10 Dark Songs by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, the God of Folk, the King of Folk Rock and the Voice of a Generation, has written some of the most memorable anthems of the 1960s. Songs including: "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War,"and of course, the unforgettable "The Times They Are a-Changin'" have been used to commemorate the 1960s as a time of social change and have since been called some of the greatest songs ever written.

But what happens when the God of Folk gets introspective?

Bob Dylan is known for writing songs about his own persona, his own time and being reflective upon some of the social and political changes going on throughout his existence. But there are some tracks in his discography which push the barrier for "darkness."

Whether it be apocalyptic, a "vision of sin," a state of depression or the philosophical darkness that colours some of Bob Dylan's 1980s and 1990s songs, I think I can pinpoint ten songs that are considered to be some of Bob Dylan's darkest, most poignantly abstract songs in terms of the lyrics. So, even though it is pretty dark, "One More Cup of Coffee"won't be featuring on this list because technically, the lyrics aren't as dark as some other Bob Dylan songs. Also, the protest songs will not be featuring here—just the ones that are philosophically dark. We'll cover the protest anthems another time.

Here are the ten I have chosen:

10. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ('Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid: The Soundtrack')

"Mama take this badge from me, I can't use it anymore

It's getting dark too dark to see, feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door..."

Possibly one of Bob Dylan's most well-known songs and a song that was used in the soundtrack for the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (also with Dylan as a part of the cast), this song is one of the most philosophically and musically dark things you'll ever listen to. The sound is slow and hardly builds to any climax. Instead, it stays very low and almost quiet during the verses. The song's subject being death makes you really wonder about the emotions Dylan was trying to put across during this time.

9. "Ring Them Bells" ('Oh Mercy')

"Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf. Ring them bells for all of us who are left. Ring them bells for the chosen few who will judge the many when the game is through..."

I see this song as an apocalyptic vision of some kind. It feels very much like Bob Dylan is talking about what will happen at the end of days and how the revelation will enter. Especially the line that is seen here from the song, it really gives way to a very dark and very apocalyptic concept. I think the piano in the background really does the song justice by making it dark, philosophical and almost too calm. It's like a dark and eerie feeling that looms about the song.

8. "Blind Willie McTell" ('The Bootleg Volumes 1-3')

"Seen the arrow on the doorpost saying, 'This land is condemned. All the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem.' I traveled through East Texas where many martyrs fell. And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell..."

This song is filled with protest against inequality, an almost biography of the legendary blues singer, Blind Willie McTell, and a vision of the apocalypse. These apocalyptic visions were common for Dylan through the 1980s, with songs like "Jokerman," "License to Kill," "Ring Them Bells" and "I and I"including some of Dylan's intensely active end of days prophecies. But, I can tell you "Blind Willie McTell"isn't only one of the greatest songs ever written, but it sounds and feels so dark that the first time I ever heard it, I felt the kind of shivers you feel listening to Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell himself. Not just one of Dylan's darkest songs, it is one of the most beautifully dark songs ever penned in music history.

7. "Trying to Get to Heaven" ('Time Out of Mind')

"When you think that you lost everything you find out you can always lose a little more. I'm just going down the road feeling bad, trying to get to heaven before they close the door..."

This song, I think we can all agree, is on one of Bob Dylan's darkest albums. "Time Out of Mind"was released in 1997 and this is quite possibly one of the most depressing songs on the whole album. The lines refer to the loss of memories, the depression of the soul and possible suicidal tendencies. Conveying a protagonist who has clearly has enough of life, this song makes for one of Dylan's darkest stories and yet, it is entirely relatable to many who have listened to it.

6. "Dark Eyes" ('Empire Burlesque')

"Oh, the French girl, she's in paradise and a drunken man is at the wheel. Hunger pays a heavy prize to the falling god of speed and steel. Oh, time is short and the days are sweet and passion rules the arrow that flies. A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes."

A possible apocalyptic vision from Bob Dylan again, the main character witnesses death and destruction through this acoustic classic. The one thing that has confused many people is that this song is on the New Wave Pop album Empire Burlesque,and yet, it sounds like Dylan is returning to his roots. I've spoken to some people who think that the song "Dark Eyes"is Bob Dylan killing off the New Wave era in an apocalypse, but I have no idea. The song is sweetly dark and talks quite passionately about emotion, death, destruction and the appreciation of beautiful things. It's an incredible song and yet incredibly simple, and also, it's intensely dark if you listen to the lyrics.

