Bob Dylan

Today is the 71st birthday of the man born Robert Allen Zimmerman, but now universally known as Bob Dylan. While I don't listen to Dylan as much as I do a number of other artists, there is no question that he was the most important artist of the 1960s after the Beatles and possibly Jimi Hendrix, and he has had a tremendous influence on popular music.

I have around a half dozen Dylan albums, including most of those that are generally regarded as his best. These include his breakthrough second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (featuring "Blowin' in the Wind"); the half acoustic, half electric Bringing It All Back Home; the classic Highway 61 Revisited (featuring "Like a Rolling Stone"); the double album Blonde on Blonde; and his mid 1970s masterpiece Blood on the Tracks. I also have several of his recent albums, including Time Out of Mind, "Love and Theft" and Modern Times, plus two Best of Bob Dylan CDs. While these CDs make up only a small portion of his total output, they do contain a large share of what most people consider his best work, and I like all of them, particularly the ones from the 1960s.

I don't want to attempt a comprehensive listing of my favorite Dylan songs, but a number of standout tracks come to mind. From The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, there's "Blowin' in the Wind", "Masters of War" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". "The Times They Are a-Changin'" is another of my favorites from his folk/protest period. From his 1965-66 peak, I love "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)","Positively 4th Street", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Highway 61 Revisited", "Desolation Row" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat". Another favorite of mine is "Tangled Up in Blue" from Blood on the Tracks. I also like "All Along the Watchtower" (though of course the Hendrix version is as good or even better than Dylan's), "Forever Young", "Shelter From The Storm" (also from Blood on the Tracks), "Jokerman", and even the "born-again" track "Gotta Serve Somebody". Of course there are a lot of other great songs I haven't mentioned here, but a CD of these songs would certainly be a great introduction to Dylan for those few who are unfamiliar with him.

Of course Dylan's songs have been widely covered by other artists, and I once made a few compilations of various Dylan covers, including some of the most famous ones. Perhaps next year when Dylan's birthday rolls around again I'll do a post on them. But thinking of Dylan covers does recall the issue of his voice. There is no question that Dylan's voice is not exactly the most pleasant around, but as with Randy Newman, he still is often the best interpreter of his own material. Still, it's occasionally nice to hear his songs done by singers with greater range than him.

A year ago, I saw Dylan when he came to Taiwan to perform. It was an entertaining show, even given that our seats were practically the worst in the place (we were up at the very top of the arena, with our backs literally to the wall). Dylan's voice, it has to be said, has definitely deteriorated, though he was able to sing all the way through the concert. He also rearranged some of his classic songs drastically, such that, when sung in his barely intelligible voice, it took me a few verses to recognize them. Fortunately, I'd spent some time listening to his more recent material as well (which also includes some really good songs, though I didn't mention any examples above), so I was familiar with a lot of what he performed. In any case, it was a worthwhile experience, if only because one doesn't get a lot of opportunities to hear an artist of Dylan's stature play live when you live in Taiwan. Now if only Paul McCartney would come here on tour....