What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs- 1. Like a Rolling Stone 2. Tangled Up in Blue, Congratulations to Bonzai, winner of the contest (3 Viewers)

91. “Oxford Town” (1962, from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan)

https://youtu.be/sb4PsXncNV8

“Oxford Town” is a folk protest song, in the style of Woody Guthrie, about the integration of the University of Mississippi by James Meredith. Like all the songs on this amazing album, it’s just Bob with his guitar (not even a harmonica on this one), singing of racial injustice with poetry- “Somebody better investigate soon.” 

Covers There’s been a number of folk singers  who have covered this over the years, including Joan Baez and Richie Havens, But I’ll go in a different direction here with contemporary bluegrass artist Tim O’Brien contributing his peerless fiddle styling: 

https://youtu.be/jMV_zQbx250

 
Last edited by a moderator:
90. “Ring Them Bells” (1989, from Oh Mercy)

https://youtu.be/_-gZooq3Ylc

Like another folkie Jewish songwriter named Paul Simon, Dylan has been in love with gospel music his entire life, both long before and after his brief conversion to Christianity. This list includes a few absolutely superb gospel tunes and this is one example. Simply lovely. 

Covers There are a lot of very polished versions of this song by famous artists, some with large gospel choirs. But Sarah Jarosz alone on a mandolin is as good as any of them. What a talent: 

https://youtu.be/8avSGnZlnaY

 
89. “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” (1967, from John Wesley Harding) 

https://youtu.be/xiMtINugia0

Good old fashioned folk song here with some rather silly lyrics. I was unaware until looking up the background on this song that this is where the heavy metal band got their name, though I should have realized it. 

Covers British singer songwriter Thea Gilmore has a marvelous version of this tune, IMO better than the original: 

https://youtu.be/qS6PZqZ7JdI

 
88. “Meet Me in the Morning” (1975, from Blood on the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/VE6-uc1zr3s

This is a solid hard rocking blues song with a great lead guitar line. The lead guitarist on the song is listed as one Kevin Odegard, and I have no idea whether he created that lead or if it was Dylan itself, but it makes the song. 

Covers In 2010 the Black Crowes issued a live album in which they perform a ten minute jam of “Meet Me in the Morning”. It’s pretty awesome: 

https://youtu.be/O-GhFPlNYNY

 
I would now like to list some very notable (some quite famous) Dylan songs that did not make my list. Some of these just missed the cut; some were never really in consideration. Here is a list in alphabetical order: 

“Ballad of Hollis Brown”

“Bob Dylan’s Dream”

”Brownsville Girl”

”Changing of the Guard”

”Down the Highway”

”Every Grain of Sand” 

“Everything is Broken” 

”Gotta Serve Somebody”

”I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”

”Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat”

”Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)”

”Sara”

”Saved”

”Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)”

”Shooting Star”

“Song to Woody”

”Tears of Rage”

”This Wheel’s On Fire”

”Temporary Like Achilles”

”To Ramona”

”Wigwam”

 
87. “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/Claf8E18eLs

This is a country style love song. All of the songs on this amazing album have incredible imagery and this one is no exception: “Purple clover, Queen Anne’s lace, crimson hair across your face” his poetry is superb. 

Covers There’s literally over 50 covers of this song. For whatever reason it’s one of Dylan’s most popular. I will go with the girl (now lady I guess) that my daughters grew up with. Here is Miley Cyrus stripped down, showing off her impressive vocal skills: 

https://youtu.be/I2wvaWTTmz8

 
86. “Buckets of Rain” (1975, from Blood On the Tracks) 

https://youtu.be/jGsOmKZXDvo

When Bob Dylan was interviewed about this sparse, beautiful acoustic blues song, he said that he was attempting to channel his inner Mississippi John Hurt. That’s interesting to me because while it does sound a little like that, Hurt’s songs typically involved more intricate guitar picking. This tune reminds me more of some modern acoustic blues players like Taj Mahal or Keb Mo. Nonetheless a classic and that guitar is simply haunting. 

Covers The wonderful Neko Case, from her 2006 Live in Austin performance, is accompanied here by a lap guitar and, almost so softly that you can’t hear it, a stand up bass. Magical stuff: 

https://youtu.be/R5J9MuWiAMk

 
Apple Jack said:
Every Grain of Sand is one of his best. Probably my favorite of the Christian songs.
Click to expand...
It’s one I really debated. I like it far better than “Gotta Serve Somebody” which never impressed me at all. “Every Grain of Sand” and “Shooting Star” were the last two that I cut. 

