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Patti Smith covers Bob Dylan

A writer, or any artist, can’t expect to be embraced by the people [but] you just keep doing your work — because you have to, because it’s your calling.
~Patti Smith

Punk rock’s poet laureate Patti Smith ranks among the most influential female rock & rollers of all time. Ambitious, unconventional, and challenging, Smith’s music was hailed as the most exciting fusion of rock and poetry since Bob Dylan’s heyday.
~Steve Huey (allmusic.com)

Let us kick off with the heartfelt touching performance from The Nobel Prize ceremony.

Patti Smith – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (2016):

Patti Smith was born in Chicago in 1946, grew up mainly in New Jersey, then moved to New York, where she is an important exponent of the New York punk rock and poetry scene. Her big idols were The Rolling Stones, and she once said that she kept alive just to see what Stones would do next. Another important influence is Bob Dylan, whose ‘Blonde on Blonde’ was a decisive experience for her, the admiration was mutual and they have performed together on several occasions.  She started as a poet but drifted into Rock’n Roll.

Patti Smith is one of our favourite artists and she has also covered Dylan on several occasions. She is one hell of a Dylan interpreter!

Then there’s the anthem, Like a Rolling Stone from Montreux 2005:

Drifter’s Escape (audio, album: Chimes of Freedom : The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International):

Patti Smith – Changing Of The Guards(Live 2007 Cagliari Anfiteatro Romano):

Patti Smith – Boots of Spanish Leather (Arles 2011):

Wicked Messenger (Pontiac, MI 1995 ):

Let’s end with a great duet with Bob Dylan and Patti Smith, Dark Eyes (1995, NY):

– Hallgeir (all pictures are from Bergenfest 2012 and 2015)