Essential Bob Dylan Covers?

Is there a Dylan cover more beautiful than Fairport Convention's 'I'll Keep It With Mine'?
Is there a Dylan cover more kickass than Poster Children's "Isis"?
OPO: Bob Dylan cover

Today, Johnny Jenkins' "Down Along the Cove" is totally doing it for me.

:: Lock Thread ::

That said, my cover of "Boots of Spanish Leather" might also rank amongst the worst.

-- The Yellow Kid (ano...), August 6th, 2005.
george is the best , olivia newton johns version is horrid and should be avoided.

like don't love their version - do love the Chocolate Watch Band's

...the vagaries of tastes, blah, blah...

Ben Watt doing "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"

Twee as fuck, but gets me where I live.

As if you didn't already know, Mojo has a CD with.... well you get the picture.

Emmylou Harris - Every Grain of Sand (the best version without a doubt)
I'll second Neko Case's Buckets Of Rain. Wish she'd release that officially.

Of Course Jimi's Watchtower rules, but I enjoy the original equally. Somewhere I have a mix tape with the two back to back.

I don't think I've ever heard Dylan's version of "If Not For You", but George Harrison's is great.
-- The Yellow Kid (ano...), August 6th, 2005.
george is the best , olivia newton johns version is horrid and should be avoided.

-- jendy wames (jend...), August 6th, 2005 2:27 AM. (link)

I'll agree with that.

I'll stand by Mark Arm's "Masters of War" 7" (released the day the Gulf War I started)

The bass playing on that is really good, is that his regular guy, Steve something?

I'm hooked on Solomon Burke's "Maggie's Farm" and Phil Flowers's "Like A Rolling Stone" right now... the only other one I can think of off-hand right now is Stevie's "Blowin' In The Wind", which doesn't blow me away as much but then I'm kind of sick of the song itself.

Can anyone recommend any others, especially pre-funk '60's stomping soul stuff?

sorry - didn't meant to post twice - if a mod cares to delete this last post or the other thread, please do whatever's easy for you. or not. thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKyBcCDOB4
this song has such a weird history -- a fragment that dylan forgot instantly, only ever appeared on bootlegs, is now a hit country song by the dude from hootie.

also i did not know they made videos like this anymore -- this is going to be played all the time on vh1 circa 1996!

uh if I'm not wrong that dude is hootie

lol come on if you were a true hootie fan you'd know that he does not like being referred to as hootie.

don't be a blowfish

Though Rucker is commonly thought of as Hootie and the other members as the Blowfish, Rucker has clarified multiple times that he is not Hootie, and the other band members are not the Blowfish. The band name is completely separate from the band members.

lol

Next thing you know we will be hearing that there is no such person as Pablo Cruise.

Cough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D48MfkoTdLw

Inessential cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE7-K71uYak

t you know abt this also yeah?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gX1EP6mG-E

Nilsson's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" isn't mentioned on any of these Dylan cover threads, and it oughta be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5L_tehaQ0

That Hole cover of "Baby Blue" sounds good to me. (The X, no.)

i like nilsson's version...
and yeah i gather hootie is essentially "covering" the old crow medicine show "cover"...dylan must be chuckling about getting royalty checks for this thing.

Full cred to Adele for covering a late-period Dylan song, just to show it can still be done. (How many times did someone say "oh yeah, and Dylan wrote one for us, but we didn't use it..")

Hmm, Nilson doing SubHomBlu, I can't imagine that. Will wait for the boxset to arrive tho.

Jim Nabors singing Dylan with Leigh French and Rob Reiner of The Committee. How many hippies became imperialists? https://t.co/5JW80TbqJC

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) November 30, 2017

well this blew the top of my head off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUK8ZQD5GYo

Television Knocking on Heaven's Door

Good one!

