A Primer on My Favorite Bob Dylan Tracks

3 Favorite Songs from each Bob Dylan album (studio/selected live/bootleg series): A Primer (subject to change on a whim)

Studio Albums (Plus Greatest Hits with new songs)

Bob Dylan – Song to Woody, Talkin’ New York, House of the Risin’ Sun

Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – Masters of War, Blowin’ in the Wind, A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall

The Times They Are A-Changin – The Times They Are A-Changin’, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Boots of Spanish Leather

Another Side of Bob Dylan – It Ain’t Me Babe, Spanish Harlem Incident, Chimes of Freedom

Bringing it All Back Home – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, It’s Alright Ma (I’m only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Highway 61 Revisited – Like a Rolling Stone, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, Desolation Row

Blonde on Blonde – Just Like a Woman, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Visions of Johanna

John Wesley Harding – I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine, Drifter’s Escape, Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

Nashville Skyline – Lay Lady Lay, Tell Me That it isn’t True, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You

Self Portrait – Gotta Travel On, Wigwam, Copper Kettle

New Morning – Man in Me, Went to See the Gypsy, Sign on the Window

Greatest Hits Volume 2: I Shall Be Released, Down in the Flood, You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid – Knockin on Heaven’s Door, Billy 4, River Theme

Dylan – Mary Ann, Lily of the West, Sarah Jane

Planet Waves – Forever Young, Hazel, Never Say Goodbye

Blood on the Tracks – Tangled Up in Blue, Idiot Wind, Simple Twist of Fate

The Basement Tapes – This Wheel’s on Fire, Tears of Rage, Goin’ to Acapulco

Desire – Isis, Black Diamond Bay, Oh Sister

Street Legal – Changing of the Guards, Senor (Tales of Yankee Power), Where are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Slow Train Coming – Gotta Serve Somebody, Slow Train, Precious Angel

Saved – Pressing On, Solid Rock, Covenant Woman

Shot of Love – Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar, Every Grain of Sand, Heart of Mine

Infidels – Jokerman, Neighborhood Bully, Union Sundown

Empire Burlesque – Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love), Dark Eyes, Clean Cut Kid

Biograph – Up to Me, Abandoned Love, Positively 4^th Street

Knocked Out Loaded – Brownsville Girl, You Wanna Ramble, Under Your Spell

Down in the Groove – Silvio, Let’s Stick Together, Ugliest Girl in the World

Oh Mercy – Most of the Time, Shooting Star, Political World

Under the Red Sky – Handy Dandy, TV Talkin’ Song, Cat’s in the Well

Good As I Been to You – Blackjack Davey, Sittin’ on Top of the World, Froggie Went a-Courtin’

World Gone Wrong – Blood in My Eyes, Delia, World Gone Wrong

Time out of Mind – Love Sick, Tryin’ to Get to Heaven, Cold Irons Bound

Love and Theft – Mississippi, High Water (For Charlie Patton), Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Modern Times – Thunder on the Mountain, Someday Baby, Workingman’s Blues #2

Together Through Life – My Wife’s Home Town, Shake Shake Mama, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’

Christmas in the Heart – Must be Santa, Little Drummer Boy, Winter Wonderland

Tempest – Long and Wasted Years, Pay in Blood, Tin Angel

Shadows in the Night – The Night We Called It a Day, Stay with Me, That Lucky Old Sun

Fallen Angels – Young At Heart, Melancholy Mood, On a Little Street in Shanghai

Triplicate – I Could Have Told You, Stardust, Stormy Weather

Selected Live Albums

 Before the Flood – It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine), Like a Rolling Stone

Hard Rain – Idiot Wind, Shelter from the Storm, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

At Budokan – Shelter From the Storm, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, I Want You

Real Live – Tangled Up In Blue, Ballad of a Thin Man, It Ain’t Me Babe

Bootleg Series

Volume 1 – 3: 1961-1991 – Idiot Wind, Angelina, Series of Dreams

Volume 4: Live 1966 – Like a Rolling Stone, Tell Me Momma, I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

Volume 5: Live 1975 – Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, It Ain’t Me Babe, Romance in Durango

