Bob Dylan Janis Joplin It Aint Me Babe Album Art Work

How did Robert Zimmerman pen his most timeless songs? Here's what we know most seventy of his biggest and best…

1

'Subterranean Home Sick Dejection'(1965)

'Subterranean Habitation Ill Blues'(1965): Dylan took function of the title from the Jack Kerouac novella The Subterraneans, whose characters were loosely based effectually Beat writers Burroughs and Ginsberg.

2

'Mr. Tambourine Man'(1965)

'Mr. Tambourine Man'(1965) What does it hateful?: 'Tambourine Man' was 60s slang for a drugs dealer and Dylan is said to have written information technology on a hash-fuelled road trip.

3

'Rainy Day Women No. 12 And 35′(1966)

'Rainy Day Women No. 12 And 35′(1966) What does it mean?: Famous for the line "Everybody must become stoned" and, co-ordinate to Dylan geeks, if yous multiply 12 past 35 you get 420 – a number associated with pot culture. Far out, dude.

4

'Tangled Up In Blue'(1975)

'Tangled Up In Blue'(1975) What does it hateful?: Said to exist influenced past Cubism (Dylan was taking art classes at this time), this song tackles the end of Dylan's spousal relationship to his married woman Sara, just but by fashion of looking back at his ain life (from his Minnesota upbringing to his coffee house days in New York) in a semi-mythical way.

v

'I Want You'(1966)

'I Want You'(1966) What does it hateful?: Dylan had a terse friendship with The Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones and the runway was said to be most Dylan's feelings for Jones' then girlfriend Anita Pallenberg. Others believe it was inspired by Edie Sedgwick.

6

'Knockin' On Heaven's Door'(1973)

'Knockin' On Heaven's Door'(1973) What does information technology mean?: Written for the film Pat Garrett And Baton The Kid and said to exist inspired past the relationship between the two atomic number 82 characters ("Mama put my guns in the ground/ I can't shoot them anymore"). Dylan made a cameo in the picture show.

7

'Highway 61 Revisited'(1965)

'Highway 61 Revisited'(1965) What does information technology mean?: Dylan said it was inspired by Robert Johnson, the legendary blues singer who was said to take sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of Highway 61 and Highway 49.

eight

'Information technology Ain't Me, Infant'(1964)

'It Ain't Me, Babe'(1964) What does it mean?: Speculation has been rife that this was simply about a one sided relationship or about his terse connection to the folk motility. Most agree that Dylan'south talking about the fact that at the time he reluctantly took the pall of a figurehead for his generation ("Information technology own't me you're looking for").

9

'Pitiful Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' (1966)

'Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' (1966) What does it mean?: Said to exist about his wife at the time Sara Lownds. On the song 'Sara' recorded much later Dylan sings: "Staying upwardly for nights in the Chelsea Hotel, writing 'Sorry Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' for you".

10

'Joey' (1976)

'Joey' (1976) What does it hateful?: The song was about notorious mobster Joey Gallo. It was criticized at the time for its romantic have on the more fierce elements of the gangster's life.

xi

'The Times They Are A Changin'' (1964)

'The Times They Are A Changin'' (1964)
What does it mean?: In the liner notes of Biograph he said about the rails: "I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song with short curtailed verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic style… I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I wanted to say it to."

12

'Only A Pawn In Their Game' (1964)

'Only A Pawn In Their Game' (1964)
What does information technology mean?: This track is well-nigh civil rights and more than specifically the bump-off of the civil rights leader Medgar Evers in his driveway. He starting time performed the track in front of 200,000 people in Washington, DC prior to Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech communication.

13

'Went To Come across The Gypsy' (1970)

'Went To Run across The Gypsy' (1970)
What does it mean?: Dylan penned this after first encountering Elvis Presley in Las Vegas. "Went to see the gypsy/Stayin' in a big hotel/ He smiled when he saw me coming/ And he said 'well, well, well'". Dylan is quoted as proverb: "Hearing Elvis was like busting out of jail."