Outlaw Blues is great in live versions by Great Society and Dream Syndicate

Yeah xgau recently flipped for that LaVette album of Dylan covers, which I haven't heard, though he low-rated a couple of her previous collections that I really enjoyed, so wonder if I'll like this one as well (yeah, probably; she's great, in an unusual way, that I think of as Method or Cassavetes).
Nobody's mentioned Nazareth's stretch-screech "Hollis Brown"? Don't sleep on Jerry Lewis's live and studio versions of "Rita May" on YouTube, ditto "Stepchild," from what I think is his most recent album, 2014'sRock & Roll Time, which is very fine.

16 Horsepower-Nobody 'Cept You

The new Titus Andronicus album has a wonderfully ridiculous take on "Like a Rolling Stone."

some good stuff here: https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/151888974397/yo-la-tengo-does-dylan-sunday-re-up-in-honor-of

Staple Singers’ “John Brown”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t8SOgbz4_4

Dylan's Gospel was recorded long before his official Christian Period, and includes several verbose stoner folk and folk-rock classics I didn't expect, but no prob, ditto with for inst "Lay Lady Lay":

But something tells us you haven’t heard anything quite like Dylan’s Gospel by The Brothers and Sisters, a choir of Los Angeles session singers brought gloriously to the fore for a very special, one-off record.

Originally released in 1969 on Ode Records, this rare and sought-after album finds the California collective covering a clutch of Dylan classics in the era’s revolutionary gospel style. Produced by Lou Adler, soon to work his magic on Carole King’s mega-successful Tapestry, and arranged by Gene Page, noted for his work for Motown, the performers were largely unknown, but many went on to find great acclaim. Merry Clayton, the powerhouse singer best known for sparring with Mick Jagger on Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” (and star of the recent documentary 20 Feet from Stardom*), appears here, as does Edna Wright of The Honeycones and Gloria Jones who recorded the original version of “Tainted Love” in 1965.

The cast of 27 singers also includes Ruby Johnson, Shirley Matthews, Clydie King, Patrice Holloway, Julia Tillman.. Wasn't Clydie King on some Dylan albums and maybe his wife for a while? Anyway, more info, audio here (and some videos are on the 'Tube)
https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1007-dylan-s-gospel
*20 Feet From Stardom is an excellent doc about backup singers!

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová Irglová - You Aint Goin' Nowhere

I think Lou Reed’s performance of “Foot of Pride” (from the “30th Anniversary Concert” that aired on TV) is pretty essential — Lou found a little-known Dylan song that was perfectly suited to be a Lou Reed song, and made it an instant highlight of the show.

(The song itself – every verse – is also peak, hardcore Infidels-era greatness...

In these times of compassion when conformity’s in fashion
Say one more stupid thing to me before the final nail is driven in.)

For vintage Dylan covers, I have always been a fan of the 13th Floor Elevators take on "(It's all over Now) Baby Blue". Roky's voice brings out the sadness in the tune.

I think Lou Reed’s performance of “Foot of Pride” (from the “30th Anniversary Concert” that aired on TV) is pretty essential — Lou found a little-known Dylan song that was perfectly suited to be a Lou Reed song, and made it an instant highlight of the show.

― i’m still stanning (morrisp),

otm

I updated my list a few weeks ago.

R. Stevie Moore, "Who Killed Davey Moore?"

Good “Not Dark Yet” from Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ixkCXSI7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ixkCXSI7M

PJ Harvey:

Highway 61 Revisited
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVA3l2xtWnk

Shot of Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3CIK5SoTio

Can't find a recording right now, but Alejandro Escovedo used to do a gorgeous version of "Dark Eyes," bonus points for picking from later Dylan ("Empire Burlesque!").

The Every Brothers, "Abandoned Love." One of my favorite songs and great to hear the Everlys sing it (though it can't touch Bob's only live performance at the Other End).

Buddy Guy, "Lay Lady Lay," w Anthony Hamilton's country soul voice and Robert Randolph's cosmic steel guitar.