I really like those Christian albums and there are two songs (one from each of the first two) that I regard as masterpieces, and they are included coming up a little later. 

 
85. “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” (1967, from John Wesley Harding

https://youtu.be/UWc2e5KRq-4

The link is to a live duet with Joan Baez from the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour. 

Starting around the mid 60s, music critics reveled in writing long articles trying to decipher the hidden meanings in Bob Dylan lyrics. Usually these efforts were pretty pompous and Dylan himself later admitted that he got a good chuckle out of a lot of these efforts; he revealed that most  of the lyrics he wrote just because they sounded good. Even though this song has only 3 verses it was one of those that received the most scrutiny. What exactly did Dylan mean by “Arise arise”? Who are the voices without restraint? Why does he bow and cry at the end of the song? The answers, my friend, are blowing...never mind. 

Covers Old man Eric Clapton, like Dylan, is one of those 60s artists who continues to record studio albums 6 decades later. On his latest effort, from 2016, he decided to do a cover of St. Augustine: 

https://youtu.be/ks_AMXwzj-A

 
84. “The Man In Me” (1970, from New Morning) 

https://youtu.be/G6oBqDkNz38

This is the one of several songs on this list that I have selected from New Morning, which I regard as Dylan’s most underrated album. In his review in the other Dylan thread, @Eephus makes the astute comment that some of these songs sound less like typical Dylan and more like Billy Joel- I never really thought of it but it’s true: he displays a pop and melodic sensibility here and on all the songs I have chosen from this album which I really like. I also think his vocals are nearly as good as Blood on the Tracks. 

Covers I kind of go back and forth on Ray LaMontagne. He’s a very powerful, soulful singer but sometimes he whisper-sings too much and guys who do that really annoy me. Anyhow, here he is doing “The Man In Me”: 

https://youtu.be/pDbxcqKpFQw

 
In my first cursory listen of his '62-'66 recordings, "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown" really stood out to me as a classic in a certain deathly country tradition about the starkness and painstaking brutality of the circle of life and its unwilling and often unwitting attendees. 

Not here to praise the song, as the outlook on the world isn't my cup of tea, but it's a visceral feeling, those last words. How fatalistic. 

 
83. “Jokerman” (1983, from Infidels)

https://youtu.be/1XSvsFgvWr0

The link is to one of Bob Dylan’s first forays into music videos, and it manages to be as mysterious as many of his lyrics: Bosch and Goya paintings intermixed with Hitler and Mussolini and old photos of Bob- who knew? The song itself has a world music feel to it and I was surprised to learn that, as much as I love the tune and had to have it on my list somewhere, there are other folks who love it for more: the Telegraph, for instance, thinks this is a top 5 Dylan song of all time. Pretty high praise. Also want to add that while I knew this song had Mark Knopfler on guitar ( he produced the album) I learned only this morning that the other guitarist was former Stones Mick Taylor, one of my all time favorites. 

Covers Vampire Weekend is an interesting new indie band that performs a lot of world music jams. Over the past year or so they started adding “Jokerman” to their live set: 

https://youtu.be/38I_J9X9Mhs

 
Last edited by a moderator:
timschochet said:
 Vampire Weekend is an interesting new indie band that performs a lot of world music jams.
Click to expand...
As much as I always tend to dabble in your lists and then comment both positively and negatively, I'm going to go ahead again and do the latter now. Oof.

Vampire Weekend has been around for over a decade now, and has lost their main songwriter, studio, and sound. Though they may indeed do a fine cover of a song you really like, there's something inapt about the feel you're giving when you're describing the band and the gravity of their choice.

They were nominated for a Grammy in '09 or '10 for Contra, IIRC. 

 
rockaction said:
As much as I always tend to dabble in your lists and then comment both positively and negatively, I'm going to go ahead again and do the latter now. Oof.

Vampire Weekend has been around for over a decade now, and has lost their main songwriter, studio, and sound. Though they may indeed do a fine cover of a song you really like, there's something inapt about the feel you're giving when you're describing the band and the gravity of their choice.

They were nominated for a Grammy in '09 or '10 for Contra, IIRC. 
Click to expand...
Any band that arrived in the 21st Century is new to me: I’m an old dummy. 

 
timschochet said:
Any band that arrived in the 21st Century is new to me: I’m an old dummy. 
Click to expand...
Yeah, same here, really. It just seemed like "hot new hip, successful band covers Dylan" wasn't exactly the way to describe Vampire Weekend's choice. Minor quibble on my end. Ezra Koenig himself is sort of a curator with his penchant for all things music.

