Hey everybody, remember listicles? I sure do! They were all the rage about ten years ago, which is an eternity in internet time. In the early days of this blog, they were my metier, in fact. I figured if Bob Dylan's 80s music can be brought back (as it has been re-evaluated in recent years) so can the listicle. It's a match made in heaven! So, with that in mind, here are my top ten Dylan songs from the 80s.
1. "Every Grain of Sand" (Bootleg Series version)
Dylan began the 80s in his evangelical Christian phase. While he got some great musical backing on these records, the hectoring, overzealous lyrics on many of these songs are by far the worst of his career. At the same time, when he keyed into the true spiritual depth of religious music the sublime could emerge in new ways. "Every Grain of Sand," about the mysterious power of God and finding peace in closeness to Him, moves me like few other Dylan songs. When I am having a bad day I can listen to it and find some inner calm.
The most famous outtake of all time, proof that Dylan either didn't know his own best songs or felt a perverse need to withhold them. I hear this song as a commentary on how the history of slavery still haunts this country, and how this country owes its musical heritage to Africans brought here against their will. Maybe Bob thought it was just too real.
3. "Ring Them Bells" (New York Supper Club version)
This is a great example of how Dylan took the spirituality of his Christian phase onward, but took away the preaching while keeping the depth of emotion. It's just a flat-out beautiful song. The live version from the Signs of Life Bootleg Series entry is even better than the studio version. (Not a surprise considering the way Dylan tosses off stuff in the studio compared to how spontaneous he gets live.)
Knocked Out Loaded is a terrible album, but it perversely includes "Brownsville Girl," one of Dylan's best all time songs. It's one of his shaggy narratives, like "Lowlands" or "Murder Most Foul," and like both of those songs, hypnotic. Despite the overblown production it is something I can't stop listening to.
5. "Jokerman"
Reggae inflections, Mark Knopfler's sweet guitar tone, and one of Dylan's catchiest choruses. This is actually the song that sent me down my 80s Dylan rabbit hole in the first place. In 1984 Dylan decided to perform this song on Letterman with the punk band Plugz backing him. Their version of the song is pretty amazing, and it's a shame they didn't cut an album together.
An outtake from Oh Mercy!, produced by Daniel Lanois. His impact on U2's sound is obvious here, and I would say this is the best U2 song that isn't done by U2. It has such a stirring, rising anthemic quality to it. Play this one at my funeral.
The Lanois sound is in full effect again here. Outside of Blood on the Tracks he never wrote a song this good about heartbreak. "Break" is the operative word here, since this evokes the feeling of being broken by lost love so damn well.
8. "Dark Eyes"
Empire Burlesque has Dylan's clumsy attempt to embrace 80s production techniques in full effect. However, this song eschews gated snares and synths for harmonica and acoustic guitars. Dylan employs his old tools of the trade gloriously. It's tantalizing taste of a road not taken by him in the 80s.
9. "Silvio"
Down in the Groove is a bad album, but even the worst Dylan albums have a gem or two. "Silvio" is some rollicking fun, a mode Dylan should engage with some more since I always love the results.
Yet another Oh Mercy! track, by far his best album of the decade. This long couldn't be more relevant today. It's about rigged systems and the venal, corrupt operators running the show. It's a testament to this song that it can be a political commentary without losing any of its contemporary relevance.
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