#255 Bob Dylan, 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' (1963)

Following Dylan’ debut record, things weren’t looking great for him. Largely ignored by critics and the public, the album sold a modest 5,000 copies. A group of staff at Columbia were lobbying for him to be dropped but John Hammond, the man who signed him, stood by him. And that’s how ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ saw the light of day. Unlike his debut, Dylan wrote majority of the songs on this album, establishing him as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. The album opens with the lyrics “How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?” Wow. Can you imagine hearing that line for the first time in 1963?