Earlier today, I offered the view, in a private WhatsApp group, that I could only think of 2 cover versions of Bob Dylan songs that I prefer to his versions. And they are Hendrix’s version of All Along The Watchtower and The Byrds’ version of Mr Tambourine Man. I’ve since remembered that George Harrison’s If Not For You also ticks the box. I’ve tried to find the comprehensive views of the Massive on the subject but failed. Maybe I used the wrong search terms. Anyway, I thought I’d start a thread and see what comes back.
Obviously, there’s potential for contention here. I’m a fan of Bob and I enjoy listening to him sing. Other opinions are available and I hope that this won’t descend into name-calling. Let’s disagree agreeably if we can.
I’d suggest that songs Bob hasn’t released (or released in English when the cover is in another language) shouldn’t really count. So that rules out Fairport Convention’s Si Tu Dois Partir and Joan Baez’s Love Is Just A Four Letter Word, both of which I love. Indeed, I love most of Baez’s Any Day Now album of covers but, when push comes to shove, I’d take Bob’s versions over hers, even her marvellous version of Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands.
My son thinks I’m winding him up when I say Dylan’s version of Make You Feel My Love is better than Adele’s but it’s my honest opinion.
I’ll post my three songs below. I’m keen to be introduced to new treasures.
Steve Walsh says
dai says
Hendrix’s version is more a re-imagining than a straightforward cover. Hard to compare with the equally brilliant (in a different way) original. The Byrds version is great, but Dylan’s is better having about 3 times the amount of lyrics, they cut out many of the best lines. George is ok, but fairly perfunctory and one of the lesser tracks on the album
Black Type says
Olivia Newton-John’s version of INFY is better than George’s.
fitterstoke says
Agreed…
Rigid Digit says
Manfred Manns Earth Band – The Mighty Quinn
could/should make the list
NigelT says
Not actually the Earth Band, but it was by Manfred Mann with Mike D’Abo on vocals after he replaced Paul Jones. The earlier lineup with PJ did a great version of With God On Our Side, which I remember blew me away when they did it on Ready Steady Go.
Rigid Digit says
You are correct, but the Earth Band did it again releasing a live version 10 years later, and stringing it out for 6 and a half minutes
Johnb says
I’ve always preferred goin to Acapulco by Jim James and calexico and pressing on by John doe from the I’m not there soundtrack album.
SteveT says
Here are some that you may disagree with:
Jimmy LaFave – One too many mornings (Perhaps the artist who has covered Dylan the best)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Death is not the end
Calexico/Willie Nile – Senore
Joan Baez Ring the Bells
Brian Augur and Julie Driscoll – This Wheel’s on fire.
Baron Harkonnen says
The Waterboys version of ‘Death Is Not The End’ is the best I’ve heard.
Junior Wells says
A good selection Steve esp Acapulco. Dunno whether they are better, but I really like them.
Mak says
Rod Stewart -Only A Hobo (1970)Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind (1972) and
Girl From The North Country (1974).
He has done several more but these remind us how great a cover he could deliver before the Hollywood move.
Tiggerlion says
I nominate Bettye Lavette. She did a whole album of Dylan covers. To open, she lived in this song better than Dylan himself:
Things Have Changed
robert says
…is the correct answer. Was going to post the same myself. Thanks!
Pajp says
How about Elvis Presley’s version of Tomorrow Is A Long Time? I believe Bob liked it. I do too.
Johnb says
I’d forgotten about that one.it is indeed fantastic.ill also add the band when I paint my masterpiece . Madeline peyroux your going to make me lonesome when you go
Kjwilly says
A second for that Madeleine Peyroux cover. It really swings and her phrasing is excellent.
Diddley Farquar says
Not sure if any are clearly better apart from maybe the Hendrix. There are of course many that are great and wonderful. I probably prefer The Byrds Mr Tambourine Man but not sure it’s better, just easier, lighter. The man brings out the meaning of, or expresses, his own words best.
pencilsqueezer says
I enjoy this everytime I hear it. If it is the equal of the original or surpasses it is not something I have ever considered. I simply dig it for what it is in it’s own right.
niallb says
Ha, ha. I shall make my standard comment, don my tin hat and retreat.
There is not one Dylan song which is not made better when sung by someone else.
davebigpicture says
See also Eric Bogle. Covers by The Pogues and TMTCH are much improved.
