Counting Down Bob Dylan

His 100 Finest Songs

By (author) Jim Beviglia

Not available to order

Publication date:

11 July 2013

Length of book:

216 pages

Publisher

Scarecrow Press

ISBN-13: 9780810888241

Counting Down is a unique series of titles designed to select the best songs or musical works from major performance artists and composers in an age of design-your-own playlists.

For fifty years, Bob Dylan’s music has been a source of wonder to his fans and endless fodder for analysis by music critics. In Counting Down Bob Dylan, rock journalist Jim Beviglia dares to rank these songs in descending order from Dylan’s 100th best to his #1 song. Surveying the near six-decade career of this musical legend, Beviglia offers insightful analyses into the music and lyrics and dishes out important historical information and fascinating trivia to explain why these 100 rank among Dylan’s best to date. At the same time, a portrait of the seemingly inscrutable Dylan emerges through the words of his finest songs, providing both the perfect introduction to his work and a comprehensive new take on this master of American songwriting.

This work will appeal to the legions of Bob Dylan fans who have taken to analyzing his music. Unlike other Dylan books, which vary between the academic and the journalistic, Counting Down Bob Dylan uniquely renders Dylan’s music approachable to new fans by highlighting the powerful emotional forces that fuel his dazzling lyrics.

The Countdown
100. “Roll On John”
99. “Love Sick”
98. “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine”
97. “Rainy Day Women #12&35”
96. “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)”
95. “Hurricane”
94. “Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)”
93. “Abandoned Love”
92. “All Along The Watchtower”
91. “Up To Me”
90. “Forever Young”
89. “John Brown”
88. “Mr. Tambourine Man”
87. “One Too Many Mornings”
86. “This Dream of You”
85. “Is Your Love In Vain?”
84. “The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar”
83. “Lay Lady Lay”
82. “Tempest”
81. “Farewell, Angelina”
80. “Isis”
79. “My Back Pages’
78. “Going, Going, Gone”
77. “Ballad In Plain D”
76. “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”
75. “Goin’ To Acapulco”
74. “High Water (For Charley Patton)”
73. “’Cross The Green Mountain”
72. “Shooting Star”
71. “Angelina”
70. “I Want You”
69. “I’ll Remember You”
68. “Gates of Eden”
67. “To Ramona”
66. “Caribbean Wind”
65. “I Shall Be Released”
64. “Rambling, Gambling Willie
63. “When The Deal Goes Down”
62. “Ballad of A Thin Man”
61. “I’m Not There”
60. “Mississippi”
59. “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)”
58. “Million Dollar Bash”
57. “Thunder On The Mountain”
56. “If You See Her, Say Hello”
55. “Masters of War”
54. “Highlands”
53. “Girl From The North Country”
52. “Sign On The Window”
51. “Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)”
50. “When The Ship Comes In”
49. “Dark Eyes”
48. “Pay In Blood”
47. “Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”
46. “Simple Twist of Fate”
45. “It Ain’t Me Babe”
44. “Tweeter And The Monkey Man” ()
43. “Workingman’s Blues #2”
42. “Black Diamond Bay”
41. “Ain’t Talkin’”
40. “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?”
39. “Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)”
38. “Foot of Pride”
37. “Sara”
35. “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
34. “Sugar Baby”
33. “Brownsville Girl”
32. “Blowin’ In The Wind”
31. “Most of The Time”
30. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”
29. “Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie”
28. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”
27. “Ring Them Bells”
26. “She’s Your Lover Now”
25. “Things Have Changed”
24. “I Threw It All Away”
23. “One of Must Know (Sooner Or Later)”
22. “Highway 61 Revisited”
21. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
20. “The Ballad of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest”
19. “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
18. “Positively 4th Street”
17. “Just Like A Woman”
16. “Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack of Hearts”
15. “Red River Shore”
14. “Tangled Up In Blue”
13. “Visions of Johanna”
12. “Chimes of Freedom”
11. “Boots of Spanish Leather”
10. “Like A Rolling Stone”
9. “Tears of Rage”
7. “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
6. “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
5. “Not Dark Yet”
4. “Idiot Wind”
3. “Desolation Row”
2. “Blind Willie McTell”
1. “Sad-Eyed Lady of The Lowlands”
Appendix: …And 100 More

Maintaining that Dylan's music 'is more than a code that needs cracking,' Counting on Dylan repeatedly extols the pleasure principle – and some fans may say, And what's wrong with that? Without giving the game away, I can say that Dylan's material in the 1960s and 70s dominates the higher echelons of Beviglia's top ten and that the number one spot caused a critical spat between Michael Gray and Christopher Ricks. Get a copy of Counting Down Bob Dylan and reconnect with the simple pleasure from the great man's work.