FWIW, Rolling Stone. just updated their 500 Greatest Songs list. First time in 17 years. 1. Aretha Franklin - Respect. 2. Public Enemy - Fight the Power 3. Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come 4. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 5. Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit Never heard of 2 and 5. Top 5 of the last list in 2004 were: 1. Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 2. Rolling Stones - I Can't Get No Satisfaction 3. John Lennon - Imagine 4 Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On 5. Aretha Franklin - Respect Nice to see the Sam Cooke's song make the top 5.
Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter "We are celebrating Dylan’s inspiring commitment in another way, too. From 1990 until 2019, he played an average of more than 100 shows a year – every year – all around the planet. Can you imagine that? Forget the artistic requirements, could you even face the travel? It takes most people a fortnight of sweat to psych themselves up for a wedding speech or an instantly forgotten work presentation in their home town. But consider what it’s like holding an audience of thousands for two hours with nothing but your voice, your songs, your words". "And it’s in the live performances that we’re celebrating another thing about Dylan’s extraordinary creative dynamism. Because every night he plays his songs in a slightly different way. Works from decades ago will be reimagined and reshaped so as to acquire new resonances – not just for the audience, but also for Dylan himself". "Dylan writes lyrics that are textured and capacious enough to withstand endless reinterpretation. A common experience when seeing him live is to discover that a song that you thought was about rage is suddenly transformed into something tender. Ten years on, at another concert, that same song you now think of as tender turns out to be a wry throwaway burlesque. The burlesque later becomes an elegy. And on it goes".
I was just listening to , Like A Rolling Stone and The Times They are A Changing.Amoung songs from others as well.
@Hal Pollner So because you don't like his music he's a jerk? John Wayne = Marion Mitchell Morrison, Cary Grant = Archibald Alexander Leach, Dean Martin = Dino Paul Crocetti, Little Richard = Richard Wayne Penniman, Cliff Richard = Harry Webb, Elton John = Reginald Dwight: the list of artists, actors and actresses who use a stage name is endless. I'm sure we're all aware of his real name without you shouting it at us and as you obviously don't like Bob Dylan why do you keep posting on the thread?
Funny thing, I never paid much attention to Dylan until a few years ago, when I was given several CD collections of his songs for my birthday. I'd been a pretty rabid anti-war kid, and remain the same as an old lady. Too bad I didn't know 'Masters of War' as a teen! Written before Vietnam really got started, with endless conflicts going on still, thanks to the international arms industry --- a monster that will never die! . . . Come you masters of war You that build the big guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy . . .
I'd never heard of that Nirvana song either, until I came across it in 'bardcore' form, which makes it a lot more fun than the original.
Bob Dylan Wrote “Lay Lady Lay” for Barbra Streisand Bob Dylan performs as part of a double bill with Neil Young at Hyde Park on July 12, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for ABA) Dave J Hogan/Getty Images "On March 24, 1971, Bob Dylan sat for an interview with his friend Tony Glover for an Esquire cover story. The article was eventually scrapped, but nearly 50 years later, we have a new revelation from the chat: Dylan claims he wrote “Lay Lady Lay” for none other than Barbra Streisand. (As CNN notes, “it’s clear that Dylan wrote the song for her, not necessarily about her.”)" “You said ‘Father of Night’ was written for a play, and ‘Lay Lady Lay’ was done for Midnight Cowboy,” Glover says on the tape of the interview. “Actually it was written for Barbra Streisand,” Dylan responds". "Streisand reportedly had no idea until this week that “Lay Lady Lay” was written with her in mind. “I’m very flattered to find out that Bob Dylan wrote ‘Lay Lady Lay’ for me,” she said in a statement to NBC News. “What I remember is getting flowers from him with a handwritten note asking me to sing a duet with him, but I just couldn’t imagine it then. Guess what, Bob, I can imagine doing it now!” "Glover died last year, and his tape of the 1971 Dylan interview is going up for auction beginning Nov. 12. Bidding is expected to start at $2,000".