
90 points, 6 votes

Should note that for year of release, I'm going with first official release. Obviously in many cases does not represent the year the song was recorded.

love apple suckling tree, it didn't make my ballot but on another day it easily could have

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/gypsyfrocksbedlam/media/Time_Passes_Slowly_zps44ce6af4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=25#/user/gypsyfrocksbedlam/media/When_I_Paint_Masterpiece_zpsdc76febf.jpg.html?sort=3&o=23&_suid=140302045550003644029927345487

94. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" Greatest Hits, Vol. II (1971)
4 votes, 91 points

-- one vote for demo version, from Bootleg Series Vol. 10

Oops, bad link. Sorry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/When_I_Paint_Masterpiece_zpsdc76febf.jpg

I didn't specify on my ballot, but the Bootleg series version was also the one I had in mind. Not sure I've heard the one on Greatest Hits II. Great example of Dylan using a rambling, off-the-cuff style to drain any hint of pretentiousness.

damn I forgot about that one

woohoo it's on!

Man in the long black coat 2nd favorite Oh Mercy track, nice way to start.

I find "she's your lover now" enjoyable musically but verges on self parody in delivery/lyrics - is he making it up as he goes along? Impressed that this will be a top100.

Happy to see not exactly well-regarded "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" place, of course, but doing the math, I noticed that without my 8th place vote, it wouldn't have shown up.

man i love she's your lover now so much, both the band version and the solo piano version. i even love how the band version breaks down at the end. "now your mouth cries .... what?!"

I find "she's your lover now" enjoyable musically but verges on self parody in delivery/lyrics

otm!

I love the countdown images, great idea.

I also love that there are 1st place votes this far down. (I'm the #1 vote for "Time Passes Slowly")

tyler otm my feelings exactly

xp

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/When_the_ship_comes_in_zps205786af.jpg

93. "When the Ship Comes In" The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964)
92 points, 8 votes

not one of my favorite songs tbh, one of the worst of the protest years and contains some clunkers

"And the words that are used
For to get the ship confused
Will not be understood as they’re spoken"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Can_You_Crawl_Out_Window_zpsd3fb0100.jpg

92. "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" Biograph (1985)
94 points, 6 votes

Contrary to legend, apparently not the song that led to Phil Ochs getting thrown out of the car: http://phil-ochs.blogspot.com/2010/08/dylan-get-out-of-car-ochs.html.

Wasn't this first released in 1965 (as a single) ?

Yes. I should have put that. I'm just sort of blindly following the bobdylan.com references, which are all pegged to album releases.

<pedantics>

that is a 1965 A-side: http://www.discogs.com/Bob-Dylan-Can-You-Please-Crawl-Out-Your-Window/release/1904584

</pedantics>

lol xp

I voted for this, it's great

Now we move into a three-way tie for 89th place:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/4th_Time_Around_zps5bcc9f6a.jpg
89. (TIE) "4th Time Around" Blonde on Blonde (1966)
97 points, 8 votes

Yes. I should have put that. I'm just sort of blindly following the bobdylan.com references, which are all pegged to album releases.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, June 17, 2014 1:53 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, I actually wasn't sure myself...I thought maybe it was something that was planned but not released in '65, or only released in Italy or something.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Times_They_Are_Changin_zps304452a9.jpg
89. (TIE) "The Times They Are a-Changin'" The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964)
97 points, 10 votes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/My_Back_Pages_zps3c42c135.jpg
89. (TIE) "My Back Pages" Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
97 points, 10 votes

so many ties!

There will be fewer as we get higher up. Down toward the bottom, with so many votes to go around, there were a lot of inevitable ties.

inclined to say everything is too low lol

Voted for "Apple Suckling Tree," a song i can't believe Dylan wrote in 1967---sounds like it's older than Stephen Foster.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Chimes_of_Freedom_zps863d3b78.jpg
88. "Chimes of Freedom" Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
102 points, 7 votes

Looove the Byrds' version of this.

i didn't vote in this but i am enjoying the rollout. my ballot would have been boring.
it's reminding me how much i love bob dylan lyrics!! the images are great. "corpse evangelists" reminded me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Changing_Guards_zps509c31be.jpg

87. "Changing of the Guards" Street-Legal (1978)
107 points, 8 votes

i'm really surprised 'The Times They Are a-Changin' is so low! i guess it's one of those songs that everyone's heard a million times but for me it's one of THE songs of the 60s, beyond music, just the 1960s in general. instant legend.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Obviously_5_Believers_zpsd2b9279e.jpg
86. "Obviously 5 Believers" Blonde on Blonde (1966)
108 points, 8 votes

