The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of All Time

• Our Favorite Line: "If your time to you is worth savin' And you better start swimmin.'"

Written deliberately as an anthem to promote change, "The Times They Are A-Changin’" was recorded in September 1965, and released three months later to an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics. In it, Dylan sings about the many issues surrounding the world ranging from political to social, and the song has gone on to become an anthem for world issues.

Interesting Fact: Dylan performed this song at a concert the night after President Kennedy was assassinated, and the crowd responded with tons of supportive cheers.

• Our Favorite Line: "Left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping. My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet."

The first track on the acoustic side of Bringing it All Back Home, "Mr. Tambourine Man" remains one of Bob Dylan's most popular songs, and has been covered many times over the decades by the likes of the Byrds, Judy Collins, Stevie Wonder, and plenty of others. The bright melody is one of the things that really makes the song get stuck in your head over and over again.

• Our Favorite Line: "Remember me to one who lives there. Oh she once was a true love of mine."

Originally recorded in April 1963 at Columbia Studios in NYC, Dylan re-recorded the track as a duet six years later with Johnny Cash, which would later go on to become the first single on Dylan's ninth studio album Nashville Skyline. "Girl from The North Country" is essentially about a man traveling around the world to get his lady back, and you have to admire the dedication. While some prefer the Johnny Cash duet, others think the solo version was just fine. Guess it's a matter of personal preference here.

• Our Favorite Line: "May God bless and keep you always. May your wishes all come true. May you always do for others. And let others do for you."

If the song is called "Forever Young," then you already it's going to be a hell of a song. Released on Dylan's 1974 album Planet Waves, there's actually a few versions of this song floating around. There's the 1973 demo recorded in New York, which can be found on the 1985 compilation Biograph. Then there's both a slow and fast-paced version on the Planet Waves album. And finally, there's a 1978 live version recorded in Tokyo, which is on Dylan's 1978 album Bob Dylan at Budokan.

Written as a lullaby for his eldest son Jessie in the mid-1960s, "Forever Young" is essentially a mantra full of positive affirmations for Jessie, which is something that we all could use from time to time.

• Our Favorite Line: "Yes, and how many times must a man look up."

Released in 1963, "Blowin’ In The Wind" is a protest anthem that asks questions about peace, war, and freedom. These questions are what really stop and make you think about the ever-revolving issues that are happening in the world, and what you are personally doing to help out. A legendary Bob Dylan cut, "Blowin' In The Wind" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994, and named as one of Rolling Stones "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ten years later.

• Our Favorite Line: "You used to laugh about. Everybody that was hanging out. Now you don't talk so loud. Now you don't seem so proud."

One of Dylan's most legendary songs, "Like a Rolling Stone" was released in 1965 off the album Highway 61 Revisited, it was a journey for the single to get from the recording studio to the radio as the song was restructured multiple times, and Columbia Records was reluctant to release due to the track being roughly six minutes. The only reason why the general public got to hear "Like a Rolling Stone" was because the song was leaked to a popular club, and began to be played in heavy rotation by DJs—forcing Columbia's hand. Thank goodness to whoever leaked it—the song is now recognized as one of the most influential of all time.

Interesting Fact: Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics for "Like a Rolling Stone" netted $2 million at an auction in 2014, making it a world record for a popular music manuscript.

• Our Favorite Line: "When your rooster crows at the break of dawn. Look out your window and I'll be gone"

This song being the B-side to "Blowin' in the Wind" is quite literally wild. Guess before you can get to the point where you traveling across the globe to try and win your ex back, you have to go through the anger phase. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is the complete opposite of a love track—in fact, it's a "screw you it's over" record. It was, indeed, not over, but such is the up and down nature of relationships.

• Our Favorite Line: "When your rooster crows at the break of dawn. Look out your window and I'll be gone"

Bob Dylan's first Top 40 hit in the United States, "Subterranean Home Sick Blues" can best be described as a mixture of country, rock, and blues," and is once again full of references that you have to be listening closely to catch such as the opening line when Dylan talks about the codeine addiction happening during the 60s, and the homage to Chuck Berry. There's also a reference to the Civil Rights Movement, which was also happening during that period. As we said earlier, Dylan has never been one to bite his tongue on how he feels about certain events.

• Our Favorite Line: "Louise, she's all right, she's just near. She's delicate and seems like the mirror. But she just makes it all too concise and too clear. That Johanna's not here"

Mysterious and slightly creepy, "Visions of Johnanna" is one of Dylan's greatest writing compositions as there's a lot breaking down you have to do in order to fully understand where he's coming from and where he's going. It's still undetermined who exactly Dylan is talking about, but that is perhaps of the underlying beauty of the song.

• Our Favorite Line: "Leave at your own chosen speed. I'm not the one you want, babe."

Most of the time people use the phrase "it's not you... it's me" to break up with somebody or let them down gently, but not Bob Dylan in "It Ain't Me." He bluntly lets it be known that the problem is indeed...not him (meaning it was whoever he was talking about in the song). Welp, as he says in the song, "It ain't Me Babe."

• Our Favorite Line: "It was raining from the first. And I was dying there of thirst. So I came in here. And your long-time curse hurts."

"Just Like a Woman" has gotten some mixed reactions over the decade. Some believe the lyrics to be misogynistic and sexist. While some of the lyrics in the song can definitely be interpreted as such, we think that it's another case of Bob Dylan being...Bob Dylan. There's often a deeper meaning to Dylan's songs that makes you realize it's not quite as you realized so to speak, and that could very well be the case with "Just Like a Woman." Nonetheless, the song was a moderate hit, peaking at No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• Our Favorite Line: "There are many here among us. Who feel that life is but a joke."

