Friday 19 January 2018

Bob Dylan: Pop Songwriter

Some people, famously, go to Bob Dylan concerts and complain about him not playing the songs they want him to play, which I've always thought is a bit silly, because it is a bit silly.

Equally, it's not like if someone wants Dylan to "play the hits", "the hits" don't exist.

It's something I oddly never really noticed but Bob Dylan wrote a lot of pop songs. He wrote a lot of songs which people have turned into pretty basic big hits.

There are a surprising number of hooks and big choruses.

Some of Bob Dylan's pop songs are quite untransferable - eg I Want You and Like a Rolling Stone - people have covered them, but really and truly, there's not much point, they're his and his alone - lyrically, there's not much you can do with them. But there are quite a lot of his songs which have quite universal, generic sentiments, and people have had their merry way with them.

Almost none of these are the Bob Dylan songs I love, so it's not necessarily surprising I hardly noticed this until recently, but anyway, maybe some people go see Bob Dylan hoping that this will be the setlist.

Mighty Quinn
This Wheel’s on Fire
To Make You Feel My Love
Mr Tambourine Man
All Along the Watchtower
Just Like a Woman
It Ain’t Me Babe
Lay Lady Lay
If Not for You
Forever Young
Knockin on Heaven’s Door
I Shall Be Released
Ring Them Bells
Tears of Rage
Blowin’ in the Wind
Baby Stop Crying
I Threw It All Away
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
The Man In Me
Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine
Maggie’s Farm
You Ain’t Goin Nowhere
Rainy Day Women
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
New Morning
All I Really Wanna Do
What Good Am I

1 comment:

  1. Just came back here after Emily said I should. Well said as ever. But my point is only that he should tell people to bring binoculars to gigs. Like really. We met a very happy couple with bins in Neu-Ulm. Yes we did.

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