(too low)

everything is too low

horn riff on "Changing of the Guards" is sensational

changing of the guards WAY too low

i was the bootleg vote for paint my masterpiece, put it absurdly high on a last-second whim.

the lyrics are awful

"Changing of the Guards" takes Dylan's hermeticism into the realm of self-parody, but I love it for its unabashed garishness; the "Baker Street" saxophone at the end of every ridiculous verse feels like a victory lap.

the choir girls echoing every line

can overlook the lyrics on "Changing of the Guards" because he sounds like he's having such a great time - they're bad, but at least they're not actively offensive like some of the others on Street Legal

"Renegade priests (renegade priests!)"....

i was the bootleg vote for paint my masterpiece

was introduced to this tune via inclusion of the Band's version in Observe and Report, such an amazing song. Dylan version is inferior tho imo

i've really taken a liking to his back-up singers in the 70s-80s

I never noticed all of the Lennon/"Norwegian Wood" references in "Fourth Time Around" until reading about the song recently. Can't believe I never picked up on that before.

I never noticed it either until a couple months ago. p funny!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/One_More_Cup_Coffee_zps8cf2c770.jpg
84. (TIE) "One More Cup of Coffee" Desire (1976)
109 votes, 9 votes, 1 1st-place vote

ha, I mean 109 points

Caffeine votes.

I never noticed all of the Lennon/"Norwegian Wood" references in "Fourth Time Around" until reading about the song recently. Can't believe I never picked up on that before.

― Darin, Tuesday, June 17, 2014 4:29 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Supposedly, Lennon was superparanoid about this. "Is he making fun of me? He's making fun of me. Why is he making fun of me?"

yeah somebody mentioned that in the nominations thread and now I can't get it out of my head

are the references purely in the music? i'm not really picking up any connections in the lyrics, but perhaps i'm overlooking something obvious?

definitely some parallels:

http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/fourth-time-around

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Day_of_Locusts_zps74a97d5d.jpg
84. (TIE) "Day of the Locusts" New Morning (1970)
109 points, 9 votes

that is the best line

from that song

My favorite Dylan piano is on this track.

are the references purely in the music? i'm not really picking up any connections in the lyrics, but perhaps i'm overlooking something obvious?

the most obvious bits to me are:

1) the meter of the verses

2) "Jamaican rum"/"Norwegian wood"

3)"You didn’t waste time and I, I never took much I never asked for your crutch now don’t ask for mine"

Always thought that 4th Time Around was parodying the ponderous layering of senseless detail in Norwegian Wood, e.g. Lennon's clunky attempt at telling a story in "She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere, so I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair"

didn't finish that...

So Lennon's clunkiness is mocked by the whole thing with the gum in Dylan's song, for instance. But I dunno, Blonde on Blonde's lyrics contain a lot of senseless detail anyway.

Seems just as likely that 4th Time Around is about a real woman that they both had dealings with that none of us know anything about so are unable to crack the code.

A personal favorite here...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Frankie_Lee_Judas_Priest_zpsb0f8cda5.jpg
83. "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" John Wesley Harding (1967)
111 points, 9 votes

And one more before dinner ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/One_Too_Many_Mornings_zpsdcc37247.jpg

82. "One Too Many Mornings" The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964)
116 points, 10 votes

My vote for "Mornings" was the live 1966 version. Fucking crashing.

Obviously Five Believers my #2, apocalypse now, heart of that monstrous album, thin and wild but also on sight, like it's really the first song on JWH

The latest-vintage song to get a #1 vote.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Nettie_Moore_zps6db5c494.jpg

80. (TIE) "Nettie Moore" Modern Times (2006)
117 points, 9 votes, 1 1st-place vote

Yay! one of his most beautiful & moving "last songs"

And with that, Dylan has beaten previous record-holders the Who in most years between songs to make the results.

