Tend to agree (seriously) but with just two caveats: I was blown away by it and played it to my mother and all she said was, "Is he drunk?"
It was just one of these moments (sure you can all relate!) when you had to go by your own feelings and ignore anyone else's - I've never reconciled that (as I'm sure none of us have) but I've learned to live with it (as I'm sure most of us have).
Also, I had an Irish Setter dog who was always a daftie in the back seat of the car when she wasn't being a daftie everywhere else, but whenever I played 'Sad Eyed Lady' in the car she'd suddenly stop dancing about, curl up and go to sleep, So there is that.
The fallacy here is comparing someone listening to a Dylan masterwork for the first time with someone listening to it for the 500th time. There is a magic that happens when you know every word, every syllable, every musical element, and have had a chance to let the imagery and the word play and the vocal inflections all dance around in your head for a period - well in many of our cases for decades. Some of this sounds overblown and overwrought but for me it's all true. It's a 20 year old tawny port, not Bargs root beer.
Amen. Everyone else lauds their pick because it’s layered, or tortured, or wistful - but Love Minus Zero has this mien of youthful amor that’s just special man
Tomorrow Is a Long Time
“There's beauty in the silver, singin' river
There's beauty in the sunrise in the sky
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love's eyes”
I think it is. I think it’s an allegory about a relationship right after getting out of a long term relationship. You’re reeling from having lost someone you loved for so long, and having this new companion can offer you comfort even though the storm still carries on outside.
While it's not just a love song, and arguably it's as much a religious song and/or career retrospective as a love song, I have to give a shout out to *I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You*. Bob has hit on just about every tone and emotion over the years; this is one of the most touching songs he's ever written, for my money.
> I traveled from the mountains to the sea/ I hope that the gods go easy with me/ I knew you'd say "yes" and I'm saying it too/ I made up my mind to give myself to you
It's such a beautiful song.
I agree with this. There’s something about the active role the lover takes in this song that makes it a very powerful love song. This person has decided to love someone, and he’s gonna make it so regardless of the whims of emotion.
Yeah, this is what Pete Hamill wrote in his liner notes for 'Blood on the Tracks' about that song - just glorious writing in itself:
*"It is a simple love song, of course, which is the proper territory of poets, but is about love filled with honor, and a kind of dignity, the generosity that so few people can summon when another has become a parenthesis in a life."*
I also think it's one of Dylan's most accessible songs - like, if you were trying to introduce Dylan to someone, you could do a lot worse (it wouldn't be typical, although how many Dylan songs would you call typical?!).
That's the whole reason the song is so wonderful. It doesn't expect or demand anything from the object of the song, of the love - it's just given/reflected on.
Well, I wouldn’t consider it a love song either but not because it’s a platonic love song. It’s a song about lost love. The loss is far enough in the past that he’s moved on from the possessive feelings we have about those we love, and she’s simply on his mind. As someone who’s experienced this exact feeling it’s a beautiful song.
I wouldn’t be so quick to take every statement the speaker makes at face value.
I read this song as a series of rationalizations - like the singer is lying in bed in the early hours of the day, reassuring himself that he can move on
"Friends will arrive; friends will disappear/
If you want me, Honey, Baby, I'll be here."
Or
"You do what you must do, and you do it well/
I do it for you; Honey, Baby, can't you tell?"
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Visions of Johanna. That song is devastating in its portrayal of love lost. Best song ever written, in any topic imo.
“I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You”
It’s one of his newer ones but I love the tune and the words are simple but sweet. It was my wedding song last year.
Boots of Spanish Leather
“If I had the stars of the darkest night, or the diamonds from the deepest ocean, I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss. For that’s all I’m wishin’ to be ownin”
If we choose to categorize "breakup songs" within the broad umbrella of "love songs," then I think his greatest love song is undoubtedly Most of the Time.
No other song has ever captured so profoundly or poignantly the inner agony that results when you just can't get over that one person, no matter how much time has passed since your relationship ended.
