Bob Dylan Album Opening Songs Ranked

Asking Bob Dylan how he makes an album is a bit like asking anyone how they know how to walk – they didn’t one day, then they learned and now they simply do.

“We just take a song; I play it and everyone else just sort of fills in behind it,” Dylan told Rolling Stone back in 1969. “No sooner you got that done, and at the same time you’re doing that, there’s someone in the control booth who’s turning all those dials to where the proper sound is coming in…and then it’s done. Just like that.”

It may be that easy to Dylan, but one crucial part is determining which song will start the album, and Dylan has had to make that call with 40 studio albums. Below, we’ve ranked them all.

40. “All the Tired Horses”
From: Self Portrait (1970)

We have to get Self Portrait out of the way first. Can you blame us considering Dylan has publicly stated that he made the album so that incessantly stalking fans would hopefully leave him alone? As far as we’re concerned, “All the Tired Horses” was a good first step to doing that.

 

39. “”Main Title Theme (Billy)” (instrumental)
From: Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Typically, starting an album with an instrumental track isn’t advisable. But Dylan sort of didn’t have much of a choice here with “Main Title Theme (Billy)” considering 1973’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is, well, a movie soundtrack album. Take it or leave it.

 

38. “A Satisfied Mind”
From: Saved (1980)

There are some gems in Dylan’s trilogy of evangelical albums, but “A Satisfied Mind” is not one of them. That’s putting it mildly. Putting it more bluntly: Dylan’s vocal makes it sound like he’s been wounded and is whining for help.

 

37. “Odds & Ends”
From: The Basement Tapes (1975)

A good opening track often conveys confidence, so a song titled “Odds and Ends” doesn’t really give off that vibe. Dylan’s working relationship with the Band, who backed him on The Basement Tapes, was one for the ages, but there are much better selections.

 

36. “Lily of the West”
From: Dylan (1973)

“Lily of the West” being the opening track to Dylan isn’t Dylan’s doing, just like the rest of the album, which was compiled, sequenced and released by Columbia Records with no input from Dylan himself. It’s not a terrible track, but not all that engaging either.

 

35.”On a Night Like This”
From: Planet Waves (1974)

Planet Waves, the album that prompted Dylan’s reunification with the Band, is excellent. But unfortunately the opening song, “On a Night Like This,” is one of its weaker numbers. It’s fun, sure, but doesn’t really go anywhere.

 

34. “I’m a Fool to Want You”
From: Shadows in the Night (2015)

Dylan once described 2015’s Shadows in the Night not as a cover album, but as an album on which he and his band sought to “uncover” the songs, “lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.” There’s nothing really wrong with “I’m a Fool to Want You,” but it’s an awfully slow selection to start the album.

 

33. “Young at Heart”
From: Fallen Angels (2016)

Fallen Angels, we feel, suffered the same fate as Shadows in the Night as far as an opening track. “Young at Heart” is a beautifully recorded song and Dylan’s vocals are some of the best of his later career, but it’s not a very enticing starter.

 

32. “Jokerman”
From: Infidels (1983)

Not everyone will agree with this placement of “Jokerman,” a song that continues to receive critical praise. Let’s just say if we had been in charge of sequencing Infidels, we would have picked something like “I and I” or “Neighborhood Bully” to kick things off.

 

31. “Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)”
From: Empire Burlesque (1985)

There’s a lot going on with Empire Burlesque, not all of it good, even if it featured superb musicians like Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench and Ronnie Wood. It was 1985 after all. Still, “Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)” is a surprisingly decent opening song. That’s Mick Taylor playing the lead guitar part.

 

30. “John Wesley Harding”
From: John Wesley Harding (1967)

The title track to 1967’s John Wesley Harding is what launches the story of a Texas outlaw that Dylan tells over the course of a dozen songs. “John Wesley Harding was a friend to the poor, he traveled with a gun in every hand.” Tell us more.

 

29. “Let’s Stick Together”
From: Down in the Groove (1988)

Dylan was by no means the first person to record a cover of Wilbert Harrison’s “Let’s Stick Together,” but his version is worth hearing. There are better songs on Down in the Groove, but you sort of can’t go wrong opening with an R&B number.