Leedsboy says
You’ve not heard Ronan Keating’s version of Fairytale have you?
davebigpicture says
Eric Bogle didn’t write Fairytale. I meant TMTCH’s Green Fields of France and The Pogues’ And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Some might cite The Furies’ Green Fields but they’d be wrongity wrong.
Leedsboy says
Ah. Makes sense to me now. Glancing at stuff whilst watching telly isn’t great for making sense is it…
Steve Walsh says
A fair point well made.
dai says
Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan! Is there a better version of Like a Rolling Stone or Tangled Up in Blue (naming just 2)? No there isn’t.
pencilsqueezer says
Not sure if this proves or disproves Niall’s assertion?
Baron Harkonnen says
I think Niall is joking, if not he’s crazy! 😎
Rigid Digit says
Not a cover of Like A Rolling Stone, but oh so close:
Mouse & The Traps – A Public Execution
Bargepole says
I was going to post something from Bryan Ferry’s covers album or maybe one from the Grateful Dead but in the end went for this
Tiggerlion says
Have you heard this version?
Steve Walsh says
That’s marvellous – though as it’s mostly not sung in English I’m saying it falls foul of the Si Tu Dois Partir exception.
As if it matters
Tiggerlion says
That’s why I didn’t actively nominate it. 😉
My two nominations so far are Bettye Lavette and The Neville Brothers.
Rigid Digit says
Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey – Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window
Munster says
Patti Smith’s version of Changing of the Guards on her album Twelve is worth a listen
Leedsboy says
That sounds an extremely interesting and erudite group Steve….
My plucky shout (because I think there is a lot of love for them here and, just how ballsy is it covering a Dylan song) is The Milltown Brothers It’s All Over Now.
And my I would argue long into the night it’s better is John Martyn’s Don’t Think Twice
Aaron Neville does a gritty version of With God On Our Side as welll….
Steve Walsh says
Interesting and erudite are les mots justes, Leedsboy
I hadn’t heard the Milltown Brothers’ version before (the only album of theirs I have is Slinky) but I love it. Not as much as Bob’s but they really make it their own. And John Martyn does a fine job too. As for Mr Neville, let’s move on…
Leedsboy says
The Milltown Brothers really should have been huge.
Diddley Farquar says
Some seemed to have missed that this is about covers that are better, not covers what I like. I suppose if you don’t get Dylan but see his merits as a songwriter for others you will get it wrong.
Leedsboy says
I’m happy that both of mine are better than Bob’s versions.
pencilsqueezer says
What criteria should be applied to arrive at the assertion of “better” when the subject under consideration is entirely subjective?
Popularity? Sales? I am not being argumentative just curious.
Leedsboy says
To my ears really. I prefer listening to those versions – although I like the Dylan versions as well.
Diddley Farquar says
Later Dylan can work but how can the originals of It’s All Over and Don’t Think Twice not be the best versions? It’s just beyond me. The things people believe. Even the Them cover, glorious as it is. You would only say otherwise if you had doubts about Dylan as an artist. Seems to me.
Leedsboy says
I think it can depend on the order you’ve heard them. Neither song was played when I was a kid nor a teen. I discovered the John Martyn version first and, I love the Milltown Brothers so I’m probably biased. And don’t forget that loving those versions doesn’t mean I don’t like the Dylan versions.
Diddley Farquar says
Yes it can but then you dig deeper and begin to understand the original back catalogue and realise. Or don’t take the trouble to find out maybe.
Leedsboy says
Is that an argument based on not trying hard enough to like something?
I’m not sure music works that way.
Mike_H says
The decider in such matters could only ever be personal preference.
Diddley Farquar says
Well we can all be happy for a while if we avoid reality.
pencilsqueezer says
Eh?
Diddley Farquar says
Reply to Leedsboy. Not entirely serious.
pencilsqueezer says
👍
Leedsboy says
That works as a life rule definitely.
Preferring one thing over another is an actual subjective fact. And unarguable at that.
pencilsqueezer says
Yep. Art in all it’s myriad forms is entirely subjective. A consensus on good or bad can be partially arrived at but that’s not a proof of “better”. It’s a matter of preference, of personal taste. There are only two types of music. The music one as an individual likes and the music every other individual likes and everyone is correct. The word “better” in the thread title is misleading and ultimately redundant as everyone is bound to post the covers of Dylan’s music they like. Without some sort of immutable way of proving that this rendition of a particular song is “better” what else can they do? They can assert that they believe it to be “better” but as that cannot be proven it would be when all is said and done just be an opinion.
fitterstoke says
Oh, I say! Pencilsqueezer for the match!
