Robert Alen Zimmerman (Bob Dyaln) is turning 66. This is the tribute to the greatest song writer in history. He changed the world in the 60s. He changed his style more times than anyone esle. Discuss your favorite memories and songs form this great man.

I hope he doesn't die before July 11th!

1. His "folk" period highlighted by "Blowin in the Wind" "Motor Psycho Nightmanre" and Highway 61 Revisited.

2. His electric show at the Newport Folk Fesitval.

3. Bringing It All Back Home.

4. The Rolling Thunder Revue.

5. His "Christian Period" Highlighted by Slow Train Coming and "You Gotta Serve Somebody."

6. His last three albums which may be his best work yet.

He's not the greatest songwriter in history though.

John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, and Captain Beefheart are all better.

I'd say it's much harder to write lyrics that appeal to millions and work musically and thematically than it is to write ambiguous imagery that's mostly meaningless overwrought metaphors.

Some of Dylan's lyrics are really stupid, but some make so much sense. It's like he throws a million words at you and lots of it is senseless shit, but there are some real gems hidden in the pile.

The man wrote a lot of damn words.

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) is some of the most amazing shit I've ever heard though.

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.


Holy shit.

Happy birthday to Bob Dylan
Dylan has provided us with countless great songs and also one of the greatest bodies of work in the history of rock. He has released many great albums that vary greatly in style but all of which were very influential.

"there must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"there's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"no reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
-All Along the Watchtower

Wow, 66. Dylan is one of the best songwriters of all-time. I liked a variety of his work, but would choose his acoustic period as my favorite. I think "The Times They Are A Changing," "Blowin' in the Wind" among his best songs. His influences are all over the music industry, from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison to Springsteen, Petty & Mellencamp.

Your post is absolutely mindnumbing.

the Beatles changed their songwriting b.c of Dylan. The same with Neil Young he was also heavily influenced by Dylan. Yep he wrote a lot of words but they all had great meaning behind them

Is greatest most influential, then? Is it judged by popular consensus?

i would say most influntial and greatest are on the same road

?

Okay. Whose road? Influential to whom? Me? You? Other great artists? And if those other great artists are great, why aren't they the greatest? Who do they influence in order to be great?

Is a case of Dylan inspiring more people than Young? That'd be difficult to measure, no?

Hows about celebrating the man on his birthday rather than arguing over how good he is.

oh dear God what anti-American blasphemy!!

Dylan was a genius!!

yea it would be difficult to count the people they influenced. I am a huge Neil Young fan but Dylan is better than neil IMHO.

He indeed was a genius. He's my favorite musician of all time.

Agreed - how good he is or isn't is based purely on opinion.

for my money, definitely the greatest songwriter to ever grace pop music - who would have thought of folk music implementing surreal, stream-of-consciousness narrative without dylan? who would have thought of the beatles' turn for introspection without dylan? surely, his songwriting accomplishments have not - & in my prediction - will never be surpassed.

his recent "renaissance" trilogy - time out of mind, love & theft, modern times - are uniformly excellent, his best work since the 70's. i'm glad the old man isn't content to merely sit around & rehash the past.

best albums are
-Highway 61 Revisted
-Blonde on Blonde
-Bringing it all back home
-Blood On the Tracks
-John Wesley Harding-
-Time out of Mind
-Modern Times
-Another Side Of Bob Dylan
-Times They Are a-changing
-THe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
-Bob Dylan
-Desire
-Love and Theft
-New Morning

that's pretty much all of them - but i understand how hard it is to choose with such a vastly superior back catalogue...

my top 5 greatest dylan records would be:

1.) blonde on blonde
2.) bringing it all back home
3.) blood on the tracks
4.) highway 61 revisited
5.) the basement tapes (with the band)

honorable mentions go to the freewheelin' bob dylan & another side of bob dylan.

Happy Birthday, Bobby. 66 and kicking ass. Not much that can be said that hasn't been already said. Simply the best, and still awesome after all these years.

Oh yeah, whoever hasn't read Chronicles, go and fucking read it NOW.

