Doc’s Fave Bob Dylan Covers

Bruce Springsteen fans in particular may dispute it, but Bob Dylan is the most important American songwriter of the rock era in your Dentist’s opinion.  Dylan’s music is not all one style (which of course really annoyed folk purists back in the mid-60s who hated to see an electric guitar around his neck and The Band backing him when they were the Hawks).  His extensive canon includes folk, protest, love songs, religious tunes and R&B.  Robert Zimmerman will be 80 years old on May 24, 2021 so this seems like a good time to assemble a list of my favorite cover versions of Dylan songs.  Please understand that I am a fan of ’60s pop rock especially and so the selections are more in that vein than in ‘important artistic statements’.   For that reason you won’t see on this list the myriad of folk singers who rushed to cover Dylan in the early ’60s.  The order is fairly fluid so don’t get too concerned if your #1 is my #3.  Feel free to send in your comments as to your personal favorites.  Arbitrarily I have limited the list to only 2 songs per 1 artist and with no songs duplicated.  Dylan can be playfully obtuse about the meaning of his lyrics so I will let you decide for yourselves what they convey (plus how to interpret his statement at one time that he preferred Johnny Rivers’ cover of “Positively 4th Street” to his own?).  For neophytes, he was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota and was raised mainly in Hibbing.  In 1959 he headed for the University of Minnesota but after a year there he headed to New York’s Greenwich Village searching for Woody Guthrie, searching for his voice and making a name in the folk clubs.  He released his first album (Bob Dylan) in March of 1962 for Columbia records.  The Dylan name comes from the poet Dylan Thomas.

1.Manfred Mann -The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)

The band Manfred Mann was named after the stage nom de plume of U.K. keyboard player Manfred Lubowitz.  They scored a #1 in 1964 with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”.  When singer Paul Jones left, his place was taken by Mike d’Abo and in 1968 they hit #1 in the U.K. (#10 here) with this Dylan cover.  The flute and bass were played by Beatles friend Klaus Voormann who did the cover art for Revolver.  Bob had recorded this song in 1967 as part of The Basement Tapes which were not released till 1975 (and then only a few of the songs and in altered form).  Using The Band for backing, he recorded some of his best songs including this, “Tears Of Rage”, “I Shall Be Released” and “This Wheel’s On Fire.”  Reversing the 2 elements of the song’s title, Dylan’s version was finally released in 1985 on the boxset Biograph.  Anthony Quinn played an Eskimo in the 1960 movie The Savage Innocents which one assumes inspired the title.

2.The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds and their leader Roger (Jim early on) McGuinn have to be considered the foremost interpreters of the music of Bob Dylan.  They basically created folk-rock with this their debut single (#1 in the summer of 1965).  Their recording used only the 2nd of the original’s 4 verses which had appeared as an acoustic song on Bringing It All Back Home.  Producer Terry Melcher used only McGuinn’s 12-string guitar along with session players from The Wrecking Crew to back the gorgeous Byrds harmonies.

3.The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower

In the U.S., this was Jimi’s only single to crack the top 40 at #20 (fall of 1968).   The production almost feels like an amped up version of Phil Spector’s wall-of-sound with percussion supposedly supplied by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones.  Dave Mason was also at the sessions for the song and at one time played 12-string or even bass but Jimi kept erasing and adding more parts.  While Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell appears, the final bass part was played by Hendrix himself instead of Noel Redding.  Dylan’s version appeared on the Dec. 27, 1967 LP John Wesley Harding in a fairly stripped-down style with Bob playing acoustic guitar and harmonica.  My late buddy Chuck Davis used to love this song and supplied me with the import of Electric Ladyland (the one with the nude cover) – thanks Chuck – we miss you.

4.George Harrison – If Not For You

The big Christmas album we all wanted under the tree in 1970 was George Harrison’s boxset All Things Must Pass.  In a rare moment feeding my musical habit, my parents actually did pick this up for me – thanks mom and dad – we miss you as well.  Having sat in on the sessions for Dylan’s New Morning and hearing this song, George recorded it with Phil Spector behind the controls for his own record.  It was a near miss to include Olivia Newton-John’s gentle version in this list, her first U.S. charting single  (1971 #25).

