Last Update: 04/05/2026 at 2:50 PM EST
Dylan Reflects on Best and Worst Songs
Coverage from Medium, singersroom.com, and others
Articles
60
Latest Article
02/26
Active Days
5099
Executive Summary
Bob Dylan and critics revisit his most praised, underrated, and weakest songs, revealing how length, lyrics, and context shape his legacy.
- Dylan called Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands the best song he ever wrote
- The 11:23 Blonde on Blonde closer was built around harmonica breaks and shifting dynamics
- Kenny Buttrey recalled the band expecting a short take but the song kept expanding
- The lyrics include personal references to Sara Dylan and drew on the session atmosphere
- A critic ranked Dylan songs using lyric, music, production, cover versions, authorship, timing, and duration
- Several late career and 1980s songs were singled out as weak, including Wiggle Wiggle and T.V. Talkin Song
- Dylan also named Brownsville Girl and In The Garden as overlooked songs he valued
Quick Facts
- What: Debates over Dylan's best, underrated, and worst songs
- Where: Mostly around Blonde on Blonde and later album sessions
- Why: To assess how his songwriting changes and endures
- Who: Bob Dylan, critics, and session musicians
- When: Across Dylan's 1960s to 2017 reflections
Coverage Timeline: 5099 Days
Featured Article
Dylan albums ranked into an eleven tier list on Medium, with Blood on the Tracks highlighted as the pinnacle and Sam Shepard noted for Brownsville Girl.
Additional Articles
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In a retrospective feature on Singersroom, Bob Dylan's most influential songs are ranked and analyzed for their impact on modern music.
Bob Dylan discusses Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands as his best song in a feature detailing the extended studio take.
In this uDiscover Music feature, Bob Dylan's career-spanning songs are analyzed and contextualized, highlighting 30 key recordings across six decades of work.
Uncut magazine updated its 2025 feature listing the 40 greatest Dylan songs.
In this Mojo magazine feature, musicians from multiple genres rank and comment on 60 Bob Dylan songs in a career-spanning survey.
In this essay, Bob Dylan's studio catalogue is surveyed to identify ten notably weak songs using stated evaluative criteria.
Rolling Stone identifies Every Grain of Sand as a standout track from the 1981 album Shot of Love, with Bono praising it and Clydie King providing backing vocals.
An essay on bob-dylan.org.uk analyzes Bob Dylan's hymn-like songs and spiritual themes across recordings and tours.
In a critical essay on chrisgregory.org, Chris Gregory analyzes Bob Dylan's mid-1960s love songs, focusing on Another Side of Bob Dylan and its key tracks.
An article on chrisgregory.org examines Bob Dylan's mid-1960s unreleased love songs and their later interpretation by prominent British and European musicians.
On Oct 13, 2020, a blog post on oliverstwist2016.wordpress.com ranks Bob Dylan albums and provides critical notes.
Ultimate Classic Rock publishes a chronological feature that selects and contextualizes one key Bob Dylan song from each studio album.
State of Sound Magazine publishes a long-form article ranking Bob Dylan's greatest love songs and detailing their biographical and recording contexts.
Paste Magazine publishes a feature ranking all 39 Bob Dylan studio albums from worst to best, with contextual commentary on each recording.
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Bob Dylan's four top-10 Billboard Hot 100 songs from the 1960s are ranked in an American Songwriter feature.
Ultimate Classic Rock published a listicle describing ten of Bob Dylan's strangest songs and their unusual features at https://ultimateclassicrock.com/weirdest-bob-dylan-songs/.
Bob Dylan songs from 1966 to 2012 are listed in the Irish Times culture article.
The Times published a feature ranking Bob Dylan's ten best songs, highlighting key 1960s and 1970s tracks on its website.
In a Substack blog post, mr tambourine launches a 301-song ranking of Bob Dylan's studio catalogue, beginning with explanations for the lowest-rated tracks.
Dylan and guest artists feature eighty versions in a ranked gallery published on myq105.com.
The author ranks Dylan's studio albums from the 1960s to 2020 on an online platform.
WhatCulture publishes an online article about Bob Dylan highlighting underrated songs from the 1960s, including Bob Dylan's 115th Dream from Bringing It All Back Home.
