Bob Dylan: Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (1965)

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" by Bob Dylan is the greatest song of all time.  Without a doubt.

In theory, it's one of the worst songs ever.  It doesn't have a chorus.  Heck, it hardly even has a hook-- there's no refrain here, a la "MISTER JONES" or "Won't you come see me, Queen Jane," nor any guitar or organ riff of note.  It goes on forever-- something like five minutes-- and its lyrics are mostly inscrutable, with none of the fun put-downs that Bob loved so much in the mid-60s.

So... what does this song have, you ask?  Well, I respond, it's got Bob's voice.  Bob's beautiful, magical, soaring, five-octave voice.

...I'm only partially kidding.  Everyone knows Bob has a unique voice, but I think it's more than that.  I think Bob's voice is one of the great voices in rock and roll.  And not just because he's "influenced" people, or whatever.  I could give a shit about that.  No, I think Bob's voice is great because it always keeps me engaged.  There's not one song on Highway 61 Revisited that really "changes"-- once you've heard the first minute of "Tombstone Blues" or "Desolation Row," you've kind of heard the whole thing.  Only, you haven't.  Because unless you hear Bob sing all of his ridiculous nonsense, you haven't heard nothin.

Bob's name comes up often in the race for the Nobel Prize in Literature, something I think is a joke.  The Nobel Prize in Lit recognizes a body of written work, and there's no way Bob's lyrics on their own can compare to the work of Philip Roth or Cynthia Ozick or Obscure Eastern European Dramatist Never Translated Into English.  Bob's lyrics can stand alone, but they only really work magic when the man himself is singing them.  The "mysterious everyman" persona Bob cultivated in the 60s digs deep into the ambiguities of his words; I'd argue that a more typical "mystery man" (like, say, Captain Beefheart) or "everyman" (like Springsteen) cannot as easily tap into the poetic potential of any of these verses.

Up on housing project hill, it's either fortune or fame

You must pick on or the other though neither of them are to be what they claim

If you're looking to get silly, you better go back to from where you came

Because the cops don't need you and man they expect the same

I imagine that if you haven't heard "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," that verse means nothing to you.  On the other hand, if you have heard Bob sing that verse, it's rich with possibility.  Bob's voice, part yell, part whine, part mumble, all-American, straddles the line between "epic" and "ordinary."  It turns a seemingly nothing song like "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" into a stunning evocation of mid-60s confusion.

"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is the greatest song of all time.

(I couldn't find the original on Youtube... so enjoy this rather touching version played by Bob, George Harrison, Charlie Daniels, and others): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBshqWuaAWM

Bob Dylan: One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) (1966)

"One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" by Bob Dylan is the greatest song of all time.  Obviously.

It's the kind of song whose arrangement (the backing band here, for the record, is the Hawks, a.k.a. the Band) makes me want to scream, "Triumph!," even if its lyrics are about, well, losing.

Sooner or later, one of us must know

That you just did what you're supposed to do

Sooner or later, one of us must know

That I really did try to get close to you

In the hands of a lesser being, that's the kind of chorus that gets the draggy, alone-in-a-dark-room acoustic treatment.  Dylan and his people, naturally, make it the most rousing part the album, complete with massive (Levon Helm?) drum fills, jangly (Robbie Robertson?) guitars, and pianos (by Garth Hudson?) that skip all over the place.  In other words, it's the "mercury sound," in full effect.

Contradiction?  Not really.  "One of Us Must Know" is a break-up song for mature folks.  It's sad and nostalgic (or, if we combine em, "wistful"), sure, but it's also forward-looking.  Who really wants to be in a relationship where you can't see and can't hear and don't know and all those other things Bob mentions?

"One of Must Know (Sooner or Later)" is the greatest song of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flqJ3poWa_U&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL870783B645844CB1