Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited

Track by Track rating of Highway 61 Revisited

Artist: Bob Dylan
Album: Like A Rolling Stone

Like A Rolling Stone starts with an opening snare, a snare from history, and a snare that keeps on echoing. The blues licks and the organ are the most underrated features of the song. The organ feeds the soul, and the blues licks stir the soul. The rolling drums calls you to attention and Dylan’s voice never lets you go. Like A Rolling Stone has always been rumored to be about a female acquaintance of Andy Warhol. With the female being the subject and Warhol being the one who “took from you everything he could steal.”. Like A Rolling Stone is true rock history. Rating: 10/10 or 5/5 stars.

Tombstone Blues is exactly what it is, the blues. The drums are fast paced and constant. The organ adds punctuations throughout the song. The blues licks course through your veins and springs out through and around your ears. Multiple historical characters are mentioned (John The Baptist, Jack The Ripper, Mo Rainey, Belle Starr, Beethoven, and Delilah). The lines, “the king of the Philistines” and “the sun is not yellow, it’s chicken” are attributed to being about President Lyndon Johnson. The song is amazing and contrary to what Dylan says, he’s never “in trouble with the tombstone blues.”
Rating 10/10 or 5/5 stars

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry is old schools blues mixed in with Woody Guthrie style folk. A swirling piano gives this song its identity, and Dylan’s voice gives it it’s name. The harmonica is used as a break between verses. A bit of trivia that goes along with this song is that its original title was actually, “Phantom Engineer.” Rating 9/10 or 4.5/5

From a Buick 6 is much more in the vision of what kinds of rock songs Dylan wanted to do. The bass line on this bravely shows its country influences. The keyboards give this song its much needed power. The song is based on “Milk Cow Blues” by Sleepy John Estes. Robert Johnson influences can also be heard in this track. Rating 9/10 or 4.5/5 stars

Ballad of A Thin Man. During Dylan’s early days, one way to tell if you were listening to a Dylan track was to wait for the, “oh shit, Dylan is pissed” track. Ballad of A Thin Man is exactly that. The song is about a journalist named “Mr. Jones” who goes to a party that Dylan is attending. While there, Mr. Jones is bombarded by insults and wise cracks. Rating: 10/10 or 5/5 stars

Queen Jane Approximately. This song more than any other, influenced the Lou Reed (Velvet Underground) sound. Gospel laden keyboards, and a nice angelic piano mark this song. Some Dylan’s best lyrics are on this song. Dylan is predicting doom to a woman in this song and is also saying, that when everything goes to hell, please see me.
Rating 10/10 or 5/5 stars

Highway 61 Revisited. The track being with the sound of a police siren which is operated by Dylan. The song has the fastest pace of all the blues tracks on this album. The slide guitar is spewing with energy, along with a some guitar riffs that sound like they came from John Lee Hooker. The song is about the most famous highway that is associated with the blues, and this song does justice to that highway 61.
Rating: 10/10 or 5/5 stars

Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues. This track took 16 takes to get right (Dylan is known for doing quick takes). The song has 6 verses, but it has no choruses. Influences of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Murders In  The Rue Morgue” and John Kerouac’s “Desolation Angels" can be heard in this song. 9.5/10 or 4.75/5

Desolation Row. Armed with only his voice, an acoustic guitar, and harmonica, Dylan probably crafted his best song. The song has been associated with being about the lynching of three black men in Duluth. The men had been accused of raping a white woman and were lynched. It was not until later that the mob found out that they had lynched the wrong men. This track features some of Dylan’s best lyrics. The best lines in this song are “and the only sound that’s left, after the ambulances go, is Cinderella sweeping up, on Desolation Row”, “you would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago. For playing the electric violin on Desolation Row.”, and “between the windows of the sea, where lovely mermaids flow, and nobody has to think too much on Desolation Row.” Rating 10/10 or 5/5 stars

In my personal opinion, Highway 61 Revisited is not only Bob Dylan’s best album, but it is also the best album in music history. Even today, every song on this album inspires future generations. The songs are timeless and amazing. And unlike some album which are thought to be highly influential, but whose songs are not that good, every track on this album is a winner. If you have never heard Highway 61 Revisited, then please do. You will never be sorry.

Rating: 10/10 or 5/5 stars. (I know the rating makes no sense mathematically, but this is a 10/10 album.)

image provided by: http://www.usm.maine.edu/~rabrams/highway61revisited.jpg