The Definitive Top 25 Dylan Songs (1962-2012)

Dr. Mamey threw down the gauntlet and somebody had to pick it up and provide an informed reply to the formidable task of ranking the top Dylan songs of all time. Consider that many of the songs that are left out of both my list and Mamey's list would be top ranked songs for any other artists and you will see how tough a job this is. 

So, here it is:

TOP 25

1.  Like a Rolling Stone

2.  Tangled Up in Blue

3.  Mr. Tambourine Man

4.  Visions of Johanna

5.  Blowin' in the Wind

6.  All Along the Watchtower

7.  A Hard Rains a' Gonna Fall

8.  Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

9.  The Times They are a' Changin'

10. My Back Pages

11. Desolation Row

12. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

13. Idiot Wind

14. Just Like a Woman

15. Chimes of Freedom

16. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

17. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

18. Mississippi

19. Simple Twist of Fate

20. Shelter from the Storm

21. Positively 4th Street

22. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

23. Lay Lady Lay

24. Red River Shore

25. Blind Willie McTell

CLOSE BUT NO STOGIE

26. Changing of the Guards

27. Every Grain of Sand

28. Subterranean Homesick Blues

29. Not Dark Yet

30. Hurricane

31. Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat

32. Ballad of a Thin Man

33. Workingman Blues #2

34. Tryin' to Get to Heaven (before they shut the door)

35. Isis

HONORABLE MENTION and still ALL-WORLD

36. I Shall be Released

37. Gates of Eden

38. Don't Think Twice, it's Alright

39. This Wheel's on Fire

40. Pay in Blood

41. Forever Young

42. Things Have Changed

43. Lonesome Day Blues

44. Thunder on the Mountain*

45. Most of the Time

* How can you leave out the song that is audacious enough to rhyme "orphanages" with "sons of bitches"?

ALBUM RANK:

Blond on Blonde:                 5

Bringing it all Back Home: 4

Blood on the Tracks:           4

Highway 61:                          4

Singles/Unreleased:            4

Freewheelin':                        3

Another Side:                        2

Love and Theft:                    2

Time Out of Mind:                2

Modern Times:                     2

Basement Tapes:                2

Desire:                                   2

John Wesley Harding:        1

Times are A'Changin          1

Pat Garrett and BTK:           1

Nashville Skyline:                1

Shot of Love:                        1

Street Legal:                         1

Tempest:                               1

Oh Mercy!:                            1

Planet Waves:                      1

BY DECADE

1960s:  24

1970s:  8

1980s:  4

1990s:  3

2000s:  5

2010s:  1

ps:  Mamey's evocation of Jobs to support his "no good song after Desire" argument is a limp crutch. Does Mamey research Jobs to question whether boxers are preferable to briefs or if eggs are better scrambled or sunny-side up? (I hope not).  I mean, WTF, stand on your own. I did not refer to the Rolling Stone 2011 Top 70 List. 

El Alcalde

                                        

Padron Churchill Maduro

This earthy tasting cigar was smooth, burned evenly , drew well, and never had to be re-lit.  I have recently smoked this cigar several times with the same pleasant experience and along with the Punch Rare Corojo has become a standard to which I measure cigars.

Diamond E CS Rating = 4.0

Continue (Bonus Review)

This rating is for the MADURO.  I do not enjoy the naturals!  The naturals have a bit of spice to them and the wrapper masks the good tobacco inside.  I smoked the P2000s (natural & maduro) back to back and what a difference!  They both burn well, draw well and stay lit, but the taste is totally different.  The maduros are earthy with a flavor that promotes relaxation, not spicy that promotes the desire to spit.

Jokerman

Mamey's stalwart effort, although strikingly uninformed and distinctively time-trapped, merits a riposte. And a devastating riposte it will be.  But first I will be on an official Cigar Saloon assignment, so the knockout counter-punch will have to wait a few days.

As a teaser - I do agree with the exact positioning of at least two of his top 10. Thereafter, Mamey rode upon his magic swirlin' ship to somewhere between the Gates of Eden and the Land of Nod where he musta downed several uninterrupted shots with Crazy Joe Gallo and hallucinated himself into his own personal world of fog, amphetimines, and pearls.

El Alcalde

ps: Ahhhh...but we may all agree that Bob is probably partial to a good maduro wrapper, just like his loyal bobcats prefer Like a Rolling Stone to I want to Hold Your Hand.

