The musician who Bob Dylan says performed his song better than himself: “Like no one has ever done”
Right now, somewhere in your city, a Bob Dylan song will be being played. You’re never too far away from someone with an acoustic guitar busting out a rendition of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’. As a true musical icon, Dylan is one of the most covered artists in history. Even other stars can’t resist the allure of singing one of his songs instead of their own.
That’s a pattern that’s been happening since the very start. Even when Dylan was new on the scene, his music was almost immediately adopted into the realm of the ‘standards’. Similar to how jazz artists often sing the same selection of songs like a rite of passage to prove their worth, Dylan’s tracks became a folk equivalent – that’s part of the reason why his name so quickly spread and his God-like status seemed to instantly be there.
In the 1960s, Dylan was everywhere, even when he wasn’t. The artist famously shunned Woodstock, but his music attended as four other artists took his songs to their stage. Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Melanie and Arlo Guthrie all used time in their set to cover his cover, ensuring that his presence was felt even when he’d avoided it at all costs.
It would perhaps be easier to list artists who haven’t covered a Dylan song, but it’s only on rare occasions that the man himself talks on these other versions and even rarer for him to bestow his praise. But in this instance, given that he thought this other performer did his song even better than he could have, he wasn’t shy with his compliments.
Dylan’s appeal has yet to drop off since that initial 1960s boom. For decades after, artists were still obsessed with covering his tunes and in 2015, Bruce Springsteen did his own rendition of ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’. It wasn’t even just The Boss. It was Springsteen, Tom Morello and a strong backing band of players performing at MusiCares to honour Dylan’s work. And honour it he did as Dylan was blown away by the cover.
“Incredible! He did that song like the record, something I myself have never tried,” Dylan said, praising Springsteen for pulling off a rendition of the track that even he couldn’t, adding, “I never even thought it was worth it. Maybe never had the manpower in one band to pull it off.”
It was a cover so powerful that it literally reminded Dylan of the track and how it is supposed to sound, as he said, “To tell you the truth, I’d forgotten how the song ought to go. Bruce pulled all the power and spirituality and beauty out of it like no one has ever done. He was faithful, truly faithful to the version on the record, obviously the only one he has to go by. I’m not a nostalgic person, but for a second there it all came back.”
For any Dylan fan, words like this must feel like words from up above so when Dylan added, “Bruce is a deep conscientious cat and the evidence of that was in the performance. He can get to your heart, my heart anyway,” likely even The Boss felt starstruck.
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