Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
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| Name | Artist | Time | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Like a Rolling Stone | Bob Dylan | 6:09 | $1.29 | View In iTunes |
| 2 | Tombstone Blues | Bob Dylan | 5:56 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 3 | It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry | Bob Dylan | 4:05 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 4 | From a Buick 6 | Bob Dylan | 3:15 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 5 | Ballad of a Thin Man | Bob Dylan | 5:56 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 6 | Queen Jane Approximately | Bob Dylan | 5:27 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 7 | Highway 61 Revisited | Bob Dylan | 3:25 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 8 | Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues | Bob Dylan | 5:27 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| 9 | Desolation Row | Bob Dylan | 11:21 | Album Only | View In iTunes |
| Total: 9 Songs |
iTunes Review
If Dylan had flirted with rock conceits on the previous Bringing It All Back Home, here he did nothing less than tempestuously ravish them, recasting much of the era in his own willfully sketchy image in the bargain. Highway 61 is electric in every sense of the word, a nervy jangle that spins furiously about the twin axes of a full-fledged rock studio band (anchored by Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield) and a taunting, spectral Dylan who shed the last vestiges of his folkie past to become one of the 60's most elusive icons. Powered by the reptilian licks of Bloomfield, the title track, "From a Buick 6" and "Tombstone Blues" have more to do with garage-savvy American proto-punk than Help! or Rubber Soul, the Beatles' releases that frame the 61 era. There may be nods to the blues ("It Takes a Lot to Laugh..") and his recent folk past ("Desolation Row"), but the intoxicating language Dylan serves up throughout transcend anything as mundane as mere genre. Poetically opaque, brilliantly snotty, and sometimes damn near inscrutable, it remains as consistently riveting as the day it was released.
Recent Customer Reviews
Desolation Row
by thepinkfloydsoundThey're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row
Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row
Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row
Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row"
Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row
Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
"Which Side Are You On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row
Copyright ©1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
Equal in brilliance to Hamlet, The Sistine Chapel, and Don Giovanni
by The Huff (Chris Huff)This album is America, rough around the edges, not willing to fit neatly into any box. This album is the 60s, full of violence, protest, peace, love, and war. This album is a young man coming into maturity - finally surpassing Woody Guthrie, Rimbaud, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams Sr., realizing that he is among their ranks and humbled to be there. A little scared of his own brilliance. Not sure where to hide when he needs comfort, but knowing that the only true comfort is to be found in giving comfort to others. Especially when it's nine below zero and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Never again quite so hard-edged or aggressive (save some fueled Rolling Thunder shows i.e. the live version of "Isis" on Biograph), Dylan looks down the cannon here and plants a bouquet of flowers. If Desolation Row doesn't move you, then I can't help you. The verse about the superhuman crew strapping the heart-attack machine across the shoulders of "those who know more than they do" convinced me to quit my day job. LOL this album is dangerous. It may free your mind and the rest will follow.
Highway 61 Revisited: A
by Red Hot Chili Pieper @gmail.comThis is definitely the best Dylan album i've heard, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. This classic album definitely deserves Rolling Stone Magazine's title as the 4th best album of all time, only to be topped by Revolver, Pet Sounds, and Sgt. Pepper. I loathe anyone who gives this album less then 4 Stars. They probably are not Dylan lovers like myself and millions of others. Not to sound smug but a fan of Bob Dylan knows good music, unlike the Lady Gaga loving b.a.s.t.a.r.d.s who control pop music today. If all was well in the music world, Dylan would be topping the charts, and The Beatles would be alive and together. But Besides that... Here's a Track By Track Review:
1. Like A Rolling Stone: This masterpiece is one of the songs that defines Classic Rock. 5 / 5
2. Tombstone Blues: As usual Dylan's Lyrics are strange, and beautiful. As a lyricist and a poet Dylan never fails to be in top form. 5 / 5
3. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry: Very good, I also reccomend the sped-up Alternate Version featured in the No Direction Home Soundtrack. 5 / 5
4. From a Buick 6: 4.5 / 5
5. Ballad of a Thin Man: 5 / 5
6. Queen Jane Aprox.: 5 / 5
7. Highway 61 Revisited: A catchy, clever Dylan song, the best off the album, but that's pretty hard to choose. 5 / 5
8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues: 5 / 5
9. Desolation Row: Amazing Lyrics. My Chemical Romance's cover of this is a complete insult to Bob Dylan. 5 / 5
Sooooo yeah. This is one of the best albums of all time, so no s.h.i.t buy it!
Grade: A
Essential Tracks: Highway 61 Revisited, Like A Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, but buy the whole album.
Biography
Born: May 24, 1941 in Duluth, MN
Genre: Rock
Years Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s
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- $9.99
- Genres: Rock, Music, Arena Rock, Rock & Roll, Pop, Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Singer/Songwriter, Folk-Rock, Blues-Rock
- Released: 1965
- ℗ Originally Released 1965 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
