Is there a Dylan cover more beautiful than Fairport Convention's 'I'll Keep It With Mine'?

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AMG lists a few different covers of "Visions of Johanna", including Robyn Hitchcock, Marianne Faithfull, Lee Ranaldo, and the Grateful Dead. The only one I've heard is the Michael Moore version, and that's an instrumental.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Michael Moore??

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, and none of them quite cut it, no matter how well intentioned or earnest. it's a bear of a song. aside from Townes van Zandt, i can't think of anyone who might do it justice.

― summerslastsound, Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Michael Moore the American expat, longtime resident of the Netherlands, member of ICP Orchestra, reedist extraordinaire. His version is quite lovely actually.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"Visions of Johanna" b/w "Can You Please Tell Me How to Get to Philip Knight's Office?"

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I've always loved Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint's take on "Eternal Circle" from their all-Dylan cover album from 1972, Lo and Behold.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Thursday, 24 July 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Van Morrison's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" deserves a mention.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Rod Stewart does great versions of "Only a Hobo" and "Tomorrow is a Long Time" too. "Si Tu Dois Partir" is just genius though.

― abeta, Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:06 (twenty-two years ago)

VM's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue was the other one I was thinking of. The inspired backing totally lifts the song to somewhere else.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I forgot about that one. But to split hairs, that's Them actually, not VM solo.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

hey man you forgot about Fairport's version of "Million Dollar Bash" where they all take a verse!

― roger adultery, Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

That song and "Si tu dois partir" are a little too jaunty for me.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick; a bit off topic, but you might want to pop to HMV where you can currently pick up Sandy Denny's "The north star grassman and the ravens", which is brilliant, and it's only a fiver in the sale.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Byrds' "Bells of Rhymney" might be my favorite, with their "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" right up there. They were really his greatest interpreters. Although their "This Wheel's on Fire" is unpleasant and depressing.

ALso another vote for Fairport's "Percy's Song".

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"Bells of Rhymney" is a folk song that was adapted by Pete Seeger.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Or perhaps it was originally a poem? Anyway, it's to do with Pete Seeger, not Bob Dylan.

But it is pretty beautiful in the Byrds rendition.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant "Chimes of Freedom". From the first record. My mistake, i mistyped it.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Lots of great stuff listed above - i'll add Karl Wallinger's World Party cover of All I Really Want to Do.

― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Springsteen's version of 'I Want You' is absolutely chilling. Available only on bootlegs.
I second Rainy Day's 'I'll Keep It With Mine'.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Cat Power's "Moonshiner" is very nice and mournful, but Dylan's is slightly better.

― David A. (Davant), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Keith - ta. Maybe I'll do that - that's where I got 'What We Did On Our Holidays' for a fiver in the first place.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Nina Simone's version of 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' is pretty fuckin' beautiful too

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Another vote for Rainy Day's "I'll Keep It With Mine," although the outtake from Bringing It All Back Home is way the best version. Fairport's is boring.

There are NO good versions of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" except the Basement Tapes original, which has to be one of his five or so best songs.

There really aren't all that many good Dylan covers. A couple: "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" by Van Morrison and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" by Bryan Ferry.

― Burr (Burr), Thursday, 24 July 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Ida's "Boots of Spanish Leather."
Marion Williams' "Wicked Messenger."

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 25 July 2003 04:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I prefer their "Percy's Song" too.

And I know Hendrix's "...Watchtower" is an obvious choice but it is marvellous.

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 25 July 2003 07:25 (twenty-two years ago)

The Byrd's did a great versh of It's All Over Now Baby Blue. But nothing new with mentioning them. SO how about Paul Weller's I Shall Be Released?

― tigerclawskank, Friday, 25 July 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Anybody heard "Who Killed Davey Moore" by R. Stevie Moore? Not beautiful but brilliant - in fact the album it's on, "Teenage Spectacular", is one of those great lost gems no-one's ever heard.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 July 2003 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Percy's song is better, I think. Denny does get a bit too OTT towards the end.

― RickyT (RickyT), Friday, 25 July 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

The best Dylan cover I've heard is Johnney Cash doing Girl of North Country. He's got the sort of voice that makes the son as believable as Dylan makes it.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Friday, 25 July 2003 11:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, It's great to hear from KEITH WATSON, who I'm sure will agree with me that Olivia Newton-John's version of 'If Not For You' takes a lot of beating. It's from when she was a little bit country.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 25 July 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Hi MR MILLER... Likewise with you, you cheeky young chappy. I don't know about Olivia Neutron-bomb's one - I only remember the Grease stuff and "Physical", which was great.

Nice to hear she went country, like that Monkee guy - getting back to her roots.

