Bob Dylan. Does the man need an introduction?
The answer to that is an astounding no. Credited as the greatest songwriter to ever do it, and more so the greatest poet of the past few decades in the public's eye. Most wouldn’t call him the greatest singers to ever do it. Whilst I live in the camp [and will die on the hill in which it is] that unique voices are what translate the feeling and emotion in music, there will always be people who think the opposite. Rock music has always been about emotion, its beginnings in the blues exemplify this, but people always seem to prefer a Dylan number when anyone but the man is singing it.
I, for all I do love Dylan’s voice for, actually have a playlist of covers of his songs I prefer. Here I shall detail why I think the cover does it better, and in a way, have a battle of the emotions.
All Along the Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
It almost seems unfair to compare anyone to Jimi Hendrix, even if said person is Bob Dylan. All Along the Watchtower has always been a juggernaut of a song, even in Dylan's original recording there's a certain feeling of urgency that penetrates the air in which it exists.
I think the power of Dylan’s version comes through much better live, but it was the man himself that said every live version of that song is inspired by and in homage to Hendrix.
So, what makes Hendrix’s version so much better? What makes his emotional communication greater than Dylan’s? One reason could be the time period in which the cover came upon the scene in, released in 1968, at the height of Vietnam pushback. The song, once taken about a genuine joker and genuine thief, is now viewed through a certain political aspect: the characters are stand-ins.
But if its cultural impact is why it was popular, why is it still?
The answer to this question is a bit more layered. For one, you have the fact that Hendrix and his band were just phenomenal musicians, which makes the song not only become highly replayed but also timeless in its own way. Dylan himself is obviously a great musician as well, but in competition with the greatest guitarist of all time, his version may fall a little flat. There is also the
idea that work by people lost young is oftentimes considered to a higher regard than other work that comes out around the same time. Obviously these people were immensely talented, and people want to preserve their legacy, upholding their work to the highest standard.
Hendrix’s emotions in the song are on his sleeve. As it always did, his guitar tells the story the same way Dylan’s words do. That’s what Dylan’s is missing, the double storytelling factor.
Seven Days by Ron Wood
Now, neither version of this song is terribly popular: Dylan’s lives as a bonus bootleg track and Wood’s lives in the same obscurity his non-band work does [no matter how good said work is, he always seems to be more praised as a sideman], but the song has “hit” potential. The song is a lighter romp for Dylan than most of his other work, as it
details waiting those titular 7 days to see a girl once more.
Dylan's sounds very…. Dylanesque. It’s melodic, slower than the lyrics would make you expect, and his wit comes through perfectly as ever, but it’s Wood’s that shows what the song could be. He kicks up the volume, creates an electric and urgent atmosphere around it. He makes it loud, he changes Dylan’s melodic and almost angry story into one of longing and patience. He amps up a song that never “needed” to become a hit. What makes this one better to me remains a mystery. People oftentimes discover the song as whole because of Wood [his version was released in 1979, and 1979 was a year in which the man hit incredible popularity, even if it was in a niche crowd, through The New Barbarians act he was a part of]. Wood takes the underlying bluesy rock of Dylans lyrics and accentuates them, something he’s built a career on.
I also find that, similar to the Hendrix point, the musicianship is on point. Wood is a fantastic musician, and a great guitar player at that though he is obviously not as revered as someone like Hendrix. If you listen to the songs he features on, you can tell how insanely good he is [I could talk for days about his solo on Maggie May alone, as it’s near perfect] and you’ll almost feel for the fact he has never really gotten the chance to shine like he clearly could. He’s been in some of the greatest bands of the rock and featured on some of the biggest and best records of 70s classic rock, yet he lives in the shadows. Maybe Wood’s version is better out of pity, or maybe not. Who knows.
License to Kill by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
It would be during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary televised concert the world would be graced with not 1, not 2, but 4 songs with the Tom Petty treatment. In case you can’t tell, I have a favoritism for the guy, but I will only focus on this cover as to spare this from being largely about my adoration of Tom Petty and his knack of covering a song
like nearly no other wildly successful songwriter in his own right.