5.Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – You Angel You

This song really surprised the young me when looking at the record label and noticing the composer was Bob Dylan.  It is more of a straight pop-rock love song than you would have expected from him.  It comes from the Jan. 1974 Planet Waves record (a #1) with backing by The Band.  After touring with Dylan during his Rolling Thunder Revue period, some of the players formed The Alpha Band (T-Bone Burnett, Steven Soles, and David Mansfield).  They released a nice version of this song on their 2nd LP Spark In The Dark (1977) as well.  The Earth Band take was from Angel Station (1979) with Chris Thompson singing lead.  Other than the keyboard player, this is an entirely different band than Manfred Mann so don’t yell at me later when you find more than 2 songs under the Manfred Mann umbrella!

6.The Byrds – My Back Pages

To limit The Byrds covering Dylan to only 2 songs was difficult as they did so many great ones meaning their versions of  “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “Chimes Of Freedom” didn’t make the list.  At #30 (1967), this was the last Byrds single to crack the U.S. top 40 even though they continued to release excellent music till 1973 (okay their last album or 2 weren’t so hot).  This was from their Younger Than Yesterday LP – a record that saw bassist Chris Hillman emerging as a writer.  The original was found on the 1964 record Another Side Of Bob Dylan.

7.The Turtles – It Ain’t Me Babe

Another Side Of Bob Dylan also supplied this song whose “no no no” chorus is seen by some as his take-off on The Beatles “yeah yeah yeah” from “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  At this time, Dylan was still in the acoustic troubadour mode so a new band The Turtles gave it the folk-rock band treatment in 1965 and had their first hit (U.S. #8).  They started in L.A. (1963) as The Crossfires playing surf music then Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman packed away their saxes and started singing P.F. Sloan and Dylan covers under a new name.  Later as Flo and Eddie they would link up with Frank Zappa in The Mothers.

8.Johnny Winter – Highway 61 Revisited

The late Johnny Winter was an original – a genius slide guitar bluesman who happened to be an albino (like his brother Edgar).  His 1969 Second Winter LP is the 1st record I know of with only 3 sides of music (the 4th was blank).  This, his 2nd Columbia label waxing, was better than his debut as it had a tougher sound in part due to his brother appearing on keys and sax taking the sound in to more of a rock style.  This tune was the title track to Dylan’s 1965 LP also on Columbia (plus it appeared on the b-side to the single “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?”).  On this, his 6th album, for the 1st time Bob mostly eschews acoustic folk for electric rhythm and blues.  The title refers to the main road that runs along Lake Superior through Dylan’s native Duluth, Minnesota.

9.Peter, Paul & Mary – Too Much Of Nothing

The only act to give The Byrds a run for the title of top Dylan cover band were Peter, Paul & Mary.   This track from their Late Again album was a #35 45 that followed up “I Dig Rock & Roll Music” late in 1967.  The song was another taped in 1967 by Dylan with The Band and eventually released in 1975 on The Basement Tapes.  Reportedly Dylan was unhappy that PP&M changed the 2nd name in the lyric from Vivien to Marion yet the other 2 main covers (Spooky Tooth and Fotheringay) do the same.

10.Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Own up time, this single was the only Dylan record that the young me owned back in the day.  “Everybody must get stoned” as a drug reference certainly didn’t fit the lifestyle of your Dentist who remains anti-drug and alcohol (and frankly at 13 in April of 1966, I wasn’t gonna get stoned anyway).  The rollicking tune which sounded like a party was what appealed to yours truly – not the lyrics (and frankly the words also have a double meaning about stoning someone like in Biblical times as punishment).  The Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers version takes the song at a faster tempo as an amped up blues rocker and really improves on the original.  This can be found as a live performance from the 1993 album that captured  the previous year’s tribute to Bob (The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration).  The impressive line-up included Roger McGuinn, Richie Havens, Johnny Winter, John Mellencamp and others.  A nearly as good version was done by The Black Crowes and is found on the 1995 compilation Hempilation: Freedom Is NORML.  Petty and his band backed Dylan on an extensive concert tour in 1986 and the Grateful Dead did a limited run backing him in ’87.

