The Bob Dylan Top 125 Countdown & This Week's Statistics

Time to resume counting down Bob Dylan's Top 125 songs. Let me say once more, how impossible it is to find Bob's original versions in embeddable video form. Bob, I don't know how much more you make this way, but surely, losing a number of potential new fans is a downside, no?

At #54 is a song from my favorite album of his, Blonde On Blonde (1966). Absolutely Sweet Marie is a cryptic love letter that rides a bubblegum electric keyboard and sparkling blues-rock guitar. 

With its lyrics about waiting on ‘Marie’, who is unreliable and the sexually forthright lyrics, it’s thought to be about his romance with Edie Sedgwick. It also contains a verse seemingly predicting his motorcycle accident; ”Well, I don’t know how it happened/ But the river-boat captain; he knows my fate…”.

The song also contains the phrase "To live outside the law you must be honest", one of Dylan's most quoted lines. Jonathan Lethem points to a very similar line by the screenwriter Stirling Silliphant in the 1958 film The Lineup: "When you live outside the law, you have to eliminate dishonesty" and that Dylan "heard it…, cleaned it up a little, and inserted it into" this song. In 1940s, in notes on his lyrics page for the song Pretty Boy Floyd, Woody Guthrie wrote: "I love a good man outside the law, just as much as I hate a bad man inside the law." Dylan, who has acknowledged being heavily influenced by Guthrie, may have been honoring his predecessor.

Dylan waited more than 20 years to play it live, but the song stands high among Dylan covers; garage-punk progenitors the Flamin' Groovies and alt-country forebears Jason and the Scorchers have both testified to its rock & roll soul. Looking back at it on its 25th anniversary in 1991, Dylan patted himself on the back: "It's matured well," he said. "It's like old wine."

Here's the original:

Absolutely Sweet Marie

... And here's a live version from 2002:

At #53, Blind Willie McTell is a song by Bob Dylan, titled after the blues singer Blind Willie McTell. It was recorded in the spring of 1983, during the sessions for Dylan's album Infidels. Infidels producer-guitarist Mark Knopfler was reportedly shocked when Dylan cut this highlight from the album. Decades later, Dylan's decision remains inscrutable: Blind Willie McTell is one of his few masterpieces from the early Eighties. Over blessedly spare instrumentation, he goes deep into the South of chain gangs, undertakers' bells and "charcoal gypsy maidens." It's a chilling tribute to the real McTell, who, like Dylan, was known for his never-ending tours. "I was born a rambler," the late singer once said. "I'm gonna ramble till I die."

Here's the original:

Blind Willie McTell

... And here's a another version with Mick Taylor on slide guitar:

Finally for today, at #52 is All I Really Want To Do (1964), another track about his relationship with Suze Rotolo. 1964's The Times They Are A-Changin' got the upstart Dylan tagged the angry voice of a rebellious, socially conscious generation. So, true to chameleon form, he opened his next album with a bit of lighthearted flirtiness that's also a sly shot at the then-burgeoning cult of male sensitivity. He piles up an absurd list of things he won't do ("fight with you," "tighten you," "drain you down," "bring you down") en route to winning a woman's friendship. His Jimmie Rodgers yodel and sneaky fit of midsong laughter gives the tune an anything-goes sense of optimism.

The song was Cher's debut single and it was a hit (US #15, UK #9). It was also the Byrds' second hit single (US #40, UK #4).

Here's the original version:

All I Really Want To Do

Here's a live version in Newport, 1964:

Here's Cher's version:

... And here are the Byrds:

Now to our weekly statistics. Our last featured musician, Martin Del Caprio, did very well indeed. Almost immediately his story became the most visited subject of the week and is now 2 visits short of the 3d most visited subject of the month. It's really gratifying that young artists who work beyond the mainstream, like Minute Taker and Martin Del Caprio, find more love on this blog than many established hit-makers. As I'm writing this, a man from Russia is reading the Del Caprio story. It's touching. Keep on supporting these artists, they are the future.

As far as countries are concerned, this week's big winners were the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and Indonesia. Cyprus and Russia remained stable, the United Arab Emirates, Italy and the Netherlands suffered minor losses, while the United States, Greece, and Germany, suffered bigger losses. Here are this week's Top 10:

1. the United States

2. the United Kingdom

3. France

4. Russia

5. Belgium

6. Greece

7. Indonesia

8. Cyprus

9. Germany

10. Canada

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!

Here's the all-time Top 10: You will notice that France has moved up to #3, the highest position it ever achieved: allez les Français! Not that I have anything against my friends the Germans. It's just that change is exciting. (Plus my man is a fanatic Francophile):

1. the United States = 51.5%

2. Greece = 9.1%

3. France = 6.3%

4. Germany = 6.1%

5. Russia = 5.0%

6. the United Kingdom = 4.0%

7. the United Arab Emirates = 1.06%

8. Italy = 1.01%

9. Cyprus = 0.84%

10. the Netherlands = 0.62%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!