181. Bob Dylan, "Bringing It All Back Home"

 

This album, which is just stuffed with well-known and important songs, kicks off with one of the best of those well-known songs - indeed, one of the best songs of all time, "Subterranean Homesick Blues."  I'm going to post the video here, because it's a great song and it was probably also the first "music video," in the sense that it was a short film created specifically to promote the song and the album.

I've listened to this album a few times in the past couple of days, and I just had to stop and watch that video all the way through and listen to the song again.  I love how bored Dylan looks (and how young, Jesus), as he flips through the cards and then gingerly walks away.  The song itself, clearly inspired by Muddy Waters, is so good that John Lennon, who is not exactly a songwriting slouch, said he wasn't sure he could ever write a song as good.  That's a pretty good song.

And that's just the first song!  The next song, "She Belongs to Me," returns to the more folky sound associated with early Dylan after the clearly rock-influenced "Subterranean."  And then "Maggie's Farm," and then "Love Minus Zero," all iconic songs, and all recorded in two days, January 14 and 15, 1965.  That's a couple of good days at the studio!  (A personal note: my former cat, who has long since passed on to a higher plane of cat existence, was named "Maggie" after "Maggie's Farm.")

This may be the first album where every single song is blue on Wikipedia.  That's how deeply these songs are woven into popular culture.  I mean, the 8th track (well, first on the second side) is "Mr. Tambourine Man," which would be such a huge hit for the Byrds that a lot of people assumed it was their song.  

The album is roughly divided into the first "electric" side and the second "acoustic side," reflecting Dylan's own position at the time, torn between the pure acoustic folk sound that he had started out with and the heavier rock he was gravitating towards.  The latter side closes with "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," both incredible songs that show off Dylan's jam-packed lyrics.  From "Ma:"

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make 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

It's been observed that Dylan was sometimes doing an early version of rapping - sing-speaking densely lyrical verses, spitting on the social issues of the day (most of which, sadly, remain the issues of the day), and both "Subterranean" and "Ma" show this feature off admirably.

Honestly, I'm surprised this album isn't higher on the list.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Like you have to ask.