Bob Dylan, All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track weighs five pounds. It’s 704 pages long. And, it does what it purports to do: tell the story of every song Bob Dylan has ever recorded. I, of course, went directly to the pages on “Like a Rolling Stone.” The list of the musicians, the details of the recording studio, the technical team, the genesis and Lyrics, and a discussion of the 20 “takes” provided in a lot of details. That’s the template for most of the hundreds of songs included in this volume. There’s a photo (or two!) on practically every page. For Dylan fans, this is a must-buy. You could re-title this book The Encyclopedia of Bob Dylan and not be far off the mark. What’s your favorite Dylan song? GRADE: A
Wow!
I’ll have to look for that, George, thanks a lot!
My favourite (of course?):
Desolation Row …
Wolf, the section on “Desolation Row” in BOB DYLAN: ALL THE SONGS has some interesting facts about its origins. And, there’s a list of artists who covered it.
Girl from the North Country
Dan, the authors “guess” who the girl is that Dylan’s writing about in “Girl From the North Country.” Dylan was “active” back in those days because there are several “suspects.”
It’s a cliche, but “Just Like A Woman”; also, “Maggie’s Farm”.
Deb, “Just Like a Woman” is one of Dylan’s best songs. This book talks about all 492 songs he’s recorded.
I can’t pick a favorite. Too many of them. Sounds like an interesting book, but all those details would blur before I could get very far into it.
Bill, BOB DYLAN: ALL THE SONGS is a browser’s delight! You can go album by album (it’s chronological) or you can use the index and go song by song. This book will send you back to the music! I’ve been listening to Dylan all weekend long!
What Bill said. I like the early stuff. Maybe Blowin’ in the Wind. I remember reading Dylan say when he hears it, he has a hard time believing he wrote it. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is my favorite album of his, with this and Masters of War and Girl From the North Country and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall and Bob Dylan’s Dream (“He asked me for some collateral and I pulled down my pants”) and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.
Jeff, I’m fond of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” too. For me, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (the first Dylan album I ever bought) and BLONDE ON BLONDE (the first Rock double album) are Dylan’s best.
I like that too, along with Bringing It All Back Home. Subterranean Homesick Blues is on it, and Maggie’s Farm, and Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream, which is the song I meant with the “collateral” line.
Jeff, I can’t think of a songwriter with more clever lines than Dylan.
I love Desolation Row and everything from Blood on the Tracks
Scott, I love “Tangled Up in Blue” from BLOOD ON THE TRACKS!
Highway 61 and Lay Lady Lay are my 2 favs, though I like many others. This book sounds like a must have for Dylan fans.
On a side note, off topic, I have a biography of Hitchcock that is similar. It lists every place he shows up in his movies. I used to get frustrated sometimes not seeing him and it detracted sometimes from my watching the movie. It was pretty common knowledge about his appearance in Lifeboat, but some of the others are a blink and you miss it scene.
Maggie, I love books like your Hitchcock book and BOB DYLAN: ALL THE SONGS. In fact, I’m a big fan of reference books. As a kid, I used to read dictionaries and encyclopedias. Have you ever heard the Isaac Hayes version of “Lay Lady Lay”?
no, i haven’t heard the hayes version Everyone has mentioned so many good songs, I kept thinking “wow, I forgot that one” as i read the comments.
Maggie, the Isaac Hayes version of “Lay Lady Lay” is on YouTube. Worth a listen. BOB DYLAN: ALL THE SONGS motivated me to listen to Dylan’s music all weekend long!
Of course Blowing in the Wind is “the” Dylan record – that belongs to the whole world!
On a sidenote:
The names of the authors sound French and the publisher’s name Hachette I know from France too – are they French Canadians?
Wolf, the authors’ credits merely say Margotin & Guesdon live in France.
George, it seems they are also “Beatlelogists” – they wrote a similar book on the Beatles’ songs which appeared in 2013.
http://magazine.100percentrock.com/reviews/book-reviews/201401/40714
And the books are already available in French and German …
Maybe I#ll get myself a birthday present when we return to Germany – funnily enough the English version is cheaper in germany than the French or german!
I’ve always been fond of ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER, but Subterranean Homesick Blues, and Stuck Again in Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again is also a favorite. But so many are. I have several albums, but usually just listen to the Greatest Hits one.
This book has too much detail I don’t care about, but I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Rick, I learned plenty about some of the songs I love in Dylan’s oeuvre. Back in the Seventies, Dylan sang a song called “Someone Took A-Hold of My Heart.” In the Eighties, that song morphed into “Tight Connection to My Heart.” Who knew?
Positively Fourth Street because of the memory associated with it.
Patti, I loved “Positively Fourth Street” when I first heard it. It’s gotten better over the years.
I was going to say Just Like a Woman but someone beat me to it! So I’ll say My Back Pages!
Bob, I really like the Byrds version of “My Back Pages.”