best of dylan

Tomorrow I'm flying to Amman, Jordan. I still don't have any gifts for my hosts, two friends from grad school and their families, and I have my gas account and associated charges/rates to sort out, but at least I'm mostly packed. One thing that's missing is the Best-of-Dylan CD I promised my friend.

It's curious that I would be offering Dylan with a straight face. Back in grad school I had a roommate who loved this guy's music. I didn't see anything in it and couldn't keep that to myself. I made fun of the strange mumbling sounds coming out of my roommate's stereo, but at some point the Jack of Hearts caught my attention. A great story with a twisted plot, interesting characters, and rhymes that were spot-on.

Before we parted company, I copied the CD, Blood on the Tracks (much to the delight of Columbia Records, I would expect), started listening to the other songs, and Dylan slowly got to me. Over the last five years I bought seven CDs and Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home. I absolutely love the music and the man and am ready to defend my taste in much the same way as my roommate did back in Utah – by letting the music speak for itself.

Thus I promised my friend a CD with my favorite Dylan songs. When I did it, half a year ago, I had no idea what I was in for. Finding good songs is not hard. My list of favorites runs a good three hours. What's nearly impossible is to narrow it down, to pick songs to leave out. That's why the project is still ongoing – despite my friend's constant nagging. Now I'm working the night to get this done before I head for the airport tomorrow.