George Harrison, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones and others Cover Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand”

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet floods every newborn seed
There’s a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and the morals of despair

Of course nobody sings Dylan like Dylan.
Still, these cover versions are worth listening to.

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Bob Dylan recorded “Every Grain of Sand” early May 1981 @ Clover Recorders, Los Angeles, California. It was released on “Shot of Love” August 12, 1981.

George Harrison

Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand

Emmylou Harris
From the album “Wrecking Ball” (1995)

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beams down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay

The Blind Boys of Alabama & Justin Vernon
From the album “I’ll Find a Way” (2013)

I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way I’ll always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand

Bon Iver
The Pause
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN
May 3rd, 2008

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face

Norah Jones
Dylan Fest 2011

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

Lizz Wright
Paste Studios, New York, NY (2017)

Anne Grete Preus
Litteraturhuset, Oslo, Norway (2011)


-Egil
Egil

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