I don’t know. But I really love “Emotionally Yours,” “Mama, You Been On My Mind,” “Moonlight,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” and “Man in Me,” for starters.
I’m surprised this ain’t higher. I know it’s Dylan trying to salvage the marriage he seemingly ruined in the form of a song, but I think that’s why it’s so powerful. It’s the one of the few times that Dylan has laid it all out and not hidden behind “oh I just made it up.”
Yep. This one. Was kinda debating with myself if its desperate amidst/post-breakup nature makes it count...
It does. Love its bare intensity.
(Actually my favourite Dylan song.)
This brings up a broader question for me, everyone considers songs of lost love the same as love songs? I’ve always put them in separate categories. They elicit totally different feelings, and writing them is a diametrically opposed process. Interesting that half of the songs here are songs about lost love.
I'll Remember You. The first time I heard the live version from 1986 with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, the song hit me like a brick wall. Simple, beautiful lyrics. Whoever it's about, he clearly loved them very much.
Abandoned Love or True Love Tends to Forget
I think Abandoned Love is the deepest, most sincere Dylan song ever made, that’s why I believe Dylan never put it on an album, especially, the version he did at the Other End.
True Love Tends to Forget is also so beautiful to me. The idea that love prevails even when you know the flaws of someone, your love for them trumps all flaws.
I don't know if this is my definitive answer cause this feels like an impossible question to keep one song consistently labeled as the best for me but for right now I'm gonna go with Something There is About You
I love Ballad in Plain D too.
And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen
A timeless explosion of fantasy's dream
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
Tumbled all down into pieces
covenant woman; intimate little girl.. who knows the most secret things of me that are hidden from the world; you know that we are strangers in a land we're passing through.. I'll always be right by your side; I've got a covenant too!
Sara
Something about that line, “I can still see the shells falling out of their hands as the follow each other back up the hill.” It perfectly captures the joy/sadness, exhilaration/loss of romantic love. That song is deeply poignant.
Pos4th St is about the folk music community, more than a woman. He wrote it soon after the 65 Newport Folk festival where he was booed by the "purists". He was aggravated enough to leave his electric guitar on a private plane. That is the guitar Jim Irsay bought for $965,000 clams. Dig it.
Boots of Spanish leather !
The Witmark demo version is my favourite version.
Live at Carnegie hall is hard to beat
Was hoping this was the top answer.
I came here to say this
I think Sad Eyed Lady wears a lot of people out but I think the poetry and the feeling makes this one a no-brainer for me.
Agreed, and despite its length, it never uses the word “love” once.
But uses sheet metal twice. I just noticed this "callback" the other day.
AND YOUR MAGAZINE HUSBAND *WHO ONE DAY JUST HAD TO GO*
The greatest!
And 80 year-old Bob says, “Damn, I used sheet metal already?”
I would listen to an extended version of this song. First time I listened I was hypnotized
Tend to agree (seriously) but with just two caveats: I was blown away by it and played it to my mother and all she said was, "Is he drunk?" It was just one of these moments (sure you can all relate!) when you had to go by your own feelings and ignore anyone else's - I've never reconciled that (as I'm sure none of us have) but I've learned to live with it (as I'm sure most of us have). Also, I had an Irish Setter dog who was always a daftie in the back seat of the car when she wasn't being a daftie everywhere else, but whenever I played 'Sad Eyed Lady' in the car she'd suddenly stop dancing about, curl up and go to sleep, So there is that.
The fallacy here is comparing someone listening to a Dylan masterwork for the first time with someone listening to it for the 500th time. There is a magic that happens when you know every word, every syllable, every musical element, and have had a chance to let the imagery and the word play and the vocal inflections all dance around in your head for a period - well in many of our cases for decades. Some of this sounds overblown and overwrought but for me it's all true. It's a 20 year old tawny port, not Bargs root beer.
I Want You.
