Almanac Music: Dylan Covers: International Style #3 – In Memoriam 2024

 

During 2024, the Wikipedia ‘Deaths In Popular Music’ website recorded 354 artists who breathed their final breath. That is almost 1 per day. Perhaps it is not surprising that a number of those artists would have recorded a Dylan cover song somewhere during their career.

 

Here are ten artists, each with at least one Dylan cover to their credit, who passed in 2024. This article also gives me a unique opportunity to recognise the contribution of these artists to the realm of modern music more broadly.

 

 

Melanie

 

Born: Queens, NY on 3 February 1947/Died: Nashville, Tennessee on 23 January 2024 (age 76)

 

Melanie was a one woman tour de force in 1970 with her Candles In The Rain album – an album that gave us ‘Lay Down (Candles In the Rain)’; ‘Carolina In My Mind’; ‘What Have They Done To My Song’; ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and ‘Alexander Beetle’. The album reached #2 in Australia – which happened to be the highest charting position of anywhere in the world; followed by #4 in The Netherlands; #5 in the UK and Canada; and #6 in the US.

 

Melanie garnered further success with her 1973 Gather Me album (#9 on the Australian charts) and #1 hit single ‘Brand New Key’.

 

The vast majority of Melanie’s remaining 26 studio albums, released between 1968 – 2010, have largely gone by unnoticed.

 

Melanie has shown favour towards Dylan’s anthology on five occasions:

 

1968    ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ (Born To Be album)

1971    ‘Lay Lady Lay’ (Garden In The City album)

1971    ‘Sign In The Window’ (The Good Book album)

1975    ‘Don’t’ Think Twice, It’s All Right’ (As I See It Now album)

1991    ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ (Precious Cargo album)

 

The featured Dylan cover in this article is Melanie’s version of ‘Sign In The Window’. Dylan’s original version of the song comes from his October 1970 New Morning album.

 

 

Trivia: Melanie’s cover of ‘Sign In The Window’ was the first such cover – released less than four months after Dylan’s original – as well as being one of only seven covers to ever be released.

 

 

Karl Wallinger (The Waterboys:1983-85/World Party:1986-2015)

 

Born: Prestatyn, Wales on 19 October 1957/Died: Hastings, England on 10 March 1924 (age 66)

 

Karl joined The Waterboys as keyboardist in 1983, where he helped tour the band’s debut self-titled album. He then contributed to A Pagan Place (1984) and This Is The Sea (1985) before he left the band to pursue solo work that would morph into World Party.

 

World Party released five albums between 1987’s Private Revolution (which peaked at #13 in Australia) and 2000’s Dumbing Up. World Party’s best charting Australian single is ‘Ship Of Fools’ (peaking at #4).

 

Karl’s interest in Dylan covers during the World Party era included:

 

1987    ‘All I Really Want To Do’ (Private Revolution album)

1997    ‘Sweetheart Like You’ (mini CD, which also included covers of The Beatles ‘Penny Lane’ & John Lennon’s ‘No. 9 Dream’)

2012    ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ – Live in LA 1993 (Arkeology compilation box set)

 

The featured cover song for this article is ‘Sweetheart Like You’- a song that Dylan released on his April 1983 Infidels album.

 

 

 

 

Trivia: The Waterboys have also shown an interest in the Dylan anthology, including during the Karl Wallinger 1983-1985 era – however that is a subject for a future article.

 

 

Steve Harley

 

Born: London on 27 February 1951/Died: Suffolk, England on 17 March 2024 (age 73)

 

Steve formed the original Cockney Rebel in 1972 and they released two studio albums (The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo). Despite the latter album peaking at #8 on the UK charts, professional differences led to the majority of the band members departing by mid- 1974.

 

Steve then formed a rejuvenated Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and in March 1975, they released The Best Years Of Our Lives album, which peaked at #4 on the UK charts and at #62 on the Australian charts. The hit single from the album was ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)’, which eventually sold over 1.5 million copies and peaked at #1 on the UK & Irish charts and at #17 on the Australian charts. The band released two further albums in 1976 (Timeless Flight and Love’s A Prima Donna), neither of which made an impact on the charts. Cockney Rebel subsequently disbanded and Steve pursued a solo career.

 

Steve’s solo career resulted in the release of six albums between 1978 to 2020. It would be fair to conclude that none of the albums captured the imagination of the listening public. In fact, the best performing album worldwide, was Steve debut solo album (Hobo With A Gun) which only managed a very modest #100 on the Australian charts.