To wit: If anything was calculated with the cover, Koenig understands that covering Bob doesn't make Bob cool to a younger generation, it attempts to legitimize and give a status to VW. 

But I don't think it's calculated. I think Ezra likes him. 

 
rockaction said:
Yeah, same here, really. It just seemed like "hot new hip, successful band covers Dylan" wasn't exactly the way to describe Vampire Weekend's choice. Minor quibble on my end. Ezra Koenig himself is sort of a curator with his penchant for all things music.

To wit: If anything was calculated with the cover, Koenig understands that covering Bob doesn't make Bob cool to a younger generation, it attempts to legitimize and give a status to VW. 

But I don't think it's calculated. I think Ezra likes him. 
Click to expand...
I meant the dummy part. I had never heard of Vampire Weekend until yesterday. 

Here’s how I select the covers: if it has some kind of significance to music history, that comes first. This list will have several famous covers that have to be included. But beyond that, most of these songs have an average of 8-10 covers (which in itself is an amazing tribute to Dylan.) So I sample them and choose the one I happen to like the best at that particular moment.

 
timschochet said:
I meant the dummy part. I had never heard of Vampire Weekend until yesterday. 

Here’s how I select the covers: if it has some kind of significance to music history, that comes first. This list will have several famous covers that have to be included. But beyond that, most of these songs have an average of 8-10 covers (which in itself is an amazing tribute to Dylan.) So I sample them and choose the one I happen to like the best at that particular moment.
Click to expand...
Sure. I thought that's what you meant. The "dummy" part. You were chiding yourself. I think we're right on the same page. I was agreeing -- this past five years has not been kind to me keeping up with music at all. I think I'll check the orig. Bob song and VW's cover now...

 
82. “I’ll Keep It With Mine” (1964, unreleased) 

https://vimeo.com/182493352

This song was written during the Another Side of Bob Dylan sessions and then given to Judy Collins; Dylan’s own original version wasn’t released until the Biograph collection in 1985, and since then two other versions have been issued on various bootleg albums. I fell in love with this song because of one of the covers: 

Covers After Judy Collins it was recorded by Nico with the original Velvet Underground band: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker. These were the same sessions during which Nico provided the vocals for “Femme Fatale”, “All Tommorow’s Parties”, and “I’ll Be Your Mirror”, for The Velvet Underground & Nico. Also on rhythm guitar: Nico’s 16 year old boyfriend, Jackson Browne. (In ‘65, he turned 17, and he called the world his own.) “I’ll Keep It With Mine” was released a year later on Nico’s solo album, Chelsea Girl:

https://youtu.be/TcnYkf5nm14

For the longest time I just assumed this was a Lou Reed song, and not just because the production has that Reed/Cale feel of the first two VU albums, but because even the lyrics sound much more like Reed than Dylan. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
81. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (1971, Unreleased)

https://vimeo.com/75113136

The song was written for The Band, though the above is Dylan's own version which was later added to his second greatest hits collection. I always think of this song as a travelogue of Rome; last summer when I stood on the Spanish steps I couldn't help singing it.

Covers: It's been performed lots of times over the years but it would be derelict of me not to present here the guys who were supposed to perform it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2e7DPhyHg

 
timschochet said:
81. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (1971, Unreleased)

https://vimeo.com/75113136

The song was written for The Band, though the above is Dylan's own version which was later added to his second greatest hits collection. I always think of this song as a travelogue of Rome; last summer when I stood on the Spanish steps I couldn't help singing it.

Covers: It's been performed lots of times over the years but it would be derelict of me not to present here the guys who were supposed to perform it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2e7DPhyHg
Click to expand...
Oooh...probably top 20-25 for me.  

 
timschochet said:
98. “One More Cup of Coffee” (1976, from Desire)

https://youtu.be/95cufW4h-gA

The female vocalist here is, of course, the amazing Emmylou Harris, who may very well be the best duet singer in the history of popular music. This tune has a decidedly middle eastern feel to it which makes it sound almost unique in the Dylan catalogue. 