(the Who's was 41 years, Dylan's at 43 years, could conceivably hit 50)

I was curious about where this one would land. I had it in the lower reaches of my ballot because it would have seemed incomplete to leave it off -- but voting for it felt a little like voting for the national anthem or something.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Blowin_in_Wind_zpsba822c73.jpg

80. (TIE) "Blowin' in the Wind" The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
117 points, 9 votes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/If_Not_for_You_zps444a8677.jpg

79. "If Not For You" New Morning (1970)
120 points, 13 votes

that's a good placing for "Blowin'"---it's too important to leave off entirely, but i'll be damned if I enjoy listening to the thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSlZvfsWdOc

Most(?) of the Dylan-Lennon scene in Eat the Document

I'm late to the party. Legitimately stunned at the low showing for Chimes Of Freedom. I always figured that would be a lock for the top 20. It just feels big.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/High_water_zps6309331c.jpg

78. "High Water (for Charley Patton)" Love and Theft (2001)
122 points, 12 votes

YES. I love the drum roll at the end of each verse.

Yeah, great song. Half comedy, half apocalypse. "Keeping away from the women/ I'm giving 'em a lot of ROOOM..."

either one of'emmmmmm I don't...care
high water standin' there

Gonna go ahead and finish out thee more for the day. Starting with another tie:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/I_belive_in_you_zpsbdad94a5.jpg

76. (TIE) "I Believe in You" Slow Train Coming (1979)
129 points, 7 votes

Speaking of comedy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Bob_Dylans_115th_dream_zpsb2d158f6.jpg

76. (TIE) "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
129 points, 10 votes

he said let's set up a fort
and start buying the place with beads!

My dad took great delight in pointing out the joke when he flips the coin -- "came up tails, which rhymes with sail" -- because it rhymes with jail, too.

!

was so obsessed with that one when i was 15, seemed like the funniest and weirdest thing i'd ever heard. still love it.

mind exploding all over the place. my excuse is i'd never actually heard the words "which rhymes with sail" even tho i've sung along to them ("wurimeseth sail!") for years

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/As_I_went_out_one_morning_zps9f89ac8e.jpg

75. "As I Went Out One Morning" John Wesley Harding (1967)
131 points, 13 votes

This song was my entry to JWH -- I kept trying to figure it out, which I didn't, but it gave me a way to listen to the whole rest of the album -- as an unsolvable mystery.

I'm gonna have a cigarette and breathe the air around Tom Paine.

And that gets us through the first quarter (or slightly more). Tomorrow: 74 thru 51.

the last line of "As I Went Out"--"I'm sorry for what she's done"---is the last piece in an astonishing jigsaw puzzle that i've never (& never will) figure out. what a song.

and the quiet but assertive music pokes it along

"i offered her my hand / she took me by the arm / i knew that very instant she meant to do me harm" is my favorite "women -- watch out for 'em!" dylanism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkNIS9RwjY8

anyone doing a spotify mix for this poll?

I don't do Spotify, so would have to be someone else. (How much Dylan is Spotify-able? I have no idea.)

Most of the official discography, as far as I know.

I know almost no one uses Rdio, but i've been doing the tracks poll here: http://www.rdio.com/people/rawhit3/playlists/9801131/Bob_Dylan_Tracks_Poll/

Love & Theft is missing, though, so i used the "High Water" from Tell Tale Signs.

only thing missing from Spotify is Biograph iirc

i know everything is too low but dang. "gates of eden" and "i believe in you" were in my top 10 and wouldn't have placed without that. yikes!

My dad took great delight in pointing out the joke when he flips the coin -- "came up tails, which rhymes with sail" -- because it rhymes with jail, too.

Amazing, had not noticed this!

Wasn't doing anything before going to the gym, so here's the Spotify playlist. The Greatest Hits v2 version of "Masterpiece" isn't available, ditto Biograph and "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"

http://open.spotify.com/user/wmcrump/playlist/2Uo6osE4xRAJ2TbAwjEcwI

is "Positively 4th St." on Spotify? I tried to find it yesterday but just got covers.

Nope.

It's pretty much only covers of it on youtube as well.

thanks WmC!

OK, getting rolling for the day. The next seven tracks are separated in the voting by a mere total of four points.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/To_Ramona_zps3ed53a8b.jpg
73. (TIE) "To Ramona" Another Side of Bob Dylanp (1964)
132 points, 9 votes

Another Side of Bob Dylanp!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Cold_Irons_bound_zps50f425c2.jpg

73. (TIE) "Cold Irons Bound" Time Out of Mind (1997)
132 points, 13 votes

-- one vote specified the Masked and Anonymous soundtrack

TOO LOW for "Cold Irons Bound."

"Cold Irons Bound" a fine song tainted for me by memory of hearing a Baby Boomer dude talking to long-suffering wife after a show. "Did you hear that one song, "cooold iron bound" [spoken-sung in Dylan approximation]? That's one of the *new ones* and it's got a very deep groove, I think. You don't remember that one? Why not?"