14

'Simply Like Tom Thumb'due south Blues' (1965)

'Only Like Tom Pollex'southward Dejection' (1965)
What does it mean?: Said to have been inspired past Jack Kerouac's poetry collection Mexico Metropolis Dejection. He uses that work equally a springboard, to reflect how his ain touring, on-the-road lifestyle had get a whirl of sleep deprivation and stimulant consumption.

fifteen

'She Belongs To Me' (1965)

'She Belongs To Me' (1965) What does information technology mean?: This is about his affair with Joan Baez. The singer, though, had her ain career and was besides individual to simply exist Dylan's significant other. This ambiguity seems axiomatic in the opening lines "She's got everything she needs/ She'due south an artist, she don't expect back".

xvi

'Tombstone Blues' (1966)

'Tombstone Blues' (1966)
What does it mean?: Dylan tackles the escalating Vietnam War with references to the President at the time, Lyndon Johnson (he is thought to be "the male monarch of the Philistines") and the war-mongering mentality. Heavily influenced by the way of his book Tarantula.

17

'Blowin' In The Wind' (1963)

'Blowin' In The Current of air' (1963)
What does it hateful?: Dylan said it wasn't a "protest song". It seemed to be, in part, a warning against fans turning the vocalist into an icon but the importance of never losing the ability to question everything around you.

18

'Black Diamond Bay' (1976)

'Blackness Diamond Bay' (1976)
What does it mean?: Allen Ginsberg chosen it a "brusk novel in verse". It was inspired by a Joseph Conrad novel Victory. In the book 'Black Diamond Bay' is a disused coal port in the Far Eastward.

xix

'Caribbean area Wind' (1981)

'Caribbean Air current' (1981)
What does it mean?: Dylan himself wasn't sure what the track what about. He said: "That one, I couldn't grasp what it was about after I finished it". Yet with its references to 'Israel' and The Bible's Song Of Solomon ("She was the rose of Sharon") it seems to exist a religious travelogue told via a love vocal.

20

'Catfish' (1991)

'Catfish' (1991)
What does it mean?: Originally recorded in the 70s, information technology was widely bootlegged until information technology was released in the early 90s on 'The Bootleg Series Volume ane-three'. The track is nigh baseball game thespian Catfish Hunter with the lyrics "Catfish, meg dollar man/Nobody can throw the brawl like Catfish can".

21

'Quinn The Eskimo (Might Quinn)' (1967)

'Quinn The Eskimo (Might Quinn)' (1967)
What does information technology mean? In Chronicles Volume 1 he says: "Years before I had written a vocal called 'The Mighty Quinn'…and I wondered what the motion-picture show was about. Eventually I'd sneak off and go there to see it. (It had) Denzel Washington (in information technology). Funny, that's just the way I imagined him when I wrote the song…Denzel Washington."

22

'Chimes Of Freedom' (1964)

'Chimes Of Freedom' (1964)
What does it mean?: The track deals with the hot topic of civil war, but also takes in political prisoners, outcasts and "every hung-up person in the universe".

23

'Dear Landlord' (1967)

'Dearest Landlord' (1967)
What does it mean?: The 'landlord' is Albert Grossman, Dylan's managing director until 1968 and the rather scathing lyrics reflects their strained relationship, hinting at Grossman'south lack of understanding when information technology came to dealing with his acts. 1 of Grossman'southward other clients, Janis Joplin, afterward recorded a version of the runway.

24

'Let Me Dice In My Footsteps' (1962)

'Let Me Die In My Footsteps' (1962)
What does information technology mean?: Initially inspired by witnessing workers at a bomb shelter turned building site. It besides serves as an anti-state of war comment on the Cuban Missile Crisis ("There's been rumours of war and wars that take been/ The meaning of the life has been lost in the current of air.")

25

'I'll Keep It With Mine' (1964)

'I'll Keep It With Mine' (1964)
What does it mean? Written for soon-to-be Velvet Hush-hush chanteuse Nico about the relationship with her child, Ari. The two had start met at the time of his "Some other Side Of Bob Dylan" album, and Nico was his companion during a brusque European jaunt between Germany and Greece.

26

'Masters Of War' (1962)

'Masters Of War' (1962)
What does information technology mean? Earlier JFK was came into ability, outgoing president Eisenhower gave an address warning of the mail-Cold War "military-industrial-circuitous". Equally a reaction to this, Dylan tackles this theme of men in power and takes them to task for not taking responsibility for the personal price of their actions.