5. "Dirge" ('Planet Waves')

"Heard your songs of freedom and man forever stripped, acting out his folly while his back is being whipped. Like a slave in orbit, he's beaten 'til he's tame, all for a moment's glory and it's a dirty, rotten shame."

This song is angry and dark, and it's quite clear that Bob Dylan wrote this song to express sheer rage. The lyrics are quite dark, but the song itself is called "Dirge," and for those of you who don't know, the term "dirge" means a funeral song. I've always thought the title means that someone the main character was angry with has died and this is their real response to them. I feel the song is dark not only because of the lyrics, but also because that piano in the background which plays out a beat instead of a drum-kit.

4. "High Water" ('Love and Theft')

"High water risin', risin' night and day all the gold and silver are being stolen away. Big Joe Turner looking East and West from the dark room of his mind. He made it to Kansas City, twelfth street and vine. Nothing standing there. High water everywhere..."

I love this song, but there's something incredibly apocalyptic about it. I really do think it's dark because of the way it uses other people to convey the story. There's Big Joe Turner, Bertha Mason, and others who are, in all reality, helpless against this high water. The "high water" being the vision of the end of days. Obviously, this is a play on the Charley Patton song "High Water Everywhere (Parts 1 and 2)." When you listen to the dark song by Patton, it makes the Dylan song easier to understand.

3. "Idiot Wind" ('Blood on the Tracks')

"Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press. Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick, but when they will I can only guess. They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy. She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me. I can't help it if I'm lucky..."

I absolutely adore this song. In fact, it's my favourite song from the entire album. But that doesn't mean the song doesn't have a great amount of darkness to it. From the first line there's a dark, philosophical and looming feeling to the song—as if there's a third party that is unknown to the listener. It's a great way of presenting darkness because even the notes of the song reflect that—it's probably the darkest song from the dark divorce album Blood on the Tracks.

2. "This Wheel's on Fire" ('The Basement Tapes')

"This wheel's on fire rolling down the road. Best notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode!"

This song is incredibly dark. I love the way the song feels like a conversation, almost as if the main character is telling someone off for doing or not doing something. Then, the chorus is like a dark apocalypse of a wheel being on fire or something going horribly wrong. To "notify (someone's) next of kin" is something that is normally done when someone dies, so we can expect dark things from this song. Apart from that, it has a great, rolling tune, as if the wheel is literally rolling down the road...

More Mentions:

• "Not Dark Yet" ('Time Out of Mind')
• "I Threw it All Away" ('Nashville Skyline')
• "Going, Going, Gone" ('Planet Waves')
• "Standing in the Doorway" ('Time Out of Mind')
• "Life is Hard" ('Together Through Life')
• "Pay in Blood" ('Tempest')
• "Melancholy Mood" ('Fallen Angels')
• "It Ain't Me Babe" ('Another Side of Bob Dylan')
• "Desolation Row" ('Highway 61 Revisited')
• "Seven Curses" ('Bootleg Volumes 1-3')
• "The Wicked Messenger" ('John Wesley Harding')
• "What Good Am I?" ('Oh Mercy')
• "Sugar Baby" ('Love and Theft')
• "Ballad of a Thin Man" ('Highway 61 Revisited')
• "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" ('John Wesley Harding')
• "Annie's Going to Sing Her Song" ('Another Self Portrait')
• "Day of the Locust" ('New Morning')
• "Cold Irons Bound" ('Time Out of Mind')

1. "Señor" ('Street-Legal')

"Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled was that trainload of fools bogged down in a magnetic field. A gypsy with a broken flag and a flashing ring he said, 'Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing'..."

This song is one of my personal favourite Bob Dylan songs ever because it is incredibly apocalyptic, dark, philosophical and is filled with images of loss, destruction and pure, unbridled pain. The subject of the song is someone who is carrying Dylan along a journey (possibly it is God carrying him into the gospel era, which would happen a year after Street-Legal... we can only wonder). But the song sounds dark, self-destructive and so incredibly deep you kind of get lost in it while it's playing. It is quite possibly what I would consider as Bob Dylan's darkest, deepest, most apocalyptic song ever. It has this anticipation about it that other Bob Dylan songs don't really have in the same way. It's like you're anticipating something happening and then, it doesn't... the song just continues to build and build. You are just continuously waiting for something that never comes: "Can you tell me what we're waiting for, señor?"