11.Manfred Mann – If You Gotta Go, Go Now

The Paul Jones-lead version of Manfred Mann released this Dylan cover in 1965 as a single which charted at #2 in the U.K. but flopped here.  Other covers were by The Liverpool Five and lyme & cybelle (early Warren Zevon).   It has been said that the lyrics were too sexually suggestive for ’60s U.S. radio programmers (“if you gotta go, go now or else you got to stay all night”).   Dylan’s original (recorded in 1965) was a non-charting single in the Netherlands in 1967 but was not released anywhere else.  In 1991 it was finally made available on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. 

12.Roger McGuinn – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

After The Byrds broke up, leader McGuinn didn’t give up recording Dylan and did a nice version of this tune on his 3rd solo record McGuinn & Band (1975).  Just like his other solo albums, it was not a chart success (#162).  Dylan wrote the soundtrack for the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (plus he appeared in it) and this became the most remembered song from it.  This popular song has been covered by a number of artists including Eric Clapton and Guns N’ Roses.

13.Beau Brummels – One Too Many Mornings

Your Dentist has a warm spot for this San Francisco band as they were 2nd on the bill at the Freddie & The Dreamers concert in 1965 which was my first (The McCoys also appeared).  Singer Sal Valentino and guitarist/songwriter Ron Elliott were the only constants in the band from ’64 till they broke up in ’69.  This non-album folk-rock single barely made the U.S. charts in 1966 (#95).  It was their last song to do so even though they released 2 more excellent LPs for Warner Brothers (Triangle and Bradley’s Barn).  The song comes from Dylan’s 3rd LP (1964) The Times They Are a-Changin’ which was when he was still an acoustic troubadour.  The Association also released it as a single in 1965.

14.Bryan Ferry – A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall

Roxy Music front-man Ferry lead off his 1st solo album These Foolish Things (1973) with this tune.   Frankly it sounds exactly like a Roxy record except all the songs are covers rather than originals .  As a single it also hit #10 in the U.K. where he was far more successful than here.  While Ferry did it as a rocker, as an acoustic protest song, this appeared on Dylan’s 2nd record (1963) The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  

15.Bachman Cummings – Like A Rolling Stone

The 2007 reunion of Guess Who band members Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings produced the excellent covers album Jukebox.  While Dylan’s version was electric, their version really blasts out the volume of the guitars making  it sound like a metal “Wild Thing”.  Dylan recorded it for his 1965 LP  Highway 61 Revisited with Al Kooper supplying the organ part – an instrument he didn’t normally play.  Michael Bloomfield played the guitar.  As a single, it charted at #2 on Billboard – a rarity back then for a 6 minute song.  Not surprisingly, Rolling Stone declared it to be their #1 song of all time (2010) plus The Rolling Stones released a live version on their album Stripped (also as a single).  

16.Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Please Mrs. Henry

Manfred Mann’s new group released this as their 1st single in 1971 and then on their excellent self-titled debut LP the next year.  The song was a rocker with not entirely serious lyrical content.  It was another of the songs from Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes.  In the early days, Cheap Trick often jammed at length to this in concert.  

17.Jimmy Barnes – Seven Days

Aussie Barnes has one of the greatest rock voices yet he has never been very successful in the U.S. as a solo or with Cold Chisel.  This rocker came off his Freight Train Heart record in 1987 (’88 here).  As an LP it hit #1 in Australia but only #104 here.  The word is Dylan worked this up during his Desire period but decided not to release it.  Ronnie Wood of The Faces/The Stones recorded it for his 1979 Gimme Some Neck LP.  Joe Cocker also did a nice rockin’ version too.  Dylan’s own live performance from 1976 came out on the Columbia boxset The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.  

18.The Hollies – The Times They Are a-Changin’

As a British Invasion group, The Hollies were a bit late to the party in the U.S. not scoring a top 10 hit till “Bus Stop” in 1966.   With Allan Clarke and Graham Nash as primary singers, vocal harmony was their strong suit.  Nash reportedly became frustrated that the band didn’t want to record his new songs but instead wanted to do an all-Dylan covers album so left to link up with Stephen Stills and David Crosby.  Terry Sylvester took Nash’s place beginning with this record.   This isn’t one of their strongest albums as their arrangements don’t always fit the songs though it charted at #3 in the U.K..  Dylan purists would likely hate this harmonic take on one his most iconic protest songs, the title track to his 1964 album.  The long list of artists who covered it includes Simon & Garfunkel, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, The Beach Boys and Peter, Paul & Mary.

