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Joan Baez – Farewell Angelina – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen
The Fantastic cover photo is shot by Richard Avedon

Joan Baez – Farewell Angelina – The Best Dylan Covers

 

“Farewell Angelina” is a song written by Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s, and recorded by Joan Baez.

Dylan attempted to record “Farewell Angelina” only once, during the first session for his 1965 album Bringing it All Back Home, and he abandoned all attempts to record the song again. Dylan’s one recording of the song was eventually issued in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.

Joan Baez included this song on her 1965 album Farewell Angelina. In the UK the song was issued at the same time as a single. Baez’s version, though only about half as long as Dylan’s recording, was very similar in structure and showed her moving away from pure folk music with the use of string bass accompaniment. Continue reading “Joan Baez – Farewell Angelina – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Norah Jones – I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Norah Jones – I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight – The Best Dylan Covers

Kick your shoes off, do not fear
Bring that bottle over here
I’ll be your baby tonight

“I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” is a 1967 song by Bob Dylan first released on John Wesley Harding. It was Dylan’s eighth studio album and was released on December 27, 1967 by Columbia Records. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album marked Dylan’s return to acoustic music and traditional roots, after three albums of electric rock music.

Geetali Norah Jones Shankar, widely known as Norah Jones, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress. She is a daughter of an American, Sue Jones, and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. She has covered several of Bob Dylan’s songs and performed together with him on stage.

Norah Jones’s version was released on a limited edition Greatest Hits collection in 2008. It was also part of the compilation, Covers (2012), and was released as a bonus track on the single Feelin’ the same way. Continue reading “Norah Jones – I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Susan Tedeschi – Lord Protect My Child – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Susan Tedeschi – Lord Protect My Child – The Best Dylan Covers

 

There’ll be a time I hear tell
When all will be well
When God and man will be reconciled
But until men lose their chains
And righteousness reigns
Lord, protect my child

Hope and Desire is the sixth studio album by Susan Tedeschi. It was released on October 11, 2005. The album is a slight step away from Tedeschi’s electrifying compositions and wild guitar work, as she concentrates on singing. All songs on Hope and Desire are covers of famous standards. It has a fantastic version of Bob Dylan’s Lord Protect My Child!

“Lord Protect My Child” is a song written by Bob Dylan, who recorded it at New York City’s The Power Station in ten takes on May 2, 1983. The song is an outtake from Dylan’s album Infidels that was later included in The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 on Volume 3. It is not known why Dylan decided not to include “Lord Protect My Child” on Infidels. It is a Christian song, the lyrics of which express concern for Dylan’s child. Reviewer Jonathan Lethem called the song “an achingly candid blues-plea which [provides] a rare glimpse of Bob Dylan-the-parent”.

Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Dave Brubeck recorded this great interpretation of “Lord Protect My Child”, which was produced by Chris Brubeck and used as the theme song for the human trafficking documentary film, Not My Life.

Susan Tedeschi – Lord Protect My Child (Studio version):

Continue reading “Susan Tedeschi – Lord Protect My Child – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower – The Best Dylan Covers

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Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower – The Best Dylan Covers

 

“I liked Jimi Hendrix’s record of this and ever since he died I’ve been doing it that way. Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way.”
– Bob Dylan (Biograph liner notes)

“It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn’t think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day.”
– Bob Dylan (Fort Lauderdale Sentinel Sun, 1995)

“All Along the Watchtower” is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. The song initially appeared on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding, and it has been included on most of Dylan’s subsequent greatest hits compilations. Since the late 1970s, he has performed it in concert more than any of his other songs. Different versions appear on four of Dylan’s live albums.

Covered by numerous artists in various genres, “All Along the Watchtower” is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded for Electric Ladyland with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylan’s original recording, became a Top 20 single in 1968 and was ranked 47th in Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

It is almost too obvious, but it has to be included in this series of the best Dylan covers. It is after all, maybe THE best Dylan cover ever done!

Continue reading “Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Lucinda Williams – Tryin’ to get to heaven – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

When I was in Missouri
They would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry
I only saw what they let me see
You broke a heart that loved you
Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore
I’ve been walking that lonesome valley
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
– Bob Dylan (Trying To Get To Heaven)

Lucinda Williams – Tryin’ to get to heaven – The Best Dylan Covers

One of the most praised songs of Time Out of Mind is “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”, Dylan has a very strong and clear vocal on the song. It is also Dylan’s only harmonica performance on the entire album.

Time Out of Mind is the thirtieth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 30, 1997, by Columbia Records. It was his first double studio album (on vinyl) since Self Portrait in 1970. It was also released as a single CD.

For fans and critics, the album marked Dylan’s artistic comeback after he struggled with his musical identity throughout the 1980s; he hadn’t released any original material for seven years, since Under the Red Sky in 1990. Time Out of Mind is hailed as one of Dylan’s best albums, and it went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. It was also ranked number 408 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.

Continue reading “Lucinda Williams – Tryin’ to get to heaven – The Best Dylan Covers” →

Alicia Keys – Pressing On – The Best Dylan Covers

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Alicia Keys – Pressing On – The Best Dylan Covers

Saved is the twentieth studio album by Bob Dylan, released on June 23, 1980. Among the songs are the hymn-like song, Pressing On.

“Two stand-out tracks, nonetheless: the turbulent ‘Pressing On’ (Dylan creating convincing hot gospel) and the intelligently submissive, courageous address (including a lovely, aptly devotional harmonica) that is ‘What Can I Do For You?””
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

The album was recorded at Muscle Shoals and was produced by Barry Beckett and Jerry Wexler. In 2013 Alicia Keys chose Pressing On as her song for the documentary about “The Muscle Shoals sound”.

 

Muscle Shoals is a 2013 documentary film about FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Continue reading “Alicia Keys – Pressing On – The Best Dylan Covers” →