Great Dylan Covers! Look Out!

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Dylan For Non-Dylan Fans Pt. 1

You know you can make a name for yourself
You can hear them tires squeal
You could be known as the most beautiful woman
Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal
Sweetheart Like You-Infidels 1983

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say I like Bob Dylans Songs but can’t stand it when he sings them, I probably wouldn’t have to get up and go to work tomorrow. Now I love Dylan, and more often than not I prefer his versions over the reworkings of others, but I have myself been guilty of thinking he can’t sing to save his life before actually becaming a fan. And that happened with two songs of his, Sweetheart Like You and Jokerman, both off of his 1983 release Infidels.

I remember hearing Sweetheart and being mesmerized by the lyrics, but also by how Bob related them. I also remember the radio jockey saying that he usually didn’t like Dylan, yet somehow this song really moved him, and that was exactly my sentiment. The lyrics themselves are as cryptic as Dylan so often can be, but when he puts his vocal style and emotions to it they become more of a visual collage inside your brain-you give them the meaning that fits you. You quit asking yourself what he was trying to say, who this Sweetheart could be, what place might she be in, and why people are jealous of her. He hands it over to you. He is just the guide to your inner self and lends you the colors for your imagination.

And that goes even more so for Jokerman, which I first heard in a hotel room somewhere in Italy late at night when the accompanying video came flashing over the small TV set. I could have only been 13 or 14 at the time and sat there hypnotized by the images flickering over the tiny screen. Whoever made the video had his own film running in his head and adapted what he was seeing on camera. It turned out to be a perfect fit and I ran with what I was seeing and hearing, delved deep in to the Dylanverse and never looked back. That was my on the bus moment and I never questioned Bob Dylan after that. It all just seemed so clear.

It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray,
A woman just gave birth to a prince today
 and dressed him in scarlet
Jokerman-Infidels 1983

Great musicians who understand and love Dylans work adapt that imagination with their instruments and voices and create their own songs with the colors Bob gives them. Probably the most famous examples of that are Jimi Hendrix with his version of All along the Watchtower, the Byrds with Mr. Tamborine Man and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band with Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn).

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again-The Grateful Dead

An' I said, "Oh, I didn't know that
But then again, there's only one I've met
An' he just smoked my eyelids
An' punched my cigarette"
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again-Blonde on Blonde 1966

My on the bus moment for the Grateful Dead started actually with a Bob Dylan song the night we busted through the doors of the Pittsburgh Civic Center, shot past the security guard who was trying to stop some 100+ Deadheads from crashing the party, and the two hits of acid kicked in to blow my mind just as Bob Weir was singing Queen Jane Approximate. That moment changed my life and I have never been the same since. The Dead were masters of reworking Dylan, and that goes for both Weir‘s and Garcia‘s vocal interpretation as much as for the intensity of the bands musicianship during these renditions. They become the protagonists, the storytellers, the heroes or villains, and the searchers for truths and tellers of tall tales.

A great example of this is their upbeat and high energy version of Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again from their Crimson, White and Indigo release, featuring their show at JFK Stadium from ‘89. The lyrics are some of Dylan‘s most hallucinatory and imaginative, and the Dead lay out the perfect musical landscape for his characters to create their mischief in. Bob Weir becomes the wide-eyed and questioning hero lost in a world of quirky and eclectic characters fumbling their way through their existence, and tells their story with ferocity and madness, lending his voice just the right amount of angst, bewilderment , frustration, and guile without ever losing his love for the subject matter. This version has the Grateful Dead rocking out to the best of their ability, pulling back, building up steam, crashing down in waves, and pulling back again, keeping their intensity in line with Bob Weir‘s vocal and physical antics during this strange tale. They are at the top of their game and keep their musicianship tight, adding to the drama with their precise leads, bass, and rolling drum fills. This will definitely get your head bobbing and feet moving.