And of course The Persuasions' a capella "The Man In Me":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsx9YBV9EnM

Nanci Griffith's Boots of Spanish Leather is probably my favourite.

https://youtu.be/ZhKamjavG04

Can't wait to spend some serious time checking out these recommendations.

Meanwhile, the 16 Horsepower cover of Nobody 'Cept You from Bootleg series is well worht your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUAkIxja6uY

Love the country take of “don’t think twice” by Boby Bare:

https://youtu.be/QnAR7FAQ_cA

Also check the finale rave-up of "Tombstone Blues" on Live From Central Park, by Sheryl Crow & Friends, who on various tracks incl. Keith Richards, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks, Clapton, Dixie Chicks---Chicks are def aboard this one, think Keef too; what I remember best is Natalie Maines' vicious Texas accent, bitin' them verses.

today's WFMU show of all female-singer covers

https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/92890

Thanks for this, sooo much! Current Fave rave: Marianne Faithfull's "Visions of Johanna." Oh that xpost Bettye LaVette album turned out to be excellent: she chops and channels "Times They Are A-Changin'{ to suit her groove, off-handed, also plunges fearlessly in to thickets of much later material. Fairport Convention and Friends' A Tree With Roots is pretty much all their Dylan covers, 'til the next reunion, anyway.

Nina Simone's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" might be my favourite cover of anything ever.

an all-lay lady lay set! this is what i need today for sure

"rich kid blues" is _the_ marianne faithfull record for me, i think i ran into it through beware of the blog back when that was a going thing and it's, whew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbrIPTNzEBA

For his 80th: 80 different Dylan songs by 80 different artists. (I see Rolling Stone did something similar but I made this before I saw that. A fair amount of overlap, but a bunch that aren't.)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2VMqOf2ODyYtFqDO8gZGiN?si=6e433ab69c6a43fc

thanks, tipsy!

In related news: Chrissie Hynde's Dylan covers album is unexpectedly excellent. For once an artist eschews the war horses.

Oh, I need to get on that. You're right, that's a good selection of tracks.

I quite liked Yo La Tengo’s “It Takes a lot to Laugh” cover, I had downloaded it 15 years ago and I think they just officially released it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvel4jtV4_8

I agree, in theory, about the unconventional selections on the Chrissie Hynde record, but I'm just not that big a fan of this particular selection of post-70s Dylan tracks. The "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" cover is gorgeous, though.

The Cover Me blog is doing a whole bunch of Dylan covers stuff right now, so there's my soundtrack for today.

100 Best Dylan covers: https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/05/the-100-best-bob-dylan-covers-ever.html
20 Best Dylan cover albums: https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/05/cover-classics-bob-dylan-tribute-albums.html

Jerry Lee, "Rita May"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-La50P_iQ

There's also a wild live version of this somewhere:

JLL: "Stepchild"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSboLWm5mA0

Link Wray's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" from Bullshot. Play it loud.

Graham Bonnet’s 1977 cover of “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” is crucial and key

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBDlsTyT60

I've posted this in another thread before so apologies for the repeat, but O'Connor's "I Believe in You" is stunning - I never cared for that song until I heard her version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlkeZqHmxlk

I can announce that Chrissie Hynde's new cover of "Blind Willie McTell" is all-time.

I don't know the Dylan original, but her version of Sweetheart Like You has immediately brought me to tears. I'm only four tracks into the album but this is astonishing.

here's a mix I put together a few weeks back — pretty fun stuff: https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2021/05/04/strike-another-match-dylan-translated

Really like the Emma Swift covers that were high up on the Cover Me list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejmLQiMMRVA

otm Alfred:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJoGTsHWDg

Not exactly covers related, but here are 86 artists talking about their favorite Dylan song: https://www.stereogum.com/2147461/favorite-bob-dylan-songs/lists/ultimate-playlist/

Chris Whitley and Jeff Lang's version of "Changing of the Guard" is well worth searching out, it is quite beautiful and dreamy.

Mentioned once in the thread, but worth repeating that Nazareth id "Hollis Brown" as proto-doom metal circa 1974.

