Most recent truly great Bob Dylan song?

Here's my pick, although I haven't heard many of his later albums.

 

Mississippi

 

High Water (For Charley Patton)

 

Nettie Moore
Spirit On The Water

 

I've been saying this for a while...

"Things Have Changed."



(Pretty good video, too.)

 

Tempest. No video. Hasn't been performed live, probably never will be.

 

That's a very weird level of incuriosity and ignorance with which to start a thread like this one. Maybe you forgot to add that you're actually interested in the answer and are planning to listen?

 

That's too harsh. The OP started the thread because he/she was curious, and presented a choice to start the discussion. It's not a term paper.

 

I think "Not Dark Yet" and "Mississippi" are all-time great Dylan songs....and there are lots of other excellent ones of recent vintage. Maybe not as truly great as those two, but "Tempest," "Pay in Blood," "Cold Irons Bound," "Sugar Baby," are all terrific..."Dusquene Whistle," "Nettie Moore," "When the Deal Goes Down," "Red River Shore," "Trying to Get to Heaven," are also really good. I think in some measure Dylan's recent work has been a bit overrated, but by and large it's been a darn fertile period for the man.

 

Yeah, probably so. Its one of the last times he went with a bit of rock n roll (though it be modern) feel.

Im having a hard time coming up with what I would consider a great modern Dylan song. Great, to me, means on par with his classic songs. Not sure he has matched that level in a long time.

 

Very interested! Thanks for the responses so far.

 

I just wanted to know the OP gave a damn before I jumped in to contribute.

I probably was too harsh but it's still a weird way to start a thread. But now we know... Which is good.

“‘Cross the Green Mountain” (2003) to me is the greatest of the more recent songs. Absolutely stunning, visionary music. In my Dylan top ten for sure.

 

Well, he could just perform that one song and call it a night.

 

''

Nailed it.

OP's tone seems dismissive. If a man writes a song a song as good as "Not Dark Yet" at 19, and somehow tops it... thats miraculous. Bob Dylan was a bajillion years old when he wrote that. Won a grammy. And kept rocking out.

 

Yes. And I would add "Scarlet Town" to that list. And "Spirit on the Water," too. And even though musically, it's just a ready-made blues (basically to my ear, Howlin' Wolf's "Who Been Talkin'), I'm very fond of "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'." I think the lyric is very strong, and I like the accordion.

L.

 

I love "This Dream Of You", but haven't spent enough time with Tempest to say what may be truly great on that album. On last listen, it seemed "Pay In Blood" and "Tempest" qualified.

 

My two nominations are

Workingman Blues No. 2

Really, the best summation on the new economics, a protest song every bit as poignant as what he had worked up in the early 60s - who else is gonna write the line:
There's an evening haze settling over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buying power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's getting shallow and weak

That is all at once poetic and a complete, true reflection of events


The other one is Pay in Blood

Another politician pumping out the piss
Another angry beggar blowing you a kiss

 

I agree. The song is fantastic and a great video.

 

Thunder on the Mountain
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Dirt Road Blues

 

I like "Scarlet Town" a lot, and "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" has a great vibe. I also have a fondness for "Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee." Really harkens back to, say "Tombstone Blues." I also never really loved "Thunder on the Mountain," but I really dug it when I heard Wanda Jackson sing it.

 

there are many - a favorite:

Someday Baby - the alternate version off of Tell Tale Signs

 

Either Tempest or Pay In Blood. There are a number of truly great songs on his last album...