 

There were two occasions where Steve recorded a Dylan cover:

 

1996    ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’ (Poetic Justice album)

2020    ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ (album)

 

The featured cover song for this article is ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ – a song that Dylan wrote in early 1971 and released on his November 1971 Greatest Hits Vol. II album.

 

 

 

 

Trivia: At a very early age, Steve contracted a severe case of polio. Between the ages of three and sixteen, Steve spent significant periods being treated in hospital. During this time, Steve was introduced to Dylan’s early career anthology and it played a major role in inspiring Steve’s own songwriting ambitions. It is fitting then that the final track on Steve’s final album is a cover of Dylan’s ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’.

 

 

Duane Eddy

 

Born: Corning, New York on 26 April 1938/Died: Franklin, Tennessee on 30 April 2024 (age 86)

 

Eddy is best remembered as a rock‘n’roll guitarist of the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s. His signature ‘twangy’ guitar sound produced numerous top 10 instrumental hits, including ‘Rebel Rouser’ (#6, 1958), ‘Forty Miles Of Bad Road’ (#9, 1959) and ‘Because They Are Young’ (#4, 1960).

 

Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008.

 

In 1965, Duane decided that it was time he applied the twangy guitar sound to the Dylan songbook – and he released the 12 track Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan album (although only 7 of the tracks were actual Dylan songs). For the record, the Dylan songs were: ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’; ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’; ‘She Belongs To Me’; ‘All I Really Want To Do’; ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’; ‘Mr Tambourine Man’; and ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’.

 

If I had a seven-headed die, I would roll it to select which twangy guitar instrumental cover to showcase in this article – in the absence of such a die, I have opted for the shortest instrumental cover – ‘She Belongs To Me’.

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Not only do the instrumentals pay tribute to Dylan, but Eddy’s November 1965 album cover also pays tribute to Dylan’s April 1965 Bringing It All Back Home album cover. What is particularly nice is how the ‘tomato red’ and ‘turquoise’ colour scheme in the respective album titles complement each other.

 

 

Happy Traum

 

Born: New York City on 9 May 1938/Died: Woodstock, New York on 17 July 2024 (age 86)

 

Happy is a contemporary of Dylan and his career intersected with Dylan’s on numerous occasions. In fact, Happy was a member of the New World Singers and they recorded the first ever studio version of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ – a recording that can be heard on Broadside Ballads, Vol 1.

 

Over the years, Happy has recorded the following Dylan covers:

1963    ”I Will Not Go Under The Ground (aka ‘Let Me Die In My Footsteps’)

1977    ‘Buckets Of Rain’ (American Stranger album)

1980    ‘I Shall Be Released’ (Bright Morning Stars album)

1993    ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train to Cry’ (The Test Of Time album with Artie Traum)

2005    ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ (I Walk The Road Again album)

2006    ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ (Live Recordings 1970’s-1980’s with Artie Traum)

2015    ‘Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)’ (Just For The Love Of It album)

 

For this article, I have chosen Happy’s version of ‘Buckets Of Rain’.

 

 

 

Trivia: In 1971, Happy was given the honour of providing vocal harmony, bass, banjo and electric guitar on three original Dylan songs (‘Down In The Flood’, ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’ and ‘I Shall Be Released’) that were included on Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Volume 2.

 

 

Greg Kihn

 

Born: Baltimore, Maryland on 10 July 1949/Died: San Francisco on 13 August 2024 (Age 75)

 

Greg had minor chart success in Australia with Next Of Kihn (1978, #85); RocKihnRoll (1981, #72) and Kihnspiracy (1983, #76). His major break-through on the singles chart was ‘Jeopardy’, which peaked at #11 in 1983.

 

Overall, Greg’s career spanned 1976 – 1996, with the release of 14 studio albums. Within that collection, there is one occasion where Greg turned his talent to the Dylan songbook: ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ off his 1994 Mutiny album.