 

28. “You Wanna Ramble”
From: Knocked Out Loaded (1986)

Not many people point to Knocked Out Loaded as their favorite Dylan album. Fair enough. But we’d argue that the cover of Junior Parker’s “You Wanna Ramble” is a pretty amusing, upbeat way to kick things off.

 

27. “Wiggle Wiggle”
From: Under the Red Sky (1990)

Isn’t it amazing that the same person who wrote the lyric “how many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?” also wrote the lyric “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup.” That’s the kind of creative plane Dylan exists on. “Wiggle Wiggle” obviously isn’t the song that won Dylan a Nobel Prize in Literature, but you can’t help but boogie a bit to it.

 

26. “Shot of Love”
From: Shot of Love (1981)

Remember what we said earlier about “A Satisfied Mind” from Saved? “Shot of Love” is also part of Dylan’s Christian era of music, but it’s much more attractive as an opening track. A little bit bluesy, a little bit gospel and a great arrangement.

 

25. “Frankie & Albert”
From: Good as I Been to You (1992)

When Dylan put out Good as I Been to You in 1992, he had not released an entirely acoustic album since 1964. He rediscovered his folk roots here, starting with “Frankie & Albert.” One thing many people forget about Dylan: he’s a better guitar player than he’s often given credit for, as evidenced with this track.

 

24. “When I Paint My Masterpiece”
From: Shadow Kingdom (2023)

Another thing about Dylan: he can and will rearrange his own songs decades down the line such that they practically sound like brand new compositions. He does it often in concert, but in 2023 he released Shadow Kingdom, a full album of reimagined versions of his older songs. “When I Paint My Masterpiece” kicks it off, a jaunty yet relaxed take on the ’70s track.

 

 

23. “Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum”
From: “Love and Theft” (2001)

Let’s be real: the early 2000s weren’t exactly Dylan’s finest vocal period. You’ll have to look past that on “Dweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum” to see the expert arrangement. It doesn’t so much start the album as rumble into one’s earphones with a cast of intriguing characters in tow, a parade of outlaws, movie stars and cowboys.

 

22. “You’re No Good”
From: Bob Dylan (1962)

Speaking of Dylan’s voice, here’s a much better example of someone who clearly has a lot of talent vocally — don’t listen to the haters who say he can’t sing — but also as someone who can switch gears on a dime and blow out a blues solo on a harmonica. “You’re No Good” is a strong enough opening track to make one want to keep the album playing.

 

21. “All I Really Want to Do”
From: Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

Within just two years, Dylan went from recording mostly covers to his own originals. “All I Really Want to Do” is a great early example of Dylan being playful with his rhyme schemes and verse structure.

 

20. “Duquesne Whistle”
From: Tempest (2012)

“Duquesne Whistle” is delicate at the beginning, then it picks up steam and chugs right along, setting up Tempest. Once again, try not to get hung up on Dylan’s vocal – this is very obviously a man with a long smoking history, though as far as we can tell he’s given that habit up.

 

19. “World Gone Wrong”
From: World Gone Wrong (1993)

After Good as I Been to You, Dylan did another folk record called World Gone Wrong. It starts with the title track, and more specifically with the line “strange things have happened, like never before.” Certainly, much had changed for Dylan since he first started recording traditional folk songs as a young man, yet he sounds just as comfortable doing it 30 years later.

 

18. “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans”
From: Triplicate (2017)

Out of 30 songs, Dylan chose “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans” as the opening track to the three-part Triplicate album. We’re good with that. It doesn’t drag, has a lovely horn arrangement by James Harper and really gives off the air of a show tune that Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan, who performed the original in the 1953 musical film The Band Wagon, would be pleased with.

 

17. “If Not for You”
From: New Morning (1970)

Most people are familiar with George Harrison‘s version of “If Not For You,” a lovely rendition, but we’d argue that Dylan’s own original is an apt choice for an opening song. It was a love letter to his then wife, Sara, a joyful acknowledgment of her support.

 

16. “Here Comes Santa Claus”
From: Christmas in the Heart (2009)

Is it a bit strange that Dylan decided to release a Christmas album in 2009? Perhaps. But Christmas in the Heart‘s opening track makes abundantly clear what the point of the album is: good old fashioned Yuletide fun.

 

15. “I Contain Multitudes”
From: Rough & Rowdy Ways (2020)

It’s safe to say Dylan fans were utterly elated when it was revealed that a new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, was to be released in 2020. It’s opener, “I Contain Multitudes,” is arguably one of Dylan’s very best musical musings on pop culture, musical history and American symbolism.