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

"Work musically and thematically" to your standards, I assume? Otherwise, your statement means that 50 Cent is a better lyricist than Bob Dylan, which may or may not be true, but I don't think you'd agree with that. Anyway, appealing to millions and working musically and thematically (as if Dylan's music doesn't do all three of those anyway) seem to be contradictory, here.

"mostly meaningless overwrought metaphors"

Christ. The word "meaningless" is countered in the same sentence there as "metaphor". His political allegory isn't Dadaist word-churning. I don't see how something can be metaphorical (working on a rich level of abstraction) and meaningless (being empty of meaning).

Anyway, enough of that sort of business, since people want to celebrate Dylan's birthday by copy and pasting the lyrics we already know.

My ranking of Dylan's albums are here.

Well, I obviously love Dylan musically, I'm just saying his lyrics don't lend themselves as well to the music as a band like The Beatles do. I mean, they still work, they're just not nearly as cohesive. That's the only point I was making. Dylan's lyrics seem clumsy in a melodical format, whereas The Beatles' lyrics just blend perfectly with the music.

Dylan is an amazing lyricist, but the guys I mentioned earlier in this thread are just way ahead of him. A lot of people talk about Dylan as if no one can come close to his songwriting abilities, and I think that's slightly ridiculous.

"I'm so Tired" by The Beatles has better lyrics than any Dylan song.

"I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No, no, no

I'm so tired I don't know what to do
I'm so tired my mind is set on you
I wonder should I call you but I know what you would do

You'd say I'm puttin' you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm goin insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

I'm so tired, I'm feelin' so upset
Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get

You'd say I'm puttin' you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm goin' insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind"

God damnit, now I sound like a "Dylan-hater." I'm not really criticizing him here, I'm just explaining why I think he's not the greatest lyricist ever. I'm trying to show the difference between him and Lennon.

He's still my favorite musician guys!

i laughed out loud at this.

as far as the term "meaningless" goes - isn't that a subjective term, anyhow? what is meaningless to you may hold a profound form of meaning to somebody else. & who, exactly, has the right to make the assumption on whether or not the lyrics an artist writes hold any meaning for the artist, unless they blatantly said "my lyrics are bullshit, don't listen to them"? & even then, how many artists - musicians, filmmakers, writers, etc. - are purposely cryptic & contradictory to keep the press off their coattails? in fact, dylan has been infamous for these type of statements. of course, we all hold our own opinions - & if an artist's lyrics are meaningless to you, what is the point of listening to them?

i wholeheartedly agree that the beatles' - & especially lennon (my all-time favorite musician, period) - lyrics are more cohesive with their music; but the beatles are more renown as innovative musicians, whereas dylan is praised for the most part solely because of his lyrics. the problem here is the fine & often misunderstood line between songwriting (writing a song - the music, structure, arrangement, lyrics) & writing lyrics. whereas i think the greatest songwriters to ever grace pop music are most definitely - & by a long shot - lennon & mccartney, i think dylan's lyrics are by far greater on their own.

it's impossible to deny dylan's magnificent way with a pen, though; he's pioneered so many schools of songwriting - from barely concealed confessions to stream-of-consciousness narratives to topical folk songs - that he's impossible to deny as the most influential lyricist pop music has ever produced.

Your avatar kicks epic amounts of ass.

I think people massively underrate Dylan's vocals and his music. The sheer force in his voice gives me chills. Idiot Wind, Gates of Eden, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, etc...

And Tombstone Blues, oh man. I can't even describe what that song does to me. Especially when I'm listening to Highway 61 and it comes on right after Like a Rolling Stone. <3<3<3

"just like tom thumb's blues" is my favorite song off of highway 61 revisited - the way he says, "i'm going back to new york city, i do believe i've had enough" is badass. it's as if whoever has wronged him better watch their back - as beaten as he sounds, the authority in his voice is nearly as frightening as it is paradoxical.

I admit this reluctantly that I am not a Bob Dylan aficionado. I have, however, had many instances where I heard a song and said to myself "Wow, who is this?" and found out it was of course, Bob Dylan.

My question to the rest of you is, what is the best way to take in Bob Dylan? Does he have an exceptional album that stands out from the rest or should I buy a best-of CD?