Covered by numerous artist, and most notably by Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower" was released on Dylan's 1967 album John Wesley Harding, and is basically an ode to the end times. Dylan has performed multiple variations of "All Along the Watchtower," mixing and mashing it up to his liking, and began to perform the single "Hendrix style" after being so impressed with Hendrix's cover of the song.

• Our Favorite Line: "I'm looking up into the sapphire tinted skies. I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train"

Written for the 2000 films Wonder Boys, "Things Have Changed" is the song that won Dylan both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for "Best Original Song," putting Dylan in a rare category amongst his peers. The song is believed to have been recording sometime during July 1999 in NYC, and is recognized as being one of Dylan's elite tracks of the 21st Century.

• Our Favorite Line: "But you who philosophize, disgrace and criticize all fears, Take the rag away from your face, now ain't the time for your tears."

Released in 1964 on the album The Times They Are a-Changin', "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" highlights the killing of a 51-year-old African-American barmaid named Hattie Carrol by a 24-year-old White man from a wealthy family named William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger who only spent six months in jail for his crime. In the song, Dylan addresses the issue of 1960s racism and segregation, along with the brutal nature of Zantzinger's crime, making this single one of Dylan's most powerful protest anthems.

• Our Favorite Line: "And I was standing on the side of the road. Rain falling on my shoes. Heading out for the East Coast. Lord knows I've paid some dues getting through."

The opening track on Dylan's 15th studio album Blood on the Tracks, the song "Tangled Up in Blue" is another of Dylan's that talks relationships and the different perspectives people have on relationships as a whole. This single is viewed by many as another one of Dylan's classic jams, receiving critical acclaim and widespread recognition.

Interesting Fact: Bob Dylan has performed "Tangled Up in Blue" over 1600 times.

• Our Favorite Line: "Tingle to his bones. 'Twas then he felt alone. And wished that he'd gone straight. And watched out for a simple twist of fate."

The same way fate can align for relationships to work out, it can also align for relationships to not work out as well, and 1975's "Simple Twist of Fate" is all about the latter as its about a man and a woman that just can't seem to get the timing right. Even more interesting is how the song starts in third person, and eventually transitions into first.

• Our Favorite Line: "She said, "Where ya been?" I said, "No place special. She said, "You look different." I said, "Well, I guess."

And you guys all know, relationships (even the good ones) encounter its fair share of rough patches. When asked about the song "Isis," Dylan simply said that it was a song "about marriage" but if you dive deeper, you'll realize that it's about a faltering marriage that involves some disagreements, miscommunications, and disappearing/reappearing acts. Hey, that's just a normal part of life.

• Our Favorite Line: "How my fathers, they've gone down. True love, they've been without it. But all their daughters put me down. 'Cause I don't think about it."

But not all of Bob Dylan's love songs have been about heartbreak! 1966's "I Want You" is about the fire and desire of wanting someone. A playful track, "I Want You" was the final song recorded for the Blonde on Blonde album, with recording going into the early hours of the morning.

• Our Favorite Line: "Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain."

Bob Dylan was still churning out impactful hits in the 1990s, and 1997's "Not Dark Yet" has a case for being his most poignant as he addresses the theme of mortality. The song is dark, chilling, and a fear that everyone has had at some point, making the track a very relatable one.

• Our Favorite Line: "Across the street they've nailed the curtains, they're getting ready for the feast. The Phantom of the Opera in a perfect image of a priest."

Desolation Row is an 11:21 tale of many different tales, and its about as surreal and far out as you can get when it comes to music. To this day, nobody really knows the meaning of "Desolation Row," whether or not Desolation Row was/is a real place, or what the inspiration was behind this record. And we have feeling Mr. Bob Dylan wants it to remain that way.

• Our Favorite Line: "You've got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend. When I was down you just stood there grinnin'"

Who here can relate to the opening lines "You've got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend. When I was down you just stood there grinnin'?" Released in between the albums Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, "Positively Fourth Street" is a shoutout from Bob Dylan himself to anybody who's had to deal with a fake "friend."

• Our Favorite Line: "Them charcoal gypsy maidens. Can strut their feathers well. But nobody can sing the blues. Like blind Wille McTell."

One of Bob Dylan's most underrated cuts, "Blind Willie McTell" is a 1983 song named after the blues singer of the same name. Having been left off Dylan's 1983 album Infidels, the song finally received a release in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased), and was anthologized on the 2007 greatest hits album Dylan.

• Our Favorite Line: "People see me all the time. And they just can't remember how to act. Their minds are filled with big ideas. Images and distorted facts."

Dylan revealed his complete soul on 1975's Idiot Wind, in which the artist shares bits and pieces of the pain and torment he's been going through. Every single line in this song is one that is rooted in reality, but perhaps the most relatable is when Dylan says "People see me all the time. And they just can't remember how to act. Their minds are filled with big ideas. Images and distorted facts." We've all experienced being misunderstood, and with Dylan being a public figure, he's probably been more misunderstood than most.

• Our Favorite Line: "I saw ten-thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken."

Writing the song as an immediate response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna-Fall is another question-and-answer protest ballad from Dylan that deals with terrible world events that have happened. The song was released on his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and is another recognized as being amongst his most powerful.

• Our Favorite Line: "The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen / But that's just because he doesn't wanna turn into some machine."

"The Man in Me" is the only song on this list off of the album New Morning, and it's one of Dylan's more straightforward tracks. It contains an element of joy and jubilation that you don't always hear in some of his more introspective music. It's a hit.

Interesting fact: This song is notably featured in the Coen Brother's film, The Big Lebowski.