Song · Bob Dylan
“Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan
From the album Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
“Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan appears on 13 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1976 and 2026. It was first released in 1965 on the album Highway 61 Revisited. Its best result is #3 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1976). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,029 alternative song of all time.
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Bob Dylan cut the "Desolation Row" that closes Highway 61 Revisited on August 4, 1965, at Columbia's Studio A in New York, and the album signs off acoustic. It didn't start that way: the first take, on July 29, was electric, with Harvey Brooks on bass and Al Kooper on electric guitar, and it sat in the vaults until The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack dug it out in 2005. For the keeper, producer Bob Johnston roped in Nashville guitarist Charlie McCoy, who was passing through town, to improvise an acoustic part, with Russ Savakus on bass.
What results runs 11:21, a parade of characters strung through surreal vignettes, a whole city sliding into entropy while Dylan narrates without blinking.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 3 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1976) | 50 |
| 1978 | 46 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1978) | 50 |
| 2001 | 954 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 252 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 121 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 865 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 238 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2010 | 246 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2012 | 522 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) | 885 |
| 2014 | 218 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2020 | 232 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2023 | 570 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2026 | 633 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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