Bob Dylan’s Last Top 40 Hit Reflected a Major Life Change

Bob Dylan never really focused much on hit singles. Now and again, one of his songs would capture the imagination of the mainstream. But he never made calculated moves to become a pop star.

Videos by American Songwriter

His last Top 40 hit in the US came with a song that introduced a new Dylan, one focused on preaching and proselytizing to his listeners. It came in a soulful package with a memorable chorus, however, and it gave him a surprising hit.

Bob on the Charts

Bob Dylan earned 12 Top 40 singles in the US throughout his career, including four that made it all the way to the Top 10. Not too shabby at all, but not quite representative of the massive impact that he left on the music scene with practically every move he made.

Dylan entered a period of creative resurgence in the mid-70s with the one-two punch of the albums Blood On The Tracks and Desire. Although the singles from these records only did modestly, the albums sold very well. Dylan once again stood at the center of the cultural conversation after a period in the late 60s and early 70s when he shunned that attention.

Unfortunately, the momentum stalled with his poorly received 1978 album Street-Legal. A few other projects failed around that time, while Dylan was also dealing with the end of his first marriage. Taking hits on all sides, he found solace in a place most of his fans never would have expected: Christianity.

Conversion Rock

Dylan, born into the Jewish faith, was baptized as a Christian in 1979, the culmination of a process that began with a vision that he experienced during a show late the previous year. He threw himself headlong into studying the Bible and the tenets of the faith. When he started writing songs, it was only natural that the topics focused on his conversion.

But Dylan was also savvy enough to realize that his career needed a boost. For that reason, he chose his collaborators wisely. He hired producer Jerry Wexler and worked in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with the ace session players located there. In addition, he chose Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits to play lead guitar on the record.

Dylan also made a good selection when it came to the first single. While “Gotta Serve Somebody” certainly reflected his newfound beliefs, it did so in a way that was a bit less strident and somewhat more playful than some other songs on the record. It also featured a sumptuous groove and a singalong chorus, characteristics that made it ideal for pop radio.

Your “Serve”

Not everyone who heard “Gotta Serve Somebody” was impressed by the New Dylan. John Lennon, for one, called him out and even recorded an originally unreleased parody of it called “Serve Yourself”. You could argue that the publicity surrounding Dylan’s conversion helped the song out, as, once again, everybody in the music world was talking about him.

The song made it to No. 24 in 1979, his biggest hit in six years. He never again found the Top 40 (his closest subsequent call was “Sweetheart Like You”, which made it to No. 55 in 1984). In other words, “Gotta Serve Somebody” served Dylan quite well.

Photo by George Rose/Getty Images