27

'Most Likely Y'all Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine' (1966)

'Well-nigh Probable You Go Your Fashion and I'll Go Mine' (1966)
What does information technology mean? In this song dear is a power struggle, a contest ("Y'all say my kisses are not like his/ Just this time I'm not gonna tell yous why that is.") Said to be another inspired past Edie Sedgwick.

28

'Lay Down Your Weary Tune' (1963)

'Lay Downward Your Weary Tune' (1963)
What does it mean?: Although it was left off 'The Times They Are a-Changin', this track is thought to be one of the showtime manifestations of Dylan's spirituality, specifically the thought that God was in everything.

29

'Every Grain Of Sand' (1981)

'Every Grain Of Sand' (1981)
What does information technology mean? Although it was recorded during his Built-in Again period, this song of spirituality seemed to dig deeper than many of his other evangelical numbers. Loaded with Biblical and Blakean imagery, Dylan said the rail "just came to (him)," in a bout of divine inspiration.

30

'All Forth The Watchtower' (1967)

'All Along The Watchtower' (1967)
What does it mean?: Who is 'the joker' and who is 'the thief'? Is information technology Dylan and Elvis? Is information technology Jesus and Satan? Lower and upper course? Information technology'due south actually thought to be a mix of all the above and, ultimately, the futility of it all. "There are many hither among us who feel that life is but a joke," he sings.

31

'Like A Rolling Stone' (1965)

'Like A Rolling Stone' (1965)
What does it mean?: Thought to be inspired at least in part by the Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick whom Dylan had an matter with. His relationship with her was a cause of some friction however, creating an emotional tug of war between Dylan and the Warhol army camp in which she was heavily entrenched both emotionally and chemically.

32

'Hurricane' (1975)

'Hurricane' (1975)
What does it hateful?: A protest song about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter who, it was thought, was falsely accused of murder. Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue played a charity gig for the boxer in New York's Madison Foursquare Gardens. However, a yr after the song came out, Carter was found guilty of the criminal offense and Dylan has not played the song live since 1976.

33

'Ballad Of A Thin Man' (1965)

'Ballad Of A Thin Man' (1965)
What does information technology mean?: Who is 'Mr Jones'? Well after years of non admitting his identity Dylan admitted the shady figure was Max Jones, a Melody Maker journalist who didn't get Dylan's lyrics. Which makes sense if you lot consider lines similar: ("You walk into the room/With your pencil in your hand…You try and then hard/But you don't understand").

34

'A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Autumn' (1962)

'A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall' (1962)
What does it mean?: Although information technology is idea to be virtually the Cuban missile crisis and the evils of nuclear power, Dylan penned the song just a few weeks before it took place in October 1962. Nonetheless, it caught the mood of a society potentially on the cusp of nuclear state of war. Joan Baez called it: "An anti-nuclear holocaust song."

35

'Desolation Row' (1965)

'Desolation Row' (1965)
What does it mean?: 11 minutes long and featuring a huge cast of characters, it'southward been widely debated amongst Dylanologists as to what this song is about. Many believe there are at least ten stories being told. Others believe that the general sweep of runway deals with depression.

36

'Girl From The Northward State' (1963)

'Girl From The North State' (1963)
What does information technology mean?: Said to be inspired by his relationship with Suze Rotolo. He went to Italy in search of her. In her memoir A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir Of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, she recalled: "Our time together fed his work…He once told me that he couldn't accept written sure songs if he hadn't know me."

37

'Gotta Serve Somebody' (1979)

'Gotta Serve Somebody' (1979)
What does it mean?: Dylan had converted from Judaism to Christianity, after seeing a vision of Jesus in a hotel room. The lyrics to 'Gotta Serve Somebody' was about his new found spirituality. Its gospel tone split up fans at the fourth dimension of its release.

38

'I Shall Exist Released' (1967)

'I Shall Be Released' (1967)
What does information technology hateful?: Thought it be both an anti-death penalty rail and as well, in the spirit of 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', nigh being released from physical existence. Biographers take said that the vocal is too Dylan'due south reaction to his 1966 motorcycle accident, which left him thinking about his own mortality.

39

'I'll Be Your Babe Tonight' (1967)

'I'll Be Your Babe This night' (1967)
What does it mean?: With its very straightforward lyrics, the rail is thought to be about a one night stand up. It'south also been interpreted equally being nigh his wife Sara and their first kid Jesse.

