The “worst songs” of Bob Dylan have been selected by fans, who believe some of his classics are among his most unlistenable material.
Dylan’s discography is filled with all-time great pieces of work including Mr. Tambourine Man, Things Have Changed, and Murder Most Foul. But digging that little bit deeper into his decades of work and you can find some low points which fans are now discussing on the r/BobDylan subreddit. A fan asked: “What are Bob Dylan’s worst songs?” Replies ranged from Under the Red Sky tracks to a song released early in his career, which has been called “needlessly cruel”. Several listeners suggested Ballad in Plain D has a nastiness to it, which even Dylan has commented on in the past. Dylan was asked about the song during an interview in 1985 and suggested it was one of the few topics he could have “left alone”.
He said: “Oh yeah, that one! I look back and say ‘I must have been a real schmuck to write that.’ I look back at that particular one and say, of all the songs I’ve written, maybe I could have left that alone.” Fans of his work seem to agree with his assessment, suggesting it’s a nasty track which saw him call Suze Rotolo’s older sister and mother “parasites”.
One fan wrote: “If you ask Bob himself, he’d certainly include Ballad in Plain D since he has said it’s his biggest regret.” Another disagreed, replying: “I think it’s more because it’s one of the few times he explicitly wrote about his own life, clearly referencing real people, rather than any comment on the songs quality. The actual song is great.”
A third added: “Even setting aside its nastiness, I think the writing is unusually weak on that one – ‘a magnificent mantelpiece though its heart being chipped’ to describe a person? Birds chained to the sky isn’t profound enough to close out the song.”
Others believe it’s by far the worst song featured on Another Side of Bob Dylan. One person wrote: “I really dislike Ballad in Plain D not just because it’s mean spirited but because it’s just plain boring and (in my opinion) the worst song on Another Side of Bob Dylan by a large margin.
“Doesn’t do anything interesting, just slogs through eight minutes of self pitying trite, but enough people have said all my problems with it before I won’t go on. Just not a very good song music wise or lyrics wise.” Another agreed, replying: “Admittedly itrs title even sort of declares ‘this one will be boring’.”
Other songs from Dylan were singled out by fans for being relatively below par. One person suggested: “Wiggle Wiggle. The answer is always Wiggle Wiggle.” Another disagreed, replying: “Fuck that noise! Wiggle Wiggle rules!”
Whole albums were also written off by some listeners, who believe both Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove are “plainly bad” compared to his other works. One listener wrote: “Probably controversial but Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove are both just kind of plainly bad and not his worst work, and there’s Silvio and Brownsville Girl to make up for some of that too.
“Under the Red Sky however, even in the context of being some weird children’s song thing, is one part of his catalog thats uniquely terrible. Album is completely unlistenable and represents the deepest pit of Dylan’s career to me.”
Another agreed with the Under the Red Sky shaming, adding: “I feel like Under the Red Sky is a bigger disappointment on the basis that a Dylan song themed around nursery rhymes could have made for a good, even great album.
“But a feeling of indifference and directionlessness all around – writing, vocals and production – strangles it in the cradle. I think Cat’s in the Well best represents what the album could have been.”
