The 2 Bob Dylan songs David Crosby picked as favorites

Music would certainly have been very different in the 1960s if it hadn’t been for Bob Dylan. He showed that artists could write their own songs and that they could be about anything they wanted to sing about. He became an influence on countless Rock and Folk musicians, including The Byrds, whose lineup featured the late, legendary David Crosby.

Crosby and Dylan became friends during that era and over the years Crosby often spoke about Dylan’s songwriting. He even revealed which two Dylan songs were his favorites.

The 2 Bob Dylan songs David Crosby picked as favorites

“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”

The first track praised by David Crosby was “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and he said that when he first heard it he was knocked out by how good it was. “When I first heard Dylan in New York didn’t like his singing. I thought, Why doesn’t everybody like me more? But then I went to see him perform and I got it… his songs!”

“They were so good and there was one after another after another. Asking for a favourite is like asking a parent, Hey, which is your favourite child? Bob Dylan a good three dozen flat-out sterling pieces of material that we can safely refer to as classics. But when I first heard ‘It’s Alright, Ma’ it really was such a knockout. ‘Darkness at the break of noon /Shadows even the silver spoon’- hey, that’s the apocalypse coming, nothing less,” he said as reported by Mojo.

“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is part of Dylan’s fifth studio album “Bringing It All Back Home”, released in 1965. The track is overshadowed by other famous songs on the record like “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”.

During his career, David Crosby covered Bob Dylan songs many times, most famously as a member of The Byrds, helping introduce some of Dylan’s compositions, such as “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “My Back Pages”, to an even wider audience. Dylan liked Crosby and the band, playing with them on several occasions. A few decades later, he invited Crosby to perform on his 1990 album “Under the Red Sky”. Crosby sang backing vocals on the songs “2×2” and “Born in Time”.

“Girl From North Country”

“I really love “Girl From The North Country” because it’s a simple love song. But I love an awful lot of more complicated and stronger songs that he’s written too. I wanted very much to be his friend and hang out with him. I go with him one time to accept an honorary degree from Princeton. He said, “I don’t think I want it” and I said, “You should go do it. I’ll go with ya.” So we rode down there and I wound up in one of his songs. But he’s not an easy guy to get close to. He is a fascinating guy though,” David Crosby told American Songwriter in 2012.

The track mentioned by Crosby was part of Dylan’s second studio album “The Freewhelin’ Bob Dylan” and is also one of Keith Richards‘ favorite ones by the musician. It is a bit overshadowed by other bigger hits from that record like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. Crosby, Stills and Nash covered that song many times, featuring their version on their live album “CSN 2012″, released in 2012.

In Crosby’s opinion, Bob was “the archetype, he was mysterious and extremely f*cking good in what he did. When he started out he was reasonably good looking, he was completely different from anyone.”

He continued:

“I remember the first time I saw him at Gerde’s Folk City. I sneaked in because I didn’t have the money to buy it. So I listened to him and I thought ‘Oh f*ck, I can sing better than that! What is this guy all about?’ (But) then I started to listen to the words,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2017 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

David Crosby and Bob Dylan are among the greatest and most influential American songwriters of all time. They inspired countless generations of musicians and sold millions of records.