Sad Eyed Lady of the Low Lands – Old Crow Medicine Show

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,
And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,
Oh, do they think could bury you?
Sad Eyed Lady of the Low Lands-Blonde on Blonde 1966

Blonde on Blonde has some of Dylan’s greatest songs on it, however it is a long listen, and by the time I would get to Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands I was usually shot and losing interest. I tried to listen to it on its own, but it never became one that I cared for much other than having respect for its storytelling, and realizing that it was a special song. It always seemed a bit meandering and I was never able to create an emotional attachment to it much like I did to Stuck Inside of Mobile, Visions of Johanna, Obviously 5 Believers, which to me always sounded like the first ever southern rock song, or the emotionally intense 4th Time Around.

Well, that all changed when I found Old Crow Medicine Show’s live celebration of 50 years of Blonde on Blonde at my local library one day. The whole album is a great listen but the shining light for me is their rearrangement of Sad Eyed Lady. Like I mentioned, I always knew this was a special song, just somehow could not become friends with Bob’s version of it. The lyrics are a loving psychedelic homage to an intriguing and other-worldly lady, but Dylan seems to be detached from the subject matter, and the musicianship sounds a little too stoned for my taste. Apparently it was recorded at 4 in the morning after being up all night, and that is what it sounds like.

Old Crow picks up the tempo and turns it in to an old style country dance song. By peppering it with infatuation and admiration for its subject matter, the lady comes to life in all her beauty. You find yourself striding with her through the barnyard dance hall, twirling her in circles, pulling her closer to look in to her beautiful sad eyes whose sensual gaze gives you a quick pause of astonishment and bewilderment, right before your excitement sends her twirling through the room again to the beat of your Arabian drum. An upbeat swirling country dream of a song capturing a hidden spirit that had been waiting 50 years to be unleashed.

Maggie’s Farm – Rage Against The Machine

Well, he puts his cigar out in your face just for kicks
His bedroom window it is made out of bricks
The National Guard stands around his door
Ah, I ain't gonna work for Maggie's pa no more, alright
Maggie's Farm-Bringing It All Back Home 1965

So when Rage Against the Machine released their album of covers Renegades in 2000, and on it a version of Maggie’s Farm, I was absolutely not aware of it. At the time I had a deep dislike for the Band. Zach de la Rocha‘s vocals had a tendency to annoy the living hell out of me, I found the subject matter of their songs questionable, thought it was a bunch of misguided leftist propaganda, really wasn’t in to anything that blended in rap/ hip hop, with the lone exception of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and could have cared less about Tom Morello‘s guitar style. Well, apparently I was really missing out because this song kicks ass.

I was still pretty young when I started listening to Bob Dylan and the meaning of Maggie’s Farm remained a mystery to me for quite a while. Still not sure if it was more of a personal song for him or a general critique of capitalist work environments. It is one of his more angry early electric tunes and very in your face. A pre-Hippy anti-establishment anthem that led the way for many a more shine-a-light-on-the-dirty-face-of-capitalism-and-drop-out-of-society songs to come, but just a little over the head of a middle class boy in his early teens in the 80ies. When I discovered this version hidden on my MP3 player, literally just a couple years ago, I had already been through the mill of the European and American job market, and had experienced several downright awful working conditions. I’d had to fight from being taken advantage of. I had been in situations of being used and abused, and dropped like a sack of potatoes, only to be substituted for cheaper labor. And this version hits the nerve of those experiences perfectly.

They take an angry Bob Dylan song and fill it with the their own Rage and Maggie is the Machine. The heavy beat packs a punch while Tom‘s guitar cranks out a violent funky groove. Zach shouts these lyrics as an angry rap, filling it with the same hate and frustration that he projects in many of their most famous songs. This is yelling and spitting in the face of exploitative capitalist working conditions everywhere and by that becomes a timeless testament of defiance.

Boots of Spanish Leather – Mandolin Orange

So take heed, take heed of the western wind
Take heed of the stormy weather
And yes, there's something you can send back to me
Spanish boots of Spanish leather
Boots of Spanish Leather-The Times They Are A'Changin' 1963

I had never heard of Mandolin Orange until a few months ago while searching through youtube and stumbling upon their version of Boots of Spanish Leather recorded for Audiotree. It turned out to be one of those magical moments when you discover a special song that moves you deep to your core.

