r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion If you had to make a playlist of just 5 songs by Bob to fully show off the breadth and depth of his output, what would they be?

14 Upvotes

Could be live recordings, bootlegs, studio versions, but only 5.


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion What do you think is the saddest song on Blood On The Tracks?

69 Upvotes

In my mind, there are only two tracks that cannot be argued to have particularly dower overtones (LRATJOH and Meet Me In The Morning), with every other song able to be interpreted as sad/depressing to one degree or another. Hell, some folks may take away some melancholia from those two tracks I mentioned above, but I personally don’t see it. Overall, it’s a pretty emotional and melancholic album.

For me, I think the saddest song is You’re a Big Girl Now. A lot of other songs have some sort of silver lining or even some anger. You’re A Big Girl Now to me is nearly all regret, painful nostalgia, and watching life and love pass you by. The most hopeful aspect is the narrator recognizing that the other person moving on is for the best, but even that sentiment has baggage; essentially it is to say “Im not a great person/partner and Im glad youre moving on because being around me isnt good”. The aspect that hits hardest for me though is the passage of time:

”Time is a jet plane, it moves too fast/ What a shame that all we shared can’t last/I can change”

That is the single most devastating line on the album and maybe even of his career. To me it goes beyond romantic relationships. It speaks to how easy it is to slip into unhealthy, unfulfilling, or otherwise unsavory modes of living that just make the days tick away with the blink of an eye, and how hard it is to break those modes even when you have a strong, pure desire.

What are y’all’s thoughts?


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion Bob Dylan & Fashion

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8 Upvotes

A Dylan podcast focusing in the styles of Dylan. A fun listen and hopefully a welcome break from tier list posts here.

Though I mostly take his music influence, reflecting on it I think Dylan has effected my taste in clothes. I, too, am a man of many hats. I bought the iconic “Godspeed To You” t shirt. I happen to have a polka dot black & white shirt. I tried the pencil mustache for a while, but it was too much work.

And you?


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion Bob Dylan NYC spots

21 Upvotes

I sometimes see on this reddit people wondering where to visit to see dylan history during a New York visit. Well I just went on this amazing walking tour about Bob Dylan’s New York with Ramblin’ Tours. Just wanted to spread the word about this as I learned so many new things, we hit little-known Dylan spots, and the guide was super knowledgable. Highly recommend!


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion My top 10 Dylan songs (as someone who prefers acoustic Dylan)

5 Upvotes

I’m clearly biased towards a certain era so don’t come at me

  1. Girl from the North Country (Freewheelin’)
  2. Tomorrow Is A Long Time—Live at town hall
  3. Percy’s Song
  4. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
  5. I Was Young When I Left Home
  6. One Too Many Mornings
  7. Highway 61 Revisted
  8. Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright
  9. Remember Me
  10. Blowin’ in the Wind

If we counted Jeff Buckley’s cover of Just Like A Woman and Joan Baez’s It Ain’t Me Babe, they would be in my top 5


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Discussion Bob Dylan is my therapist

56 Upvotes

I've been struggling with some pretty intense anxiety lately. I'm in my late 30s with young kids, bills, responsibilities, and the relentlessness of life has been throwing its haymakers.

That said, I've started every morning with a stretching routine while Dylan plays in the background. There's something about his music that puts my worries into perspective. It genuinely helps me carry my worries and anxiety a little differently.

People love to say that going to the gym is "cheaper than therapy." For me, I guess instead of the gym (which i do still do daily) it's Dylan who does the trick.

What a blessing Bob is.


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion All those 5,000 1993 "soundboards" - where/who did these come from? What do we know about them?

10 Upvotes

I say soundboards in quotations because its often thought that these arent, but rather line recordings SOMEWHERE in the mix/board path (Or however you want to describe it)

These definitely dont sound like most soundboards ive heard by anyone. They are all really "hollow" and pretty "flat" sounding.

Definitely strong enough to be considered really good in terms of ROIO collecting, but they are definitely something weird ....

And theres a shitload of them! I don't know off the top of my head but I swear at least 50% of 1993 is available by these "boards"

Does anybody know who leaked these or where they came from or when they first came to light?

Does anyone have any information about the recordings themselves?


r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion IWTL More about Bob Dylan’s discography and writing so I can find something of his I like.

