Let’s kick things off on Recliner Notes by recognizing Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday with a year-long celebration of his music. I have compiled a list of 80 of my favorite Dylan songs; each will get their own post exploring what makes them significant to me. I’ll write about the songs in alphabetical order (with a few exceptions). You will find no rankings here. I’m not trying to start a fight. This is not college football. Want to listen to the songs right now? All 80 are here in this Spotify playlist:
I’ll share this playlist at the bottom of every post for easy access. You will notice that the playlist doesn’t add up to 80. My math isn’t wrong; Spotify does not have two of the songs included in my list. Each post will have links to the songs in YouTube as well if you don’t have a Spotify account. Some of the song posts will have links to unreleased studio or live versions of the songs to help reflect on Dylan’s process.
To reiterate, these songs are my favorites. Some are his most well known songs , and others are very obscure. In fact, you may hate some of these songs. Many I didn’t care for or appreciate when I first heard them. Also, you won’t find some of Dylan’s most well known songs. Work such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” don’t hold any mystery for me anymore.
Want to comment on the post? Sure, go ahead. No fights, though. Again, this is not college football. Also, follow Recliner Notes on Facebook and Twitter. At some point, I’ll launch a podcast to continue the conversation and bring others on to let me know when I’m right or wrong. Stay tuned!
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Looking forward to reading these, Scott, but I think you’re naive if you believe that not including rank-order will minimize the number of fights! Yeah, college football!!!
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My thanks and congratulations on your beautiful work and your insightful comments on the lyrics to these favorite songs. I wonder if there is an analysis on ‘under the red sky’, which sheds light on meanings that seem to have little literary or poetic sense.
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Thanks so much for the kind words! I appreciate it. Currently, I don’t have plans to look at “Under the Red Sky,” but Michael Gray has done good analyses of that song and others from that album in the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. I recommend it highly to any Dylan fan.
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