I went to go see Bob Dylan in Munich back in 1995 barely a month or two after my younger brother had died of a drug overdose. Bob Dylan, along with Neil Young, had always been my go to guy to deal with heavy emotional issues – he so often seemed to speak from my soul – but going to see him live could always be tricky. This was when he was touring with the same band that would play on his MTV Unplugged album. Well, for some reason Dylan always rose to the occasion when he performed in Munich, and he and the band were at the top of their game. In the latter half of the show he switched to solo acoustic for a couple songs, and in that moment struck up the chords for Boots of Spanish Leather. I had seen the title but never before heard the actual song. The melancholy melody and lyrics of forlorn love immediately tied me up in knots. All the emotions of dealing with my brother’s death and feelings of loss started swirling in my heart and mind. By the time he ended the song with the line Spanish boots of Spanish leather I had tears running down my cheeks. It was one of my most heart wrenching yet beautiful concert experiences, and still tears me up thinking about it to this day.

The song consists of a tragic conversation between two lovers at the end of their combined journey. They have to come to grips with the yearning to move on by the one and the subsequent feeling of loss by the other. Mandolin Orange keep the minimalist musicality of the original but give the lovers a more distinct face while not just letting their singing, but also their instruments do the talking. The guitar is trying to hold them together while the violin is sending out a heartfelt farewell from across the sea. The one lover tries to hold on, but when realizing her heart is not with him anymore he asks for one last gift to remember her by, Spanish boots of Spanish leather. I think if I would have heard this version that night in ’95 you could have picked me up in pieces from the venue floor.

Girl From The North Country – The Black Crowes

If you're traveling till the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she once was the true love of mine
Girl from the North Country - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan 1963

Sometimes you get lucky and you discover a gem hidden somewhere in the vast universe of recorded music and live performances. One of these gems is the Black Crowes‘ version of Girl from the North Country from their Oct 24 2010 show in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. Don’t know why I picked this show specifically. However, I had read in an interview with drummer Steve Gorman on how happy he was to have Luther Dickinson in the band at the time. Warpaint and Before the Frost…Until the Freeze had been recently released and those recordings have some amazing music on it. I wanted to hear what this version of the Crowes sounded like live and downloaded the show from Nugs.net.

Four songs in Rich Robinson and Adam MacDougal start playing the intro notes to Girl from the North Country, and man are we in for a ride. It starts off deceptively mellow, so at first I thought it was more of a novelty cover than anything else. Chris sets a melancholy tone, but seems a little detached in the beginning. The first verse leads in to a groovy keyboard solo which ups the energy, and the band seems to pick up steam without altering the pace. Chris moves back in and sings of his heartfelt yearning for his girl who lives in the north country fair, wondering aloud if she even remembers him. Off we are on the first of two guitar solos which gains more and more on intensity, and lays the groundwork for the full frontal assault of the last third of the song. The Crowes harmonize beautifully on the third verse. Chris lays in all emotions with his signature howl coming from deep inside his soul, then the last guitar solo kicks in and leaves a barren wasteland of the North Country.

This is live Rock’n’Roll guitar at it’s best. Luther is a master of his instrument, and knows how to build an intense solo without ever losing the melody – no show off guitar string torture, just pure magical beauty. I used to mix this in with my DJ set, and by the end of the song you would see the people in the bar discontinue their conversation, just grooving along with their heads slightly bobbing to the incredible guitar work. There are some great versions of this on youtube, also with Marc Ford, who is a guitar master in his own right. Some get close but to me this is the best I have heard so far and it never ceases to amaze me.

Girl from the North Country – The Black Crowes (also smokin’ hot version)

Hope you all enjoyed this little selection. Let me know what your favorite Bob Dylan covers are. Leave a comment and follow me on my social media.

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