Continuing my series of articles on the 30 greatest Bob Dylan songs according to the Daily Telegraph, today I am blogging about the songs which they have placed from 15 to 11.
- 15 – All Along The Watchtower
- 14 – Blind Willie McTell
- 13 – Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
- 12 – Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- 11 – Masters Of War
Bob Dylan granted his first interview since being awarded the 2016 Nobel prize in literature to Edna Gundersen.
15. All Along The Watchtower (1967)
In my option, this is one of the most perfect songs which Dylan has ever written. I would place “All Along The Watchtower” higher than 15, it is in my top 10 of favourite Dylan songs. Although the version which Jimi Hendrix did is much more famous, I prefer Dylan’s original version. Don’t get me wrong, I like Hendrix’s version a lot; it is just that the sparsity and simplicity of Dylan’s original is, to me, more profound.
The song leaves just enough to the imagination. Who are the two riders who are approaching? When Dylan wrote the songs for John Wesley Harding, he had been recuperating from his motorcycle crash and doing a lot of reading of the Bible. The album is full of obvious and less obvious Biblical references, and this song is no exception. Many Dylanologists thing the song is about the book of Exodus. Maybe, Dylan has never explained the song, which in some ways adds to its beauty.
It was Jimi Hendrix’s flaming version that turned this into a mystic rock epic but even in the bare bones simplicity of the original it has the inscrutable fascination of an ancient parable. The ending strikes a typically Dylan note of ambiguity, sucking listeners deeper into the song’s mysteries. Who are the two riders approaching in the distance as the wildcat begins to howl?
14. Blind Willie McTell (1991)
This song was recorded by Dylan in 1983 during the sessions for his album Infidels, but was not released until 1991 on one of his Bootleg series of albums. “Blind Willie McTell” is about the blues and ragtime singer Willie McTell, who recorded in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. This is a beautiful song, showing wonderfully how brilliant Dylan is at telling a story in his songs.
Dylan dwells on the darkest history of America, conjuring up burning plantations, cracking whips and the ghosts of slavery ships – centuries of injustice that gave voice to the blues. Proving he is no judge of his own material, he dumped this masterpiece from 1983’s Infidels and left it unreleased until 1991.
13. Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) (1978)
As the blurb from the Daily Telegraph says, Dylan’s 1978 album Street Legal may be one of his most underrated albums. It was one of the first Dylan albums which I bought, and in fact the single “Baby, Stop Crying” was a hit in the Disunited Kingdom at a time when I was just becoming aware of Dylan. It got as high as number 13, and received quite a bit of airplay. “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” is another great song on an album which is full of great songs.
Street Legal may be Dylan’s most underrated album, full of lyrically complex songs set to lush arrangements featuring horns and soulful backing vocals, and showcasing Dylan’s singing voice with a strength and suppleness he has rarely equalled. At the centre of this hallucinatory depiction of American imperialism, Dylan strips and kneels before a gypsy with a broken flag and flashing ring who tells him, “Son, this ain’t a dream no more, it’s the real thing”.
12. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (1963)
Is this the ultimate put-down song? Dylan has clearly been jilted by a woman, and has not taken it very well. This 1963 song, written when Dylan was just 21, is the first song on the second side of his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Most of the songs on this album are protest songs, but a few are love (or anti-love) songs, including this one. The last line of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is “you just kinda wasted my precious time” is a stinging message on which to end the song. Ouch!
Cynical and world-weary in a way only a 21-year old can be, Dylan’s romantic put down has become a pop standard, covered by hundreds of artists. In a voice that already sounds ancient, he sings of forgiveness for a failed love affair but lands a killer blow like a casual afterthought” “you just kind of wasted my precious time.” That’s gotta hurt.
11. Masters Of War (1963)
Another song from his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, but this one is very much a protest song. In verse after verse, Dylan vents his anger at the machinery which perpetuates the conflicts and wars around the world. And, this was written before the war in Vietnam had escalated, in fact Dylan probably hadn’t even heard of Vietnam in 1963. For a song written by a young 21/22 year old, the lyrics are mature and compelling. Already Dylan’s genius to create a memorable turn of phrase or line were evident.
A relentless, attacking dirge, pouring scorn and contempt on warmongers. It is scary how fully formed Dylan sounds as a scruffy young protest singer newly arrived from the Midwest and ready to hold a mirror up to America’s soul. “I see through your eyes / And I see through your brain / Like I see through the water / That runs down my drain.”
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (number 12)
The song of these five which I am going to share today is number 12, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. There is a video of it on YouTube which has been up for some 30 months, so hopefully it will stay up a bit longer to allow you to listen to this song. Dylan wrote “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” in 1962, and recorded it in November of 1962. As I said above, it is on his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, but it was also released as a single in August of 1963 (the album was released in May 1963).
As you can see from the lyrics below, Dylan has been rejected by a lover, and he is not happy about it. He clearly wants this woman to ask him to stay, but she has made it clear that she wants him out of his life, so he is going and he isn’t about to look back. “Still I wish there was something’ you would do or say / To try and make me change my mind and stay / We never did too much talkin’ anyway / So don’t think twice, it’s all right.”
But, Dylan saves his ultimate anger for the last few lines “I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind / You could have done better but I don’t mind /You just kinda wasted my precious time /But don’t think twice, it’s all right”. Ouch! This is not a love song, it is an anti-love song; 14 years before he would expose his bleeding heart in his 1976 album Blood On The Tracks.
It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don’t matter, anyhow
An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don’t know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I’ll be gone
You’re the reason I’m trav’lin’ on
Don’t think twice, it’s all rightIt ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An’ it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
I’m on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin’ you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin’ anyway
So don’t think twice, it’s all rightIt ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
I can’t hear you anymore
I’m a-thinkin’ and a-wond’rin’ all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I’m told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don’t think twice, it’s all rightI’m walkin’ down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
But goodbye’s too good a word, gal
So I’ll just say fare thee well
I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
I am not sure how long this link will stay working, so my apologies if it gets removed.
thecuriousastronomer 