Volume 6: Live 1964 – Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right, Mama You Been on My Mind, Talkin’ World War III Blues

Volume 7: No Direction Home – Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, Visions of Johanna, Maggie’s Farm

Volume 8: Tell Tale Signs – Born in Time, Most of the Time, Red River Shore

Volume 9: Whitmark Demos: All Over You, Gypsy Lou, I’ll Keep it With Mine

Volume 10: Another Self Portrait: Time Passes Slowly, Pretty Saro, Thirsty Boots

Volume 11: Complete Basement Tapes – Edge of the Ocean, I’m Not There, Sign on the Cross

Volume 12: The Cutting Edge – Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Instrumental, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

Can We Pass Over Passover?

Does anybody really like the Passover holiday? Along with Yom Kippur, Ramadan, and Lent it falls in the ever popular holiday category of “don’t do this”. These can’t be popular with the faithful because nobody likes to be told what they can’t do or more importantly what they can’t eat. It’s one of the main reasons Michelle Obama’s very smart maybe we should give our kids heathier dining options program was met with such scorn from a select group of morons (other reasons in no particular order: “don’t tell me how to raise my child”, racism, and reactionary partisanship). But let’s get back on track to the completely real events (my eyes have now rolled completely to the back of my head) of how the Jews left enslavement in Egypt. Do we really think that on the one year anniversary of leaving Egypt the survivors thought to remake that flavorless yeast free shit bread dubbed matzo? I’m going to go with the opposite. I bet they made the yeastiest most leavened bread they could muster as a hilarious final fuck you to the Pharaoh. Like fuck you Pharaoh now that I’m free and not being chased by chariots and an army I don’t have to skimp on the yeast and can make a delicious bagel and stuff it with the finest lox and cream cheese (no low fat nonsense on this occasion) while complaining about how for the last year we’ve been blindly following Moses and we seem to be wandering around in circles. Coincidence, hardly! I mean, I can’t be the only one who notices this aimless wandering right? If I am, I’ll shut up, but people c’mon. It’s been a year and well that Promised Land ain’t looking anywhere closer, but that’s just me and Bathsheba, and the lately the Cohen family bringing this up. But fine I’ll give it a rest today and enjoy this delicious leavened bread and give thanks that we don’t have to eat that matzo shit. Am I right in saying that “bread” was the roughest part of that day? Man was that gross. So a toast to yeast…and somebody asking Moses what the hell is going on because seriously I’m not going this for another thirty-nine years. If that isn’t a perfect historical recreation of the second Passover I don’t know what is.

Also let’s talk about the movie The 10 Commandments staring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and Edward G. Robinson. It’s a great film and all but man are the Jews in that movie not the smartest. For some reason, despite all of Moses’ many miracles time after time without fail the chosen people decide to listen to Dathan. Moses has the staff that turns into a snake, he caused the plagues that ravaged the Egyptians and did no harm or rather “passed over” the Jews, and for the grand finale he parted the Red Sea to allow safe passage to freedom. Now any fully functioning human being would think this would earn Moses the benefit of the doubt. Oh no, not with crowd because apparently parting a sea can’t match up the dulcet mobster tones of Edward G. Robinson’s ever convincing “where’s your God now Moses” speech. Naturally the people listen to Dathan, the Jewish informant to the Pharaoh and the biblical equivalent to Uncle Tom. This is the guy who left bondage being carried on a bed-throne while the rest of the Jews had at most a basket and a three legged donkey. So this is the guy they chose to listen to when Moses leaves to take a twenty minute breather. Despite all God has done for them in the last week, the Jews somehow listen to Dathan’s idea to build and worship a golden calf while somehow roping Aaron, Moses’ brother, into the scheme. Again, what are we doing Jews? Why a golden calf and why Dathan. The guy has been wrong and against you the whole movie. Why would we decide to follow this guy over the person who performed actual miracles? What a fickle people. So anyway, Moses comes down, gets pissed, kills all the sinners with the Ten Commandments tablets and then wanders around until he decides to give the reins to Joshua and ascend to heaven at the ripe age of 120. And that’s the story of Passover and reason we can’t east bread for a week. What a ride.