Covers: Like so many of the songs on this list, there are literally dozens of cover versions to sample, from the White Stripes to Roger McGuinn and Calexico, But I’ll go with Robert Plant, a singer who has always loved middle eastern styles: 

https://youtu.be/Mect3euIvOQ
Click to expand...
Here's another cover from Michael Martin.  Man, this guy's guitar work has really blossomed since I last saw him play live some 20 years ago.  I hope you don't mind me slipping a few of these in; he's been a central fixture at the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash in SA for something like 25 years now.  It's probably accurate to label him a super Dylan nerd.

One More Cup of Coffee ... Audio quality is not great.

Edit: Patricia Vonne is sweet.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
80. “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965, from Highway 61 Revisited) 

https://youtu.be/8hr3Stnk8_k

This song really should be much higher on my list. It’s the title song from what is arguably his greatest album, it’s a classic blues tunes, it’s got incredible lyrics (particularly the first verse dialogue between God and Abraham), it references the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to Old Scratch- what’s not to love? The answer is: that damn annoying whistle, that’s what’s not to love. That whistle drives me ####### crazy every time, reminds me of those stupid horns when South Africa held the World Cup Soccer Match. Otherwise this song might have to be considered for the top 20. But the whistle throws me off. 

Covers Move over Eric Clapton. Sorry about this Stevie Ray. Who was the greatest white blues guitarist in history? That would be Johnny Winter (and when I say white I mean really white, albino white, whiter than Jeff Sessions white). And what was Johnny Winters’ second best jam ever (the first being “Be Careful With a Fool”)?? Why it’s “Highway 61 Revisited of course. And there’s no damn whistle: 

https://youtu.be/I8dzp8SFF_k

 
timschochet said:
Who was the greatest white blues guitarist in history? That would be Johnny Winter (and when I say white I mean really white, albino white, whiter than Jeff Sessions white). And what was Johnny Winters’ second best jam ever (the first being “Be Careful With a Fool”)?? Why it’s “Highway 61 Revisited of course. And there’s no damn whistle: 

https://youtu.be/I8dzp8SFF_k
Click to expand...
Dude, Roy Buchanan ran circles around Johnny Winter. 

Big circles,  little circles,  ellipses too.

 
79. “Masters of War” (1962, from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan) 

https://youtu.be/JEmI_FT4YHU

The first protest song to make the list. Dylan used to claim that none of his songs were protest songs but that’s simply not true, just listen to the lyrics, which for once here are very clear without much subtlety. “Masters of War” isn’t necessarily about the Vietnam War but about the military-industrial complex in general, which is why it’s not really dated even today.  

Covers This one’s pretty easy as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam made a big splash a few years ago with his version, and he continues to perform it live: 

https://youtu.be/o9PomIRUlqQ

 
78. “Spanish Harlem Incident” (1964, from Another Side of Bob Dylan) 

https://youtu.be/N-vsRxqNQNQ

Poetic (I guess they’re all poetic) love song about a gypsy girl Bob encountered one day, whose flaming feet burned up the street. 

Covers: This song was absolutely made for Roger McGuinn’s 12 string Rickenbacker. Here are the Byrds from their first album, named for another Dylan song that we will get to later (much later): 

https://youtu.be/Xpl3axxusns

 
timschochet said:
83. “Jokerman” (1983, from Infidels)

https://youtu.be/1XSvsFgvWr0

The link is to one of Bob Dylan’s first forays into music videos, and it manages to be as mysterious as many of his lyrics: Bosch and Goya paintings intermixed with Hitler and Mussolini and old photos of Bob- who knew? The song itself has a world music feel to it and I was surprised to learn that, as much as I love the tune and had to have it on my list somewhere, there are other folks who love it for more: the Telegraph, for instance, thinks this is a top 5 Dylan song of all time. Pretty high praise. Also want to add that while I knew this song had Mark Knopfler on guitar ( he produced the album) I learned only this morning that the other guitarist was former Stones Mick Taylor, one of my all time favorites. 

Covers Vampire Weekend is an interesting new indie band that performs a lot of world music jams. Over the past year or so they started adding “Jokerman” to their live set: 

https://youtu.be/38I_J9X9Mhs
Click to expand...
Built to Spill does a good cover. This was my favorite Dylan song for whatever reason growing up. I also know you left off Brownsville Girl but that’s probably top 20 for me.

 
77. “Absolutely Sweet Marie” (1966, from Blonde on Blonde)

https://youtu.be/3SiPOZ958PA

I know, you’re thinking what is this classic song for one of Dylan’s greatest albums doing so low at #77? The answer is because we’re already in classic song territory. Every song from this point forward is incredible; actually it’s been that way for a while now. Al Kooper on keyboards and Robbie Robertson on guitar help make this tune a folk rock masterpiece. 

