Nobody Does Dylan Like… Well, Someone Else

Thu, 12/27/2007 - 11:55am by John J. Madonna

In my many travels I saw a The Byrds compilation titled Byrds Play Dylan. I laughed, pointed it out the chap next to me and said, “Is this an alternate title for Mr. Tambourine Man?” The man walked away. See, The Byrds’ twelve-track debut featured no less than four Dylan covers, including the title track. The stranger I said that to probably didn’t know that, and that’s why he walked away. I’m guessing. Of course, Dylan covers don't stop at The Byrds.

Folks haven’t covered Dylan more than anybody else for no good reason. His imagery-rich, stream of consciousness lyrics sound meaningful (though might occasionally be gibberish.) His early urban folk period has been reluctantly tied to the protest movement of the 60s, and his electric records like “Like A Rolling Stone” seem ubiquitous with the latter half of that decade. On top of all this, the songs have reasonably pliable structures. For example, someone could pick a deep track of John Wesley Harding featuring just C# minor, B, and A with a nice backbeat and shrill harmonica and transform it into a psychedelic masterpiece, ala Jim Hendrix and “All Along The Watchtower.”

Also, as holder of the “Most Covered” status, Dylan ends up having his fair share of “out there” covers. The library owns a reggae tribute to Mr. Dylan called Is It Rolling, Bob? Vol. 1 (with no mention as to the whereabouts of subsequent volumes.). Toots Hibbert alone makes the compilation worthwhile with his rendition of “Maggie’s Farm.” On the other end though, Sizzla did a preposterous version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which changed the Dylan’s original energetic pace to a slow reggae beat and altered the lyrics (with the first line oh so cleverly changed to “Johnny’s in the basement smokin’ up the medicine.")

If you can’t stand the way Bob Dylan sings, but you love to hear him talk, be sure to check out plenty of artists have done covers of him. His 30th Anniversary Concert (or as Neil Young dubbed it, “Bobfest”) in fact features all Dylan songs as done by some of his closest comrades like George Harrison, The Band, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds,) and a backing band of G.E. Smith, (sans the late Al Jackson Jr.,) and Jim Keltner. The man himself only takes the stage for the last few songs. Also, the recently released soundtrack to the new Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" also contains plenty of covers. I'm number twenty-eight on the holdlist, so I can't really attest to its quality yet.