The Rob Gordon Shuffle, ’60s edition

Bob Dylan – “All Along the Watchtower”: mp3
Hey, I love Jimi. I’m a guitarist, I can appreciate the man. But folk has always been my true love, and Dylan’s original cut — all blood and menace and far-off thunder, the way only his Bobness can bring them — is easily his finest song.

The Beatles – “You Never Give Me Your Money”: mp3
My favorite Beatles song comes not from my favorite Beatles album (that’d be the White Album) nor from my favorite Beatle (that’d be George Harrison), but McCartney’s never sounded prettier or actually written about life so realistically: “Out of college, money spent / I see you no future, pay no rent / All the money’s gone nowhere to go…but oh, that magic feeling / Nowhere to go.” I except this track to dominate my iTunes the closer I get to graduation.

Nico – “These Days”: mp3
I realized the other day that I don’t like Nico’s voice. I’ve always found her throaty, accented croak a bit laughable (“And I wonder if I’d see another highvvvvaaay“), but now, it almost ruins the song for me. But as Brandy told us back in ’90s, almost doesn’t count, and Jackson Browne’s best lyric works perfectly with the song’s brittle, finger-picked electric guitar and dubbed-over strings. I guess I can handle a highvvay or two when everything else sounds so fucking depressing.

(Read the first entry in the ’60s series here.)

***

The Rob Gordon Shuffle is a weekly Sunday rundown of fascinating songs without particular regard to genre or timeliness. It is absolutely not a top 5.