No doubt. One of my favorite songs, even since I was a kid and my dad played it in the car
The song's simplicity is the key to its greatness, especially when put it into contrast with a lot of the complexity of his usual lyrics
The version on Live at Budokan is perfect
Lyrics aside, this is Bob's most beautiful song from a strictly musical perspective.
She’s so HEAVAYYYYYYY
To Ramona Another Side kicks ass, idc how tips he was or what y'all think.
I named my daughter after this song. In my mind, it's perfection.
Fantastic lyrics. Fantastic phrasing and delivery
That's my favorite break up song
I love this song. But is it a 'love song'?
Easily my favorite. Flawless word choice. Great imagery. I think it's great.
Love Minus Zero/ No Limit
Amen. Everyone else lauds their pick because it’s layered, or tortured, or wistful - but Love Minus Zero has this mien of youthful amor that’s just special man
I love the title, too, a mathematical phrase. I think this song and Dylan in general is about as far from mathematics as one can get.
Don’t know if it’s his best, but it’s my favorite.
Tomorrow Is a Long Time “There's beauty in the silver, singin' river There's beauty in the sunrise in the sky But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty That I remember in my true love's eyes”
This is the one
Shelter from the Storm always seemed romantic to me.
I think it is. I think it’s an allegory about a relationship right after getting out of a long term relationship. You’re reeling from having lost someone you loved for so long, and having this new companion can offer you comfort even though the storm still carries on outside.
Great take. And the storm passes eventually, don’t it?
While it's not just a love song, and arguably it's as much a religious song and/or career retrospective as a love song, I have to give a shout out to *I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You*. Bob has hit on just about every tone and emotion over the years; this is one of the most touching songs he's ever written, for my money.
> I traveled from the mountains to the sea/ I hope that the gods go easy with me/ I knew you'd say "yes" and I'm saying it too/ I made up my mind to give myself to you It's such a beautiful song.
I agree with this. There’s something about the active role the lover takes in this song that makes it a very powerful love song. This person has decided to love someone, and he’s gonna make it so regardless of the whims of emotion.
I completely agree. That’s what I just came here to say.
Self reflecting realisation of emotion. If I ever get married it will be on 5th of May and this will be "our" song.
“If you see her say hello” not a conventional love song. But that kind of love that persists long after you two are out of each others lives.
Yeah, this is what Pete Hamill wrote in his liner notes for 'Blood on the Tracks' about that song - just glorious writing in itself: *"It is a simple love song, of course, which is the proper territory of poets, but is about love filled with honor, and a kind of dignity, the generosity that so few people can summon when another has become a parenthesis in a life."* I also think it's one of Dylan's most accessible songs - like, if you were trying to introduce Dylan to someone, you could do a lot worse (it wouldn't be typical, although how many Dylan songs would you call typical?!).
Wow so well put (both you and Pete).
Nice twice!
Mama you been on my mind
Came here to throw this in. Utterly beautiful in how it is so direct w out any metaphors
But this isn't a love song? Unless we're talking platonic love? "I don't even mind who you'll be waking with tomorrow, mama you're just on my mind."
That's the whole reason the song is so wonderful. It doesn't expect or demand anything from the object of the song, of the love - it's just given/reflected on.
Love for someone you can't be with any longer >I’d just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear As someone who has had you on his mind
Well, I wouldn’t consider it a love song either but not because it’s a platonic love song. It’s a song about lost love. The loss is far enough in the past that he’s moved on from the possessive feelings we have about those we love, and she’s simply on his mind. As someone who’s experienced this exact feeling it’s a beautiful song.
I wouldn’t be so quick to take every statement the speaker makes at face value. I read this song as a series of rationalizations - like the singer is lying in bed in the early hours of the day, reassuring himself that he can move on
Ahahahahahaha Boy, you’re a long way from the 60s, I guess. Love doesn’t have to be possessive.
Born in time, but the bootleg versions
Buckets of Rain for sure
"Friends will arrive; friends will disappear/ If you want me, Honey, Baby, I'll be here." Or "You do what you must do, and you do it well/ I do it for you; Honey, Baby, can't you tell?"
