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https://youtu.be/-BLXrTp8AD4
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That's a cool version Jim, from the Rolling Thunder II/Hard Rain special, I believe.
Fair call Tim re the favourite lines - although I was more referring to funny Dylan lines - but how about just one line (the first one that pops into your head)?

The merry little elves
Can go hang themselves.

"The sun's not yellow it's chicken"

"I looked at my watch, I looked at my wrist
I punched myself in the face with my fist"

"The waitress he was handsome, he wore a powder blue cape.
I ordered some suzette, I said could you please make that crepe"

"Well, the funniest woman I ever seen
Was the great-granddaughter of Mr. Clean
She takes about fifteen baths a day
Wants me to grow a moustache on my face
She's insane"

He hands you a nickle,
He hands you a dime,
He asks you with a grin
If you're having a good time.

His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks
And he puts out his cigar
In your face just for kicks

See what you started, Damian.

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This is Dylan Adoration and is not allowed : )

I was all set to begin to rant and rail against the cherry-picked lines above.

Then I came upon this article in The New Yorker:

It awoke the idiot wind in me that asks too many questions about the meaning of the words Dylan splashes together like a painter. They mean whatever you want them to mean. Or they are meaningless. It doesn't matter. It's about the "canvas" he paints.

I once owned Dylan’s book of lyrics. I can’t remember the title. It was a big book with a weird glossy hardback cover (pink?) and questionable typeface of the text inside. I think there were also drawings by him. When I moved to Boston I came home one evening to my tiny studio and discovered it on the floor, the corners of it chewed by my crazed puppy. I forgave him. I held onto it dog-eaten through the years but then lost track of it somewhere along the way. All my books eventually get lost.

Then there’s Tarantula, which I don’t ever think I was patient enough to read beyond the first few pages… But I want to go back and try again.

Lyrically, if I had to pick one? Like A Rolling Stone. If I had to pick two I wouldn’t know what to do.


But still, for some reason the lines you've thrown out there don't strike me as anywhere near his best. There are much better examples. All of Idiot Wind, for example.

One could argue he was the bridge between two generations of artists. Between the Beat Generation and the surrealist Flower Power Generation.

He said this once about the lyrics to “Idiot Wind” and about his lyrics in general:

“People have felt about my songs sometimes the same way as me. And they say to me, your songs are so opaque that, people tell me, they have feelings they’d like to express within the same framework. My response, always, is go ahead, do it, if you feel like it. But it never comes off. They’re not as good as my lyrics. There’s just something about my lyrics that just have a gallantry to them. And that might be all they have going for them. [Laughs] However, it’s no small thing.”

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This is umpteenth thread about Bob. I like Bob a lot, and sometimes he's perfect, but he's had some pretty terrible songs too. Given the chance to go to a concert between him and Neil Young, for example, it's not close.

Pixies covering Neil make you feel better James? :)

https://youtu.be/mWWjMgzhbu4

Yes! As long as Kim Deal is there. The Pixies are not the Pixies without her.

Some wonderful lines there people. I enjoyed reading all your selections.

I wanted to pass on a link of the latter day Dylan performing what I feel is a beautiful version of Once Upon A Time from his Sinatra/American standards period. This almost makes me cry. Bob is riding every word (and note). It’s for Tony Bennett’s 90th....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-F4LdptJw