I really like Patti Smith's "Changing of the Guards" where she eliminates every gram of cheese. It's a quieter, stripped down arrangement, and transposing the sax part to the piano is a massive improvement.

Forgot the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZ9LABs-Co

Yeah that's my favorite version of "Changing of the Guards."

I only recently learned Duane Eddy did an album of Dylan covers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLSntYt8ts

I still haven’t heard a cover of “it’s all over now baby blue” that I didn’t like but the 13th floor elevators one is as perfect as they come.

Shooter Jennings has a great cover of “Isis”
Live version only, though I’d love to hear him do a studio version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s90aw9cybvw

Anyone else into this proto-slowcore/dream pop version of Like a Rolling Stone by Spirit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWCxAElOSxM

Xxp

To this day I still can’t believe they didn’t play that song in Breaking Bad finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVgludGcI5I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npeYMJIbY8o

Thanks guys, several here lately that I never hoid of!
Yeah, Chrissie Hynde's rainy day country-folk conversations keep me listening, nursing a drink and memories and not bogarting that joint because it's all sides of the online, passing tracks back and forth with her Pretenders guitarist and their listeners, good for strumming and keys---seems like a little more variety might be good, but maybe would mess with the intimacy.
But also---I just first listened to Lucinda Williams' Bob's Back Pages: A Night of Bob Dylan Songs, which is a lot to take in, quality and quantity and range and depth (of dug-in heels, writing and choice-wise), but clearly she's wide awake all night, no slurs, lots of teeth, with her hot crusty railroad combo from Good Souls Better Angels, I think (it's a download, so no fancy info). The theme, one of the recurring themes, is restless frustration---"I look like I'm movin', but I'm standin' still," but never shut up. The dread "To Make You Feel My Love" is the ringer, and closer, but works (and follows "Idiot Wind"), by far the best version I've heard, of which there have of course been a shitload. "Everything's Broken," "Political World," and "Man of Peace" make one ornery triptych early on. "Queen Jane Approximately"is drinking wedding band folk punk change of pace, nice. Was going to pick some from YouTube, but can't decide.

This cover of Sign On The Window by Sarah Jarosz is absolutely stunning. I'd never heard of her until I saw this but it seems that as well as doing her own material she does tons of covers, including unusual choices like Prince and Billie Eilish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73qzaGalZg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJpeaw6mP1c

Magnificent «Changing of the Guards» by Norwegian Signe Marie Rustad, from a Dylan tribute on Norwegian national TV this fall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_BgSyU5G1w

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3SSIf-i_SM

I mean, god bless him for leaning into the smooth and jivey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZFMWXuGCU

I don't think I've ever heard Dylan's version of "If Not For You", but George Harrison's is great.

-- The Yellow Kid (ano...), August 6th, 2005.
george is the best , olivia newton johns version is horrid and should be avoided.

― jendy wames, Saturday, 6 August 2005 05:27 (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I prefer Glen Campbell's version of George Harrison's version tbh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBiMU7EBSFI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFcNnwlKAHk

Johnny Winter did a ripping version of Highway 61 with some sharp slide guitar.

birdistheword otm upthread. Sinead O'Connor's version of "I Believe in You" is gorgeous.

For the 80th anniversary of nuclear bombs, the Kronos Quartet did Hard Rain with many others singing on it, plus a drone/spoken word version: https://redhot.bandcamp.com/album/kronos-quartet-the-hard-rain-collective-ep

How the hell have I never heard Leon Russell’s version of Hollis Brown?!? Completely demented. Like some proto “Me and the Devil” by Gil Scott-Heron

Thanks! Do you know Nazareth's rendered rendition? Dylan songs need more such screechy vox.

Nazareth invents doom metal on that one

Und mit heavy fuzz guitar:
http://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Nazareth+Hollis+Brown&&mid=A3E1EE75B86001379B53A3E1EE75B86001379B53&FORM=VRDGAR