 

 

 

 

Trivia: I like this YouTube comment on Greg’s cover of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’: “He really turns the song on its head. It is certainly a more serious take on the poetry…no more tongue in cheek here. Swirl this around in your glass and let it wash over you a bit”

 

 

Kris Kristofferson

 

Born: Brownsville, Texas on 22 July 1936/Died: Hana, Hawaii on 28 September 2024 (age 88)

 

Kris’ career as a singer/songwriter resulted in the release over 20 studio albums between 1970 – 2016. While his solo albums and singles only generated moderate chart success, his songwriting attained multiple top 10 hits across the world. The best example are: ‘Me And Bobby McGee’ (Janis Joplin #1 in US & Australia); ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ (Johnny Cash #1 in US & Canada), ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night’ (Willie Nelson #1 in Canada & #4 in US) and ‘For The Good Times’ (Ray Price #1 in US & #2 in Canada).

 

Although Kris never recorded a studio version of a Dylan song, he did reveal a liking for ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ – a song he sang in duet with former wife Rita Coolidge at Farm Aid III (1987) as well as solo at the Bob Dylan 30^th Anniversary Concert Celebration (1993). The ‘electricity’ between Rita & Kris in 1987 makes that my preferred cover for this article:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: Bob and Kris rubbed shoulders in Durango, Mexico during the filming of the Sam Peckinpah directed 1973 Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid movie. While Bob played a cameo role as a shopkeeper named ‘Alias’, Kris portrayed the central character of ‘Billy The Kid’. Of course, Bob’s starring role was in writing the soundtrack, which included ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’.

 

 

Barbara Dane

 

Born: Detroit, Michigan on 12 May 1927/Died: Oakland, California on 20 October 2024 (age 97)

 

Barbara was a folk, blues and jazz singer who released around twenty solo and collaborative albums between 1957 – 2018. Her political & social views can best be summed up in the title of her 1973 I Hate The Capitalist System album.

 

In January 1964, Dylan publicly wrote the following praise for Barbara: ‘the heroes of this battle are not me and Joan (Baez)…. but people like Barbara Dane …. people that can’t go against their conscience no matter what they might gain and…. that might be the most important thing in the whole wide world.’

 

In 1967, Barbara contributed to an anti-war album titled Save The Children. An extraordinary collective of female talent also contributed to the album, including Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Odetta, Malvina Reynolds, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Janis Ian.

 

For the album, Barbara selected Dylan’s anti-warmongering song, ‘Masters of War’:

 

 

 

 

Trivia: In the 2024 Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, actress Sarah King portrays Barbara Dane in one short scene. It is not a scene that readily comes to mind so I will be more mindful when I watch the movie again.

 

In real life, Barbara was married to Irwin Silber, co-founder and editor of Sing Out! magazine. An early supporter of Dylan, Irwin wrote an open letter to Dylan in November 1964, critical that fame was getting in the way of Dylan’s connection to the people. Dylan responded to the criticism by withdrawing his future songs from publication by the magazine. By 1968, Irwin made peace with Dylan by declaring that ‘Dylan is our poet…not our leader…’.

 

 

Phil Lesh

 

Born: Berkeley, California on 15 March 1940/Died: 25 October 2024 (age 84)

 

Phil was a founding member and bass guitarist with Grateful Dead throughout its entire tenure (i.e. 1965 – 1995). During that time, the band released 13 studio albums and nine contemporary live albums.

 

On odd occasions, Phil was granted lead vocal duties and of the 20+ Dylan cover songs that the band favoured in live performances, Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues was the one that was handed over to Phil.

 

 

 

Trivia: Of The Grateful Dead’s studio & live albums, only two have entered the Australian charts – American Beauty 1970 (#34) and the collaborative Dylan & The Dead 1989 (#85).

 

 

Michael Brewer

 

Born: Oklahoma City on 14 April 1944/Died: Branson, Missouri on 17 December 2024 (age 80)

 

Michael was a member of Brewer & Shipley, a US folk-rock duo that released nine, mostly non-charting, studio albums between 1968 – 1997. The duo’s claim to fame was their one hit wonder ‘One Toke Over The Line’, released in 1971 and peaking at #10 (US Billboard), #5 (Canada), #7 (New Zealand) and #40 (Australia).

 

Michael also pursued a solo career, releasing five (even lesser charting) studio albums between 1983 – 2018.

 

The one occasion that Michael turned his attention towards the Dylan songbook was on the Brewer & Shipley 1969 Weeds album with an acoustic version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’.

 

 

 

 

Next time: The second article in my ‘Dylan Covers – Every Song’ series should be published around mid-May. This article will pick up from March 1962, after the release of the debut Bob Dylan album, and track the original songs composed by Dylan up to December 1962. Despite turning (just) 21 years during this period, the new songs include some of Dylan’s finest on record.

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

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