19.The Blues Band – Maggie’s Farm

After trying a solo career post-Manfred Mann, singer Paul Jones formed The Blues band with other U.K. music vets.  In 1980 they released 2 U.K. charting albums with their 2nd (Ready) including this song which also charted there on EP (#68).  They changed the original lyrics to include their commentary on the government of Margaret Thatcher.  Dylan’s own version charted in the U.K. at #22 as a single from his Bringing It All Back Home LP.

20.The Faces – Wicked Messenger

Back when Rod Stewart wasn’t ‘sexy’, he actually made some excellent records with bands like The Jeff Beck Group and a reconstituted Small Faces after Steve Marriott quit to form Humble Pie.  The first Faces LP (First Step 1970) was a true band album as opposed to Rod with backing group.  As a band they put on some great concerts (saw them with pal DC back in the day at least twice), but never seemed to capture their sound adequately on record.  Bob’s Biblical original was on the John Wesley Harding album in Dec. of ’67.   

21.Peter, Paul & Mary – Blowin’ In The Wind

Well it is pretty hard not to include this iconic version of one of Dylan’s most covered songs.  The original was from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan record in 1963 and became an anthem of the civil rights movement in the ’60s.  The PP&M version peaked at #2 in the U.S. and was ironically kept from #1 by “Fingertips” by Stevie Wonder.  The irony is that Wonder would have his own top 10 hit with this song in 1966.  

22.Johnny Cash – Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

Columbia at one time was the recorded music home of both Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.  Apparently they respected each other’s work and recorded an entire album’s worth of duets.   At that time (1969) only “Girl From The North Country”  was released officially on Nashville Skyline .  Cash penned the liner notes poem “Of Bob Dylan” for that album while Dylan ended up appearing on Cash’s variety TV show in June of ’69.  Earlier in 1965 for his Orange Blossom Special album, Johnny included 3 Dylan covers including this song sounding very much in the vein of classic Cash.   Peter, Paul & Mary took their version to #9.  The oddest cover version was by The Four Seasons operating under the pseudonym The Wonder Who?.  Frankie Valli recorded his lead vocal with a joking pinched falsetto sound.  Since it didn’t sound like a Four Seasons record, their label Philips released it under the fake name in 1965 and it charted ultimately at #12.

23.Rod Stewart – Tomorrow Is A Long Time

Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story was when he became a superstar due to “Maggie May”.  This was his 3rd solo record (1970) and was one of his best ever.  Dylan first recorded the song as a demo in 1962 then again in 1970 for New Morning though he didn’t release it then.  The 1st official release was from a live 1963 source on his 1971 compilation Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II .  It has been covered by artists such as Elvis Presley, Judy Collins and Sandy Denny.

24.Linda Ronstadt – Baby, You’ve Been On My Mind

The Dylan song “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind” was adapted to “Baby You’ve Been On My Mind” for Ronstadt’s debut solo record Hand Sown…Home Grown from 1969.  After the folk of her band The Stone Poneys, this record had more of a country feel mixed in.  Chip Douglas’ production on this song is more pop-folk with a nice French horn solo part and should have been a single.  Ronstadt recorded 2 Dylan songs for this record (“I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” being the other one).   This was Bob’s breakup song from Suze Rotolo during sessions for his Another Side Of Bob Dylan record.  It didn’t come out till 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.  Other versions were by Rod Stewart, Judy Collins, The Kingston Trio, etc..

25.Joe Cocker – Ring Them Bells

Dylan from 1989 on his Oh Mercy album, this is one of his best-received later period records.  Daniel Lanois’ production is spiritually sparse and fits Bob’s rough voice well.  Joe Cocker recorded it for his 2007 Hymn For My Soul LP.  It is only slightly more fleshed out instrumentally by producer Ethan Johns and sounds tailor-made for Joe Cocker’s raw vocal style.  The album made an impression on the Christian charts of that time and includes a cover of George Harrison’s “Beware Of Darkness”.