40

'Just Like A Woman' (1966)

'Only Like A Adult female' (1966)
What does it mean?: Some other one inspired by Edie Sedgwick, only besides some of the lines are said to reference to his human relationship with fellow folkie Joan Baez.

41

'Lay Lady Lay' (1969)

'Lay Lady Lay' (1969)
What does information technology hateful?: Originally commissioned for the moving-picture show Midnight Cowboy, the tale of two hustlers, but Dylan later denied that the song made any references to 'getting laid'.

42

'Visions Of Johanna' (1966)

'Visions Of Johanna' (1966)
What does it mean?: 'Johanna' is widely believed to exist Joan Baez, the folk singer whom Dylan dated in the early on part of his career. The track is said to reference the fourth dimension when he barbarous for his futurity wife Sara.

43

'Maggie'due south Farm' (1965)

'Maggie'due south Farm' (1965)
What does it hateful?: Based on 'Downward On Penny's Farm', a song about a bad landlord past 1920s folk band The Bently Boys. The Bently Boys song was also the inspiration for an earlier Dylan vocal 'Difficult Times In The Land'.

44

'Idiot Current of air' (1975)

'Idiot Wind' (1975)
What does it mean?: The track is said to be about the many things that were concerning him at the time: the finish of his marriage and his view of married woman Sara, how his fame has isolated him and his human relationship to himself.

45

'John Wesley Harding' (1967)

'John Wesley Harding' (1967)
What does it mean?: The outlaw assassin of the championship had murdered 40 people past the fourth dimension he went to prison in 1878.

46

'You Ain't Going Nowhere' (1967)

'You Ain't Going Nowhere' (1967)
What does it mean?: Thought to be about his motorcycle accident and the backwash. His limited movement meant that he really wasn't going anywhere anytime shortly.

47

'Day Of The Locusts' (1970)

'Day Of The Locusts' (1970)
What does it mean?: Inspired by the book of the same proper noun by Nathaneal Due west about the hangers on who populate the fringes of Hollywood. Dylan was said to use this to talk about his own fame.

48

'With God On Our Side' (1964)

'With God On Our Side' (1964)
What does it mean?: A revisionist history lesson (no, not like 'We Didn't Start The Fire'). Information technology has 9 viii line verses all questioning the America's involvement in various wars.

49

'One Too Many Mornings' (1964)

'One Likewise Many Mornings' (1964)
What does it mean?: Said to exist nigh his interruption up with Suze Rotolo, the couple have seemingly experienced too much together and they are both weary.

l

'The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest' (1967)

'The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest' (1967)
What does information technology mean?: A parable alluding to Jesus' temptation by the devil, was it also a sly dig at Dylan's manager at the fourth dimension, Albert Grossman?

51

'Forever Young' (1974)

'Forever Young' (1974)
What does it mean?: It was written for Dylan's children, which fits the nursery rhyme / hymnal tone of the melody. Diana Ross covered it, yous know.

52

'Neighborhood Smashing' (1983)

'Neighborhood Not bad' (1983)
What does it mean?: Some recollect this track represents Dylan taking a Zionist opinion, post-obit his built-in again Christian stage. Only Dylan never admitted this in interviews.

53

'It'south All Over Now Infant Blue' (1965)

'Information technology's All Over At present Baby Blueish' (1965)
What does it hateful?: It's been speculated that this is his 'kiss off' to the folk scene before he went electric. It'due south likewise been suggested that information technology'southward about fellow folk vocaliser Paul Clayton who toured with Dylan. Clayton took his ain life in 1966.

54

'All I Really Want To Do' (1964)

'All I Really Desire To Do' (1964)
What does it mean?: Some other rail about his relationship with Suze Rotolo, Dylan sounds annoyed with the role he has to play to his partner.

55

'My Back Pages' (1964)

'My Dorsum Pages' (1964)
What does it mean?: A dialogue betwixt the Dylan of 1964 and the Dylan of the past, thought by many to exist him turning his dorsum on the folk / protestation movement.

56

'From A Buick 6' (1965)

'From A Buick 6' (1965)
What does it mean?: Dylan describes a pretty one-sided human relationship in which he is dependent on the adult female. It's thought to exist almost his married woman Sara.