Haaaa. I feel like lots of Dylan fans have long-suffering significant others. (Even if the significant other is a Dylan fan, the level of interest in talking about it is probably rarely at the same level.)

I can understand the groans. Being a Dylan fan is grisly.

The Spotify playlist is collaborative, so if I'm slow to add tracks, everybody feel free to add along.

my wife is much more tolerant of my neil young and dead binges than my dylan binges. not as tolerant of my bill callahan binges.

Thanks, WilliamC for starting that play list!

Rare instance of Oscar-winning-song-by-legendary-artist that is actually great:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Things_have_changed_zps3a620a5d.jpg

71. (TIE) "Things Have Changed" Wonder Boys (Original Soundtrack) (2000)
133 points, 13 votes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Not_dark_yet_zpscc78c9a1.jpg

71. (TIE) "Not Dark Yet" Time Out of Mind (1997)
133 points, 13 votes

Even if the significant other is a Dylan fan, the level of interest in talking about it is probably rarely at the same level.

I am gratified (lucky?) to note that these are the only ILX poll results my wife has expressed any interest in

"I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me"

for me "Things Have Changed" was the eye-opener, not TOOM.

POLL SNAFU: I don't have the image for this next one loaded in the right place, so I'll have to come back and add it later. For now, here's a placeholder.

http://images.amcnetworks.com/ifc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/marieantoinette460.jpg

70. "Absolutely Sweet Marie" Blonde on Blonde (1966)
134 points, 13 votes

works fine for me

To Ramona was my #3. Why so low? The melody just yearns

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Tell_Me_Momma_zpsb65da18f.jpg

69. "Tell Me, Momma" The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live 1966 (1998)
135 points, 9 votes

lost alternate histories: what if he hadn't fallen off the bike? (or decided to use the accident as an exit ramp?) Another hard rock Dylan record in late '66 or early '67, with "Tell Me Momma" as a centerpiece?

Cold Irons Bound, Not Dark Yet and Things Have Changed. All very dark late-period songs that I voted for.

I love the opening verse to "Things Have Changed."

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin’s eyes
I’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies
I’m well dressed, waiting on the last train

Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose

People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

DON'T GET UP GENTLEMEN I'M ONLY PASSING THROUUUUUUUUUGH

the video, despite it being Dylan intercut with the cast of "Wonder Boys," is great just for D's various deadpan expressions

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Love_Sick_zpsb3814918.jpg

68. "Love Sick" Time Out of Mind (1997)
136 points, 10 votes

Voted for Love Sick too. Interesting that all these dark, world weary TOOTM era tracks are all slotting in around now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Moonshiner_zpsd4e9298a.jpg

67. "Moonshiner" The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (1991)
139 points, 8 votes, 1 1st-place vote

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Jokerman_zps511101e4.jpg

66. "Jokerman" Infidels (1983)
155 points, 12 votes

-- one vote specified the Letterman performance: http://youtu.be/nP85Uc6H79U

Had hoped that one might climb a bit higher, the chorus is a stunning earworm compared with
the other stuff on that album

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Sara_zpsa2f12a5e.jpg

65. "Sara" Desire (1976)
156 points, 9 votes

lol @ that image

lol

had been expecting jokerman to be further up! i should have put it higher; it was in my top 10 for a long time but took a nasty tumble at some point. thought it'd be ok without me.

delivery on "matchsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks, molotov cocktails and rocks / behind every curtain" is all-time, like a shadow version of "it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine".

lol i mean nightsticks.

statues made of nightsticks

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Brownsville_Girl_zps5aa27e5a.jpg

64. "Brownsville Girl" Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
157 points, 8 votes, 1 1st-place vote

SHE SAID EVEN THE SWAP MEETS AROUND HERE ARE GETTING PRETTY CORRUPT

TOO LOW!