Leedsboy says
You make a very good point Mr Squeeze. Better was a poor choice of word. I should have said preferable.
pencilsqueezer says
Please don’t think my comments have been directed at you Leeds or any other poster. I was just musing out loud about the desire for picking a “winner” from these kinda things. A desire I find both bewildering and fascinating. It’s music, it’s art not football. There doesn’t have to be a “winner” and there isn’t anyway of deciding upon one.
Diddley Farquar says
And yet here we are day after day happily ranking away like fools. Passes the time though.
pencilsqueezer says
Yep. I don’t find it foolish. I just don’t feel the need to do it.
fitterstoke says
After all, it’s only leisure time, isn’t it?
Kaisfatdad says
I’m completely with you there @Pencilsqueezer.
This thread has introduced me to many fine Dylan covers. I’ve no interest in ranking them as better or not.
Incidentally, let’s not forget all the Dylan covers in other languages.
The influence of the great rock poets like Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell extends far beyond the Anglophone world.
Leedsboy says
I didn’t so no worries. Your point is a good one.
Steve Walsh says
I really wish that I’d titled this thread “Covers that you like better than Dylan’s original”!
pencilsqueezer says
That wouldn’t have been half as much fun Steve. ✌️
Jaygee says
@Diddley-Farquar
Watching your thread mutate is the Afterword way.
Diddley Farquar says
Indeed. Sometimes somebody needs to disrupt the endless flow of youtube clips that like digital flotsam and jetsom threatens to overwhelm us. 👊
Max the Dog says
Not being a huge Dylan fan, more an admirer from afar, I like quite a few covers. This was, and still is, a big radio hit in Ireland. I love her voice but she seems to have disappeared into regular civilian life. I see Donal Lunny and Steve Cooney (I think) in this live rendition…
Posted on a similar thread a couple of years ago, I’ll post it again…I’m a big fan of Villagers (Conor O’Brien) and here he is with a lovely cover on German TV. Impossible to better the original I admit, but this is great…
You’re all going to hate me for this. It begins with a bass solo and it owes more to Hendrix I think than BD, but it’s got his name in brackets after the title. When it gets going (after 7 minutes or so) I think it’s wonderful. I like the uninhibited vocals of the final 90 seconds…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
This will do for me – slowed down to an almost funereal pace and, golly, it works;
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=r0zvHqxPUTU&feature=share
Leedsboy says
That’s very good.
retropath2 says
Rather than regurge, here’s a pretty exhaustive list of good/better versions:
https://www.covermesongs.com/2021/05/the-100-best-bob-dylan-covers-ever.html
Diddley Farquar says
Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to tackle it.
Lando Cakes says
I like Cat Power’s version of I Believe in You:
Gatz says
It helps if the person covering the song is a genius of course. Here’s a handful of Nina Simone covers. Are I Shall Be Released and Hollis Brown ‘better’? Hard to say, but they’re really fucking good, and the rest aren’t too shabby either.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/nina-simone-best-bob-dylan-covers/
Tiggerlion says
I think the grinding poverty in Hollis Brown is best expressed by The Neville Brothers.
Sid Williams says
thats wonderful. Must dig out my copy, didn’t remember it so I guess I never listened that far down the tracklist
Baron Harkonnen says
No one sings Bob Dylan like His Bobness.
Diddley Farquar says
You are right.
fitterstoke says
Self-evident?
garyt says
I’ve always had a soft spot for this cover:
NigelT says
The Byrds must have been one of the first Dylan covers I heard, although Blowing in the Wind had been around for a while – Peter Paul &Mary’s rather over earnest version was on the radio. I was listening to Joan Baez around this time and loved her Farewell Angelina.
Gene Clark re-recorded Mr Tambourine Man and I think this piano led version really works….
Jaygee says
Couple of similar threads to mark Mr D’s 80th about 15 months ago. My choice then and now was Van M’s stunning take on Just like a woman from the oft-bootlegged Pacific Heights radio broadcast from the early 70s
dai says
He also did a stunning version in the 90s when he and Bob did a joint tour
Tiggerlion says
Bryan Ferry Make You Feel My Love. Dylan sounds dispassionate to my ears. Ferry smoulders with an inner desire, characteristic of his whole catalogue. It’s my favourite of all his Dylan covers and I prefer it to either Dylan or Adele.
