Eight years ago, I made a list of my favourite 200 Bob Dylan songs, which was clearly a ridiculous thing to do, so now I'm writing that rong by making a list of my favourite 250 Bob Dylan songs.
This is one of those silly pointless things I'm not expecting anyone to read, it's just the weirdness needing an outlet ...
But I'll write a bit at the top which might (might not) be a worthwhile bit.
In actual fact, the last 18 months have probably been, in my adult life, the period I've listened to the least Dylan. I finally got a little Bobbed out, from listening to Dylan almost exclusively for a month or two at the start of 2025, from the Chalamet film, from reading Clinton Heylin's vast, exhaustive, exhausting double biography, by the end of which which I definitely knew more about both Dylan and Heylin than I wished to.
I think the relative sense of distance might help the evaluation - there have, in any case, been many ways to recontextualise the songs of Dylan in the last few years.
- I saw Dylan in 2019 - the was the last time I saw him live.
- There was an album of new songs, Rough and Rowdy Ways, in 2020.
- There was the concert film, and album, Shadow Kingdom, which brought several old songs to life.
- I went to see the musical Girl from the North Country.
- There was A Complete Unknown, the way Chalamet sang the songs, and the accompanying publicity.
- There were several Bootleg Series releases.
- There was a really excellent book by Ray Padgett in which he interviewed as many old Dylan bandmates as he could from throughout his career.
- There were Heylin's endlessly informative, and opinionated, books.
- There was Dylan's latest book The Philosophy of Modern Song.
- There was getting older - that changes your Dylan perspective.
- There was the Dylan-related podcast, Is it Rolling, Bob, sadly no longer running.
And somewhat linked to that, the last one, and the one I'm going to write about, there was Dylan twitter. By which I don't mean Bob Dylan's twitter - the occasional series of endearing tweets he sent in the run-up to A Complete Unknown, which showed him to be surprisingly attached to and invested in the film. (I should also say that I haven't been reading the recent substack he's been doing, made up of, I think, imaginary letters between famous people, dismissed and infuriating to some and hailed as genius by others).
No, Dylan twitter. In the final year or two I was on the accursed site, as it was starting to descend into the lawless hellscape it has clearly become, you could still, with a bit of effort, curate a decent experience for yourself by homing in on specific areas of interest, and I found "Bob Dylan" to be the most rewarding.
By which I mean, contrary to what is often said about Dylan fans, -that they are a bunch of reverent, humourless middle-aged rock bore men who treat their ungrateful god as a messiah - I found the community of people on twitter who were really into BD to be the one of the most humane, good-humoured, eclectic, thoughtful pockets I've ever encountered on the internet.
There was no blind reverence. Dylan was the constant butt of the jokes. Experts had lots of different angles and areas of interest - it was a a path to lots of other interesting, non-Dylan-specific context. It was one of the few places in the last couple of decades where I've allowed myself to think "you know, people are alright".
Dylan fans are actually alright, who knew? And, I thought, that actually holds up to real life. Being a Dylan fan is a good sign. Sure, the archetype of the blinkered Dylan fan bore exists, but if you're not one of them, then there's a lot to be said for the character-building nature of this fandom.
Dylan fans - since their fave is, or might be, a thief, a plagiarist, a non-melodist, a misanthrope, a conman, a philanderer, a pennypinch, a non-virtuoso, a man with a voice of sand and glue, to name but a few of his attributes - think a lot about the nature of art, of genius, of accomplishment, of virtue and beauty. He never sings the songs like they are on the album ... but on the other hand - he never sings the songs the same way twice! His voice has changed so often ... yes, isn't that great? 10 voices for the price of one! He doesn't play the setlist I want, but he plays the setlist someone wants, and he plays setlists which make songs you'd not thought that much about your new favourite.
Being a Bob Dylan fans means knowing there are always a few jokes going on and if you're in on one or two of them, that's great.
A jounalist I like and normally agree with wrote a thing a few years ago about how Bob Dylan fans are suckers because he hates us and offers us nothing of himself, and it was so wildlp missing the point of how rewarding the task of being a Bob Dylan fan is that, clearly, lots of people wrote to him and said, in no uncertain terms, no, you're wrong, anf his response was "ha, proving my point" and so it goes on sometimes ...
but, anyway, my current favouite 250 Bob Dylan songs. Here's to a few more ...
