The five Bob Dylan songs Eric Clapton has put to tape
Considering they were two of the most prominent musicians of their day, it’s no wonder Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton crossed paths from time to time. While putting a label like ”friendship’ on their relationship is probably assuming a bit too much, they were clearly very much taken with one another’s work.
Indeed, Clapton has recorded no less than five Dylan for his various albums, some of which were written for him specifically, some of which he fell in love with despite himself.
Here, we’ve dived into the history of each of these five covers, exploring how they came to fall into Clapton’s hands and their significance when it comes to Bob Dylan’s own career as a performer and songwriter. So, let’s get cracking.
Five Bob Dylan songs Eric Clapton has put to tape:
‘Sign Language’ – No Reason To Cry (1976)
Clapton was handed ‘Sign Language’ – the first song Dylan wrote after his collaboration with Jacques Levy on Desire – while he was working on No Reason To Cry in Shangri-La Studios. Clapton would later recall how the song came into his possession in his 2007 memoir: “[Dylan] was living in a tent in the garden of the studios, and every now and then he would appear and have a drink and then disappear again just as quickly,” he recalled.
During one of Bob’s fleeting visits, Clapton took the chance to ask him if he was willing to “write, sing, play, anything” on the album. “One day he came in and offered me a song called ‘Sign Language,'” the guitarist continued, “which he had played for me in New York. He told me he had written the whole song down at one sitting, without even understanding what it was about. I said I didn’t care what it was about. I just loved the words and the melody, and the chord sequence was great. Since Bob doesn’t restrict himself to any one way of doing a song, we recorded it three different ways, with me duetting with him.”
‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ – Timepieces (1982)
Surely one of the most covered Dylan songs of all time, Clapton recorded ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ as a single way back in 1975. It also featured on Timepieces in 1982. Written from the perspective of a dying Sheriff, the track was composed specifically for the 1973 Western Pat Garett and Billy The Kid, in which Dylan has a brief cameo as a good-for-nothing called Alias.
Clapton played guitar on Arthur Louis’s reggae fusion recording of the track in 1975. After the session was over, Eric stayed in the studio to record his own version, which was released in the August of that year, just two weeks after Louis’s rendition. The single rose to number 38 on the UK charts but failed to chart in the US.
‘Walk Out In The Rain’ – Backless (1978)
Dylan wrote this particular number for Street Legal, but it ended up as an outtake, later finding new life on Clapton’s 1978 album Backless. It was reportedly the product of a jam session with Helena Springs, who helped Dylan cobble the lyrics together as he strummed away at the guitar.
The story goes that ‘Walk Out In The Rain’ was improvised one night in Australia after Dylan had finished his work with Jacques Levy. Springs and Dylan would later return to the track to iron it out and come up with some proper lyrics. After demoing the track and putting it on a cassette, Dylan passed it on to Clapton while the pair were in Nuremberg, Germany.
‘If I Don’t Be There By Morning’ – Backless (1978)
Also on that tape was ‘If I Don’t Be There In The Morning’, which Clapton recorded for Backless. The two songs were promptly recorded by Clapton, who presented them to Dylan and Springs when they were back in London.
‘If I Don’t Be There By Morning’ is generally dismissed as one of Dylan’s weakest and most uninspired works. Clapton, on the other hand, was a huge fan and kept the song on his set list for a full two years, performing it 44 times and including it on his 1980 live album Just One Night.
‘Born In Time’ – Pilgrim (1998)
Bob Dylan has released four different versions of this particularly euphoric number. It was originally released on September 10th, 1990 on Under the Red Sky. A reworking of a song recorded the year before during the Oh Mercy sessions, it’s an unusually catchy and pop-driven track for this point in Dylan’s career. It’s also got some bloody brilliant lyrics.
Clapton recorded ‘Born In Time’ for his 1998 album Pilgrim. Where Dylan’s original version bleeds pure Americana, Clapton opted for a more polished approach, lacing the track with electronic drums and cavernous bass. Despite this writer’s personal reservations, it’s undeniably infectious.
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