Okay what an album to start with! One of my favorite artists of all time and one of my favorite projects of his. I’m excited to do a small track by track commentary, so let’s get started!
Track 1: Blowin in the Wind
A classic. Perfect song! So influential, so important, such a wonderful protest song. It remains so incredibly relevant. Simple yet so effective.
Track 2: Girl from the North Country
One of my favorite Dylan songs maybe. It feels so intimate and delicate. It’s one of my favorite harmonica performances of his also.
Track 3: Masters of War
Man he could write a protest anthem.
“While the death count gets higher, you hide in your mansion, while the young peoples’ blood flows out of their bodies, and is buried in the mud”
Once again, unfortunately incredibly relevant to America’s current hellish political landscape. Fuck war, fuck billionaires, and fuck Donald Trump.
Track 4: Down the Highway
This one I’ve always really enjoyed, so clearly wearing Woody Guthrie on his sleeve here. The guitar licks present each strum as so genuine, so tangible. I can picture his playing, which is what the tune calls for. Wonderful.
Track 5: Bob Dylan’s Blues
A fun one. Feels like I just hopped on a train car. “Tell the judge I said it was all right” is such a great line.
Track 6: A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall
God, how does someone write something this good? It’s what I think about every time I hear this song. We’re getting into more poetic territories here.
So many standout lines. The idea that each was seen as the starts of several different songs.
“I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests”
“I heard ten-thousand whispering and nobody listening”
“And I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it, and reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it, and I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinking, but I’ll know my song well before I start singing.”
It’s perfect.
Track 7: Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
There’s not much I can really say about this one. I sound like a broken record, but it’s just perfect (although I will say I think I slightly prefer the Joan Baez version).
Track 8: Bob Dylan’s Dream
A sneakily very sad song. I can’t listen to the words too closely or I’ll cry. About the preciousness of friendship and the memories we cling to of moments we can never get back. A bit gut wrenching.
Track 9: Oxford Town
Song written about James Meredith, a black student accepted into the University’s of Mississippi in 1962, and the subsequent racist acts committed against him. Potent, necessary, and important.
Track 10: Talkin World War III Blues
Discusses the red scare and its absurdity in American culture through a Woody Guthrie-esque track that he clearly had a lot of fun making.
Track 11: Corrina, Corrina
Probably my least favorite off the album, but good nonetheless. It’s a sweet track.
Track 12: Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
His vocal performance in this one is just so fun. Hootin and holler-in a crazy amount. Really enjoy the instrumentation with this one also.
Track 13: I Shall Be Free
“She’s a man-eater, meat-grinder, bad loser”
“She’s a humdinger, folk singer”
My favorite moments of the song just because of his inflection. Rewrite of a Lead Belly song with some of Dylan’s funniest lines across his discography. Always a good time.
So glad I was able to just sit back tonihht and listen to this whole thing for the thousandth time. It’s one of my favorites, and I’m so glad to start my 1001 albums journey with an album so special to me :)
