You could make a dozen lists of your five favorite Dylan songs and still be satisfied with the tunes on the 12th list. But here are the songs, in order, that I'd put on my first list of five.
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1. (1965). Dylan says he never meant to be a spokesman, but he sure seems to have captured the restless feel of an age in this anthem. The unforgettable chorus: "How does it feel? / To be on your own / With no direction home / Like a complete unknown / Like a rolling stone?"
2.
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" (1965). The greatness of Dylan's art is in its ability to move from the social arena to the personal one without losing intensity. Here's a tale of the heart, told with a sense of poetry and passion that is at once eloquent and forever mysterious. Its haunting opening lines: "My love she speaks like silence / Without ideals or violence / She doesn't have to say she's faithful / Yet she's true, like ice, like fire."
3.
"To Ramona" (1964). This is among the most beautiful and mysterious love songs ever written. The imagery is inspired: "Ramona, come closer / Shut softly your watery eyes / The pangs of your sadness / Shall pass as your senses will rise."
4.
"It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" (1965). There are lots of early Dylan songs, including "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," that mix commentary and music with such unerring force that you could imagine even Woody Guthrie being impressed, but none more than this one. A breathless sense of ambition.
5.
"I Believe in You" (1979). This spiritual-tinged tune from the "Slow Train Coming" album may be Dylan's most intimate expression of faith and, at the same time, a glimpse at the price an artist pays for following his own heart. "They'd like to drive me from this town / They don't want me around / 'Cause I believe in you."
-- R.H.