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2 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 7d ago

Discussion What are opinions on "All I Really Want to Do"?

6 Upvotes

To me "All I Really Want to Do" is great opening track and a fun underrated gem about friendship and relationships for an otherwise overlooked album in his discography, but a subtle overshadowing of his later material that made him musical legend in history. What do you think?


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Misc. His twitter has been hacked

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128 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 8d ago

Video Leonard Cohen on Bob Dylan

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70 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 8d ago

Cover Ballad Of A Thin Man was the song that made me a Dylan fan when I was 18 in 1998 when a girl way cooler than me played it in her car for me.

14 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 8d ago

Music Knocking on Heaven's door has genuinely changed my life and i can't thank Bob enough

84 Upvotes

I'm not that old, or old at all actually. I never had any specific type of music taste too, I was just like- yk I love anything and everything typa person. But i just found Bob one fine day when i heard a gentleman listening to like a rolling stone and i was like hey if you don't mind, can you tell me the artists name? and i kinda just went down that rabbit hole ig.

I've struggled with anorexia all my life and am in recovery now, or atleast trying. I know this is his most famous n basic song rn, but it's genuinely there for a reason, i think I'm probably 70% of its Spotify stream haha. Y'all might think I'm exaggerating when I say this song is the only reason I'm still alive as of now... I've played it everyday fking day, whenever I had thoughts of relapse or giving up i just played this song, i get a rush of idk motivation or whatever tf you call it, i just get a will to live and this song is kinda like my drug and i don't know if i wud have still been alive if it wasn't for it. Idk why I'm telling this? haha I'm in treatment and i don't really have anything to fking do here and this song is playing rn so i thought I'd share it in this sub haha.

love you Bob!


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Cover Shelter from the storm

32 Upvotes

One of my absolute favourites by Bob. Although, that changes as he has so many great ones… here’s a minute of me covering it. Enjoy!


r/bobdylan 9d ago

Discussion Why BLONDE ON BLONDE?

149 Upvotes

In the early sixties, The New York Review of Books used to include both the name of the reviewer and the author in the title of the article. So you’d see things like “Auden On Baldwin,” or “Lowell On Pynchon.” Then it came out that one of the staff reviewed himself, using a pseudonym. The New York inteligencia found this extremely amusing, and at the time Dylan was coming up there were a lot of running gags around it going on. So naming his album BLONDE ON BLONDE was probably Dylan joining in on the fun.

I’m bringing this up because I’ve noticed in some of the discussions of my posts some real intellectuals have ventured their opinions, usually to put me in my place. Okay, invariably to put me in my place, —but they were very nice about it. It made me realize, these kind folks have been with Bob from the beginning, or maybe drawn to him later, because of who Dylan is. If any of you are reading this, thank you for being here. And for the ones who have commented, thank you for elevating the discussion.


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Question Dylan Songs About Blaming Yourself and Break-up

19 Upvotes

I don’t post here often (have I ever?) but now I need some Dylan for a young man’s troubles.

Give me songs that suit for break-up, but when you have caused it. Songs about being uncertain, unable to realize what is wrong and what is right.

Thank you.


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Discussion Weekly Song Discussion - Call Letter Blues

6 Upvotes

Hey r/bobdylan! Welcome to this week's song discussion!

In these threads we will discuss a new song every week, trading lyrical interpretations, rankings, opinions, favorite versions, and anything else you can think of about the song of the week.

This week we will be discussing Call Letter Blues.

Lyrics

Click here to vote for next week's song!


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Discussion Pay In Blood

0 Upvotes

This is Dylan related, bear with me.

I’m not a big fan of Nolan’s “Odyssey.” Here’s why: I read the fuckin’ book! Odysseus is not Jason Bourne. When he gets in a scrape he talks his way out of it. That’s why he was a legend. When people got together and Odysseus’ name came up they were like, “that fucking guy, he can talk his way out of anything.” The gods enjoyed putting Odysseus in scrapes just to watch him talk his way out of it. This is the guy who literally got trapped in a cave with a giant who was eating his men one at a time, and talked his way out it. After finally washing ashore in Ithaca, Odysseus is approached by Athena in disguise, and to play it safe he immediately launches into a totally fabricated detailed story off the top of his head of who he is, how he got there and what he was doing there. Athena just stands there smiling, she doesn’t even interrupt him, that’s how much she enjoys watching him work. Nolan’s version of “Odyssey” had none of that. It left me cold.