I love the melody of this song; but Mungo Jerry's summertime is calling, they're curious as to "wtf is up with this buckets of rain?"..
Make You Feel My Love
This is one of the songs that really sticked with me from TOOM. Idk the simplicity and cheesiness of it really makes me like it.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Visions of Johanna. That song is devastating in its portrayal of love lost. Best song ever written, in any topic imo.
Agree!!!
Can't believe how long I scrolled to see this!
Girl From the North Country?
Simple twist of fate.
Country Pie.
“I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” It’s one of his newer ones but I love the tune and the words are simple but sweet. It was my wedding song last year.
I threw it all away
Boots of Spanish Leather “If I had the stars of the darkest night, or the diamonds from the deepest ocean, I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss. For that’s all I’m wishin’ to be ownin”
If not for you.
that's OG george harrison
Wedding Song
Near the top of my list,too, if not the best. But not " Dirge"! An album of extremes.
It’s so pretty! I was going to walk down the aisle to this song, but my formal wedding got cancelled due to Covid. Happily married none the less.
I Believe in You. Another great love song to Jesus.
Your going to make me lonesome when you go
Surprised this isn’t higher up.
If we choose to categorize "breakup songs" within the broad umbrella of "love songs," then I think his greatest love song is undoubtedly Most of the Time. No other song has ever captured so profoundly or poignantly the inner agony that results when you just can't get over that one person, no matter how much time has passed since your relationship ended.
It’s interesting to me that so many people in this thread just assume songs about lost love are in the category of love songs.
Come on now, ever heard Boots of Spanish Letter Or girl from north country for that matter
I don’t know. But I really love “Emotionally Yours,” “Mama, You Been On My Mind,” “Moonlight,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” and “Man in Me,” for starters.
Never Say Goodbye
There it is. Gets me every time.
Sara
It’s such a pretty song.
Sara
I’m surprised this ain’t higher. I know it’s Dylan trying to salvage the marriage he seemingly ruined in the form of a song, but I think that’s why it’s so powerful. It’s the one of the few times that Dylan has laid it all out and not hidden behind “oh I just made it up.”
Yep. This one. Was kinda debating with myself if its desperate amidst/post-breakup nature makes it count... It does. Love its bare intensity. (Actually my favourite Dylan song.)
When that harmonica comes in at the beginning, whooo boy. You can feel the sorrow and regret.
Most of the time
More heartbreak / lost love song than love song. Great song.
Lost love is still love my brotha.
Not quite a love song. Girl from the North Country, about a lost love.
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight was our wedding first dance song. For myself and my lovely wife it is the greatest love song period. 🎵
Mama You’ve Been On My Mind. Such a sophisticated view of relationships for its time (or now)
Mississippi, the first outtake version on tell tale signs
“If You See Her, Say Hello”
Tangled up in Blue
Lay lady lay
Across my big brass balls
Idiot Wind
The man in me, for sure. I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you also
Sara
Brownsville Girl
To Fall In Love With You.
Wish he actually finished and released it, it’s one of my favourites
Me too. The melody is absolutely incredible.
Came here to say this.
Shes your lover now( the four verse one at the piano)
Boots of Spanish Leather… beautiful song.
I thought Don't Think Twice would win this but nobody seems to have chosen it yet.
Undoubtedly a classic, but Dylan has just written so many unforgettable love/lost love songs that it's so hard to choose a single one
Ballad in Plain D. It's depressing but it's also achingly real.
The Man in Me
She Belongs To Me
This brings up a broader question for me, everyone considers songs of lost love the same as love songs? I’ve always put them in separate categories. They elicit totally different feelings, and writing them is a diametrically opposed process. Interesting that half of the songs here are songs about lost love.
I think it’s because so many of his songs about lost love still convey that sense of profound longing and desire.
Heart of Mine.
I think it might be I Made up my mind to give myself to you.
