Rough and rowdy ways is as good as anything Dylan has ever released.
I loved Tempest, but Murder Most Foul takes commemorative song-writing to a level it has never seen before. I Contain Multitudes is ballsy as fuck, and Goodbye Jimmy Reed just rocks. No idea if it’s an unpopular opinion. #Dylan
Its far from the lowest Dylan has fallen. But where is the energy, the connections, the reasons why any of it matters!
I think some of the greatest folk songs ever written recount events that have happened, and sometimes ties them together with some interpretation of whatever it might mean.
You could argue the assassination of JFK is such a monumental event that it doesn’t need a song - just as I guess you could argue the same about the Titanic for -Tempest. I’d disagree - I’d say it would need an ever the greater song, and I think Dylan delivered perfectly in Murder Moust Foul.
I think most people would agree Blood on the Tracks is among Dylan’s strongest, though it’s hard to find an obvious meaning why it matters in most of the songs. They are incredible songs that take us along for the ride, and while it’s sometimes interesting to ask “what”, there’s rarely any point in asking “why”.
The whole album is full of crazy connections. Crossing the Rubicon has an insane amount of parallels to unpack. And I wouldn’t say Goodbye Jimmy Reed is lacking in energy!