- Isis (Montreal, Rolling Thunder) (1970s)
- She's Your Lover Now (take 15) (1960s)
- Blind Willie McTell (1980s)
- Idiot Wind (1970s)
- Mississippi (2000s)
- Visions Of Johanna (1960s)
- The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (1960s)
- Series of Dreams (1980s)
- Like a Rolling Stone (1960s)
- Changing Of the Guards (1970s)
- Positively 4th Street (1960s)
- Girl from the North Country (live, 2019) (1960s)
- Po' Boy (2000s)
- I Contain Multitudes (2020s)
- Brownsville Girl (1980s)
- Hurricane (1970s)
- Shelter From The Storm (1970s)
- Solid Rock (live) (1980s)
- To Ramona (1960s)
- Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Last Waltz) (1960s)
- I Shall Be Released (Last Waltz) (1960s)
- It's Alright, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding (1960s)
- Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts (1970s)
- Red River Shore (1990s)
- Tangled Up In Blue (1970s)
- Not Dark Yet (1990s)
- Mr Tambourine Man (1960s)
- Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (1960s)
- I Threw It All Away (1960s)
- Simple Twist Of Fate (1970s)
- Ballad of a Thin Man (1960s)
- Every Grain Of Sand (1980s)
- One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) (1960s)
- One Too Many Mornings (1960s)
- Standing In The Doorway (1990s)
- Workingman's Blues #2 (2000s)
- You Ain't Going Nowhere (1960s)
- You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (1970s)
- My Own Version of You (2020s)
- Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) (1970s)
- Dark Eyes (1980s)
- The Man In Me (1970s)
- Boots Of Spanish Leather (1960s)
- Forever Young (Shadow Kingdom version) (1970s)
- I Feel a Change Comin' On (2000s)
- Long and Wasted Years (2010s)
- Love Minus Zero/No Limit (1960s)
- Mama You Been On My Mind (1960s)
- Ring Them Bells (1980s)
- Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) (1970s)
- Up to Me (1970s)
- When The Ship Comes In (1960s)
- Lay Down Your Weary Tune (1960s)
- Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (1960s)
- Queen Jane Approximately (1960s)
- What Good Am I? (1980s)
- Jokerman (Letterman) (1980s)
- If You See Her, Say Hello (1970s)
- I Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You (2020s)
- Spanish Harlem Incident (1960s)
- It's All Over Now Baby Blue (1960s)
- Blowin' in the Wind (1960s)
- Can't Wait (1990s)
- Highway 61 Revisited (1960s)
- Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands (1960s)
- Soon after Midnight (2010s)
- New Morning (live 2006) (1970s)
- As I Went Out One Morning (1960s)
- I Want You (1960s)
- Most Of The Time (1980s)
- Trying to Get to Heaven (1990s)
- Tomorrow is a Long Time (1960s)
- False Prophet (2020s)
- Baby Stop Crying (1970s)
- Caribbean Wind (1970s)
- A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (1960s)
- Paths of Victory (1960s)
- Masters of War (1960s)
- Farewell, Angelina (1960s)
- Moonlight (2000s)
- Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (1960s)
- Romance in Durango (1970s)
- Subterranean Homesick Blues (1960s)
- I Shall Be Free (1960s)
- Angelina (1980s)
- Just Like a Woman (1960s)
- Buckets of Rain (1970s)
- Mozambique (1970s)
- Nettie Moore (2000s)
- My Back Pages (1960s)
- Only a Pawn in their Game (1960s)
- One More Cup of Coffee (1970s)
- Song to Woody (1960s)
- Spirit on the Water (2000s)
- You're a Big Girl Now (1970s)
- When The Deal Goes Down (2000s)
- Chimes Of Freedom (1960s)
- The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar (1980s)
- Dear Landlord (1960s)
- Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance (1960s)
- Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart (1980s) & Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love) (1980s)
- It Ain't Me Babe (1960s)
- Make You Feel My Love (1990s)
- All I Really Want to Do (1960s)
- Moonshiner (1960s)
- Born in Time (1990s)
- Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight (1980s)
- Talkin' World War III Blues (1960s)
- Abandoned Love (1970s)
- Dignity (1990s)
- Can You Please Crawl Out your Window (1960s)
- Must Be Santa (2000s)
- Sugar Baby (2000s)
- Percy's Song (1960s)
- Fourth Time Around (1960s)
- Things Have Changed (1990s)
- I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (1960s)
