I think Bryan Ferry's album Dylanesque is worth listening too. A gateway album, as I have to admit that I would not have known them all as Dylan songs beforehand.
Ferry has been a lifelong Dylan fan and champion - Roxy even had an early hit with ‘A Hard Rain’, and it’s not like they didn’t have plenty of decent songs of their own to choose from…
Jason and the Scorchers are having almost as much fun with ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ as Bob Dylan did. Pull out all the stops? Pull out all your hair. It’ll grow back.
Love that take. I saw them in an upstairs room in a pub in Brighton (the Northern) back in the early ‘80s. Not saying the place went mad, but they got as far as half way through the second song before the gig was cancelled, for fear the floor was going to collapse into the bar below…
Thanks for the playlist, Nick. And for your reflections on the movie earlier this week.
I, too, listened to Dylan for a week after seeing the movie. It's hard not to want to keep the vibe going.
My favourite musician, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, did a great cover of Simple Twist of Fate that I really like. And he, too, has a strong connection to Miss Mavis.
As for back as I can remember I have had a record player. My brother is a year younger and we shared one of those cheap, suitcase ones for kids back in the early/mid 70s. I remember having a many LP set of songs from Sesame Street and we would buy these LP's of tv show themes released on Peter Pan records (a kids label over here in the 70's). Of course the bigger source of our records was my parents' record collection. The collection was very Dylan heavy. So have always known and listened to Dylan. I moved to Duluth, MN in 2009. Dylan was born here but moved to Hibbing when he was about 5 but Duluth is Dylan proud. (Dylan's feelings about Duluth are a little less enthusiastic.) I have never visited the home he lived in when he was here but nearly every day I pass the Armory where Dylan drove down from Hibbing to see Buddy Holly and which he has often talked about in interviews. That is where I feel the magic. That is where Robert Zimmerman started his transition became to Bob Dylan.
When I hear that the Vic Theatre was doing a musical based on his music AND set in Duluth I had to go. My husband saw the original play and we enjoyed it but really enjoyed the use of and interpretations of the music. (I really wanted to stay after and give them some pointers on Duluth accents but.....) My favorite cover is Make You Feel My Love by Adele.
Teresa: you are now the official Duluth correspondent for A Fan’s Notes. Been trying to fill that position since I started my Substack. Unpaid at the moment, sadly, but if you bring in a lot of traffic…is the Armory still a venue?
As the official Duluth correspondent it saddens me to say that the Armory has basically been left to rot since about 1978. For about 20 years there has been a foundation to try and raise money to “save” it and rehabilitate it. This action has met with mostly indifference. Due to the movie coming out and shedding some focus on the pre-famous Dylan there has been an uplift of voices calling for a Dylan museum or at least a sign at the city entry saying”birthplace of Bob Dylan.” Given that he has never said much about Duluth even when asked most members of the community are like—fuck that guy. But hey we got a shout out in the song Something There is About You from Planet Waves: Rainy days on the Great Lakes, walkin’ the hills of old Duluth. But some group did manage to get a side street named Bob Dylan Way. Every year in May Duluth has a Dylan fest that lasts all week with local bands playing Dylan tunes, trivia, a train ride up the North Shore (titled Blood on the Tracks of course), etc. Local musicians have released several Duluth Does Dylan records. Most unknown outside of Duluth area but Alan Sparhawk and Low, Gaelynn Lea, Charlie Parr and a member or two of Trampled by Turtles were on them.
Wow, I wish I had as personal of a connection to an artist I admired. Lucky you and thanks for the post. The best I have is Elvin Jones coming up to shake my hand (as amazingly he did to everyone in the front row at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in the Blackstone Hotel). Doesn't compare, I know.
I love this, Nick, and very happy to see the Staples/Dylan version of "Change My Way of Thinking." Smokes so hard! The comic intro derives from a recording by Jimmie Rodgers with the Carter Family. I've had mixed success converting folks, but I'm a defender of the original version of "Tight Connection ..." A great vocal performance, I think, and persuasive as an R&B production. I love Sly & Robbie Bob. There's a warmer, less period-specific mix on one of the Bootleg Series volumes, but to me it robs the groove. I have dozens of favorite Dylan covers, but a few that come to mind are the Four Seasons' polarizing "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." I love its irreverence and how it softens the song's cruelty. In '68, one the Keith Jarrett Trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian cut a live version of "My Back Pages." It's not a great recording or a beautiful piano, but it's an interesting performance. I wish he had returned to it. I've always loved Joe Cocker's "Dear Landlord."