WAY TOO LOW!!!

brownsville girl was my #4

who's the 1st place voter? whoever you are you are my frind

friend, even

said it in the noms thread but i cherish the moment (5:26) when he comes in singing the wrong chorus line and hastily corrects himself when he hears what the backup singers are doing, and no of course we're not stopping we're halfway through this bullshit already

i tear up at this song, so good

i feel like the fact that this song, which is so good and so wonderful, appears in the middle of all this other lousy shit he put out in the 80s makes it that much more powerful. he was able to make it happen for this song

well i've always been the kind of person who doesn't like to trespass but sometimes
you just find yourself over the line

I forgot to vote but it's crazy seeing songs as good as Things Have Changed and Not Dark Yet this low. It's pretty much all killer, this rollout.

the best of his eighties is in this trio.

plus, no one's mentioned how goddamn tight Sly and Robbie are, with perfect Knopfler curlicues.

the brownsville chorus just hits so hard. also i love this verse:

Well, we’re drivin’ this car and the sun is comin’ up over the Rockies
Now I know she ain’t you but she’s here and she’s got that dark rhythm in her soul
But I’m too over the edge and I ain’t in the mood anymore to remember the times
when I was your only man
And she don’t want to remind me. She knows this car would go out of control

Dylan has only performed it once, on August 6, 1986.

he just sang the chorus for a couple minutes, sadly -- he should give it a go again. i think "long and wasted years" from tempest is kinda like a brownsville girl sequel.

I'm guessing most people's awakening to its beauties began with the third volume of the greatest hits, no?

i dunno, i think maybe heylin has always talked it up?
alt version is worth your time too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O9ggxGQ5Ac

i had vol 3 a long time ago when i was a teenager but it was not a time when i appreciated anything past desire, so i don't even think i listened to it then. i got into brownsville girl a few years ago after reading a bunch of dylan biographies and getting really into the christian/80s albums and found knocked out loaded for a buck or two in a record store

i think heylin did talk it up, too. alt version is good definitely! i do prefer the regular version though, hits a little harder imo

yeah i think the released version is better overall -- even the change to "brownsville" feels better somehow.
"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh.
"We're going all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn,
'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade and the water moccasin dies."
Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."

Hats off to the #1 voter for "Nettie Moore", my favorite of his post-2000 work.

"Brownsville Girl" and "Foot of Pride" shit on anything b/w 1975-1980 btw.

That was mine xp. I was originally going to have Not Dark Yet, but Nettie Moore and Ain't Talkin' slayed me.

Love the second half of Modern Times.

"Things Have Changed" is a fav that I didn't realize had much standing with Dylan heads until I joined ILM.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Keep_It_With_Mine_zps2bf9b0c9.jpg

63. "I'll Keep It With Mine" Biograph (1985)
158 points, 9 votes

-- one voter specified "1965 Revisited version, the one with the Tom Wilson studio banter—'Got a mike for John?'"

"things have changed" does really seem like the kickoff point for Dylan's late period approach (as opposed to TOOM).

clemenza, eber heard "Things Have Changed"? I think it'll make you come around.

tylerw otm: that bone-dry self-production.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/man_in_me_zpsc4de76c8.jpg

62. "The Man in Me" New Morning (1970)
159 points, 15 votes

whoah definitely TOO LOW!! although I'm glad it beat out all this late period stuff you guys love

"I'll Keep It With Mine" was my #2. One of his absolutely most beautiful songs & he never bettered the studio demo take on Biograph. The Fairport Convention cover seems overwrought by comparison.

gonna pretend I didn't read that re: Fairport :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/I_Dreamed_St_Augustine_zpsa9967fc5.jpg

60. (TIE) "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" John Wesley Harding (1967)
161 points, 10 votes

One of the most effective of those enigmatic JWH songs for me. Made my top 10.

yeah that's probably my fave jwh tune. unspeakably sad, even though i don't think it's really "about" anything in particular.

rolling thunder 1976 version is kind of wild - totally throws the song out the window, but it works somehow.

Would love to have hears the Heartbreakers-gospel version Mikal gilmore sez he heard in 1985.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/aint_talkin_zps110ad1d9.jpg

60. (TIE) "Ain't Talkin'" Modern Times (2006)
161 points, 9 votes

^^

My favorite '00s track. Like I said on the noms thread, I would've been happy for him to just stop there and walk off. (I like some of what's come after, but this feels so valedictory.)

xxp here's a version from 1987 w/ the heartbreakers...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOggAMWYjPo

"Ain't Talkin'" was my #2 (and nearly my #1), but I wasn't sure if it'd make the final results.

I love the line about "the world mysterious and vague."

And -- segue! -- speaking of mysterious and vague ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Im_Not_There_zps7cc37d89.jpg

59. "I'm Not There" Unreleased (recorded 1967)
164 points, 10 votes

^^ in my top fifteen. Finding "I'm Not There" in the Napster days was like divers finding the Titanic.

there's no one here. the gardener is gone.