57

'Queen Jane Approximately' (1965)

'Queen Jane Approximately' (1965)
What does information technology mean?: Queen Jane was widely idea to be Joan Baez, the then chosen 'queen of the folkies'. It fits with the fourth dimension the song was written, when their relationship and his connection with the folk move were both going cold.

58

'The Carol Of Hollis Brown' (1964)

'The Ballad Of Hollis Chocolate-brown' (1964)
What does information technology mean?: It may be fairly straightforward, but this is, no doubt about it, a tragedy in vocal form. Hollis Brown is unemployed and lives on the edges of society with his "wife and v children." By the end of the song he takes a shotgun and "7 shots ring out".

59

'Boots Of Spanish Leather' (1964)

'Boots Of Spanish Leather' (1964)
What does it mean? Oblique though it might be, it seems like it references Dylan's then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo's trip to Italy when their human relationship was at a standstill.

60

'When The Send Comes In' (1964)

'When The Ship Comes In' (1964)
What does it hateful?: Is information technology about the oppressive powers that the civil rights movement was fighting confronting, or was information technology, in fact about the hotel manager who wouldn't allow Dylan in considering he looked too scruffy. The latter co-ordinate to Joan Baez.

61

'Restless Goodbye' (1964)

'Restless Cheerio' (1964)
What does it mean?: A couple of the vocal verses deal with an commodity which appeared in Newsweek which falsely claimed that Dylan had "bought" 'Blowing' In the Current of air' from a New Jersey high school pupil.

62

'To Ramona' (1964)

'To Ramona' (1964)
What does it mean?: This is thought to be almost Joan Baez, a song that lovingly addresses the singer's love for materialism and social climbing over what is actually of import.

63

'Abandoned Love' (1975)

'Abandoned Honey' (1975)
What does it mean?: This was recorded for the 'Desire' sessions and left off in favour of 'Joey'. It's thought to be nigh his break upward with wife Sara Lownds ("My head tells me it'southward fourth dimension to make a modify/ But my eye is telling me I love you but you're strange").

64

'Absolutely Sweet Marie' (1966)

'Admittedly Sweet Marie' (1966)
What does it hateful?: With its lyrics about waiting on 'Marie', who is unreliable and the sexually forthright lyrics, information technology's thought to be about his romance with Edie Sedgwick. Information technology as well contains a poetry seemingly predicting his motorcycle blow; "Well, I don't know how it happened/ But the river-boat helm; he knows my fate…".

65

'As I Went Out One Morning' (1967)

'As I Went Out 1 Morning' (1967)
What does it hateful?: This vocal makes reference to his acceptance voice communication when he received a Tom Paine Accolade from the National Emergency Ceremonious Liberties Commission. He was booed after saying he sympathized with Lee Harvey Oswald.

66

'Ballad In Manifestly D' (1964)

'Ballad In Obviously D' (1964)
What does it hateful?: Another vocal about Suze Rotolo, it detailed the disharmonize between her mother, Mary, and sis Carla. Dylan biographer Brian W Fairbanks called it "more of a poison pen letter than a song". Mary told a journalist she idea he was a "twerp" with "green teeth".

67

'Beyond The Horizon' (2006)

'Beyond The Horizon' (2006)
What does it mean?: The lyrics appeared to be Dylan's argument of intent; that he was non 'past it'. "Y'all think I'1000 over the hill/ Remember I'm by my prime/ Let me come across what you lot got/ We tin can have a whooping good fourth dimension".

68

'Bob Dylan'south 115th Dream' (1965)

'Bob Dylan's 115th Dream' (1965)
What does information technology mean?:A critique of American culture and colonialism, it plays out like a surreal history lesson with its references to Moby Dick'due south Captain Ahab and Christopher Columbus.

69

'Brownsville Daughter' (1986)

'Brownsville Girl' (1986)
What does it mean?: At 11 minutes long and co-written past playwright Sam Shepard it is considered what of Dylan's greatest narratives. Last yr information technology was, according to reports, being turned into a pic a "cantankerous between Bonnie & Clyde and The Shawshank Redemption."

70

'Ain't Talkin'' (2006)

'Ain't Talkin'' (2006) – What does it mean?: After his late 70 conversion to Christianity, this track from rails from 'Modern Times' dealt with his oscillating human relationship to faith ("I practice a faith that'south been long abandoned") through a waft of magic realism.

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