Maggie's Pa, he puts his cigar out in your face just for kicks;
and his bedroom window, it is made out of bricks.

BOB DYLAN’S TOP 25 SONGS OF ALL TIME (NO POST-DESIRE TUNES NEED APPLY)

This is my personal list of Dylan’s top songs. I’m sure that every fan has his or her  own list. Our favorites may depend on when we discovered little Bobby’s music and the turmoil in our lives at the time, but this is mine.

 The list does not include any post-Desire songs because a) some of these suck(yes, I do mean the mush in the Jesus albums, as well as others too many to be named) and b) even the good ones  don’t come close to cracking the top 25, 35, or even 45. If you disagree with the top 25(and I know you won’tJ) then your mission, should you wish to accept it, is to tell us which 21 songs you would displace to make room for your stated post-Desire favorite, in addition to your pre-Desire personal favorites that I excluded. Good luck with that!

I was amused to learn, while reading the Steve Jobs biography, that Jobs also did not think that any songs from Desire to the present were as good as his great work before Blood on the Tracks.

---Mamey 

THE BEST OF THE BEST 

1. Like a Rolling Stone
2. Blowin’ in the Wind
3. Mr. Tambourine Man
4. Chimes of Freedom
5. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
6. Stuck Inside of Mobile
7. Just Like a Woman
8. My Back Pages
9. I Shall Be Released
10. All Along the Watchtower
11. Lay, Lady, Lay
12. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
13. Idiot Wind
14. Tangled Up in Blue
15. The Times They Are A-Changin’
16. Desolation Row
17. It Ain’t Me Babe
18. Quinn the Eskimo
19. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
20. Girl of the North Country
21. One Too Many Mornings
22. Gates of Eden
23. It’s Alright Ma(I’m Only Bleeding)
24. Mama, You Been on My Mind
25. It’s All Over Now Baby Blue

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR. These songs would be in any other artist’s top 10 list, but this is Dylan. 

1. Visions of Johana

2. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

3. Tomorrow Is a Long Time

4. Subterranean Homesick Blues

5. Queen Jane Approximately

6.  Most Likely You Go Your Way

7.   Forever Young

8.  Simple Twist of Fate

9.  Positively 4^th Street

10. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine 

HONORABLE MENTION

These songs are all-world and under-appreciated. 

1.When I Paint My Masterpiece

2. If Not For You

3. Drifter’s Escape

4. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

5. When The Ship Comes In

6. This Wheel’s on Fire

7. Father of Night

8. One of Us Must Know

9. She Belongs to Me

10. Ballad of a Thin Man

PDR 1878 Cubano Especial - Capa Natural

Start spreading the news. Go smoke one today. You don't want to part with it. PDR 1878..1878.

WARNING: If you have antipathy toward cigars that are immaculately constructed, have a smooth and excellent drag, blow great puffs, and have an exquisite blend between cedar and  cream -- then STAY FAR AWAY from the PDR 1878 Cubano Especial.

The PDR 1878 Capa Natural short-toro (5.5 x 54) is not spicy at all. As the cigar  evenly burned down, it was the cream that took over.  I smoked this wonder at 11:30am, precisely the right time of day as the cigar is not overly complex. It leans mild and is not overbearing in any way. The PDR 1878 produced no mystery. Kinda like watching a good western where you don't have to think too much about who the bad guy is and you just know that the good guy will gun him down in the end. It was all-world when lit and hall of fame when sadly put out. This stick can carry it's own weight against any other $7 stogie. Definitely does not need Candy Crowley to come to its polemic rescue. 

Note - this is the second cigar I smoked during the same sitting, and there is something to be said about "follow-up cigars" that will be touched upon in a future Cigar Saloon post. 

I picked this gem up at Cuban Crafters on NW 7th Street in Miami. A wonderful, somewhat spacious cigar store with ample well-stocked humidors carrying cigars from all price points. They also had inexpensive bundles from local cigar makers. Add to the experience free cuban coffee, comfortable rockers, a barber shop, and shoe shine set-up. Oh yeah, they even have extra barber shop chairs that you can use to smoke, shoot the bull and heckle hapless, emotional bota-gorda domino players.