I dunno about Dylan covers. I like The Byrds' This Wheel's on Fire, obivously any of them by Jimi are cool too. To be honest, I actually skipped the Dylan ones on the Fairport LP's last time I listened to them, maybe I'll give them another go thanks to Nick.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Friday, 25 July 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i've always liked nico's version much more than fairport convention's version. nico often sounds like she's involved in a fierce struggle with her voice to get it to convey traditional vocal feeling, which i like, whereas something about sandy denny's voice just sets my teeth on edge.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 25 July 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, come to think of it, what would Olivia Newton-John do if she "got back to her roots", would it be like John Farnham, or Mental as Anything...

― Keith Watson (kmw), Friday, 25 July 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

It's weird the way voices can affect people differently. I can't listen to an Nico album all the way through because she sets my teeth on edge, though I do love her in certain small doses.

As I said before, it's the guitar figures in FC's 'I'll Keep It With Mine' that get me, though I do love Sandy Denny's voice too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 25 July 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, i think what i like about nico is what annoys most people.

right now i'm listening to the 13th floor elevators doing "it's all over now, baby blue". this might have my vote... i forgot how beautiful and ghostly it is.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 25 July 2003 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Shout outs to Siouxsie's cover of "This Wheel's On Fire".

I would love to hear The Church cover "Isis"

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 26 July 2003 07:20 (twenty-two years ago)

What I like about Nico's voice is that her "lack of feeling" proves something about how affecting the natural inflections in language and music can be, how certain songs are so well-written they kind of do all the work for the vocalist... and Nico's material, whether she was doing covers or originals, extracted some really beautiful intonations from that cold Nordic voice.

― Pabst Blue Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 26 July 2003 07:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not familiar with the Fairport cover. As far as I know Dylan covers, the one that sticks out is Echo & the Bunnymen's It's All Over Now Baby Blue. They did a beautiful version on their internet-release Avalanche and numerous very cool live renditions in the eighties.
Bryan Ferry's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright is pretty good too.

― Tijn, Saturday, 26 July 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Howard Tate's "Girl of the North Country". Why there are not more early '70s R&B covers of Dylan songs, I'll never know.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Saturday, 26 July 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Thalia Zedek's version of "You're A Big Girl Now"

― Ben Dot, Saturday, 26 July 2003 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I just realised that I bought "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens" in the HMV sale about a month ago and had forgotten. I am now listening to it.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The Walkabouts to thread.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 30 July 2003 01:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Dear Nora does a staggeringly beautiful cover of Girl from the North Country. Don't rank on me please.

― Claire (Claire Miccio), Wednesday, 30 July 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the Betty Serveert version of I'll Keep It With Mine
better...

I like Neko's version of Buckets of Rain best tho...

― JMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, Wednesday, 30 July 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

good call on the byrds version of "You ain't going nowhere". "nothing was delivered" is an equally greaty bob d cover from the sweetheart of the rodeo album (the album as a whole is lovely in a summery gauzy sort of way).

you know its strange, dylan is covered so much, but so few of the versions are as powerful as dylans own, but heres a few suggestions

i quite like yo la tengo's "i threw it all away" which preserves all the simple loveliness of nashville skyline-era dylan with somewhat different instrumentation, i think its about the equal of the original.

also great, theres a will oldham live recording ive heard where he plays new pony from street legal and manages to strip it right down and turn it into something raw, and the song benefits a lot from that.

also, in the "don't look back" film joan baez plays just a little bit of "love is just a four letter word" in a hotel room, and this works out to be far more lovely than her released version of the song (what the fuck is up with the sitar in that??), you just wish the song was complete in "don't look back". she also does a lovely version of percy's song in the same hotel room that is a bit more complete.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Thursday, 31 July 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe the best covers of Dylan songs are by .... Dylan?

I love some of the versions on his live albums when he moves the arrangement, the phrasing, even the lyrics so far from the original as to at least shed a whole new light on the song, at most make it virtually a new item altogether.

Try 'Shelter From The Storm' from Hard Rain, 'Love Minus Zero/No Limit' from Live At The Budokan or oh, I can't think of a suitable one from the recent Rolling Thunder Revue one.

― Mooro (Mooro), Thursday, 31 July 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

i love "mama you've been on my mind" from the recent rolling thunder one, and most of the other rearrangements, just like a woman is great on that, and lonesome death of hattie carrol.

oh and my favorite dyaln rearrangement of a dylan song - "one too many mornings" from live 1966, that robbie robertson guitar solo with the little slide in it that just makes my heart jump, and the "SWEEEETHEAAARTS" belted out by dylan and danko, aw, its one of my favorite things ever

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Thursday, 31 July 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't they belt out "BEEE-HIND"??

(As in, "a 1,000 miles...BEEE-HIND")

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

yes yes they do. sorry, yep, its BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDDD.

maybe im getting confused, there must be another great song somewhere where some other artist belts out sweetheart, and im gonna spend all afternoon trying to work it out, dammit.