It’s quite difficult to imagine a version beating Dylan’s, on paper. For one, you have Dylan, then the added bonus of his guitarists being none other than Mick Taylor [one of the best to ever do it] and Mark Knopfler [another one of the best to ever do it], AND the Heartbreakers very own Benmont Tench on keyboards. How can you beat that? Well, other than the obvious pointing towards “its Tom Petty”, Dylan’s song can catch the same criticism Rolling Stone magazine gave the album it originates from [Infidels] - “lifeless”. Dylan seems bored of the song before it starts, phoning it in till the end, and the video… god the lifelessness even trickled down to Mark Knopfler. The song, or Dylan’s version, are by no means bad, just incredibly unremarkable and tired.
Yet the second the opening lines come from Petty, life feels breathed into a dead song. Petty’s knack for emotional vocals pulls through in a way that blows any other rendition of the song out of the water. It’s Stan Lynch upping the drums in the chrours that change the song, its Howie Epstien’s impeccable backing vocals that heighten all the emotion brought on through Petty’s. Nothing can be said about how untouchable Mike Campbell makes the guitar, blowing two of the greats out of the water barely even breaking a sweat [and proving his worth of the title of my favorite guitar player ever], on Tench holding down fort on keyboards, similarly to how he does on the original. It’s every piece that feels heightened, the bands coming together as they always did to create a living, breathing performance out of one of Dylan's more half-hearted attempts. Hearing this you’d assume the song was a hit all along, not just something Petty came up with, making a classic. It’s Petty's sheer ability to lead his band that kills the performance, as his well oiled machine knows every move he’ll make and will fall in place perfectly.
Comparisons are drawn between Dylan and Petty with vocal styling, though I personally don’t see how they hold much weight. I see their collaborative work [take your pick: The Traveling Wilburys, their conjoined 1986 tour, or even the sheer amount of Dylan covers Petty did in his lifetime] to see their differences shining. I think Licence to Kill showcases these differences perfectly, as Petty’s emotional feel towards the lyrics are not something met by Dylan. Dylan tells you the story, Petty makes you feel the story.
Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind by Rod Stewart/ Wicked Messenger by Faces
Rod Stewart, like quite literally no one else, has a knack for picking songs and covering them in his own unique style and diction, so his takes on Dylan are understandably no different. Calling back to just above, I think it was something in the water Stewart and Wood were drinking that completely changed the way they could cover Dylan. Starting with the earlier, Wicked
Messenger by Faces, it was all the band needed to be a hit [that they sadly weren’t].
The music is driving, Stewarts vocals are hounding the words like no one else ever could, and man can Wood solo like no one else behind that voice. This was the first time the two truly came together to do a Dylan song, and justice was served to one of Dylan’s more underrated by wildly fascinating lyrical takes on religious lore.
It would be on 1972’s Never A Dull Moment, released on the cusp of Faces breakup, that Rod would prove what a good cover artist he really was [along with what a phenomenal writer he is as well - seriously, this man is one of the most talented men of the 70s rock scene and that needs to be acknowledged more]. This was when
Stewart was being folky, his glam image reserved for later work and his blues reserved for Faces, this was introspective hippie-dippy Stewart. This is who pens Maggie May, covers the shit out of Street Fighting Man, and who could ever forget how good his cover of the classic I’d Rather Go Blind is?
Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind is laced with a certain brand of heartbreak that Rod Stewart is the only one to convincingly portray. His haunting take is accompanied by Wood on the pedal steel, once more proving a point of how these two could have been rock's greatest duo if they just had a smidge more time to grow together before life whisked them into different genres.
Dylan has always sung the song with that patented heartbreak, after all it was written for Suze Rotolo [the woman he’s cozied up too on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan], and his versions always translate his feelings due to that real life connection he has to it, one of the times his emotions were put on display as opposed to him playing a character and telling a story he couldn’t relate too. But, no matter what else was put into it, it’s Stewarts ability to feel, adapt, and change songs to perfectly meld to his sound and vision that send his version(s) over the top.
Like A Rolling Stone by The Rolling Stones
The most controversial and hot-take held on this finds a home right here. I, and not due to favoritism that I certainly have, truly believe The Rolling Stones created a better version of this than the songs composer, and hear me out as to why.
