How to get into: Bob Dylan

Few musicians have had quite so many renaissances as Bob Dylan. Every time people begin to doubt or forget his relevancy, he comes back better than ever. Now, in 2024, fresh off of the back of a colossal world tour culminating at The Royal Albert Hall, it is clear he is as worthy of celebration today as he was 60 years ago.  

This current renaissance was kickstarted by Dylan being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 and it has continued through the success of ‘Girl from the North Country’, a Broadway musical shaped around his songs. His legacy is only set to expand, with the upcoming release of biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’, starring none other than Timothée Chalamet, and with two very special album anniversaries. It is these albums will be used to show how you can learn to love the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  

 It is Dylan’s desperation to transform himself that makes this album so unique

We’ll start off by revisiting Highway 61 Revisited (very meta!), which turns 60 next year. Widely considered to be one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time, it marks Dylan’s transition from acoustic to electric – a point of great controversy for many of his fans. It is Dylan’s desperation to transform himself that makes this album so unique. His words, and the music that drives them, are arrogant, spiteful, and joyously poetic. Here are two of the album’s best tracks:  

‘Like a Rolling Stone’- The smash of an organ (played by a guitarist!) kickstarts Dylan’s uncompromising revolution in what is undoubtedly his most famous song. We are immediately struck by the passion and gravitas of this extraordinary young man, who launches into a perfectly crafted tirade against everyone who has turned their back on him. Bob Dylan has more to say than any of his contemporaries at the time. Even the great Paul McCartney concedes: “he showed us all that it was possible to go a little further”. In blasting this masterpiece through one’s headphones, a howling voice jibes at the listener: “You used to be so amused / At Napoleon in rags, and the language that he used” (‘Like a Rolling Stone’, Bob Dylan). The Napoleonic figure here is Dylan, announcing that he has freed himself from the shackles of folk. He is about to become a commander and pioneer of lyricism and sound.  

‘Desolation Row’- This quintessential Dylan epic – an 11-minute fever dream that alludes to fairy tales, the Bible, Shakespeare, celebrities, modernist poetry, and our own impending doom – is possibly the most spellbinding feat of song writing I have ever encountered. Every Bob Dylan song presents a microcosm, and he will not be interrupted until he has finished telling you about it. If the listener accept this, they will find themselves completely immersed by a song like ‘Desolation Row’. No one else has ever had the audacity in one song to explore so many avenues through such strenuously crafted lyrics and, in a contemporary music industry that encourages tracks to be more and more formulaic, they almost certainly never will.       

Celebrating its half-century in January is another classic: ‘Blood on the Tracks’.  Where Highway 61 deals with Dylan’s international status, this album puts a much more intimate lens on the great man. At age 33, Bob Dylan now expresses a vulnerability and humility that had never been visible a decade earlier. The magnificent results are there for all to see, especially on these two tracks:  

Dylan is often criticised for his less-than-angelic voice, but that becomes insignificant when you hear this gut-wrenchingly beautiful work of art

‘Tangled Up In Blue’- I almost weep just writing the name of my favourite Bob Dylan song. A non-chronological story of his now-failing marriage to Sara Lownds, ‘Tangled up in Blue’ is the definitive guide to finding love, losing love, and mourning love. The rhythm of it conjures an image of a crying man who wears a grimacing smile as he reminisces. Dylan is often criticised for his less-than-angelic voice, but that becomes insignificant when you hear this gut-wrenchingly beautiful work of art.  

‘Shelter from the Storm’- Many of ‘The Bard’s’ songs don’t have a chorus, but rather just a repeated phrase at the end of each verse. This allows for Dylan’s monologues to feel as though he is spewing out his thoughts to you in real time. The profound effect of this is seen on this track which, at the end of each of its ten short verses echoes ““Come in,” she said/ “I’ll give you shelter from the storm” (‘Shelter from the Storm’, Bob Dylan). Dylan is plagued by a voice reminding him of what he has lost. This voice delivers his most ingenious line: “I bargained for salvation, and she gave me a lethal dose” (‘Shelter from the Storm’, Bob Dylan). Dylan feels as though he must choose between being a great songwriter and being a good husband, unable to accept the full extent of Lownds’s love.  

 Listening to Bob Dylan is a unique and sometimes daunting experience, but if you approach his music with an open mind, you will either marvel at his genius, or hear some part of yourself singing back.