CS Rating: 4.5

El Alcalde

COHIBA BEHIKE: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE STUPID

The Good. The BHK 54 (the 54 refers to the ring gauge) is an attractive, tightly wrapped, 5.5” pig-tailed stogie that is sweet, toasty, creamy, and with a trace of spice. It is a medium powered smoke with a dead-even burn from beginning to end. The last two-thirds of the cigar had a perfect draw and produced good smoke.

The Bad. This is supposed to be Cuba’s all-world cigar. However, the first third of the cigar, while not 100% plugged, suffered from a very tight draw. I was afraid that this was going to persist throughout and I would end up with more Cuban mulch for my garden, but it finally opened up after awhile. I was fortunate. Most Cuban cigars are plugged or have too tight of a draw. You know that this is true when the vast majority of the reviews by the Cuba apologists at Cigar Aficionado refer to the draw of Cuban cigars with descriptions such as  “very firm.”  At the Saloon, we call ‘em as we see ‘em and the fact is that the Cubans have NOT corrected the draw problems, as evidenced by this Behike, which has a box date of May, 2012. To be clear, I’m not into cigar chimneys—there is such a thing as too much smoke, of course. I don’t like that either.  But I cannot enjoy a plugged cigar, regardless of the quality of the tobacco.

            While the last third of the cigar burned evenly and drew well, it also burned HOT. It did not burn my fingers, but was hot enough to make it uncomfortable to enjoy, so I chunked it into the flower bed after all. This is a shame because the middle third of the cigar was actually very good. Had the entire cigar been that way, this would have been a terrific smoke. As it was, it turned out to be just another example of the crappy quality control in the Cuban cigar industry. I experienced the same construction issue with a Cohiba #3 I smoked last Thursday which started burning hot about halfway). I can only imagine what folks like Abdel Fernandez, Juan Rodriguez,  Carlos Fuente, and Nick Perdomo could do with tobacco like this!!

The Stupid. Unlike other reviewers, we take the time to compare cigars with those of other labels to help you choose cigars. If the Behike is your taste profile(in terms of cigar strength, toast, and spice levels)*, I would recommend the following cigars which retail for a fraction of the price and give you a consistently good smoke. They are, in no particular order, but some of them have been reviewed in the Saloon: San Lotano Connecticut, Padilla Hybrid, Pinar Del Rio Clasico, Man O’ War Virtue, Alec Bradley American Blend, Santiago Cabana, Por Larranaga Cabinet Selection and the classic Cuba Aliados. All of these retail for under $10, some for as low as $5, and are in my wheelhouse.

Of course, if you want to pay $30-$35 for a Cohiba BHK, which is not as good as these others, just so you can say that you smoked a Cuban cigar,  please be my guest. Of course, beware that there may be only about 3 smokeable cigars in a box. As for the rest, well, maybe you enjoy expensive mulch. Me, not so much.—Mamey

CS Score 3.5(barely)

* Added as per The Oil Baron's comments below.

Cuba Aliados : The Road Warrior

Cruising down I-10 toward New Orleans. BMW sunroof popped for smokers the way it was designed to. Smoke rings blowing toward the dash board.

Men of the cigar are all romantics in their own way. I behoove ye cigar smoking manly men, to allow yourself a road smoke before your last cigar. It's a unique and wonderful experience best enjoyed not while driving, but while cruising.

I smoked a Cuba Aliados. At first glance the cigar comes off as a little cheap looking. It doesn't have the characteristic look of big factory name brand cigars. But then again, I never wanted it to.

The CA has that typical honduran tobacco flavor I've become well acquainted with over the years. The honduran flavor sits at the core of this cigar, and tastes what I can best describe as unrefined. It lacks the purity of taste one would get from another Honduran Cigar like my favorite the Gran Habano Cabinet Select. In this case, the cigar flavor matches the appearance of the cigar. Raw unprocessed tobacco.

The cigar did have nuance and complexity to it. Memorably towards the final third when I felt I had the cigar figured out, it hit me with some unexpected spice.  This amount of complexity kept the Cuba Aliados interesting enough to boost its CS score to a 3.5.

CS Score: 3.5

The Oil Baron

Padrón 1964 Natural - Premium No More

This light earthy tasting cigar was very smooth, had a good draw, burned evenly but needed to be re-lit twice. I know that happens from time to time, but for a premium cigar that was disappointing. The first third of the cigar had a small amount of spice. I prefer not to have spicy cigars, but this had just a touch and was pleasant. The rest of the cigar had a light earthy flavor.

Diamond E  CS Rating = 3.5