OT: Your Three Favorite Dylan Covers

[Dr. Doofus]

doof heard the first two of these on the local provincial non-corporate station today...which got him thinkin. Dylan is almost impossible to cover well. The great irony of his work is that he writes incredible songs, some of which drip with deceptive accesibility, and some of which are utterly innaccesible save by the conviction and swing of his delivery. When covering Dylan, most singers are left with the choice of inadequate parody or misconceived revision...unless the singer is equal to the material...which ain't often, kids.

1) Stevie Wonder: "Blowin in the Wind"

The overly-sincere white singer-songwriter treatment? Far from it. Stevie and the Funk Brothers take it to the church, revealing the swing in the lyrics and reinventing it as african-american eschatology and civil rights anthem. kickass!


2) Byrds: "The Times They Are a Changin'"

Skip the two Dylan hits off this album. This is the cool one. Roger McGuin somehow finds the intersection between irony and naivete, stays right there and makes the song something completely new. The deal: Dylan is a pop star and we love him; Dylan is a visionary -- but the vision isn't what you think it is, and when you get it, you only see what you don't get; Roger can't help but dig it anyway and makes it a three minute blast.

3) Jimi Hendrix: "All Along the Watchtower"

Obvious choice, natch. Jimi shows everybody that the only way to deliver tripped out but utterly convincing material is with tripped-out but utterly convincing vocals and strat-o-blasts that robbie robertson could only dream of....


doof just stuck with the 60's interpretations...oodf will leave the 80s and 90s revisionists to someone else

[Catulle]

Stones' rendition of Like a Rolling Stone is at the top of the heap.

[e-RICHIE]

shut this guy up -
http://www.franklarosa.com/vinyl/BigImg/cabot.jpg

[bcm119]

3) Jimi Hendrix: "All Along the Watchtower"



Better than the orginal imho, and I like Bobby.


Guns N Roses Knockin on Heavens Door deserves a mention for the 90's, although I was never a GNR fan.

And what about Peter Paul and Mary's Blowin' in the Wind?

[bironi]

The content and the album cover.

[tulli]

The Guns version of Knockin' was definately good. I dig Neil Young's version of Blowing in the Wind.

[taz-t]

In no particular order:

Van Morrison - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
(can you name the song that sampled this one?)

Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
As the doof said, an obvious choice but unavoidable.

Yo La Tengo - It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

Honorable Mention:

Jason and the Nashville Scorchers - Absolutely Sweet Marie

All the Byrds covers

- Taz in Atlanta

[shaq-d]

all of hendrix's covers of dylan rule. including like a rolling stone.

sd

[bluehorseshoe]

Nina Simone's cover of 'I Shall Be Released.'

Yeah, i know, she just did it for the money, and wasn't really intersted in pop songs. I don't care.

[jwb96]

Hendrix at Monterey doing Like A Rolling Stone . . . I can put that on repeat and listen to it for a long while. Hard to believe it's a live version.

[jamesau]

I saw Richie Havens a few years back. He opened with Maggie's Farm; I'll never forget it.

[Allez!]

Is It Rolling Bob?

An entire album of reggae covers - except for himself on I and I.

[Chris]

#1 without a doubt is Warren Zevon doing Knocking on Heaven's Door while recording, literally, from his death bed.

#2 Hendrix doing All Along the Watchtower. I know it's been said, but...

#3 Mike Ness, Don't Think Twice. A little punk rockabilly twist.

[Chad Engle]

did a great Maggies Farm.

[Samster]

I thought PP&Ms BITW was damned fine!

And I've heard from numerous sources that Jimi's post had no setback. :D

-sam

[fkelly]

Oh lord, Jerry and the Dead did innumerable Dylan covers. Simple Twist of Fate,
Watchtower, Knocking on Heaven's Door and lots more. If I do recall correctly they did Watchtower at the last Pepsi arena concert I saw them at in 95 shortly before Jerry died.

Jerry did numerous covers by himself or with bands he assembled in the San Francisco area too. Styles ranged from Blues to Bluegrass to folk but they were always superior Dylan interpretations.

