Category Archives: Cover versions

Bob Dylan covers Paul McCartney – Happy birthday Paul McCartney

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Bob Dylan covers Paul McCartney

“They were fantastic singers. Lennon, to this day, it’s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or than McCartney was and still is.

I mean I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. But I’m in awe of him. He can do it all and he’s never let up, you know. He’s got the gift for melody, he’s got the rhythm. He can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody and he can sing the ballad as good as anybody, you know so… And his melodies are, you know, effortless. That’s what you have to be in awe… I’m in awe of him maybe just because he’s just so damn effortless. I mean I just wish he’d quit, you know. [laughs] Just everything and anything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in a melody, you know …”
– Bob Dylan (Rolling Stone Magazine)

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June 15: The late Waylon Jennings was born in 1937 – here he covers Bob Dylan




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Waylon Jennings covers Bob Dylan

Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at twelve on KVOW radio. He formed a band, The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J. on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI and KLLL. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings’ first recording session, of “Jolie Blon” and “When Sin Stops (Love Begins)”. Holly hired him to play bass. During the “Winter Dance Party Tour,” in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to arrive at the next venue. Jennings gave up his seat in the plane to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from a cold. The flight that carried Holly, Richardson and Ritchie Valens crashed, on the day later known as The Day the Music Died.

Following the accident, Jennings worked as a D.J. in Coolidge, Arizona and Phoenix. He formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records, A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control of his records.

Waylon Jennings has done some wonderful Bob Dylan covers.

Don’t think twice It’s all right – Waylon Jennings, released on his debut album, Waylon at JD’s in 1964 (just one year after Dylan released it originally):

One Too Many Mornings (1000 Miles Behind) by Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, from their Heroes album released in 1986. :

Continue reading June 15: The late Waylon Jennings was born in 1937 – here he covers Bob Dylan

June 4: Kasey Chambers sings Bob Dylan – Happy 40th Birthday Kasey!

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“To anyone who thinks Bob Dylan can’t sing……………..listen to ‘Corrina Corrina’…….
………….and PS-you’re a dickhead.”
– Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers (born 4 June 1976) is an Australian country singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of singer and musician Bill Chambers, and the sister of musician and producer Nash Chambers.

Chambers was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia. She has an older brother, Nash Chambers. She grew up on the Nullarbor Plain and the tiny fishing village in Beachport, South Australia. Her family owned the local Fish and Chip shop for a time and were playing and touring with her family band, “The Dead Ringer Band” which included her father Billy Chambers a Golden Guitar Award songwriter and Nash Chambers, now a well known music producer and performer. “The Dead Ringer Band” continued to tour locally and interstate gaining support and popularity along the way. Continue reading June 4: Kasey Chambers sings Bob Dylan – Happy 40th Birthday Kasey!

Ian Hunter Is Your Love In Vain (Dylan) – Happy Birthday Mr. Hunter!

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Do you love me, or are you just extending goodwill?
Do you need me half as bad as you say, or are you just feeling guilt?
I’ve been burned before and I know the score
So you won’t hear me complain
Will I be able to count on you
Or is your love in vain?

Is your love in vain? is a song from Dylan’s Street Legal album, but my favourite version (official, that is…) is from Live at Budokan. It’s a heart achingly honest love song, he really bares his heart, and I feel for the man. The song is profoundly touching, and in my book, one of Bob Dylan’s best love songs. It received a fair amount of negative response when it was released, some critics meant it was degrading women. I think that is harsh, I simply cannot see it.

Ian Hunter performed the song for a TV-show in 1981 (aired 1982?) and has been released on a bootleg/semi-official compilation album, Bald At The Station (2012).

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“The CD ends with one song from a 1982 Don Kirshner performance and finds Hunter diving back to his roots, dirging up Dylan’s “Love in Vain” and making it his own. If a better-quality recording exists, let’s hope it turns up somewhere soon. In the meantime, it’s a marvelous end to a surprisingly useful odds ‘n’ oddities collection, and proof that we were all severely shortchanged when the Ian Hunter anthology turned out to be a mere two discs. He deserved at least four.”
– Dave Thompson (allmusic.com)

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Bob Dylan Pressing On: 2 great originals and 7 fine cover versions

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Bob Dylan Pressing On: Cover versions audio and video

When I heard Alicia Keys’s cover of Bob Dylan’s Pressing On I felt compelled to search out some of the other great versions of this overlooked gem.
Saved was the second album of Dylan’s “Christian trilogy”, following his conversion. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor Slow Train Coming, with gospel arrangements and lyrics extolling the importance of a strong personal faith.

Let us start with a couple of Dylan’s own takes on the song, the album version and a great live interpretation from a classic concert in Toronto in 1980:

Bob Dylan – Pressing On, from the album, Saved:

The fantastic Toronto 1980 version of Pressing On:

And now the cover versions.

Continue reading Bob Dylan Pressing On: 2 great originals and 7 fine cover versions