In honor of Bob Dylan’s entrance into septuagenarianism, Rolling Stone recently published their list of Dylan’s best 70 songs. I found their list decent but unnecessarily weighted toward his early career, so I decided to make my own list in response. Of course, almost half of the songs on my list come from his 1962-1967 stretch (including some that Rolling Stone stupidly overlooked and ignoring some that Rolling Stone stupidly included and plenty of overlap), but at least a third come from 1979 forward.
I went through his massive discography and put in every song I thought was indispensable, and this was as far as I was willing to cut it down. So my list has 75 songs on it, which presented me with the following three options:
1. Wait five years for Dylan to turn 75.
2. Whittle it down further to 70.
3. Convince myself that I don’t care that Dylan is 70 and my list has 75 songs.
I opted for number three. And “Lay Lady Lay” is nowhere to be found on my list. You’re welcome. It is arranged in chronological order because arranging them in the order of preference would be a silly, silly thing to do.
My 75 Favorite Dylan Songs
Talkin’ New York (1962)
Song to Woody (1962)
Tomorrow is a Long Time (1963)
Let Me Die in My Footsteps (1963)
Girl from the North Country (1963)
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1963)
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (1963)
One Too Many Mornings (1964)
Only a Pawn in Their Game (1964)
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (1964)
Percy’s Song (1964)
Lay Down Your Weary Tune (1964)
Chimes of Freedom (1964)
My Back Pages (1964)
Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965)
She Belongs to Me (1965)
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (1965)
Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) (1965)
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (1965)
Positively Fourth Street (1965)
I’ll Keep It with Mine (1965)
Like a Rolling Stone (1965)
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (1965)
Ballad of a Thin Man (1965)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (1965)
Desolation Row (1965)
Visions of Johanna (1966)
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) (1966)
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (1966)
Just Like a Woman (1966)
4th Time Around (1966)
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands (1966)
Tell Me, Mama (1966)
I Shall Be Released (1967)
You Ain’t Going Nowhere (1967)
Nothing Was Delivered (1967)
Crash on the Levy (Down in the Flood) (1967)
Clothes Line Saga (1967)
I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine (1967)
All Along the Watchtower (1967)
Drifter’s Escape (1967)
I Pity the Poor Immigrant (1967)
Day of the Locusts (1970)
Up To Me (1974)
Tangled Up in Blue (1975)
Simple Twist of Fate (1975)
Idiot Wind (1975)
Shelter from the Storm (1975)
Isis (1976)
Sara (1976)
Gotta Serve Somebody (1979)
I Believe in You (1979)
What Can I Do for You? (1980)
The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar (1981)
Every Grain of Sand (1981)
Jokerman (1983)
Blind Willie McTell (1983)
Caribbean Wind (1985)
Brownsville Girl (1987)
Series of Dreams (1991)
Dirt Road Blues (1997)
Standing in the Doorway (1997)
Not Dark Yet (1997)
Red River Shore (1997)
Things Have Changed (2000)
Mississippi (2001)
Summer Days (2001)
High Water (for Charley Patton) (2001)
Po’ Boy (2001)
Sugar Baby (2001)
Thunder on the Mountain (2006)
Spirit on the Water (2006)
When the Deal Goes Down (2006)
Ain’t Talkin’ (2006)