- With God On Our Side (1960s)
- Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest (1960s)
- Duquesne Whistle (2010s)
- Absolutely Sweet Marie (1960s)
- I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine (1960s)
- Love is Just a Four Letter Word (imagined) (1960s)
- The Times they are a Changin' (1960s)
- Tell Me That It Isn't True (1960s)
- Restless Farewell (1960s)
- Quinn the Eskimo (1960s)
- Tonight I'll be Staying Here With you (1970s)
- Precious Angel (1970s)
- Desolation Row (1960s)
- Life is Hard (2000s)
- Pay in Blood (2010s)
- She Belongs to Me (1960s)
- Highlands (1990s)
- Tears of Rage (1960s)
- Love Sick (1960s)
- I'll Keep it With Mine (1960s)
- If Not for You (1970s)
- Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (2020s)
- This Wheel's on Fire (1960s)
- I Believe in You (1970s)
- Tombstone Blues (1960s)
- It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (1960s)
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1970s)
- Ballad of Hollis Brown (1960s)
- Bob Dylan's 115th Dream (1960s)
- Bob Dylan's Dream (1960s)
- Across the Rubicon (2020s)
- Gates of Eden (1960s)
- If you Gotta Go, Go Now (1960s)
- Motorpsycho Nightmare (1960s)
- Sara (1970s)
- Where Teardrops Fall (1980s)
- Foot of Pride (1980s)
- I Shall Be Free No 10 (1960s)
- John Wesley Harding (1960s)
- Honest with Me (2000s)
- Let Me Die in My Footsteps (1960s)
- Corrina Corrina (1960s)
- Disease of Conceit (1980s)
- Slow Train Coming (1970s)
- Cold Irons Bound (1990s)
- True Love Tends to Forget (1970s)
- Early Roman Kings (2010s)
- Goodbye Jimmy Reed (2020s)
- All Along the Watchtower (1960s)
- Drifter's Escape (1960s)
- Goin' to Acapulco (1970s)
- Black Diamond Bay (1970s)
- Gotta Serve Somebody (1970s)
- High Water (for Charley Patton) (2000s)
- Most Like you Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine (1960s)
- Day of the Locusts (1970s)
- No Time To Think (1970s)
- North Country Blues (1960s)
- Roll on John (2010s)
- Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ (2000s)
- Bye and Bye (2000s)
- Death is Not the End (1970s)
- Mixed Up Confusion (1960s)
- Cry a While (2000s)
- Forgetful Heart (2000s)
- Watching the River Flow (Shadow Kingdom version) (1970s)
- Meet Me in the Morning (1970s)
- Shooting Star (1980s)
- Temporarily like Achilles (1960s)
- When I Paint My Masterpiece (1970s)
- Under the Red Sky (1990s)
- I Pity the Poor Immigrant (1960s)
- I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (1960s)
- Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (1960s)
- Man of Constant Sorrow (1960s)
- Walls of Red Wings (1960s)
- I'm Not There (1960s)
- Lay Lady Lay (1960s)
- On a Night Like This (1970s)
- Tweeter and the Monkey Man (1980s)
- 'Cross the Green Mountain (2000s)
- License to Kill (1980s)
- Sweetheart Like You (1980s)
- I and I (1980s)
- Dirge (1970s)
- From a Buick 6 (1960s)
- Is Your Love in Vain? (1970s)
- Man in the Long Black Coat (1980s)
- Murder Most Foul (2020s)
- Oh, Sister (1970s)
- Maggie's Farm (1960s)
- Thunder on the Mountain (2000s)
- I'd Have You Anytime (1970s)
- Lonesome Day Blues (2000s)
- Ain't Talkin (2000s)
- Rank Strangers to Me (1990s)
- Scarlet Town (2010s)
- Mother of Muses (2020s)
- Never Say Goodbye (1970s)
- Sign on the Window (1970s)
- Marchin' to the City (1990s)
- Tempest (2010s)
- Rollin' and Tumblin' (2000s)
- Dreamin' of You (1990s)
- Political World (1980s)
- Pretty Saro (1970s)
- The Wicked Messenger (1960s)
- Pressing On (1980s)
- When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky (1980s)
- Lenny Bruce (1980s)
- Down Along the Cove (1960s)
- Summer Days (2000s)
- What Was It You Wanted (1980s)
- Emotionally Yours (1980s)
- If You Ever Go to Houston (2000s)
- Million Miles (1990s)
- To Be Alone with You (1960s)
- Winterlude (1970s)
- Obviously 5 Believers (1960s)
- Black Rider (2020s)
- Who Killed Davey Moore (1960s)
- You Angel You (1970s)
- Tell Me Momma (1960s)
- Rainy Day Women #12 and #35 (1960s)
- Down the Highway (1960s)
- Pledging My Time (1960s)
- He Was a Friend of Mine (1960s)
- Oxford Town (1960s)
- Dirt Road Blues (1990s)
- Silvio (1990s)
- It's All Good (2000s)
- Hazel (1970s)
- All the Tired Horses (1970s)
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