The song is one of Dylan’s everlasting classics, often counted as the best song of all time, and his unique voice lends a sarcastic and playful tone to the lyrics that they need to truly hit home in the way they read. Dylan’s version is fantastic, one of the more untouchable of his songs… unless you let The Stones get a hold of it.
It was in 1994, when The Stones did their classic Stripped album - one in which they covered many of their more understated songs as well as deep cuts in a tone downed setting, featuring only the core four and their touring band of 30 years. It was unlike anything they did before, or since, and truly holds as one of their best works if I have a say. This is when they would cover Like A Rolling Stone, and, in turn, change the meaning.
To many, if you have a life outside of caring about music, The Rolling Stones, Like A Rolling Stone, and Rolling Stone magazine are all the same thing. The song is about the band, the magazine took the name off the song based on the band, so on and so forth. The name of the band comes from Muddy Waters’ Rollin’ Stone, a choice made by the late Brian Jones, and Dylan’s song most likely holds a closer kinship to that of Hank Williams Lost Highway, which opens with the line “I’m a rolling stone; All alone and lost; For a life of sin; I have paid the cost”. The magazine, where the first copy was placed on newsstands in 1967, took its name from a combination of the band and the song, naturally.
As the years went by, in the nearly three decades from Dylan’s 1965 original to The Stones 1994 cover, the meaning of “rollin’ stone” changed completely. Now instead of the phrase “you live like a rolling stone” being used as an insult towards someone who had a hard time being tied to places or people, never making connections to those they passed by [“For a Rolling Stone gathers no moss”], it became used to describe someone whose lifestyle reflected the gluttony and excess of the band, so who better to release a cover that bridges the two meanings together?
Through Mick Jagger's vocals we hear two stories: one of a girl who fell from her high horse due to privilege and wealth [“how does it feel?” he questions happily “to be on your own? No direction home? A complete unknown? Just like a rolling stone”], and one of someone who tried and could not live life in such an…excessive way [new meaning dawns on “you're invisible now/ you’ve got no secrets to conceal”, as when you live like that, you give up the identity you once held to be the media's puppet of tales of your youth and wrongs, something each member of the band and their families deal with to this day]. The Stones, similar to many other things before, bridge the gap of classic and modern, though in this case reclaiming what it now means to be who they once were.
It’s the video that heightens this meaning, as our protagonist literally parties, and in turn, lives like a Rolling Stone, before becoming someone with “no direction home”. A PERFECT Dylan cover as it takes his base, respects it, embraces it, and puts a brand new spin on every word he penned,
If Not For You by George Harrison
To end this list on the happiest note possible, I’ll leave talking about number one Bob Dylan fan and certified Dylanoligist, George Harrison, and his 1970 cover of If Not For You. Now, Dylan’s version of this song is superb. It’s so classically Dylan it’s difficult not to love, but it’s when put in the hands of someone who studied his every move and
word that you get something so classically Dylan, yet also quintessentially Harrison.
Harrison would be the first to tell you how no one can beat Bob Dylan in regards to pretty much anything the man has ever done, so it’s ironic he did the exact thing. His version capitalizes the softness Harrison’s voice was known for, creating a comforting atmosphere that no one can really do better than him. You can almost tell, though the songs aren't similar, where the outline of Here Comes the Sun can be found through Dylan. There’s a certain soft, richness in each of the songs that only Harrison can realistically pull off to the fullest potential. Harrison was not one to bask in his own accomplishments, his lack of touring and recording an album when he truly wanted to are signs of this. He lived the art he gave the world, each piece something important to him, it had a reason to exist if he brought it to existence.
It could be his history with The Beatles that did this, creating this atmosphere that would live through his post-Beatles work, the constant working and being shut down with new song ideas that made each piece he gave through a solo project seem all the more special. It was Dylan serving as Harrison’s inspiration during these times of turmoil in The Beatles that ultimately lead to this cover being recorded, as Harrison was never not gonna record Dylan if given the option [I mean musically here, but let it be known there's an eyewitness account of Tom Petty in which Harrison would hang off of Dylan’s balcony and record him playing at the piano while Dylan was unaware, and do what you want with that information.]. This set the standard for the dreamy atmosphere that would carry most of his work, and I suppose Bob Dylan would be the reason to thank one of history’s greatest writers for putting out some of the greatest music man could muster.
