We all know the Bob Dylan songs we hear on the radio — the likes of Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Like a Rolling Stone and Just Like a Woman — but what of the scores of others that are either concealed, forgotten or just unknown to all but the Dylan fanatic? Here are some of his under-the-radar best.
Huck’s Tune
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs, 2008
This is not to be found on any of Dylan’s studio albums, but tucked away on the soundtrack to Drew Barrymore’s 2007 film Lucky You, for which it was written. Huck’s Tune is one of Dylan’s latter gorgeous acoustic, innately melodic ballads. It’s full of lingering world-weariness and smart lyrics (“you’re as fine as wine/ I ain’t handing you no line/ I’m gonna have to put you down for a while”) and deserves a much wider audience.
Mississippi
Love and Theft, 2001
With the exception of die-hard fans, few people are aware of how exceptional this song is. It was originally recorded for his 1997 album Time Out of Mind, but Dylan gave it to Sheryl Crow for her 1998 album The Globe Sessions. He returned to it, however, and re-recorded it for Love and Theft as a rambling, rolling pop song full of wistful references to growing older (“my heart is not weary/ it’s light and it’s free”), liberation, perseverance, regret, love and loneliness.
The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar
Shot of Love, 1981
“Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature?/ I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture.” This is scorching blues-rock that the Rolling Stones in their prime would be hard-pressed to imitate. Dylan envisages an apocalyptic scenario where nuns are being killed and communications are in disarray.
Most of the Time
Oh Mercy, 1989/The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs, 2008
Dylan is renowned for radically rehauling his material, and Most of the Time shares that trait on record, at least. Originally, he wanted this as a lean, acoustic guitar/harmonica-driven folk track, and it appears as such on The Bootleg Series Tell Tale Signs album. On Oh Mercy, however, producer Daniel Lanois layers the vocals with swathes of his signature ambient traces, transforming it even further into a beautiful slice of melancholy.
Making a Liar Out of Me
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979-1981, 2017
For decades, this was one of several ‘Holy Grail’ songs that few of even the most probing Dylan fans had heard. The previously unreleased song was performed in rehearsal-only, never finding its way on to record and not even played live. Casting aside its similarity to the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, this really is a lost gem.
Up to Me
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood More Tracks, 2018
A song that was removed from Blood on the Tracks, perhaps due to thematic parallels to a few other songs from it. An all-killer-no-filler example of a hermit’s wail.
Tomorrow is a Long Time
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962-1964, 2010
Acoustic guitar, harmonica and great lyrics, this is part of a series of basic (if fabled) demo recordings that Dylan made for M Witmark & Sons, one of his first publishing companies. Its simple and romantic tenderness is a well-aimed arrow to the heart.
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