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Dylan day...

Bryan Burnett | 20:05 UK time, Monday, 23 May 2011

It seems a bit perverse to celebrate Bob's big day by not playing any Bob but I thought that for a change it might be good to feature other folk tackling his music. So, we are looking for the best Dylan covers of all time. He has clearly been a massive influence on the artist who followed his path and over the years many of them have chosen to interpret his best work. From Jimi Hendrix to Johnny Cash we'll feature your suggestions of the big names doing Bob. Adele gave him his biggest hit in years but who would you choose to sing for Bob's birthday?

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    TUESDAY


    You could move the goalposts (again) and play this fine tribute to Dr. Zimmerman;

    'Bob Dylan's Visit to Embra' - Michael Marra


    If not, I'll settle for Oor Willie.

    'What Was it You Wanted?' - Willie Nelson

  • Comment number 2.

    The Times They Are A Changin' - James Last

  • Comment number 3.

    The best Dylan cover version I have heard:

    Emmylou Harris - Every Grain Of Sand simply sublime

    According to Bob the best he has heard:

    Elvis Presley - Tommorrow Is A Long Time

    The oddest bob cover that works:

    The Magokro Brothers - My Brothers, trust me. Bob in Japanese, it works

    The most recent Bob cover I heard:

    Andrea Glass - Is Your Love In Vain

    The best Bob Dylan sample I have heard:

    Gabrielle - Rise

    I could go on. Dylan. Genius.


  • Comment number 4.

    Madeleine Peyroux You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
    Madeleine has a wonderfully rich soulful jazz voice - a cross between the best of Ella and Billie. Maybe Bob could take some singing lessons from her...... I think his strength is in his song writing.................

  • Comment number 5.

    As you know, I think the best, most beautiful Dylan cover is the JSD Band's version of 'Don't Think Twice it's Allright'...but only if you can manage to find the original from the album 'Country Of The Blind'...not the re-recorded version...seriously, once you hear it nothing else will do!

    Otherwise...

    'Going To Acupulco' (from the 'I'm Not There' soundtrack - Jim James/Calexico)
    'I'll be your baby tonight' - Norah jones
    'Buckets Of rain' - Wendy Bucklew

  • Comment number 6.

    Ah well... Bob Dylan and cover versions - here's an interesting and imho quite brilliant twist to the theme - the utterly fantastic and world's best ever cover version of this timeless classic:

    Blue Moon - Bob Dylan

    Simply marvelous - try it!

    regardez-youse

    henri

  • Comment number 7.


    A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall --- Bryan Ferry

    Big second for #4

  • Comment number 8.

    Patti Smith ~ Wicked Messenger

  • Comment number 9.

    Julie remind me of a cover which matches Emmylou:

    The Peter Malik Group and Norah Jones - Heart Of Mine

    brilliant

  • Comment number 10.

    #8 Madmac reminds me of:

    Patti Smith - Changing Of The Guards

    a great version of a lost Bob gem....

  • Comment number 11.

    or

  • Comment number 12.

    Check this out Norrie...

    P.J. Harvey ~ Highway 61 Revisited

  • Comment number 13.

    It's all over now baby blue / Them
    The greatest Dylan Cover

    Simple Twist of Fate / Joan Baez
    Love the verse she sings in the style of the hoover

    Maggies farm / Solomon Burke

    Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues / Frankie Miller

    The Mighty Quinn/ Manfred Mann's earthband
    That's the Earthband not the namby pamby 60's version

    With God on our Side / Neville Brothers

  • Comment number 14.

    #12 superb, never heard that.

    #13 great suggestions paolo, hard to argue with Them!

  • Comment number 15.

    Tom Thumb's Blues is my favourite Dylan song. The Frankie Miller version is spoiled by someone singing along or octave double tracking that sounds like a poor man's Brenton Wood. As they used to say on the sleeves - nobody sings Dylan like Dylan.

  • Comment number 16.

    That sounds Just Like a great suggestion Glen...

  • Comment number 17.

    I'm really looking forward to this one as it was a great show the last time it was done. On that occasion I had two tracks played back to back so I'm not gonna be greedy this time. To be honest i've struggled to come up with something that hasn't been played a lot before, so had a quick trawl online for some of my favourites. After sampling a few from Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley and The Band my favourite so far is this nice easy listening effort, good pace and harmonies......

    My Back Pages - The Byrds


    Paul from Ayr

  • Comment number 18.

    You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Earl Scruggs
    Forever Young - Joan Baez
    Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Grateful Dead - have to agree with Glen on Frankie's version
    I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine - Thea Gilmore
    and for the sake of seeing a few eyes rolling -
    Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance


  • Comment number 19.