Also “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” from the 30th Anniversary Concert by Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Ps I was there and the O’Connor incident has been misreported.
"Percy's Song" -- Fairport Convention anyone? Sandy Denny at her finest, and definitive version. (Or, Sandy and Fairport's "I'll Keep It With Mine" -- with 19 year old (!!!) Richard Thompson already playing from beyond the grave.) "Love Is The Just A Four Letter Word"? Joan Baez? Dylan never sang it -- at least he never recorded it. And still waiting for the definitive cover of "Ballad In Plain D." (or ANY cover of that one, actually...)
Paul is a brave soul! Thanks for sharing! I DO know there is a "Motorpsycho Nightmare" cover out there, somewhere! (And yes, we are oooold people. Those kids today. I swear. Best to get off our lawn, while the getting is good)
I haven't seen the movie yet, but your post and playlist has me revisiting the soundtrack to "I'm Not There," which has so many great covers, I don't know which one to call out (although it included the Cat Power you have in your playlist). Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus, Seufjan Stevens, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Willie Nelson, the list goes on. I've listened to a lot of Dylan music over the years, and was surprised by how much I loved hearing people with different vocal tenors cover his songs, as if they were being let free and reinvented out from under the weight of his voice. Thanks for your list!
I’ve long made myself tapes, CDs and now playlists of my favourite Dylan covers. Two mates and I used to do a regular Desert Island Discs on a Friday night in the music studio of one of them and - after we had exhausted the usual format - we had a great night of 8 Dylan covers each, which we managed, without pre-planning, without any duplication.
Yours is good playlist - love the Jason & The Scorchers intro by the way - avoiding the excellent but well-known, such as Hendrix / Watchtower and Ferry / Hard Rain.
I would struggle to keep it to 10, but if I had to, along with Jason & The Scorchers - and something by The Band, probably When I Paint My Masterpiece - I’d have:
- Marianne Faithfull - It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
- Rage Against The Machine - Maggie’s Farm
- White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee
- Bettye LaVette - Things Have Changed
- Jeff Buckley - Mama You’ve Been On My Mind
- Nina Simone or Roberta Flack - Just Like a Woman
Since you mentioned Rod the Bod I'd like to recommend his very first LP, The Rod Stewart Album (aka An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down in the UK). Recommended to me fifty years ago via a list found via my sister's copy of New Ingenue magazine (next to ads for undergarments, my reason for perusing it in the first place, something Rod might appreciate). It's still my favorite, if only because it was my first. Note to physical media collectors: a nice CD box with all of his early Mercury LPs came out a few years ago. Isn't it amazing how his largely acoustic band rocks out? I think because he was so commercially successful people don't appreciate just how talented he has always been as an interpreter, composer and band leader.
An album featuring pre-ELP Keith Emerson on the pyrotechnical organ on one track! One of the only times he ever played a session. (FYI, Keef's old band "The Nice's" live Fillmore cover of SHE BELONGS TO ME is one for the ages!)
Couple fun ones from opposite ends of the spectrum that you might enjoy: the Dead Weather's paint-peeling version of New Pony and Lonnie Mack's pretty take on The Man in Me. Also, speaking of Empire Burlesque, I feel like "I Remember You" is prime to be rescued by someone...
I think Bryan Ferry's album Dylanesque is worth listening too. A gateway album, as I have to admit that I would not have known them all as Dylan songs beforehand.
Ferry has been a lifelong Dylan fan and champion - Roxy even had an early hit with ‘A Hard Rain’, and it’s not like they didn’t have plenty of decent songs of their own to choose from…
Jason and the Scorchers are having almost as much fun with ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ as Bob Dylan did. Pull out all the stops? Pull out all your hair. It’ll grow back.
Love that take. I saw them in an upstairs room in a pub in Brighton (the Northern) back in the early ‘80s. Not saying the place went mad, but they got as far as half way through the second song before the gig was cancelled, for fear the floor was going to collapse into the bar below…
Thanks for the playlist, Nick. And for your reflections on the movie earlier this week.
I, too, listened to Dylan for a week after seeing the movie. It's hard not to want to keep the vibe going.
My favourite musician, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, did a great cover of Simple Twist of Fate that I really like. And he, too, has a strong connection to Miss Mavis.
Agree, the Tweedy cover is a beauty.