[chrisroph]

garcia band--senor

indigos--tangled up in blue

burrito bros--ramona

[Vancouverdave]

Television's live recording of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." You could say that Dylan's a good draftsman, but it takes a Hendrix, McGuinn, or Verlaine to build the house.

[Dr. Doofus]

Television's live recording of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." You could say that Dylan's a good draftsman, but it takes a Hendrix, McGuinn, or Verlaine to build the house.


dylan gets the house right the first time

but

like falling waters, not everyone can find a comfortable home within it

(these are the idiots who say he can't sing...he was the most convincing and dynamic deliverer of original material of his generation -- that's why he was big. all you have to do is hear a stinkingturdcrap version of a dylan song -- and there are plenty -- to see that it wasn't just the songwriting)

[Steve Hampsten]

Ministry covering "Lay Lady lay" from the album "Filth Pig". Not their best effort; "Reload" is good, most of the rest is filler.

[jerk]

Ministry covering "Lay Lady lay" from the album "Filth Pig". Not their best effort; "Reload" is good, most of the rest is filler.


ha!

[e-RICHIE]

i don't suppose anyone here was a dino, desi, and billy fan?
their "chimes of freedom" rocked my pre-pubescent world
roughly 7 years ago imho.
http://riccidesibilly.com/pages/ddb.html
http://www.tsimon.com/dino.htm
http://www.sundazed.com/artists/ddb.html

[zeroking17]

i don't suppose anyone here was a dino, desi, and billy fan?



No, but the Dino, Desi, and Dylan reunion concert was cherry dynamite! Mad pineapple stuff.

...

[Fixed]

bro d.d.b. they had rich parents -I shall be released -the mighty diamonds

[zeroking17]

bro d.d.b. they had rich parents

Ja, kind of like the Axel Merckx's of pop music.

[Fixed]

i don't suppose anyone here was a dino, desi, and billy fan?
their "chimes of freedom" rocked my pre-pubescent world
roughly 7 years ago imho.
http://riccidesibilly.com/pages/ddb.html
http://www.tsimon.com/dino.htm
http://www.sundazed.com/artists/ddb.html
bro hermens hermits and the dave clark five young rascals or paul revere and the raiders where the action is bro

[zeroking17]

The best "cover" of Knock, Knock, Knockin on Heaven's Door was performed by the man himself on the soundtrack to Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" -- a film in which Dylan plays the aptly named character Alias.


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Bob Dylan: "If my songs were just about the words, then what was Duane Eddy, the great rock-and-roll guitarist, doing recording an album full of instrumental melodies of my songs?"

[Dr. Doofus]

yo

mitch ryder was a bad white boy: mitch ryder is good in doof's book


the nadir of middle class complacency made into a perversion of rock n roll:

jay and the americans

if you know them, kill them for their crimes

they may be old

they still deserve to die

[zeroking17]

yo

the nadir of middle class complacency made into a perversion of rock n roll:

jay and the americans



Was Jay unamerican?

[Dr. Doofus]

Was Jay unamerican?


just the shadwell of the 60s

sadley, there is no rock-n-roll macflecknoe to give him what he deserves

[zeroking17]

just the shadwell of the 60s


Oh, those 60s.



...

[Dr. Doofus]

Oh, those 60s.



...


and lew wallace was, tactically, the shadwell of the other 60s

his ben hur sucked too*, but not as badly as his handling of a division at Shiloh




but didn't suck as it later allowed mr. nra to flex his pecs and do the acting thing

[Fixed]

bro love that dirty water- the standells

[e-RICHIE]

bro love that dirty water- the standells


fixed you like keep on dancing-the gentrys? yo

[dauwhe]

There's a jazz trio called "Jewels and Binoculars" that plays only the music of Bob Dylan. No vocals, just clarinet (or alto sax), bass, and drums. Both Michael Moore (reeds) and Lindsey Horner (bass) are among my favorite musicians!

The music is beautiful, creative, fantastic! Nice review of the first album here:

http://www.sudden-thoughts.com/node/view/7

[Fixed]

fixed you like keep on dancing-the gentrys? yo
bro jimmy hart the mouth of the south how could i forget them cheers :beer: bro if I was around back then and liked pop music it would be james brown and the flames and wilson pickett .that was my fav time for miles and his best quartet i.m.h.o.