I love the theory (maybe true?) that the recording of "I'm Not There" represents the only time Dylan ever actually played the thing.

from the sound of it no one played on the thing

It's the mythical great lost song to end all mythical great lost songs, and you can listen to it 20 times and get less sure of what you're hearing.

it's part of the ether

isn't it released on the OST?

so good

pretty sure this was top 5 for me

Yeah, it's on the I'm Not There movie soundtrack.

like many of us I suppose I learned about it through Greil Marcus.

i remember being slightly disappointed when i finally heard i'm not there, but it definitely cast a spell after a few listens. his voice is unbelievable on it, even when he's stumbling/mumbling. definitely believe it's the only time dylan played it.

Man Gave Names to All the Animals isn't going to place, is it

isn't it released on the OST?

I actually forgot that! I knew the Sonic Youth version was on there. I guess I just like the idea of it being unreleased.

Sonic Youth's cover on the INT soundtrack literalizes it but works as a Thurston Moore ode to a snare girl.

Next, a tie between two songs that both have their detractors ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Just_Like_a_woman_zps39620493.jpg

57. (TIE) "Just Like a Woman" Blonde on Blonde (1966)
175 points, 15 votes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Hattie_Carroll_zpsf7285fa3.jpg

57. (TIE) "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964)
175 points, 14 votes

wow @ Hattie Carroll, how dumb

just a garbage song, garbage performance, garbage vocals, horrible

just like a woman is worth it for "her fog, her amphetamine, and her puhurlzzz"

Just Like a Woman was my #3, again for the frail take on Live 1966; none of that tinkling playing like on BoB; Bob's hands are moving so slowly, as he nods off. nobody feels any pain.

'hattie carroll' hate is crazy, it's the peak of his protest era.

Yep.

"Just Like a Woman" though proudly made my hate-it pile.

I like the way he says "Zanzinger."

I also like that the song haunted the guy the rest of his life: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/us/10zantzinger.html?_r=0. Which doesn't make it great art, but it was effective.

Hattie Carroll is a weird one -- it's powerful, one time. After that I'm like, "Let go of my fucking arm, Bob." Ditto "Who Killed Davey Moore?".

I hate "protest song" Dylan, just vile

"And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom" is a great line

the verse w the strange repetition of "the table" that preps you for the sorta breathtaking ghost-rhyme "and emptied the ashtrays / on a whole other level" -- so unhectoring but so clearly seperate and unequal, lazarus and dives -- is why i voted for it

the chorus is not unhectoring tho

sorry by "ghost-rhyme" i just meant the consonance (conceptually, too!) of "table" and "level"

lots of protest dylan aged poorly, but not this one imo

slant rhyme

xpost

Do people besides Woody Allen hate Just Like A Woman? I love it, particularly the acoustic shouty Before The Flood version.

lol at the song haunting the guy for the rest of his life

lol also at clinton heylin calling the song near-libelous because this early-1960s maryland tobacco plantation owner was only the son of a one-term state legislator. power dynamic doesn't seem so stark now! fuck off.

michael grey xp

It's a dumb song really.

I concede that he sings with considerable ambivalence.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/This_Wheels_on_fire_zpsa108cf1a.jpg

56. "This Wheel's on Fire" The Basement Tapes (1975)
178 points, 9 votes, 1 1st-place vote

This was top 10 for me (I think).

^^^ also voted for Siouxsie's cover.

the grey line abt just like a woman is something like (v paraphrased) "this says nothing about a specific person, offers no insight about a general category, and pretends to do both." enjoy the song but have always found this otm.

I'm with Alfred on Hattie & JLIW, I voted "Just Like A Woman" most hated because the chorus sucks so bad, I do like the verse lyrics but I never wanna hear him sing that chorus again.

protest song Dylan is the 2nd best kind of Dylan imo, just behind 1967 Hawks Dylan

I love the structure of "Wheel" -- the rhyme scheme is off-kilter, and the chords go in odd directions before resolving into the big majors in the chorus.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/It_Aint_Me_Babe_zpsc7e1844a.jpg

55. "It Ain't Me, Babe" Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
182 points, 15 votes

Not his greatest kiss-off, but among them.

never rly liked this. i like don't think twice.

i like the chorus as a negative response to the beatles' "yeah yeah yeah"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/Went_to_See_the_Gypsy_zps8abe2d7c.jpg

54. "Went to See the Gypsy" New Morning (1970)
184 points, 12 votes

-- individual votes for "Demo" and "Electric piano version from New Morning sessions"

so basically the canonical mid-60s troika is going to totally dominate the upper half of this poll, based on what's placed so far