I really like Bob Dylan…a lot. You could say that he’s my favorite musician, because he is. I don’t know what it is, but I enjoy his music more than I have anything else I have listened to in my entire life. In addition to that, I know too much about Bob Dylan. Like for example, that his song ‘Girl From the North County Side’ was allegedly about his teenage girlfriend Echo Helstrom. But ‘Girl From the North Country Side’ isn’t my favorite Dylan song, no. That dubious distinction goes to…well, it doesn’t go to anything, because I can’t pick a favorite Dylan song. I’m tempted to say “Don’t Think Twice”, or “Stuck Inside of Mobile”, but, than a song like “When The Deal Goes Done”, or “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, or my favorite from Blood on the Tracks, “Idiot Wind” comes up, and then, occasionally, when I listen to “Like a Rolling Stone”, I am overcome by its majesty, by the way that Dylan pours his soul into the song, and for that moment, “Like a Rolling Stone” becomes my favorite Dylan song, but I digress. I have no favorite Dylan song, nor, for that matter, do I have a favorite Dylan album, this one is a bit easier, it’s a tossup between Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisted, Blood on the Tracks, the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding, Desire, and, Infidels. I guess that’s not really a tossup, but I think I could more easily pick a favorite Dylan album than song, probably because an album encompasses and symbolizes so much more than a single song.
I do however, have a favorite Beatles song, and a favorite Wilco song, a favorite Grateful Dead song and a favorite Velvet Underground song. (In My Life, What Light, Doin’ That Rag and Heroin). I guess those five musical acts are my top five. As for favorite albums by those other four, that’s a bit tougher. I suppose Velvet Underground and Nico is my favorite album by the Velvet Underground, and American Beauty is my favorite Dead album, but those two are debatable. Of course, none of this is set in stone, I could wake up tomorrow morning, and decide that I’m more of a Phil Ochs fan than a Velvet Underground fan, or that I find Jerry Garcia’s comforting voice more likeable than John Lennon’s vocal beauty, but, those are pretty minor changes.
That’s a quick glimpse into my musical tastes. I could go on, considering I’ve left out CSNY, Bob Marley, Phish, Jeff Beck, The Band, Frank Zappa, Robert Johnson, and many others. But I won’t.
On top of all that, I’m a wannabe musician. I play guitar and sing. (Badly, although not guitar, I’m exceptional at that.)
