3 Classic Tracks That Bob Dylan Dislikes (Including One of His Own)

No one has ever accused Bob Dylan of being a people pleaser. He isn’t afraid to give his opinion, even when it proves to be unflattering to his peers. Love him or hate him for it, he’s persistently honest. Find three classic tracks that Dylan dislikes–including one of his own–below.

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“Yesterday” (Beatles)

Dylan’s criticism of The Beatles’ classic track, “Yesterday”, was covertly delivered. If you accept that Dylan was passionate and felt convicted by the themes in his songs, then “othering” another track would be a damning put down. He once labeled the Beatles’ “Yesterday” as “smooth,” after profiling the type of listener a song like that draws in. Though he describes them in a very Dylan way–i.e. heady and somewhat indiscernible–it’s clear he didn’t think they had much depth to them.

“I would like to be accepted by the Hogtown Dispatch literary crowd who wear violets in their crotch and make sure they get all the movie and TV reviews and also write about all the ladies’ auxiliary meetings and the PTA gatherings, you know, all in the same column,” Dylan once said about this classic track. “The Beatles have been. The Beatles are accepted, and you’ve got to accept them for what they do. They play songs like ‘Yesterday’, a lot of smoothness there.”

Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

“Ballad In Plain D” (Bob Dylan)

You have to admire someone who says it how it is, even when it’s at their own expense. Dylan wasn’t afraid to take stock of his own failures from time to time. His biggest? According to Dylan himself, “Ballad In Plain D” is one classic track he should have “left alone.”

“I look back and say, ‘I must have been a real schmuck to write that,’” Dylan once said. “I look back at that particular one and say, of all the songs I’ve written, maybe I could have left that alone.”

Dylan’s comments didn’t go much further than that on this classic track, but it seems he felt like the song was far too sentimental. With lines like With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn, you could see how Dylan could come to that conclusion.

I once loved a girl, her skin, it was bronze
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
I courted her proudly, but now she is gone
Gone as the season she’s taken

“Heart of Gold” (Neil Young)

Dylan hasn’t shied away from pointing out when a song sounds like something he would’ve written. He knows how much of an inspiration he is to other songwriters, but that doesn’t mean he wants to feel stolen from. Dylan has accused several artists of theft over the years, including Neil Young with his classic track, “Heart of Gold.”

“I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to ‘Heart of Gold,’” Dylan once said. “I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I’d say, “Shit, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.”

I want to live
I want to give
I’ve been a miner
For a heart of gold
It’s these expressions
I never give

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