5. The Times They Are a-Changin
The Times They Are a-Changin shows Dylan at his socially conscious best and is one of his most honest and pessimistic albums. From the opening to the closing track, Dylan railed against everything that he saw going wrong around him and turned his angst into some of the greatest protest songs anyone has ever written. The titular track is one of the most recognizable works of modern popular music and it's only a sample of the great songs on the album. With God on Our Side examined the naivety with which countries rationalized their wars, North Country Blues tells of the hardships of an unnamed mining community, Only a Pawn In Their Game showed the impact racism had on both blacks and whites at the time, and The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll deals with the murder of a black barmaid by a white tobacco farmer. When the Ship Comes In does not deal with any specific social or political problem but is more of a protest against any kind of oppressive leadership Not everything on the album is a protestation however, Boots of Spanish Leather is a ballad about two lovers separated by an ocean who begin to grow apart and One Too Many Mornings is a similar examination of a relationship slowly decaying. Some criticisms of The Times They Are a-Changin would probably be the relative lack of diversity compared to Dylan's other albums. In addition, the number of quality songs on the album as well as the issues that Dylan wanted to address, prevented two extremely good songs from appearing on the album as Percy's Song and Lay Down Your Weary Tune are better pieces than most musicians could dream of making but did not make the final cut. In the end though, the sense of importance that surrounds The Times They Are a-Changin, as well as the intensity and skill with which Dylan unpacks his message, made it one of the defining musical works of the 1960's and one of Bob Dylan's most memorable achievements.