35. Bob Dylan, "Mr. Tambourine Man" (1965)

(listen)

I've always considered Highway 61 Revisited the best Bob Dylan by a fair sight, but Bringing it All Back Home, home of the original (and best) version of "Mr. Tambourine Man," is worthy in its own right. Worthy, did I say? Downright essential. "Mr. Tambourine Man" kicks off the second side and has often seemed to me a far-reaching look to what was to come, even though it's plainly as acoustic as can be, with Dylan strumming away and blowing his mouth harp, accompanied only by a subtle electric guitar figure from Bruce Langhorne. I was not much a fan of the Byrds cover, so for a long time I was reluctant to play that second side, drawn to it more by the dark, penetrating, and often very funny long song, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," which of itself practically made it the better side (with "Gates of Eden" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"). I don't recall the circumstances, but I put it on once for another chance at that long one and finally this leapt out at me. It's so many things all at once: Controlled, caustic, soothing, mournful, plain as can be, as light and nimble on its feet as a cat, and ultimately quite beautiful, but in a way that leaves one stammering around outside the edges of it. The best way in is ultimately just listening, letting the levels peel back and back and back. The language spills like rushing water as it does on so much of Dylan's best material, the rhythms of it and its meanings vying at once for attention, tumbling together stream of conscious style, enveloping one all at once in an indelible moment and feeling. It's not my favorite song by him—there's still one more ahead, and a good many candidates always ready to surge (including the aforementioned "It's Alright, Ma")—but it may be the single warmest thing he ever did.