From “Just Like a Woman” to “John Wesley Harding,” we count down the American icon’s key masterpieces Photo illustration by Matthew Cooley. Images in illustration by Sigmund Goode/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images; Rowland Scherman/Getty Images; Universal Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images,3. For generations to come, other artists will be turning to Bob Dylan’s catalog for inspiration.
From the Sixties protest anthems that made him a star through to his noirish Nineties masterpieces and beyond, no other contemporary songwriter has produced such a vast and profound body of work: songs that feel at once awesomely ancient and fiercely modern. Here, with commentary from Bono, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow and other famous fans, are Dylan’s 100 greatest songs – just the tip of the iceberg for an artist of his stature. 100.
“Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” (1978) Dylan said this baffling-yet-haunting country-rock epic was inspired by a man he saw on a train ride from Mexico to San Diego: “He must have been 150 years old...
Both his eyes were burning, and there was smoke coming out of his nostrils.” Sounds rough. But, hey, at least the guy got to meet Bob Dylan.
99. “John Wesley Harding” (1967) “I was gonna write a ballad,” Dylan told ‘s Jann Wenner. “Like maybe one of those old cowboy [songs].
.. you know, a real long ballad.
” Instead, the title track on his 1967 album was.
