Favorite Bob Dylan Lyric

[ket_the_jet]

Probably every year, for about two months, I go on a big Bob Dylan kick. I am like a Bob Dylan cicada, with shorter cycles.

As I am now a solid month into this, I wanted to post a topic where people share their favorite lyrics. I figure it will mostly be me posting as a lot of you have a certain affinity for Christian Metal, but the topic is here for everyone.

I will get us started with my favorite lyric (which happens to be from my favorite song).

From "Visions of Johanna," Blonde on Blonde:
"Mona Lisa must've had the highway blues, you can tell by the way she smiles..."

Thanks everyone who does get involved.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Some other gems:

From "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," Bringing It All Back Home:
"Take what you have gathered from coincidence."

From "Ballad in Plain D," Another Side of Bob Dylan:
"Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused/
The changes I was going through can't even be used/
The lies that I told her in hopes not to lose/
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime..."

From "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan:
"And I'll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it/
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it/
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'/
But I'll know my songs well before I start singin'"

Enjoy.
-wtk

[Gil-Estel]

Hurricane, both story and song are great imho

How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.

[ket_the_jet]

Sort of...seeing as Dylan has since said he thinks, "Rubin Carter was probably guilty, but the story made a great song."
-wtk

[Pepi]

He has a lot of great lyrics, but I like "Times they are a-changin" best. Especially in times of recesion like now, it's kinda nice to be thinking the way the song goes. xD

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

[ket_the_jet]

It's funny that, of all the albums Bob Dylan put out before, say, 1970, The Times They Are A-Changin' is probably my least favorite. Obviously that song is great and the album is good too...I just like all of his other songs and albums so much more.

Like I believe I said earlier, Another Side of Bob Dylan is probably my favorite Dylan album.
-wtk

[SomeRandomDude]

is it a crime to prefer Anberlin covers of Bob Dylan songs to the man himself?

[Pepi]

Dunno about Anberlin, but even Dylan agreed, that some of the covers are actually better than some of the originals.

[ket_the_jet]

Yeah...no thank you.

Honestly, there aren't really any Bob Dylan covers I like better...I mean, everyone recognizes The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" or Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" or the Band's "I Shall Be Released." But actually, in all three cases, I think Dylan's version is better.

That's not to say I don't find the covers entertaining. There are quite a few I like.

Andrew Bird's cover of "Oh Sister."
Nick Drake's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time."
Norah Jones' "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight."
George Harrison's "If Not For You."

Those come to mind...
-wtk

[Pepi]

It's funny though...There's a lot of people who don't know that Dylan is the author of some popular songs. For example, when u ask someone who sang Knocking on Heavens' Door in original, many answer Guns and roses. Same thing happens, when u ask about the author about Whiskey in the jar, and u get Metallica for an answer, although it's actually an irish folk song.
I got nothing against covers, though. I think the bands actually did a great job introducing great songs to a much wider audiance. But to prefer a cover from original? It's your own choice, rly. Besides...In my oppinion, the most powerful thing in Dylan's songs are his lyrics, which stay the same with different renditions.

[SomeRandomDude]

Yup. Well, Anberlin's my favorite band, and they did an album called Lost Songs that is mostly covers. Like:

Like A Rolling Stone- Bob Dylan
Enjoy The Silence- Depeche Mode
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out- The Smiths
The Promise- When In Rome
Creep- Radiohead

Then they also did my favorite cover by them (well, possibly tied with There Is A Light That Never Goes Out) which is True Faith by New Order.

But yeah, I first heard about Bob Dylan listening to Anberlin. lulz. Actually, I found out about Anberlin about 2 years ago, back when CarpeGuitarrem was still on the boards cuz he posted a link to Paperthin Hymn on a music videos thread. I didn't like it when I first listened to it, but it intrigued me so I listened to it probably 20-30 times in the next few days, looked up their other stuff (found the Cities album) and I was addicted from that point onwards. Same thing with Project 86, they're one of my favorite bands now.

But I digress.

[Kev-La]

My favourite Dylan song is Blowin' in the Wind...

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind;
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

[Pepi]

I apologise for bringing up this old topic, but i couldn't help myself from posting this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg
Weird Al's parody of Bob Dylan(Motor Psycho Nightmare, if I'm not mistaken)...What's so special about it, that it's made completely of palindromes.

[ket_the_jet]

First of all, the parody is based on Subterranean Homesick Blues.

Secondly, it's not too impressive to come up with palindromes. Since the advent of the internet, all you have to do is google and you come up with things like this.
-wtk

[Pepi]

The video, yeh...But the song itself kinda remembers me of motorpsycho nightmare... It may be just me, anyway... I dunno... I still find it quite impressive, with rhyming and all...
Kudos to weird al.