The cover Bob Dylan said “got something out of that song I would have never dreamed of”
If any living artist could be described as Shakespearean in stature, it would be Bob Dylan. The Nobel Prize winner is recognised in equal measure for his vast catalogue of sociopolitically pertinent and eternally poetic lyrics and his timeless, earthy vocal. Few would describe Dylan as the greatest singer of all time, but millions choose him as their favourite.
Dylan first surged to fame as a folk singer, hanging reverently from the coattails of Woody Guthrie. His early career was bolstered by a series of covers and reimagined standards, which impressed the punters on the New York folk circuit, but for wider success, greater originality was required. While vocal artists like Elvis Presley and Tom Jones could get by on external songwriting, Dylan depended on compositional talents of his own.
As we know, Dylan honed an unparalleled talent for wordsmithery, starting with his early protest songs and later ascending to more abstract climes thanks to widespread influences. From the early years of Dylan’s success, fellow artists began to show their appreciation with tasteful covers of his music, from the early folk renditions of Peter, Paul and Mary to Jimi Hendrix’s psychedelic vision for ‘All Along the Watchtower’.
Over the years, Dylan has expressed his approval and disapproval of some covers he’s encountered. He was particularly impressed with Hendrix’s enduring tribute and Johnny Rivers’ version of ‘Positively 4th Street’. “Most of the cover versions of my songs seemed to take them out into left field somewhere, but Rivers’s version had the mandate down – the attitude, the melodic sense to complete and surpass even the feeling that I had put into it,” Dylan reflected in Chronicles.
On the flip side, Dylan struggled to get on board with Guns N’ Roses’ cover of ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’. The troubadour himself allegedly told the band to cover the song in passing but ultimately likening the finished product to a movie about emotionless alien duplicates. “Guns N’ Roses is okay, Slash is okay,” Dylan appraised, “but there’s something about their version of the song that reminds me of the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
As a songwriter, first and foremost, Dylan respects any artist who can write compelling songs of their own. Thus, he has found only good things to say for Billy Joel on the several occasions the ‘Piano Man’ singer has surfaced in interviews. In August 1997, Dylan allowed Joel to release a cover of his song ‘Make You Feel My Love’, which he was set to release a month later in Time Out of Mind. The pair shared the same record label at the time, and Joel came across the demo. “Billy had heard this song, and at that time, I wasn’t really positive one way or another whether it was going to be included, so might as well let Billy do it,” Dylan remembered in a 1997 press conference.
Continuing, Dylan revealed his thoughts on the cover. “Billy Joel’s a very dynamic artist, and he can hear things in a song because he’s also a songwriter,” he said. “He managed to probably convey that song in a different way than me. Nevertheless, he got something out of that song I would have never dreamed of myself. That’s what happens when you write a song. Somebody can definitely interpret it a different way than the person who wrote it.”
In his comments, Dylan didn’t necessarily confirm that he liked Joel’s cover. However, he revealed his respect for the artist’s independent vision as an established songwriter, humbly admitting that he could never have imagined the song under such a guise.
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