 

14. “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”
From: Together Through Life (2009)

“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'” kind of sounds like a Chicago blues song mixed with a bit of New Orleans jazz flavoring. It’s sultry enough to draw a listener into the rest of the record without giving away too much of what’s to come.

 

13. “Gotta Serve Somebody” 
From: Slow Train Coming (1979)

There’s just such a coolness to “Gotta Serve Somebody,” thanks to that smooth keyboard part by Barry Beckett and Pick Withers of Dire Straits on the drum kit. It’s a slow burn of a song and clearly critics agreed as it won Dylan a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

 

12. “Political World”
From: Oh Mercy (1989)

Anyone who thought Dylan walked away from socially-conscious songwriting after the ’60s hasn’t really been paying attention. “Political World,” the steady-paced opener to 1989’s Oh Mercy, is a blistering assessment of a place thats gone off the rails with little leadership to be found. “Courage is a thing of the past,” Dylan sings. “Houses are haunted / Children unwanted / The next day could be your last.”

 

11. “Girl From the North Country” With Johnny Cash
From: Nashville Skyline (1969)

Sorry, but opening an album with not just a reimagined version of one of your own songs but also making it into a duet with the legend that is Johnny Cash? Not sure it gets much better than that, even if Dylan’s nasally vocal tone is…strange, to put it mildly.

 

10. “The Times They Are a-Changin'”
From: The Times They Are a Changin’ (1964)

Dylan’s legacy will include a number of songs that have become synonymous with ’60s America, the Civil Rights movement and the general shift in culture that took place when he was a young man. “The Times They Are a-Changin'” is among them, of course, so even if you never got past the first track to the album of the same name, you’re alright.

 

9. “Changing of the Guards”
From: Street-Legal (1978)

“Changing of the Guards” has a lot going on lyrically, but the rolling movement of the verses, perfectly imprecise backing vocals and saxophone interludes make it so easy on the ear. A great introduction to an underrated Dylan album.

 

8. “Thunder on the Mountain”
From: Modern Times (2006)

The beginning moments of “Thunder on the Mountain” are like when the velvet curtain opens at the beginning of a play. Enjoy the show, ladies and gentlemen. And lyrically, it captures one’s attention — why has Dylan been looking for Alicia Keys all this time?

 

7. “Love Sick”
From: Time Out of Mind (1997)

“Love Sick” comes across dirge-like, slowly but steadily limping toward the conclusion Dylan ultimately draws: “I wish I’d never met you.” It sets up the rest of Time Out of Mind to be the moody, introspective, anguished album it is.

 

6. “Tangled Up in Blue”
From: Blood on the Tracks (1975)

When an opening song begins with the words “t’was in other lifetime, one of toil and blood,” you know you’re in for a good story. “Tangled Up in Blue” is a song Dylan reworked lyrically over and over, and even still changes the lyrics from time to time, proving that songs like this one are living, breathing pieces of art.

 

5. “Blowin’ in the Wind”
From: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)

Not many people write a song like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” much less have it as an option for an album opener. This song introduced the world to Dylan as the competent songwriter he was in an era where writing about political matters was both popular and risky.

 

4. “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”
From: Blonde on Blonde (1966)

“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” certainly isn’t your average ’60s rock song. Carnivalesque, rowdy and literally full of laughter, it ropes a listener in and offers them a joint. Everybody must get stoned indeed.

 

3. “Hurricane”
From: Desire (1976)

Here comes the story of the hurricane. This is one of those tracks that one really should buckle in for, and the placement of it at the very top of 1976’s Desire was likely not only because it works well there sequentially, but to draw even more attention to the injustice Dylan felt boxer Rubin Carter was facing.

 

2. “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
From: Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

There are some who say that “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was a building block for contemporary hip hop and rap artists with its fast-paced, single note, half-singing half-speaking lyrics. That’s up for debate, but what isn’t questionable is how strong of an opening track it is. You may need to listen twice or a few more times.

 

1. “Like a Rolling Stone”
From: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

It was Bruce Springsteen who once described the opening snare drum of “Like a Rolling Stone” as sounding “like somebody’d kicked open the door to your mind.” We can’t really argue with that; it’s a perfect starting song if ever there was one.