Dylan Week Day 7: This Post Will Not Be Televised

Before we get to the RIP of the day (they seem to be coming fast & think lately), we need to cap off Dylan's b-day week w/ a list. Rolling Stone compiled a top 70 songs list, but I have neither the time, nor the interest to do that. Instead, I'm gonna list my top 20 Dylan B-sides & album tracks (ie: songs that were not released as singles or at least songs I've never personally heard on the radio). This means that we aren't going to be mired in whether "Like a Rolling Stone" is better than "Mr. Tambourine Man." As Amiri Baraka said, "I don't want to go out on that kind of limb." So w/o further ado, we're off!

20) "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" A really funny song about imperialism. Because there's nothing as funny as imperialism.
19) "Highlands" The longest song on the list & one I quoted a few months ago on Facebook. That quote got all sorts of people mad at me... as if I really believed it. Ridiculous.
18) "Romance in Durango" A cool murder ballad as only Dylan could write one.
17) "Thunder on the Mountain" The newest song on this list, it was released in the fall of 2006. It has some random references to Alicia Keyes. I don't know why.
16) "Percy's Song" I first heard this as a cover version on an Arlo Guthrie album. It's so pure & traditional sounding, it comes across as an old spiritual. It's really amazing.
15) "Chimes of Freedom" Awesome!
14) "With God on Our Side" Another of his great indictments of the military.
13) "From a Buick 6" I must have heard this for the first time when I first heard Highway 61 as a whole. It's loud & raucous & way out there.
12) "Isis" A cool adventure song about love & trust... & death & betrayal.
11) "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" Only Dylan could turn some Cubist math equation into a song title. It took me years to figure out how to say the title. I don't know what it means, but it's a great tune.
10) "Gates of Eden" Another one that I was first turned on to this by Arlo Guthrie's cover version. It's an amazing blend of darkness & light, of optimism & anger. It's cool.
9) "Idiot Wind" It's just fantastic. I remember when I first heard it. It just hit me. Who could write such an out-there song & keep it so focused at the same time? Dylan.
8) "When the Ship Comes In" I've never really gotten this song, but I really dig it. Supposedly, it's about a moment in a hotel, but there's other weird stuff happening too. It's dark... & strange.
7) "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" ripped from the headlines, we have a great look at the American system of privilege & aristocracy.
6) "Masters of War" A great tune that cuts to the heart of the military industrial complex. It never points fingers at soldiers or generals, but at the people who make money from them. He seemed to realize, in a way his contemporaries missed, that they were the ones in control.
5) "Buckets of Rain" It has such cool, simple images. It doesn't feel like a Dylan song which is why Neko Case's cover works so well, I think.
4) "Absolutely Sweet Marie" I'm sure I must have heard this one when I was in high school & checked a vinyl copy Blonde on Blonde out from the library when I was a Junior in high school. It was George Harrison's cover at the Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert that opened my eyes to it's awesomeness though.
3) "Blind Willie McTell" I first heard this when the Bootleg Series Volumes I-III came out, but it was later that I really got into it. A great song.
2) "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" A super-fun song w/ some weird-ass lyrics. I first heard it either when I got Highway 61 on CD or when Phil covered it w/ The GD... I don't know which version I heard first, but it's awesome.
1) "Visions of Johanna" I first heard this when I checked that vinyl copy of Blonde on Blonde out of the library too. It wasn't until the a few years later that I really got into it though. His use of time & the compression of the moment is really interesting & seems to foreshadow what he did w/ similar ideas on "Tangled Up in Blue."In other news, Gil Scott-Heron died yesterday. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it here. Besides, it seems fitting since he has apparently been called "The Black Dylan." i don't see it, but I'll go w/ it for the sake of the post. Here's the NY Times article about him form this morning. I've taught "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" in African American Lit many times.

Along w/ influencing the development of Hip Hop, he also appeared w/ a slew of artists including Dylan & Kurtis Blow in Artists United Against Apartheid. With this in mind, I'll leave you w/ a sweet Kurtis Blow tune from his 1986 album, Kingdom Blow. What might this have to do w/ Dylan? Ahhhh... see, he raps on this song... check it out!