Favorite obscure Dylan songs?

[cemaphonic]

Obscure as in "not a big hit", not "what the hell is he mumbling about and what does it mean anyway?"

I like "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie" and "Isis."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Love Minus Zero / No Limit

Not a hit in the "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Lay Lady Lay" way...not sure how it charted.

Eric Clapton's performance of the song at "BobFest"...the 30th Anniversary Tribute Concert...was one of the highlights, and one of the best performances of Clapton's career.

And it was cut from the double CD of the event. Go figure.

Here it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqxp-EGhSFc

:toast:

[abq e streeter]

21. Many , including Please Crawl Out Your Window--oops, meant as reply to OP...oh well...

Especially this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLeutT09Vnk

[gmoney]

2. "Motorpsycho Nightmare"

Bob's version of a Farmer's Daughter joke... very funny.

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/motorpsycho-nightmare

[cemaphonic]

4. Heh, nice

Kinda reminds me of "I will be Free." with the funny lyrics with totally deadpan delivery.

[hibbing]

45. hehe

You unpatriotic doctor commie rat!


Peace

[mitchum]

3. "Talkin' Clothes Line Blues (Clothes Line Saga)"

I like "Ode to Billy Joe", but I also like Dylan when he's being catty

[cemaphonic]

6. Given the popularity of "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Positively 4th St"

I think lots of people like Dylan when he's being catty.

[mitchum]

8. That's the Dylan I like...

a nasty, bitter, cynical man with an acid tongue
I don't understand how he ever became "king of the hippies"

[cemaphonic]

9. I don't think he understood how that happened either.

He's clearly been trying to shake that image for the last 40 years or so.

On the subject of catty Dylan - Tweeter & the Monkeyman - Friendly homage to Springsteen, or sarcastic diss on an upstaging rival? I could see a case being made either way, but it's hard to tell with him.

[old mark]

5. One of my favorite songs by Blind Boy Grunt (Dylan)

"Only A Hobo".

mark

ADDED: It takes much from a man
to see his whole life go down
to look up on the world
from a hole in the ground
to wait for his future
like a horse that's gone lame
to live in the gutter
and die with no name

only a hobo, but one more is gone
leaving nobody to sing his sad song
leaving nobody to carry him home
only a hobo, but one more is gone

[rug]

7. I Don't Believe You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkq0UvwvA7s&feature=related

[BlueStateGirl]

10. Nobody 'Cept You

[Zomby Woof]

11. "Visions of Johanna"

"Moonshiner"

"Blind Willie McTell"

"One More Cup of Coffee"

"Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"


Favorite Dylan bitchy song? "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)"

[hibbing]

46. Visions of Johanna

It ain't just like the night to play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet.

Peace

[Zomby Woof]

48. We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it

[kimmerspixelated]

12. I would probably pick , "Tonight I'll be staying here with you!"

I love the Nashville Skyline album. Also, If Not For You!

[graywarrior]

13. Dignity, Man in the Long Black Coat, and Trust Yourself

[Zomby Woof]

14. You're on your own, you always were

in a land of wolves and thieves.
Don't put your trust in ungodly men
Or be a slave to what somebody else believes...

[graywarrior]

18. !

Don’t trust me to show you the truth
When the truth may only be ashes and dust.

[Jade Fox]

15. Spanish Harlem Incident...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ451OQYpcY

[retread]

16. Down Along the Cove never fails to bring a smile.

Down along the cove
I spied my true love comin' my way
Down along the cove
I spied my true love comin' my way
I say, "Lord, have mercy, mama
It sure is good to see you comin' today".

Down along the cove
I spied my little bundle of joy
Down along the cove
I spied my little bundle of joy
She said, "Lord, have mercy, honey
I'm so glad you're my boy".

Down along the cove
We walked together hand in hand
Down along the cove
We walked together hand in hand
Ev'rybody watchin' us go by
Knows we're in love, yes, and they understand.

[Mike 03]

17. "Man in The Long Black Coat" from OH MERCY

This song so fascinated me that I was involved in writing a story and then a screenplay about it. I terminated it because there was no way to do it justice.

