What Are The Top 30 Bob Dylan Songs of All Time?

It seems like only yesterday that we launched our inaugural Top Songs List, featuring the greatest work of one of our all-time heroes, his Bobness. But that was many Dylan albums ago. Oh, these modern times.

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Here now, for your reading pleasure, and in honor of every day being a great day to listen to nothing but Dylan…is a little piece of our back pages: The Top 30 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs of All Time. Click on each song entry to read the accompanying essay. Also, if you like lists, check out The Top 20 Jeff Tweedy Songs, The Top 20 Jay Farrar Songs, The Top 20 Ryan Adams Songs, and The Top 20 U2 Songs.

1. Blowin’ In The Wind

2. Like A Rolling Stone

3. The Times They Are A-Changin’

4. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

5. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

6. Desolation Row

7. A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall

8. Masters Of War

9. Mr. Tambourine Man

10. Tangled Up In Blue

11. Subterranean Homesick Blues

12. Visions Of Johanna

13. Ballad Of A Thin Man

14. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

15. Just Like A Woman

16. Idiot Wind

17. Simple Twist Of Fate

18. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

19. Isis

20. I Want You

21. Hurricane

22. Bob Dylan’s Dream

23. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream

24. To Ramona

25. Mississippi

26. She’s Your Lover Now

27. When I Paint My Masterpiece

28. Angelina

29. Moonshiner

30. Dear Landlord

15 Comments

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  1. If ‘Watchtower’ isn’t in the top 30 then I just don’t know what to say. And ‘Knocking on heaven’s door’? That would top MY list.

    On the other hand, ‘Blowin’ in the wind’ wouldn’t even make my Top 50….

  2. Changing of the Guards
    The Lonsome Death of Hattie Carroll
    Song to Woody
    With God On Our Side

    those would make my top 30 of Dylan songs.

  3. You leave out the following : “Everything Is Broken,” “To Make You Feel My Love,” “All Along The WatchTower,” “My Back Pages” and “You Ain’t Going Nowhere?” But, you include “Rainy Day Women…. and ….115th Dream?X!%##!?

  4. Naturally, with dozens of great songs, people’s favorites are bound to not make the list. You can’t please everybody. Then again, “All Along the Watchtower” should not have been overlooked, nor should “Highway 61 Revisited” have either. I love “The Man in Me”, but I can accept that it’s not in a Top 30.

  5. I think that this is a good list, but missing “All Along the Watchtower” and “Positively 4th Street” especially seems ludicrous. Plus, “Tangled Up in Blue” should be a top 5, “Idiot Wind” should be a top 10, and “Don’t Think Twice” should not be in the top 10. And personally, I’m fine with where “Desolation Row” is, but I do think it is Dylan’s best piece.

  6. Girl From North Country… how is it not on there? I’m so confused…
    Also, honorable mention should be Tomorrow is a Long Time, my personal favorite from Bob.

  7. Where’s?: Forever Young, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Queen Jane, Stuck Inside Mobile, Postively 4th Street, Lay, Lady, Lay, Watchtower.

    Desolation Row and Visions of Johanna need to be higher.

  8. I’m late to this party, but Gates of Eden, Dear Landlord, Workingman’s Blues, Highlands (where is that 30 min. version??), Not Dark Yet, Trouble in Mind (B side of Gotta Serve Somebody 45)

  9. I think “Sara” should have been included. It is one of the prettiest love songs written without reverting to the old traditional “moon” “soon” type of lyrics.

  10. Wow…wow…wow…Lots of great points, opinions obviously, and this is the trouble ranking the songs of a man who by my guesstimate wrote around 675 songs that I know every lyric too, to whittle that massive prolific output is crazy, impossible and bound to have people DIS-agreeing on the rankings. So now I’d like to take a stab at a few “errors”. The first Major flaw on this list is “Just Like A Woman”….15th really??? Are You shittin Me?? Really…Lets all agree with this, its top 5. Along with “Mr Tambourine Man”, “Tangled Up in Blue”. You gotta chuck “Dont Think Twice” and “Its AllrightMa” outta of the top 5. They MIGHT be top 30, MIGHT……”Masters of War”, I LOVE Bob Dylan and “Masters of War” (cringe) sucks…sorry, its not top 490, everytime in the past 48 years I’ve been listening to Bob Dylan if I was happy or sad, when “Masters” comes on, I pick up the needle and moved it, or I hit FF. No F**#$! Way is that song in the top 30. Neither is “Rainy Day Women” or “She’s your Lover Now”, or “Subterranean Homesick Blues” but “Shelter from the Storm ” sure as hell is. “Buckets of Rain” and “Your gonna Make me Lonesome When You Go” is. “Forever Young”…really???? its not top 30??????…Its top 30 of all the songs ever written in the history of music on planet earth created by a human being…..Hell, “Up to Me”, which is left off of “Blood on the Tracks” is way Way WAY better than 5 or 6 of the songs on this list. So too is “Knockin on Heaven’s Door” and “All Along the Friggin Watchtower”, here’s a hint for next time…When Hendrix and other Rock n Roll HOF’ers have done the song to iconic status, like “Watchtower” or “Knockin on Heavens Door”, perhaps you should consider it a good song…”I Shall be Released”????????? stupid stupid person made this list, knows nothing of Dylan, your not even in the ball park………..I’m sorry is it just me, but I don’t see “JOKERMAN” or “Sweet Heart Like You”, and everyone who said “Positively 4th street” should be in the top 30….ding ding ding…winner winner chicken dinner, you’re right. Goddamn, at least name 30 GREAT friggin Dylan songs. Where’s “God on our Side”, “Oxford Town”, “Boots of Spanish Leather”, I’m starting to get pissed at this list..lol I mean “Percy’s Song”, “Baby Let me Follow You Down”, “Every Grain of Sand”, “On a Nite Like This”, “Senor”, “Time Passes Slowly” C’mon, chuck this shit attempt at trying to come up with arguably the best 30 Dylan tunes and give it a better effort. I don’t want to see “Lay Lady Lay” on there, but “Girl from the North County” and “If Not for You”, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”, “Ramblin Gamblin Willie”, “John Wesley Harding”, “Queen Jane,” “The Mighty Quinn” “You Aint a Goin Nowhere” “Paths of Victory”, “He was a Friend of Mine” “It Aint me Babe”, “Walkin’ Down the Line” “Seven Curses” and “Walls of Red Wing” and “Wallflower” and 25 to 40 other un-named songs rank higher than half a dozen or more on this list. “Corrina Corrina” is better than “Ramona” in the songs named after women category. Rock solid on this list and no one should argue with are “Visions of Johanna”, “When I Paint my Masterpiece” “Hard Rains -A-Gonna Fall” “Hurricane” “Its Allright Ma”, “Desolation Row” and the obvious “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Dont Think Twice” “Blowing in the Wind” “The Times They -are A Changing”…SMH, list sucks…..smh I say Re-do…………..

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