Dylan's five songs are highlighted in a Folkalley article on Folkalley.com to mark the fifty-year anniversary of Dylan's debut.
Mitch Bogen's Art & Argument / Mitch Bogen
01-11-2025
In January 2025, Mitch Bogen's blog featured a reflective article listing and analyzing five favorite Bob Dylan songs drawn from the 1960s and 1970s.
Far Out Magazine publishes an article identifying ten Bob Dylan songs with notable opening lines and analyzing their lyrical and historical significance.
Patti Smith told Rolling Stone that Bob Dylan influenced her early writing and selected 16 favorite Dylan love songs in a discussion in New York.
In 2017, Bob Dylan told Bill Flanagan that 'Brownsville Girl' and 'In The Garden' are among his most underappreciated songs.
Far Out Magazine identifies ten Dylan songs that could be expanded into novels, published recently on faroutmagazine.co.uk.
Far Out Magazine examines ten Bob Dylan love songs, tracing their lyrical themes and historical context across multiple albums and recording eras.
Collider ranks Dylan songs from 20 to 11 on collider.com, spanning tracks from 1963 to 2018.
Rolling Stone Magazine named Ballad in Plain D one of Dylan's worst songs in July 2013.
Singersroom published a ranked list of Bob Dylan's ten most popular songs, highlighting each track's history and cultural impact.
Harvard scholars named Boots of Spanish Leather the top love song, highlighting Dylan's lyricism and cross cultural resonance.
On Oct 24, 2021, the blog post catalogs eleven songs about Bob Dylan by various artists.
On Jul 22, 2024, Greil Marcus used his Substack Ask Greil column to answer reader questions on Bob Dylan, politics, AI, and culture.
On May 24, 2021, InsideHook published a feature ranking 80 notable Bob Dylan cover versions to mark Dylan's 80th birthday.
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On May 24, the article publishes a list of ten songs that it says define Bob Dylan’s career, spanning the 1960s through 2020.
Best Classic Bands reports ten notable Dylan covers spanning the 1960s to the 2000s on its site.
mr tambourine published a Substack post ranking Bob Dylan songs and albums in the 2020s on the Substack platform.
The online article analyzes ten Dylan songs that function as short narratives, detailing scenes and characters across decades.
On 2022-05-16, the article surveys Dylan's albums shaping his career from the 1960s onward.
Far Out Magazine published a ranked list of Bob Dylan's 25 greatest songs at https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-25-best-songs/.
Far Out magazine published a list of songs Bob Dylan has publicly praised, citing statements from his radio show and Chronicles One.
Collider presents a ten song guide to Dylan spanning 1963 to 1997 on collider com.
Dylan released Ballad in Plain D on the 1964 album Another Side of Dylan.
Bob Dylan's top ten songs from 1963 to 1975 are listed in a Singersroom article.
Jacob Osborn reports on Dylan's solo studio albums ranked by Best Ever Albums data updated through May 2022 on MSN.
Screen Rant published a feature detailing Bob Dylan's iconic songs and legacy online.
Dylan's eight songs from 1962 to 1975 are analyzed in a spring 2025 Journee Mondiale article.
Bob Dylan anti love songs are featured in a Vice article for Valentine's Day on Vice.com.
Express.co.uk published a list of Dylan's top ten Spotify streamed songs as of March 2025 in the UK.
Bob Dylan's top ten songs are ranked in a feature covering 1963 to 1975, analyzing their cultural impact for audiences worldwide.
Singersroom lists Bob Dylan's top ten songs on its site.
Who: various artists; What: muses behind famous rock love songs; When: 1960s to 1990s; Where: in rock history.
Bob Dylan songs cited range from 1963 to 1997, published on needsomefun.net to evoke crying.
Singersroom published a feature analyzing ten essential Bob Dylan songs and their musical and lyrical characteristics on its website.
Samuel Moore reviews Bob Dylan’s ten most influential songs and explains their historical and musical significance in an online article for Singersroom.
Bob Dylan's top ten songs from 1963 to 1975 are listed with release years and album references.
The singersroom.com article lists Bob Dylan's top ten songs with release years and album contexts.