Covers The Nashville based string band Old Crow Medicine Show started doing live performances of Blonde on Blonde a few years ago; here’s their version of Marie (once the guy is done talking): 

https://youtu.be/vbiW5A_DfGw

 
timschochet said:
77. “Absolutely Sweet Marie” (1966, from Blonde on Blonde)

https://youtu.be/3SiPOZ958PA

I know, you’re thinking what is this classic song for one of Dylan’s greatest albums doing so low at #77? The answer is because we’re already in classic song territory. Every song from this point forward is incredible; actually it’s been that way for a while now. Al Kooper on keyboards and Robbie Robertson on guitar help make this tune a folk rock masterpiece. 

Covers The Nashville based string band Old Crow Medicine Show started doing live performances of Blonde on Blonde a few years ago; here’s their version of Marie (once the guy is done talking): 

https://youtu.be/vbiW5A_DfGw
Click to expand...
Actually, I was thinking this is placed about right.  #79 Masters of War, on the other hand...waaaaaay too low.  

I know I keep interjecting little nuggets about "too low"...don't take them personally.  I am just sharing my knee jerk reaction, not trying to be annoying.  Truth is I have never taken the time to rank an artist's entire (or at least large chunk of) library as some of you on this board do.  I appreciate what you are doing in this thread.  It is an undertaking that I could not imagine attempting.  And since I am not the one putting my opinion out in the open for critique, I can claim about 30 of these as top ten material and no one can hold me to a list/ranking.   :P

 
76. “Million Dollar Bash” (1967, released on The Basement Tapes in 1975) 

I don’t have a good link for this that I wouldn’t have had to pay for. Songwriting credits go to Dylan and Robbie Robertson. 

Covers: Well before the original was released, the British folk band Fairport Convention (Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny) did a pretty nice cover (one of two excellent covers of unreleased Dylan songs that will show up on this list): 

https://youtu.be/eYKam7ccYp4

 
75. “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” (1963, released in 1971 on Greatest Hits Vol II) 

https://youtu.be/UHG06Q45ziI

This was originally recorded in the period between The Times They Are A Changin’ and Another Side of Bob Dylan. It was actually first released by Elvis Presley in 1966 on one of his gospel albums, How Great Thou Art (though it’s not a gospel song.) 

Covers Long time readers of me here know my love for Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart, which I regard as one of the greatest albums of all time. On that record there are 3 songs that rise above the rest and achieve  perfection, as good as popular music gets for me: those are “Maggie May”, “Mandolin Wind”, and “Tomorrow is A Long Time”. So here is Rod and Ron Wood at their very best: 

https://youtu.be/BzSyairyysQ

 
74. “Corinna, Corinna” (1962, from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan) 

https://youtu.be/eZokHtbfnig

Per Wikipedia, “Corinna, Corinna” is an old traditional blues song of unknown origin, first recorded in 1928. The article then attempts to link this original version to Bob Dylan’s version and also the Taj Mahal song “Corinna”, yet acknowledges that both of these have a different chord structure and different lyrics. IMO, if a songwriter creates his own chords and own lyrics, he wrote the song. But what do I know? 

Covers I love the Taj Mahal tune but it’s not the same song so I won’t  present it here. But the amazing acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke performs a splendid version of the Dylan song: 

https://youtu.be/VCg2VMtTF9c

 
timschochet said:
It’s one I really debated. I like it far better than “Gotta Serve Somebody” which never impressed me at all. “Every Grain of Sand” and “Shooting Star” were the last two that I cut. 

I really like those Christian albums and there are two songs (one from each of the first two) that I regard as masterpieces, and they are included coming up a little later. 
Click to expand...
I believe in you was a game changer for me. Solid Rock is a nice little toe tapper. 

 
timschochet said:
81. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (1971, Unreleased)

https://vimeo.com/75113136

The song was written for The Band, though the above is Dylan's own version which was later added to his second greatest hits collection. I always think of this song as a travelogue of Rome; last summer when I stood on the Spanish steps I couldn't help singing it.

