5. Like A Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan

            As rock royalty goes, there’s Elvis and the Beatles, and then comes Bob Dylan, not far behind. He’s their match in terms of being a spokesman for a generation, and when it comes to songwriting, he’s the best. But for purposes of this list, what matters is he has one song that is absolutely defining, a song that my law firm librarian tried to convince me was the all-time #1, and it’s hard to argue against. It also does well in the stick-to-the-end test. Back in 1965, when this was first a hit, AM radio tended to play a shortened version, much to my disappointment. So as soon as I heard the record continue, “You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns,” I considered it a good day. And just listen to those internal rhymes, which, along with the elliptical meaningful meaninglessness of his lyrics in general, convinced me that Dylan was the best poet of my time. After all, who knew anyone who was seriously writing poetry in the late ‘60s? If Robert Frost were born 50 years later, wouldn’t he have been a folk singer? ’64 to ’68 in Cambridge (as on many campuses) was a time of rejecting the Establishment, discovering that things weren’t as they seemed, feeling lost, without a purpose, with no direction home. Whoever that princess on the steeple was, we could identify in some small way. Prep school and college wasn’t leading us to Wall St. after all. We were going to Vietnam, or somewhere to avoid Vietnam, and Wall St. really wasn’t where it’s at, anyway. (And if you were doing drugs, it was probably magnified.) Dylan hardly qualifies as a vocalist, but his nasal, anguished-but-not-emotional voice was perfect here: how does it fee-ee-lll? Sing along in the ultimate rock anthem of disillusionment.

 

B Side: Dylan’s Oeuvre

No one in the Rock Era has written more songs performed in a greater variety of styles to better effect than Bob Dylan. (And of all the opinions you will find scattered over this list, that is undoubtedly the least open to challenge.) Start with Blowin’ in the Wind by Peter, Paul & Mary (pure folk), Mr. Tambourine Man, You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, My Back Pages, the Byrds (western rock), Don’t Think Twice, the Four Seasons (pop), Mighty Quinn, Manfred Mann, I Shall Be Released, Tremeloes (British Invasion), All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix (psychedelic), It Ain’t Me Babe, Turtles (top 40), Boots of Spanish Leather, Nancy Griffith (urban folk), Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, (metal), Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Forever Young, Rod Stewart (blue-eyed soul/schmaltz). And those are just songs that were #1 on my personal chart when I first heard them. Then there are the songs that Dylan made his own that I loved just as much: Visions of Johanna, Just Like A Woman, I Want You, She Belongs to Me. How many artists have a Greatest Hits Volume II worth the vinyl it’s printed on? Dylan’s Volume II is two discs, and at least 20 of the 22 songs are gorgeous classics. After recording all these songs, Dylan then comes out with what may be my all-time favorite album, Blood on the Tracks. It was such a milestone, if I remember correctly, that Rolling Stone devoted its entire Reviews section to it, something not done before or since. A decade after Blowin’ in the Wind, Dylan comes up with song after song that no one since has dared to cover: Tangled Up in Blue, Simple Twist of Fate, Shelter from the Storm, Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts and perhaps my favorite, You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, plus five others – all on the same album! Pete Hammill’s liner notes are evocative: “Dylan sings a more fugitive song: allusive, symbolic, full of imagery and ellipses, and by leaving things out, he allows us the grand privilege of creating along with him…Dylan’s art feels, and invites us to join him.”

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