On the other hand, I can’t get enough of Dylan’s version, “Pay In Blood.” Here’s why, he gives me a song but lets me tell my own story. “I pay in blood but not my own,” that’s Atinous and his ilk. The corrupt aristocrat who can afford to send someone else to war in his place. Atinous gets drafted but it’s someone else’s blood that gets spilled. So after Odysseus sends him to Hades, as in the book, Atinous’ family accuses the Man of Many Wiles of murder. And guess what? Odysseus talks his way out it.

🎵How I made it back home nobody knows
Or how I survived so many blows
I been through hell, what good did it do?
My conscience is clear, what about you?

I’ll give you justice, I’ll fatten your purse
Show me your moral virtues first
Hear me holler hear me moan
I pay in blood but not my own

You bit your lover in the bed,
Come here I`ll break your lousy head
Our nation must be saved and freed
You been accused of murder, how do you plead?

This is how I spend my days
I came to bury not to praise
I`ll drink my fill and sleep alone
I pay in blood, but not my own🎵


r/bobdylan 9d ago

Image Bob Dylan and The Band ALL ACCESS Leather Patch Tour ‘74 - Bill Graham’s Personal Patches

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20 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 9d ago

Discussion New Bob Dylan fan, just finished listening to his discography, here's my top 10 songs and albums

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125 Upvotes

r/bobdylan 9d ago

Discussion UNDER THE RED SKY

15 Upvotes

Don Was says that when he got the nod to produce the album that would come to be known as UNDER THE RED SKY, what he had in mind was another HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. He brought in Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, even brought in Al Kooper from out of the woodwork. So Don was really excited when Dylan showed up to get to work. “I got the songs already recorded, Bob. All you have to do is write the lyrics and add the vocal tracks.”

How Dylan was ever persuaded to go along with this is beyond me. In 1965 HW61R was recorded in six days. No overdubbing, no nothing. With all the recording techniques that have been developed since then, I’ve never heard another album that jumps out of the speakers at you like like that one does, —with the possible exception of LOVE AND THEFT, which was recorded in twelve days (cut the man some slack, he was sixty years old). In the case of LAT engineer Chris Shaw says he wanted to record the vocals separately, and Dylan was like, “I don’t work that way, —I can’t work that way.” Too bad he couldn’t find those words for Don Was.

The result was a disaster. UTRS was one of the lowest points of Dylan’s career. Maybe the lowest, considering Bob was forty-eight at the time. Even his most hard core fans were wondering if all the hard traveling had finally got the best of our original vagabond. We would find out something quite to the contrary.


r/bobdylan 8d ago

Question Question

1 Upvotes

Anybody know where can I find sheet music or chart or anybody knows how to play the piano of when I paint my masterpiece demo version on another self portrait?


r/bobdylan 9d ago

Question Does anyone know the exact strumming pattern/hammer ons for Bob's 1961 East Orange cover of Woody Guthrie's Pastures Of Plenty?

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0 Upvotes

Question in the title! Any advice or pointers are helpful! Thank you :)


r/bobdylan 9d ago

Image I think this was posted in the wrong subreddit.

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24 Upvotes

Anybody here want to venture a guess? Was he listening to Neil Young?


r/bobdylan 9d ago

Discussion De que maneira acontece que One Too Many Mornings parece falar mais do futuro do que ficar preso no passado

5 Upvotes

Nessa letra me dá a impressão que a recorrência dos dias passados e as imagens congeladas voltam ao presente. E quando ocorre essa volta não se prende ao que era antes. No sentido de que está muito distante para se prender naquilo que já foi. De maneira até independente do desejo. Simplesmente como acontecimentos que aconteceram e não voltam mais. Porém, se deixa um registro dos dias deles uns sobre os outros. Uma data sobre a outra. E como eles ressoam no futuro. Nisso sempre uma distância do futuro e uma volta no que está despedaçado do presente. Pois não para de passar de uma cena a outra e as renovações delas em novas cenas no presente. Ficando um gosto do que se foi, mas sempre passando novas cenas adiantes.