Black Type says
I concur. Garth Brooks also does a surprisingly good version.
pencilsqueezer says
I definitely prefer Dylan’s version but this deserves mentioning if for no other reason than Warren Zevon was literally knocking on heaven’s door when he covered it.
retropath2 says
I like this one:
BigJimBob says
This
hubert rawlinson says
Dylan’s preferred cover.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-favourite-bob-dylan-cover-johnny-rivers/
Twang says
Loved this as a teenager and played it in the band. Dylan lovers go no further.
Probably equally unacceptable but I always liked Johnny Winter’s version of “Like a rolling stone”.
Diddley Farquar says
Knocking on Heaven’s Door live by Television from The Blow-Up. Better than most versions.
Twang says
But to your earlier post, is it better than Dylan’s?
Diddley Farquar says
It’s an interesting alternative. I find the original a bit short but it is better really.
Kaisfatdad says
There are lots of really wonderful Dylan covers here. Let’s not forget how many unspeakably bad Dylan covers there are. I suspect some artists believe that simply be doing a Dylan song they are achieving some kind of cred.
I’ll never forget walking past the enormous Orange Stage at Roskilde while Axl Rose got his teeth into Hanging on Heaven’s Door and gave it a thorough mauling.
He knocked and knocked but after 15 minutes that door stayed firmly closed.
Any other Bob Cover Horror Stories?
Rigid Digit says
I posted the Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey cover of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window up there because I think it is a better version than Mr Dylans reading.
Unlike the Transvision Vamp version which is frankly a bit (a lot?) rubbish
johnw says
Like many people, I struggle a bit with Dylan’s delivery, most covers, even when the arrangement is identical to the original is likely to be preferable.
However, I think my favourite is XTC’s version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and that’s certainly not in line with the original arrangement.
Kaisfatdad says
I was wandering how many hits Bob had written.
Here’s a list of all the Dylan songs recorded by other people which have charted in the UK.
https://www.45cat.com/45_list_view_record.php?li=11233
Tiggerlion says
That reminds me. The Specials bring a new dimension to Maggie’s Farm with their weary vocals and chaotic music. Then, there’s the political context.
retropath2 says
This gives a good idea of how many covers have been made, with barely a song unrended. Indeed, there are one or two that Bob has never sung live or on record.
https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/158/originals#nav-entity
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks @retropath! What an amazing work of research
189 versions of All Along the Watchtower!!
Fascinating to see which songs have appealed most.
Just remembered that album of gospel Dylan covers: Gotta serve some body. Excellent stuff!
salwarpe says
(Almost) the last thing Eldritch, Hussey and Adams played together is a performance of great beauty and power. Of course it’s even better than the real thing.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
That might just be the most awful nonsense I have ever listened to. Dearie, dearie and dearie me
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Mind you…
Steve Walsh says
The bassist’s eyebrows are mesmerising.
dai says
Hardly a well known Dylan classic, but I think this is superb
Junior Wells says
American Robbie Fulks has a diverse catalogue. He did an album called Seven Days – the first 2 words of Street Legal. He did the entire album , in sequence and it is excellent. Of course you won’t get me saying any version is better than the original but they are pretty good. I ordered the album direct from the record company, small indie label. Last I looked it is only available on vinly.
Here’s a live performance of Changing Of The Guard.
Mousey says
Don’t know if this “better” but it’s really good. I bought this album in probably 1970 in Wellington New Zealand for $3.50 (down from $5.75 which was then the price for new LPs.) Imagine the delight for little 16 year old me hearing Keith Emerson romping through a couple of J.S.Bach pieces I’d studiously learned on the piano.
Steve Walsh says
This video is unavailable in the UK. Give us a clue what it is @Mousey
Mike_H says
Presumably it’s “She Belongs To Me” which was a staple of The Nice’s live set and featured on their final Immediate album “Nice”, which was recorded live at the Fillmore East. Also released on a single (edited and cut into 2 parts).
Never studio-recorded by them, as far as I’m aware.
It’s not so bad but not their finest hour either.
Mousey says
@Steve-Walsh – what Mike-_H says
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Unfortunately the video is viewable in France – Sweet Jesus, that’s awful!
Steve Walsh says
Ok. Here’s a version that can be viewed (or listened to, anyway) in the UK.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this version is definitely not better than Bob’s.
Skirky says
*Raises hand tentatively* I think Jason and The Scorchers’ version of Absolutely Sweet Marie is better than the original.
Mike_H says