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Thursday, 31 July 2003 14:02 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

i've managed to totally overcome my sandy denny aversion, but i still prefer nico's i'll keep it with mine.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 27 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Lou Reed did a spectacular "Foot of Pride."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Someone did mention it upthread (in 2003) but I'm partial to Joan Baez doing Percy's Song in the hotel room in Don't Look Back, and I don't even really like Joan Baez. I also second I Shall Be Released done by the Band.

― Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 16 April 2005 03:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Worth a mention: Robert Forster's "Tell Me That It Isn't True", a lovely sounding thing.

― Taylor, Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Another real good one is a band called 16 Horsepower. They do a cover of Nobody 'Cept You from Bootleg Series, always been one of my favorite Dylan covers.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

The version of 'Down in the Flood' by Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson on "The North Star Grassman and the Ravens" is freakin' awesome.

― J (Jay), Saturday, 16 April 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

I heart ALL of FC's Dylan covers but think "Million Dollar Bash" is the most fun!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 6 August 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

i like nico a lot but the fairport "i'll keep it with mine" is the keeper

― gershy, Monday, 17 September 2007 06:24 (eighteen years ago)

fairport one is one of the best songs ever

― chaki, Monday, 17 September 2007 07:13 (eighteen years ago)

No love for the Turtles' "It Ain't Me Babe"? or the Burritos' "If You Gotta Go..."?

― bham, Monday, 17 September 2007 07:43 (eighteen years ago)

No Julie Driscoll's "This Wheel's on Fire"? No Peter, Paul, & Mary's "Too Much of Nothing"? No NEIL YOUNG??!!??! This thread is broken.

― Nubbelverbrennung, Monday, 17 September 2007 09:36 (eighteen years ago)

13th Floor Elevators - "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

― sexyDancer, Monday, 17 September 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

I'd like to second Amateurist from waaaay earlier on Elvis' version of "Tomorrow Is A Long Time". It's hazy, the aural equivalent of a mid 80s Penthouse photoshoot, with soft lighting and a quaalude glow. This song is Exhibit #1 for the value of prescription drug abuse by musicians.

― Euler, Monday, 17 September 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

ELVIS DOING DON'T THINK TWICE, ferry doing don't think twice, indigo girls(with baez) doing don't think twice, magnet doing lay lady lay.

there's more.

― MRZBW, Monday, 17 September 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

robyn hitchcock's "tryin to get to heaven before they close the door"

― ciderpress, Monday, 17 September 2007 20:00 (eighteen years ago)

<i>No Julie Driscoll's "This Wheel's on Fire"?</i>

^^^no diggity.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 17 September 2007 20:28 (eighteen years ago)

sexyd otm.
though the charley d & milo version is "i'll keep it with mine" is awesome too. borrows fairly heavily from the fairport version, i think.

― ian, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 20:35 (eighteen years ago)

Robyn H kind of owns Not Dark Yet for me.

― Jon Lewis, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 20:41 (eighteen years ago)

Emmylou Harris doing "Every Grain of Sand" is quite nice.

Re: Nico. I can never get over how out of tune she is. Was.

― dally, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

I actually had a pretty hard time deciding which version of "I'll Keep It With Mine" was better - Dylan's, Fairport's or Nico's. It's a hypnotic and haunting song regardless.

― Bimble, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 01:28 (eighteen years ago)

Johnny Rivers' take on "positively 4th street" is grand. and i reckon i'd call it beautiful. in its own way

― outdoor_miner, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 03:21 (eighteen years ago)

Olivia Newton-John's "If Not For You" is beautiful in much the same way that Olivia Newton-John's hair is beautiful.

Nina Simone's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" is beautiful in much the same way that blood trickling down a drain can be beautiful.

― Douglas, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 04:10 (eighteen years ago)

four years pass...

How do folks feel about "Eastern Rain", the Joni cover on WWDOOH? Having pulled out the album for the first time in a while, I'm just mesmerized by this one. Don't feel I've paid it the proper attention before on an album with "I'll Keep it With Mine" and "Meet on the Ledge", etc.. Denny in full-throated mode, but still her singing (and the instrumentation, too) manages lovely delicacy at the same time.

― softspool, Sunday, 29 July 2012 04:17 (thirteen years ago)

the guitar solo in "Eastern Rain" is unfortunate.

― starfish succulents (unregistered), Sunday, 29 July 2012 04:27 (thirteen years ago)

I've always loved it fwiw.

― Trip Maker, Sunday, 29 July 2012 04:45 (thirteen years ago)

haha, i like the solo, but think i understand where you're coming from. xp

― softspool, Sunday, 29 July 2012 05:00 (thirteen years ago)

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