Covers: It's been performed lots of times over the years but it would be derelict of me not to present here the guys who were supposed to perform it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2e7DPhyHg
Click to expand...
I'm extremely biased but I think the Dead just slayed this one. Bobby doing what Bobby does best.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn5FQxSM9dU

 
73. “Boots of Spanish Leather” (1963, from The Times They Are A Changin’) 

https://youtu.be/iy6wryJMwVU

Dylan’s love songs on his third album begin to get much more sophisticated than the typical folk tunes that his contemporaries at the time were performing: 

But if I had the stars from the darkest  night 

and the diamonds from the deepest ocean 

I’d forsake them all for your sweet kiss

for that’s all I’m wishin’ to be ownin’ 

This is the work of a poet, and up to that point in time no poet had attempted to put his or her words to popular music: by contrast, Dylan’s idol Woody Guthrie was crude to the extreme, as were Odetta, Leadbelly, and his other folk influences. Dylan was writing on a whole new level and this was only the beginning. 

Covers so many good ones. But singer-songwriter Amos Lee recorded a beautiful, rather ethereal version for season 4 of the show Sons of Anarchy: 

https://youtu.be/QBrI0F2d9gU

 
I don't think Where Did You Sleep Last Night is crude at all, really, but that's a nitpick. I liked this song in my foray into Dylan this past year. Good track. 

 
72. “Maggie’s Farm” (1965, from Bringing It All Back Home) 

https://youtu.be/fgphPFNiVZw

This is one of Dylan’s most important songs ever, as it marked his exit from acoustic folk into electric blues. His fans hated it; Robbie Robertson talks about having rotten vegetables thrown on the stage. And of course, famously at the Newport Folk Festival In 1965 an angry Pete Seeger tried to pull the amplifier plugs out. But it’s just a pretty good classic blues song for all that. 

Covers There’s like 39 great versions of this. I’m going with Rage Against the Machine from 2000. Not a band I listen to a lot but the guitar on this intrigues me: 

https://youtu.be/mmceSj07_fs

 
71. “All I Really Want to Do” (1964, from Another Side of Bob Dylan) 

https://youtu.be/UIG3xgIZWZ8

Some of his most famous lyrics here and in his signature style: 

Simplify you, classify you, deny, defy, or crucify you

Who else writes like that? You hear that cadence and you know it’s Dylan right away. The chorus employs a Jimmy Rodgers like yodel. 

Covers Somewhat surprisingly there aren’t that many covers of this one; the most famous are by The Byrds and Cher. Since we’ve already heard Roger McGuinn and friends and will be encountering them a few more times before All is said and done, I figure I’d go with Cher here who actually does a fine job with a pop style somewhat similar to how Judy Collins handled “Both Sides Now”: 

https://youtu.be/URsD357DyAw

 
The yodel alone on that song makes is to me like the whistle on Highway 61 Revisited is to you. I sold a MoFi mono version of this album to a guy on eBay because of the yodel. Argh.

 
Apple Jack said:
Some outstanding backing vocals from Jerry on many versions of this. Jerry also did it with the Garcia Band, with more of a bounce and hence closer to the original, but I always prefered the GD's takes.
Click to expand...
Dead were prolific Dylan coverers. I assume Visions of Johanna is somewhere up ahead. Jerry band killed tangled up in blue. 

 
70. “Dignity” (1989, released in 1994 on Greatest Hits Vol III)

https://youtu.be/2Dlh-X1fpoQ

Recorded during the Oh Mercy sessions, yet not chosen to be on the album at the direction of producer Daniel Lanois. A lot of critics give Lanois credit for the sound on that album, which is a swampy New Orleans feel; personally I hate it. Whether it’s this song, “Ring Them Bells”, “Shooting Star”, or one more upcoming, in each instance  I strongly prefer the original raw version which can be found on various bootleg albums to the over-produced Oh Mercy version which sounds like mud to me. In any case “Dignity” is far better than 75% of the rest of the album and I have no idea why it was left off. 

Covers So far as I know, there have been no covers of this excellent tune. 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

timschochet
The 100 Greatest Songs of 1974 #20. Fire
8 9 10
Replies
481
Views
40K
timschochet
timschochet
timschochet
The 100 Greatest Songs of 1977 #1. Come Sail Away
12 13 14
Replies
674
Views
23K
John Maddens Lunchbox
John Maddens Lunchbox
timschochet
The 100 Greatest Classic Rock Albums of All Time: #1. Sticky Fingers
40 41 42
Replies
2K
Views
129K
New Binky the Doormat
New Binky the Doormat

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 4 (members: 0, guests: 4)
Top