    This would be an unusual track to play, but also very very good:

    Antony & Bryce Dressner - I Was Young When I Left ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

  • Comment number 20.

    iT would be great to hear Joni Mitchell's beautiful ,haunting "lost" cover of "It's All Over Now,Baby Blue"It was intended to be on "Night Ride ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ"but only appeared in the 2003 Box set "The Geffen Years"Fast forward 20 years and she denounces Dylan as a plagiarist and a fake!As Bob would croak"Things Change"!Mind you, he murdered"Big Yellow Taxi",Cheers Willie Bartke

  • Comment number 21.

    Oh and I'd also like to nominate the stunning:

    It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Graham Bonnet

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 22.

    oh and ..

    If Not For You - Olivia Newton John ... better than Georg's version imho

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 23.

    Henri - it's late, try and get some sleep.....

  • Comment number 24.

    Happy to second Norrie's Emmylou suggestion. Also:

    To make you feel my love - Trisha Yearwood
    Forever young - Audra Mae
    Boots of spanish leather - Nanci Griffith
    Mr Tambourine Man - The Byrds
    Chimes of freedom - Springteen


    Joe
    Linlithgow

  • Comment number 25.

    Tuesday:

    I'll be your baby tonight - Kris Kristofferson

    or

    I shall be released - Chrissie Hynd




    Both are brilliant tracks from 'Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Celebration'


    DC

  • Comment number 26.

    Many happy returns Bob

  • Comment number 27.

    "Happy Birthday Bob, we love ya"

    DC they could do worse than play the e ntire 'Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Celebration'

  • Comment number 28.

    A good while since we've had any Christy Moore on GIO....

    'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll' would fit the bill!

  • Comment number 29.

    How old are zebedee dougal and Florence?

  • Comment number 30.

    is 65

  • Comment number 31.

    Former P M Margaret Thatcher inspired some unforgettable protest tracks.
    On reflection it was as if most musicians in the UK were united against the Iron Lady's Conservative government.Ìý
    The Specials response was to update one of Dylan's more abstract "protest" songs, "Maggie's Farm" and on hearing it at the time left me feeling blessed that I had got myself a job!

    Do Nothing / Maggie's Farm ~ T. Specials

  • Comment number 32.

    Henri - The Daniel O'Donnell tickets won't buy themselves! Hurry up before they sell out!

    :o)


    I Shall Be Released - Nina Simone

    Love Is A Four-Letter Word - Joan Baez


    Happy Birthday Bob!

    :o)

  • Comment number 33.

    #31 what a great theme idea MMFC

    Anti-Maggie songs. There must be a weeks worth in that

    DC

  • Comment number 34.

    It's hard to imagine any woman taking on Dylan's "Just like a Woman"considering its misogynistic lyrics but civil rights activist and feminist Soul Diva Nina Simone is the last woman that comes to mind. She pulls it off magnificently though, imbueing the lyrics with a (female) vulnerability far removed from Dylan's bitter delivery.Its my favourite Dylan cover not to mention her devastating take on"Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues"I got to see him at Earls Court in 1978 around the time of "Street Legal"and the alarm bells went (for me anyway)when I heard songs like "Senor" and "Changing of the Guard".His last truly great album for many of us was "Blood on the Tracks".These days his voice is "but a joke"Cheer,Willie Bartke

  • Comment number 35.

    Dylan Day here is almost like Ferry day as BF has rerelased 15 Covers including Dylanesque and album full of them

    My choice would be Don't Think Twice It's All Right, just vocals, piano and BF on the moothie.

    His Dylan output is:
    A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
    It Ain't Me Babe
    It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
    Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
    Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
    Simple Twist Of Fate
    Make You Feel My Love
    The Times They Are A-Changin'
    All I Really Want To Do
    Knockin' On Heaven's Door
    Positively 4th Street
    If Not For You
    Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
    Gates Of Eden
    All Along The Watchtower

    Unreleased leftovers from the Dylanesque sessions are:
    Tangled Up In Blue, Blowin' In The Wind, Lay Lady Lay, To Ramona, My Back Pages, Love Minus Zero/No Limits, It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, Mr. Tambourine Man, Bob Dylan's Dream


    J.O'B.

  • Comment number 36.

    #23

    No kiddin'. Olivia's version of this happy little ditty by Dylan seems to me to be a perfect reinterpretation as a pop song. It's a good pop song. To paraphrase Macca - What's wrong with that?

    I like Bob and wish him all the best, as we all do, but I've never acepted that an ability with rhyming obscurities is the de facto equivilent of intellectual genius.It's just an ability with rhyming obscurities - he's a great wordsmith and a great songwriter and good performer when he's in the mood. But much of his material is brilliantly worded and similtaneoulsy obscure, personal and quite hard to breakthrough or breakdown and the folky 'protest' songs suffer from the restricted vision of all 'protest' songs - a whining dead end which offers no way out or no way forward: no solutions.A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. Yes...and...?

    My Back Pages is probably his best, most honest, easily understood work on the subject/s and worthy of our empathy.

    It's the same story with Madmac's reference to protest songs against Maggie:none of it changed anything. There is nothing so futile as regret and protest songs, as some of our politicos in the West of Scotland are waking up to 30 years too late.