When I Paint My Masterpiece by The Band
Low-hanging fruit is always the easiest to pick, so why reach when I can just point towards the obvious? The Band found infamy in being Dylan’s backing during his turn from folk to electric, being heckled with the same consistency for helping the folk scenes Judas.
When Dylan went into hiding in 1968, after
the motorcycle crash that almost took his life, was when the band began to delve more into their own sound. This sound was to be heard from their pink house all the way to Woodstock, their perfect depiction of Americana seeping through each one of their releases. In a similar vein of Neil Young or Joni Mitchell, The Bands’ Americana roots felt more genuine despite being infamously Canadian. It would be Robbie Robertson behind most of this, taking from each decade of history - very similar to Dylan.
When their version of When I Paint My Masterpiece came out, it held that same nostalgic-tint that all their music holds. While Dylan’s version is perfect in all senses, dripping with imagery and emotion, it's The Bands’ loose take on it that heightens the song. The same thing happens to another classic from Dylan, by Dylan. The original version of lyrical perfection, that of 1975’s Tangled Up in Blue, is one of Dylan’s signature songs and a classic feat in storytelling lyricism. Performances of the song leave you entranced, looking towards the narrator as he throws the story at you at a break-neck pace that counteracts the lyrics. It was on his very own demo of the song, a slow, melancholy version that holds my heart. Both versions are great, but the slow pace helps the story, similar to how a fast pace helps When I Paint My Masterpiece.
Bob Dylan will always be one of history’s greatest artists, through and through. Whether that be his writing, his recording history, his poetry, or his metal welding [which yes, he does do], but I find that the most important thing Dylan should be recounted for is his inspiration. He’s the man of a thousand voices, the one who “sat behind a million pairs of eyes and told them how they saw.” Dylan has always pushed the boundary of “artist”, his title of Judas rests heavily upon his shoulders as “the voice of generation” was placed upon his head like a thorny crown at the age of 24. He made people look at their world differently, telling them what was happening and what to watch for, before changing his image again to hide away from the crown that still rested upon his head. It was his switch to fantasy in 1965 with the likes of Mr. Tambourine Man that changed his public view, and then Blonde on Blonde that pushed the idea of double albums and no filler songs in 1966, which brought him back into public favor. Then, of course, he would go electric, leaving behind his folky roots to move into psychedelic and bluesy rock and roll. It would be the screams of “Judas” towards the young man who carried the responsibility placed on him by the same people who hated him now.
Dylan’s always run from personas and images, and none of them fit him quite right. Bob Dylan isn’t one person. George Harrison called it best saying everyone knows him differently, to some he’s the voice of generation, others Bob Dylan, another Judas, when all he’s ever been is Robert Zimmerman, the man known for his compulsive lies and looking awfully small in the grand scheme of things. Bob Dylan has been all the characters, Bob Dylan is a character. No one understands what he’s done because he weaved the story so well throughout decades of stories, of lives. Others cover Dylan, and yeah, oftentimes they do it better, but it was the man who created this world that these stories originally fit into that cannot be understated.
Dylan inspired each person who covered him, opened their minds to how words and poems can be translated and just how harsh the public can be. It was him who carried the crown upon his head, no matter how many times he tried to ditch it, and it’s him who created these stories for others to take and change and evolve into their own. Each cover listed above takes what Dylan wrote, and heightens it, changing the meaning. While, yes, something like All Along the Watchtower was always fully entrenched in a story, only Jimi Hendrix would have, and did, change the meaning and change Dylan’s narrative. Same as most of his songs, they leave room for others to emphasize the emotions, Dylan simply just gave the outline needed to unleash that potential. His songs don’t come fully realized by him, they come fully realized from the listeners, oftentimes his peers who take the song to its logical conclusion.
Bob Dylan redefined what it meant to write the popular song, he introduced bigger ideas than anyone before him, and gave others the ability to do so, and expand his own. His catalog stretches far beyond himself, dipping into every cover that poured life into his original works. No other writer can really say that, or, at least to the extent that Dylan can.
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