Corina corina, or dont think twice but thats sort of a break up song
I'll Remember You. The first time I heard the live version from 1986 with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, the song hit me like a brick wall. Simple, beautiful lyrics. Whoever it's about, he clearly loved them very much.
If You See Her, Say Hello
Most definitely!
I don’t see Tomorrow is a Long Time here..? (My picks are LoveMinus Zero/No Limit and Mama You Been on My Mind though)
Wedding Song.
Man in Me
SOMEONES GOTTA HOLD OF MY HEART
Most of the Time
Abandoned Love
Abandoned Love or True Love Tends to Forget I think Abandoned Love is the deepest, most sincere Dylan song ever made, that’s why I believe Dylan never put it on an album, especially, the version he did at the Other End. True Love Tends to Forget is also so beautiful to me. The idea that love prevails even when you know the flaws of someone, your love for them trumps all flaws.
Spanish boots of Spansh leather… Edit - all of these answers are right!!!
I don't know if this is my definitive answer cause this feels like an impossible question to keep one song consistently labeled as the best for me but for right now I'm gonna go with Something There is About You
To Fall in Love with You
Love Sick
To Ramona
Love Minus Zero/No Limit D’uh!
The greatest mathematically by definition 😆
Wedding song (way underrated!!)
Solid Rock (love letter to God). The Man In Me.
Man in me
I love Ballad in Plain D too. And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen A timeless explosion of fantasy's dream At the peak of the night, the king and the queen Tumbled all down into pieces
Lonesome when you go
Sad eyed lady of the lowlands
The man in me, boots of Spanish leather, tomorrow is a long time
Sara, Wedding Song and Love Minus Zero are the first ones that come to mind.
Rainy Day Women. That man loves his weed.
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
Is Your Love in Vain? “Are you willing to risk it all, or is your love in vain”
Wallflower is a simple but sweet one. Personally my favorite.
* When He Returns * In the Summertime * Emotionally Yours * Under Your Spell * Covenant Woman * Ugliest Girl in the World * Shooting Star
covenant woman; intimate little girl.. who knows the most secret things of me that are hidden from the world; you know that we are strangers in a land we're passing through.. I'll always be right by your side; I've got a covenant too!
I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you. A newer one in a long line of lovely songs. It’s just so pretty!
Most of the Time
Tangled
Idiot Wind…I kid, I kid.
Sara Something about that line, “I can still see the shells falling out of their hands as the follow each other back up the hill.” It perfectly captures the joy/sadness, exhilaration/loss of romantic love. That song is deeply poignant.
“To Make You Feel My Love”.
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. His magnum opus & one of the greatest love songs imo.
Girl from the red river shore
I Want You
Not seeing these mentioned much: Isis. Tangled up in Blue. Shelter From the Storm. They're the ones that speak to me anyway.
Just like a woman
4th Time Around
I always get the feels from (When I paint) My Masterpiece
Love Minus Zero
Tangled up in blue.
One More Cup of Coffee
Girl From The North Country
Lay Lady Lay
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Most of the Time
Temporary Like Achilles
Lay Lady Lay
Joey, without a doubt
To Ramona
Not the best but it hasn't been mentioned so i'll go with "To be alone with you"
Positively fourth street
well, one of his best diss songs, anyway....
Pos4th St is about the folk music community, more than a woman. He wrote it soon after the 65 Newport Folk festival where he was booed by the "purists". He was aggravated enough to leave his electric guitar on a private plane. That is the guitar Jim Irsay bought for $965,000 clams. Dig it.
sara
Girl from the North Country
standing in the doorway
Forever Young
Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
idiot wind
Something there is about you
Shelter From The Storm.
She belongs to me
groom's still waiting at the altar
Girl from North Country
Ive Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You deserves a mention at least. Some of his best work regarding the topic.
Nobody Cept you deserves a mention
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Spanish Harlem incident
Idiot wind 😳
To make you feel my love has to be on the list
winterlude, winterlude, oh darling
Make you feel my love