A playlist of all the songs that Bob Dylan covered in the studio
Often hailed as one of the 20th century’s most distinguished songwriters, Bob Dylan is not the kind of musician to rely too heavily on cover songs. A truly gifted lyricist, the folk star has no real need to emulate anybody else’s writing. Nevertheless, Dylan did pay tribute to some of his major influences throughout his career, occasionally recording cover versions of his most beloved tracks.
Cover songs are often divisive among music fans. In some instances, cover tracks are viewed as soulless cash-grabs, piggy-backing off the success of the original artists. These are usually the covers which seem fairly indistinguishable in style from the original recordings. On the other hand, cover songs allow artists to reimagine their favourite tracks in their own unique style, updating them for a new musical age and audience.
Dylan was no stranger to the ever-controversial art of cover songs. Over the years, a countless array of artists, big and small, have taken a stab at covering Dylan himself. Perhaps the most notable example of a Bob Dylan cover song came with Jimi Hendrix and his version of ‘All Along the Watchtower’, which eclipsed the original in many ways. Elsewhere, everybody from ex-Beatle George Harrison to the Grateful Dead has taken on Dylan’s immense lyrical talent with varying degrees of success.
Testament to the timeless quality of Dylan’s songwriting, covers of his tracks endure into the modern age, a notable recent example being Adele’s cover of ‘Make You Feel My Love’. Speaking about the volume of his songs that have been covered, however, the folk hero revealed that Johnny Rivers’ version of ‘Positively 4th Street’ remains his best-loved.
Explaining his appreciation for Rivers’ version, he said, “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.”
In terms of the tracks Dylan himself covered, the vast majority were an attempt to pay tribute to the folk music stars that had originally inspired him. Often throwing a few 1950s folk tracks into the setlist of his live performances – as well as, surprisingly, a Jimmy Buffet cover in 1982 – Dylan also set about recording the occasional cover within a studio setting.
Of course, as a folk artist, much of Dylan’s earlier work might be considered cover songs. The genre is built largely around repetition and adaptation of old, traditional pieces. However, for our playlist, we have focused on Dylan’s cover songs that can be traced back to a specific artist, as opposed to his original arrangements of traditional folk tracks.
Check out the full playlist of tracks covered by Dylan in the studio below.
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