Rod Stewart’s cover of “Mama, You Been On My Mind” is gorgeous. Maybe off the list because you’ve highlighted it before, but man I love it
I was limiting myself to one per artist- but that one, and his Girl From The North Country, are both gorgeous.
As for back as I can remember I have had a record player. My brother is a year younger and we shared one of those cheap, suitcase ones for kids back in the early/mid 70s. I remember having a many LP set of songs from Sesame Street and we would buy these LP's of tv show themes released on Peter Pan records (a kids label over here in the 70's). Of course the bigger source of our records was my parents' record collection. The collection was very Dylan heavy. So have always known and listened to Dylan. I moved to Duluth, MN in 2009. Dylan was born here but moved to Hibbing when he was about 5 but Duluth is Dylan proud. (Dylan's feelings about Duluth are a little less enthusiastic.) I have never visited the home he lived in when he was here but nearly every day I pass the Armory where Dylan drove down from Hibbing to see Buddy Holly and which he has often talked about in interviews. That is where I feel the magic. That is where Robert Zimmerman started his transition became to Bob Dylan.
When I hear that the Vic Theatre was doing a musical based on his music AND set in Duluth I had to go. My husband saw the original play and we enjoyed it but really enjoyed the use of and interpretations of the music. (I really wanted to stay after and give them some pointers on Duluth accents but.....) My favorite cover is Make You Feel My Love by Adele.
Teresa: you are now the official Duluth correspondent for A Fan’s Notes. Been trying to fill that position since I started my Substack. Unpaid at the moment, sadly, but if you bring in a lot of traffic…is the Armory still a venue?
As the official Duluth correspondent it saddens me to say that the Armory has basically been left to rot since about 1978. For about 20 years there has been a foundation to try and raise money to “save” it and rehabilitate it. This action has met with mostly indifference. Due to the movie coming out and shedding some focus on the pre-famous Dylan there has been an uplift of voices calling for a Dylan museum or at least a sign at the city entry saying”birthplace of Bob Dylan.” Given that he has never said much about Duluth even when asked most members of the community are like—fuck that guy. But hey we got a shout out in the song Something There is About You from Planet Waves: Rainy days on the Great Lakes, walkin’ the hills of old Duluth. But some group did manage to get a side street named Bob Dylan Way. Every year in May Duluth has a Dylan fest that lasts all week with local bands playing Dylan tunes, trivia, a train ride up the North Shore (titled Blood on the Tracks of course), etc. Local musicians have released several Duluth Does Dylan records. Most unknown outside of Duluth area but Alan Sparhawk and Low, Gaelynn Lea, Charlie Parr and a member or two of Trampled by Turtles were on them.
Feel free to file this under more than I really ever wanted to know. https://duluthdylanfest.com
Dear Teresa,
Thanks for this. You have already justified your place as a staff writer.
Wow, I wish I had as personal of a connection to an artist I admired. Lucky you and thanks for the post. The best I have is Elvin Jones coming up to shake my hand (as amazingly he did to everyone in the front row at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in the Blackstone Hotel). Doesn't compare, I know.
I love this, Nick, and very happy to see the Staples/Dylan version of "Change My Way of Thinking." Smokes so hard! The comic intro derives from a recording by Jimmie Rodgers with the Carter Family. I've had mixed success converting folks, but I'm a defender of the original version of "Tight Connection ..." A great vocal performance, I think, and persuasive as an R&B production. I love Sly & Robbie Bob. There's a warmer, less period-specific mix on one of the Bootleg Series volumes, but to me it robs the groove. I have dozens of favorite Dylan covers, but a few that come to mind are the Four Seasons' polarizing "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." I love its irreverence and how it softens the song's cruelty. In '68, one the Keith Jarrett Trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian cut a live version of "My Back Pages." It's not a great recording or a beautiful piano, but it's an interesting performance. I wish he had returned to it. I've always loved Joe Cocker's "Dear Landlord."
You’re a more forgiving man than me. And that’s amazing about the Rodgers tribute. I wondered why they sound so stiff! It’s scripted!
Have you ever heard The Flying Burrito Brothers' countrified version of "To Ramona"?
Oooo, several there I’ve not heard before!
I would add:
a lot of Bettye Lavette “Things Have Changed” especially the title track.
Some of Emma Swift “Blond on the Tracks”
Tim O’Brien – Senor – from Red on Blond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvwMiDpQCsE
And a lot of Lucinda Williams doing Dylan on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsoAtjtTQFC816MWsdH-RCryfqPNhgAjg
And one Dylan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di6wU11_4Wg
with an amazing band : Mark Knopfler, Robbie Shakespeare, Mick Taylor, Benmont Tench, Sly Dunbar and Alan Clark.
