The Bob Dylan Top 125 Countdown (#100-96)

The first 25 Dylan songs have been heard - it's time to check out the Top 100.

At #100, we have an Oscar winner: Things Have Changed did what Knockin' On Heaven's Door failed to do. Recorded in 1999 and released in 2000, both as a single as well as as part of the soundtrack of the Michael Douglas vehicle, Wonder Boys, it faced tough Oscar competition: there was Randy Newman, with more than a dozen nominations and no award (a situations that would be remedied the following year). There were superstars like Sting and Björk (remember the swan-dress?) and there was the song from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. After winning the Golden Globe, however, Dylan's song was a lock-in for the award.

When Dylan accepted his Oscar, by satellite, he thanked "the members of the Academy who were bold enough to give me this award for... a song that doesn't pussyfoot around nor turn a blind eye to human nature." That's one way of putting it: For all its offhand jokes ("gonna dress in draaag," he rasps at one point), Things Have Changed is one of the bitterest songs in Dylan's entire catalog. It's also a harsh riposte to many of his own earlier political songs, with their longing for social justice and societal progress; "I used to care," he sings with unmistakable intent. "But things have changed." As the title suggests, it's basically the evil twin of The Times They Are A-Changin'.

For the song at #99, we go back a few decades. When the Ship Comes In was recorded in 1963 and released in 1964, on Dylan's third album, The Times They Are A-Changin'.

According to biographer Clinton Heylin, When The Ship Comes In was written in August 1963 "in a fit of pique, in a hotel room, after his unkempt appearance had led an impertinent hotel clerk to refuse him admission until his companion, Joan Baez, had vouched for his good character". Heylin speculates that Jenny's Song from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera was also an inspiration: "As Pirate Jenny dreams of the destruction of all her enemies by a mysterious ship, so Dylan envisages the neophobes being swept aside in 'the hour when the ship comes in'." Dylan's former girlfriend Suze Rotolo recalls that her "interest in Brecht was certainly an influence on him. I was working for the Circle in the Square Theater and he came to listen all the time. He was very affected by the song that Lotte Lenya's known for, Pirate Jenny."

Shortly after Dylan wrote the song, he and Baez performed it together at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Dylan later performed the song at Carnegie Hall on October 26, 1963; this performance is recorded on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (2005).

Dylan performed the song during Live Aid on July 13, 1985, accompanied by Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. Here's this version:

... And here's the (much better) original version:

When The Ship Comes In

At #98 we find a song with a long title: it's called If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night). Dylan began the recording for If You Gotta Go, Go Now on January 13, 1965, during the first session for Bringing It All Back Home. He recorded the song again on January 15, producing four takes. On May 21, 1965, producer Tom Wilson brought in several unidentified musicians to overdub various parts onto the takes recorded on January 15. From these overdubbing sessions, two takes were eventually released: take 5, released as a single in The Netherlands in 1967, and take 7, released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 in 1991.

This is The Netherlands single mix:

The first released version was as a single in the US by the UK group The Liverpool Five in July 1965, but this went uncharted in the US despite receiving much airplay, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. It was another English band, Manfred Mann, who then issued the song as a single in September 1965. This version reached number 2 on the UK charts. Here are the Manfred Mann:

Fairport Convention also took the song onto the charts, albeit in an unusual fashion: the group translated the song into French (partially, retaining the English "...you gotta stay all night" as the end of a line beginning in French for comic effect) as Si Tu Dois Partir. Recorded for the Unhalfbricking album, the song was issued as a single in 1969. This was the band's only charting single, reaching number 21 and staying in the British Chart for nine weeks. Here it is:

There is irony in this, because Fairport Convention is probably the most English band there is. The hugely respected Folk musicians were largely responsible for bringing old English music back to the mainstream. In case you don't know them, here's one of my favorite song of theirs, Fotheringay:

Back to Dylan and to the song at #97. Man Gave Names to All the Animals, a fun little song from Dylan's first (and best) Christian album, Slow Train Coming (1979). It was released as a single in some European countries. It was also released as a promo single in US. The single became a chart hit in France and Belgium.

Rolling Stone Magazine described Man Gave Names to All the Animals as being "clever" but "not very profound" and that although it "went over pretty well live" it is "simplistic" and easy to see "why it has detractors." Author John Nogowski calls it "an embarrassment," "silly", "sophomoric" and "just awful," claiming that it could have been written by an eighth grader during a free study period. But music critic Michael Gray praises it as one of the standout tracks on Slow Train Coming, citing its humor, its quality as a children's song, and the self-mocking contrast to the more fundamentalist tone of the songs Dylan wrote during this period.

According to backup singer Regina Havis Brown, originally Dylan wasn't sure if he wanted to include Man Gave Names to All the Animals on Slow Train Coming. But when Dylan heard Brown's three-year-old son laughing at the identification of the animals, he said that "I'm going to put that on the record."

Here's a live version from 1991:

... And here's the original version:

Man Gave Names to All the Animals

Finally for today, at #96, here's I Pity the Poor Immigrant. One of the less well known songs from the John Wesley Harding (1967) album, it it a simple and touching protest song, a welcome return to his 1962-64 style. The lyrics are tough, but the singing is tender, devoid of the usual Dylan anger found in songs like The Masters Of War, Hurricane or The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll. Dylan still sees evil, but he has come to understand that he cannot beat it. That doesn't stop him from his attept to tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it and reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it.