So intricate, so endlessly fascinating.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. Catskills Serenade (wr. David Bromberg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS2fZQLcBEs

& Moonshiner
& Angelina.

[Lucy Goosey]

20. Is "Mississippi" obscure?

I honestly don't know Dylan well enough to know what is considered obscure, but I like "Mississippi" - his recording and the Dixie Chicks cover; not so much the Sheryl Crow cover.

[Zomby Woof]

27. I LOVE that song

It qualifies as obscure, yes. Not too old either - dates from 2001.

[cemaphonic]

30. I'd say so.

His albums over the last decade have been pretty well-regarded and commercially successful, but compared to his huge hits, it's not that well-known.

And I agree, great song.

[KamaAina]

22. "Maggie's Farm" and "The Ballad of Hollis Brown"

the latter covered by, among others, the Neville Brothers; you did know that Dylan lived in NOLA for a time and recorded an album there, right?

[abq e streeter]

23. The oddly titled( even for Bob) Billy 4 from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPLMty5eMwA

Love hearing Bob singing about all these New Mexico places ("way down in some Tularosa alley, maybe in the Rio Pecos valleeeeee")

[Zomby Woof]

28. Not really odd

Just his way of numbering the different themes for Billy The Kid. It was his first soundtrack he was commissioned to do, which is different than having a single from past recordings lifted for a soundtrack.

[abq e streeter]

38. yeah, just sounds weird when you say the name of the song out loud: "Billy 4"

a barely related bit of trivia.. our state song( most people don't know we apparently have one) O' Fair New Mexico, was written in 1917 by Elizabeth Garrett; Pat Garrett's daughter.

[abq e streeter]

24. And ...Changing of the Guards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-cxNOCoHWc

[Taverner]

25. The Pizza Tapes

Oh wait, wrong musical icon...

[KG]

26. New Pony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbo65uL8n28

[HEyHEY]

29. Nashville Skyline rag and every other song on that album

[struggle4progress]

31. Wheel's on fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_is3vbCKaqk

[Capn Sunshine]

32. All Along the Watchtower

Huge hit for someone else. BD's version is hautingly evocative; you can feel the cold wind whistling through the walls while a wildcat howls in the darkness.

[cemaphonic]

40. Dylan liked the Hendrix version so much that he modified his later performances of it

to more of a rock arrangement.

[martymar64]

33. Would Idiot Wind count as obscure?

[elshiva]

34. I fucking love that song!

We're idiots, babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves. :)

[cemaphonic]

41. I'd disqualify everything from Blood on the Tracks.

but it is a great song. One of my favorites too, though I like Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts best from that album.

[smoochpooch]

35. Country Pie? n/t

[timtom]

36. Dave van Ronk sings my favorite little-known Dylan song:

"The Old Man"

I'll sing you a song
It's not very long
About an old man who never done wrong
How he died no one can say
Found him dead on the street one day

[Xipe Totec]

37. There are weeds in the garden of my heart

Yes, I know, very obscure.

From his early years.

Very early years.

Prepubescent, actually.

Also from the same album:

My bird has Diarrhea,

and my all time favorite:

My Dog ate my Homework!

[begin_within]

39. Wow, I was going to say "Isis" too.

[MiddleFingerMom]

42. "The Ballad of the Green Berets"

.
Very, very, very, very obscure.
.
Not even I have heard his version of it.
.

[hibbing]

43. Lay Down Your Weary Tune

Hi,
Interesting post here. Obscure is relative. I love the version of this song from Biograph, it is so soft and beautiful.

My favorite line from the song:

I stood unwound beneath the skies
And clouds unbound by laws.
The cryin’ rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause.


Peace

[Heidi]

44. "Wagon Wheel," (he shares writing credit with Ketch Secor).

"Wagon Wheel," performed by Old Crow Medicine Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gX1EP6mG-E&feature=fvst

[cherokeeprogressive]

47. Watchin' the River Flow

[Brickbat]

49. Isis. Total love.