That will do for now.
Thanks for all the listening and writing
Yeah the whole Bettye Lavette album is terrific. Will check out the others.
Also “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” from the 30th Anniversary Concert by Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Ps I was there and the O’Connor incident has been misreported.
Lots of good things on the 30th Anniversary concert. That was a hot ticket. I am always moved by the My Back Pages cover.
"Percy's Song" -- Fairport Convention anyone? Sandy Denny at her finest, and definitive version. (Or, Sandy and Fairport's "I'll Keep It With Mine" -- with 19 year old (!!!) Richard Thompson already playing from beyond the grave.) "Love Is The Just A Four Letter Word"? Joan Baez? Dylan never sang it -- at least he never recorded it. And still waiting for the definitive cover of "Ballad In Plain D." (or ANY cover of that one, actually...)
I left Fairport out because they are quite well-known Dylan interpreters. But maybe only to oooold people like me. Thanks for making their case.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4sXrRehMGj35MWaQemCvjw?si=KKZpOO7mRR-YtZiW4ThO-Q&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1zRwUqk3MZCboxxHPrIYT8
Paul is a brave soul! Thanks for sharing! I DO know there is a "Motorpsycho Nightmare" cover out there, somewhere! (And yes, we are oooold people. Those kids today. I swear. Best to get off our lawn, while the getting is good)
Note: Wesley Stace adapted his name to John Wesley Harding and has had a cult career. Sorely influenced by Mr. Dylan.
His "There's a Starbucks (Where the Starbucks Used to Be)" still cracks me up, though it's slightly dated now.,
I haven't seen the movie yet, but your post and playlist has me revisiting the soundtrack to "I'm Not There," which has so many great covers, I don't know which one to call out (although it included the Cat Power you have in your playlist). Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus, Seufjan Stevens, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Willie Nelson, the list goes on. I've listened to a lot of Dylan music over the years, and was surprised by how much I loved hearing people with different vocal tenors cover his songs, as if they were being let free and reinvented out from under the weight of his voice. Thanks for your list!
I’ve long made myself tapes, CDs and now playlists of my favourite Dylan covers. Two mates and I used to do a regular Desert Island Discs on a Friday night in the music studio of one of them and - after we had exhausted the usual format - we had a great night of 8 Dylan covers each, which we managed, without pre-planning, without any duplication.
Yours is good playlist - love the Jason & The Scorchers intro by the way - avoiding the excellent but well-known, such as Hendrix / Watchtower and Ferry / Hard Rain.
I would struggle to keep it to 10, but if I had to, along with Jason & The Scorchers - and something by The Band, probably When I Paint My Masterpiece - I’d have:
- Marianne Faithfull - It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
- Rage Against The Machine - Maggie’s Farm
- White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee
- Bettye LaVette - Things Have Changed
- Jeff Buckley - Mama You’ve Been On My Mind
- Nina Simone or Roberta Flack - Just Like a Woman
- PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited
- Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Wanted Man
Since you mentioned Rod the Bod I'd like to recommend his very first LP, The Rod Stewart Album (aka An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down in the UK). Recommended to me fifty years ago via a list found via my sister's copy of New Ingenue magazine (next to ads for undergarments, my reason for perusing it in the first place, something Rod might appreciate). It's still my favorite, if only because it was my first. Note to physical media collectors: a nice CD box with all of his early Mercury LPs came out a few years ago. Isn't it amazing how his largely acoustic band rocks out? I think because he was so commercially successful people don't appreciate just how talented he has always been as an interpreter, composer and band leader.
An album featuring pre-ELP Keith Emerson on the pyrotechnical organ on one track! One of the only times he ever played a session. (FYI, Keef's old band "The Nice's" live Fillmore cover of SHE BELONGS TO ME is one for the ages!)
Thanks, I'll check it out.
You can find it here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdiXkCHV-A
Couple fun ones from opposite ends of the spectrum that you might enjoy: the Dead Weather's paint-peeling version of New Pony and Lonnie Mack's pretty take on The Man in Me. Also, speaking of Empire Burlesque, I feel like "I Remember You" is prime to be rescued by someone...
Ah, thanks, Owen. I had never come across either of those. Both great.
https://youtu.be/9eapW0uPcdg?si=ldDlCYAr7ok5XhGv