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 37.

    #32

    Senga - have I to buy tickets for your Aunties as well... or is it their turn for Blackpool this year?

    regardez vous

    henri

  • Comment number 38.

    * Robert Plant - One More Cup of Coffee
    * Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (for the QI Klaxon)
    * U2 - All Along the Watchtower (avoiding it)
    * Indigo Girls - Tangled up in Blue
    * Bryan Ferry - Simple Twist of Fate
    * The Byrds - It's All Right Baby Blue
    * Siouxsie and the Banshees - This Wheel's on Fire

  • Comment number 39.

    Henri,I agree that some of his early lyrics are at best obscure symbolism(A Hard Rain)which really impressed in 1965 but now looks sadly dated and resulted in a whole slew of sub Dylan copyists,,early Springsteen being one of the the main culprits.Too many words!Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen are far superior lyricists to Dylan(imho)by the fact that they dont resort to abstractions so much, though to give him credit he set the ball rolling.Its the "Emperor's New Suit" syndrome though as far as I can see.Everybody gushing about "Modern Times"I dont get it at all these days.There is an interesting article in todays Herald headed "Master Poet or Ageing Myth"which galvanised my views on his Bobness!Cheers, Willie Bartke

  • Comment number 40.

    #36

    You're right, he's not all he's cracked up to be.

    What about songs about flowers instead - Good Year For the Roses, Lilac Wine....?

  • Comment number 41.

    #33

    Leading off with Mr Costello...

    I saw once on a very evenly matched but passionate political discussion board someone posted "I see Lady Thatcher is in hospital. Fingers crossed, eh?" which has to be be one of my top 10 trolls ever for beautifully pitched ambiguity designed to start arguments.

  • Comment number 42.

    #39

    To (mis)quote Mozart: There are just as many words as there need to be. Perhaps His Majesty would suggest which ones we could remove..?

  • Comment number 43.

    #33

    There's no place for original themes on this show anymore...

  • Comment number 44.

    #43

    You say that (and I have some sympathy for the view), but I thought the lunch/love theme was spectacular.

    Now if Bryan got himself onto Twitter (to join and ) he'd see that that's the kind of game that happens a lot on the tweets.

    Today's example: Typefacesongs

    * Sign O' the Times
    * The Times They Are Changin'
    * Highway to Helvetica
    * I Shot the Serif
    * Georgia on my mind
    * For those about to Rockwell
    * We will Rockwell
    * You Can Call Me Arial
    * The Great Descender
    * There's a Garamond down the chipshop swears he's Eurostyle
    * At the Optima
    * Strange Frutiger
    * Across the Univers
    * Lucida in the sky with diamonds
    * Avenir I told you lately that I love you?

  • Comment number 45.

    #40 Pictures of Lily, Where Have All The Flowers Gone.....

  • Comment number 46.

    #38 I'll second Robert Plant

  • Comment number 47.

    42#Wolfie,baby!Now your talkin!I should have put a smilie after paraphrasing Peter Schaffer!I'll come back to you if i can stay awake through "Sad Eyed Lady etc"!:0)Willie Bartke

  • Comment number 48.

    Highway 61 Revisited -

  • Comment number 49.

    #44

    Verdana Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon - My pal invented it


    I hear the Red Wedge artists are re-forming for the "Eton Fees Tour"

  • Comment number 50.

    Richie Havens - Just Like A Woman

  • Comment number 51.

    O.V. Wright - Blowing In The Wind

    Great soul version

  • Comment number 52.

    #40

    Thistle be an everlasting love

    May the Bird of Paradise fly up your nose

  • Comment number 53.

    Three to consider:

    Thea Gilmore - I dreamed I saw St Augustine
    KT Tunstall - Tangled up in blue
    Fairport Convention - Percy's Song

    Richard Lucas, Fife

  • Comment number 54.

    'e sent four toe

  • Comment number 55.

    Norrie on the bog, have you lost your phone again???

  • Comment number 56.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

  • Comment number 57.

    Great theme! How about "When I paint my masterpiece" or "It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry" from "Postcards of the hanging - Greatful Dead perform the songs of Bob Dylan" The second track features Dicky Betts and Butch Trucks of The Allman Brothers...........

  • Comment number 58.

    thanks for playing Madeleine! The man certainly can write great songs even if his own singing abilities are debatable. That he has a diverse set of fantastic singers covering his work tells its own story. I even enjoyed Nanci Griffiths....;o)

  • Comment number 59.

    #58 m-d got to hand it to you, that was my fave cover of the night, although i was a little bit miffed to realise at this point that Dylan was 0-5 down versus the cover-merchants! Not to worry, the proverbial game of two halfs and the great man came back to square it 9-9 IMO, thanks to several 2nd half own-goals. Couldn't decide on a couple of tracks, hence the score not adding up to 20. Proof conclusive, if any were needed, that Bob can hold out against the choon-stealers :o)

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