Almanac Music: Dylan Cover Songs: International Style #4 – Canadian Males Do Dylan

 

Back in January 2024, I began the ‘Dylan Cover Songs’ project with a focus on Australian and New Zealand singers and bands. Now I shift my attention towards the rest of the world. Over time I hope to uncover and share Dylan covers from every corner of Planet Earth, but for now my lens is firmly on the 100% independent, not for sale (not now/not never) nation of Canada – and specifically the males who have tackled a Dylan song singlehandedly.

 

This article will feature well-known as well as lesser-known Canadian males who have a YouTube clip of a Dylan cover that they released on a commercially available album. The article will work through each cover chronologically and along the way offer a few insights into the featured artist and the featured song.

 

Leon Redbone

 

Although born in Cyprus, Leon migrated to Canada in his late teens (circa late 1960’s). The story goes (and I have no reason to doubt it) that Dylan (along with fellow singer/songwriters Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot), was attending the 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival held in Toronto. Dylan happened upon a set by Leon and was so taken by it that he made mention of it in a subsequent Rolling Stone magazine interview. The magazine was curious about this high praise from the high priest Dylan, that they did a follow up article with Leon – all of this before Leon had even recorded his first album.

 

Leon’s recording history reveals twelve studio albums released between 1975 – 2014, with the vast majority of songs being covers from the 1890-1910 Tin Pan Alley era. Overall, one gets the feeling the Leon didn’t take his musical career too seriously, as long as he could entertain others and make a living along the way.

 

The only time that Leon felt comfortable with the Dylan songbook was in 1985, on his Red To Blue album, when he covered the relatively unknown ‘Living The Blues’:

 

 

Trivia 1: There have only been five known covers of ‘Living The Blues’ with Leon’s version being the first to be recorded and released.

 

Trivia 2: ‘Living The Blues’ was written by Dylan in early 1969. The song was one of three songs performed by Dylan in May 1969 on the Johnny Cash TV Show, following a three-year self-imposed live performance hiatus. Dylan released a studio version of ‘Living The Blues’ on his 1970 Self Portrait album.

 

 

Paul James

 

A stalwart of the Canadian blues scene, Paul can lay claim to having jammed with the likes of Neil Young (before he joined Buffalo Springfield), Bo Diddley, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Willy Deville and even Bob Dylan.

 

Over the years (1980-2007), Paul has released eight studio/live albums, but his true passion is performing the blues live and performing often, no matter the size of the venue or the audience.

 

True story: In 1986, Paul met Dylan at one of Paul’s Toronto club performances. Dylan approached Paul and asked if he could sit in and play with Paul that night. Dylan ended up backing Paul for two hours, without being identified, other than being introduced by Paul as “some hitchhiker from Vancouver”. The two maintained a friendship over the years with Paul being invited to open for Dylan’s Kingswood Music Theatre, Vaughan, Ontario concert on 29 July, 1989.

 

The following year (1990), Paul released his first acoustic blues studio album, with the opening track being ‘I Shall Be Free’ – a lesser-known song from Dylan’s songbook that was the closing track on his May 1963 The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album.

 

 

Trivia: Of the two covers of ‘I Shall Be Free’ by recognized artists, Paul’s cover was the first to be released, albeit some 27 years after the original.

 

 

Gordon Lightfoot

 

Gordon needs no introduction to the Footy Almanac family. His most well-known, loved and commercially successful songs in Australia are: ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ (1970: #27); ‘Sundown’ (1974: #4); and ‘The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald’ (1976: #46). Sadly, Gordon died on 1 May 2023, aged 84.

 

Gordon’s accolades are wide ranging and best illustrated by: Canadian male recording artist of the decade (1970’s); inducted into Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1986); and, inducted into (International) Songwriters Hall of Fame (2012).

 

In a career that spanned 1966-2020, Gordon released 20 studio albums and in all those albums, among over 200 original songs, there were only 6 cover songs. One of those cover songs was Dylan’s ‘Ring Them Bells’ – appearing on Gordon’s 1993 Waiting For You album.

 

 

Trivia 1: Gordon also covered Dylan’s ‘Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues’ on the ‘B’ side of his 1965 ‘Ribbon Of Darkness’ single. The single reached #3 on the Canadian charts.

 

Trivia 2: Dylan admired Gordon’s songwriting and is quoted as saying: ‘Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.’ Dylan covered Gordon’s ‘Early Morning Rain’ on his 1970 Self Portrait album.

 

 

Ken Hamm

 

Ken is another Canadian musician steeped in ‘the blues’ and has devoted his life traversing the vast yonders of Canada to spread his love of the genre.

 

These days, Ken resides in the intriguingly named Saskatchewan town of Forget (population 35) – where he runs a small music store selling acoustic instruments as well as teaching and making instrument repairs for the locals.

 

During his performing career (1978-2017), Ken released five studio albums. It was on his 1998 Galvanised album, that Ken was drawn towards Dylan’s songbook with a cover of ‘From A Buick 6’ – a song Dylan released on his 1965 Highway 61 Revisited album.

 

 

 

Neil Young

 

Neil needs no introduction – he is an icon of the modern music era – although, it might be fair to say that his creative output has lost traction with his fan base over the years, probably after his 21^st studio album Harvest Moon in 1992.

 

There is no surprise that there has been a long-standing mutual admiration between Dylan and Young – and that would be an ideal subject for another Footy Almanac article.

 

For now, I am keen to take readers to Neil’s 35^th studio album – 2014’s A Letter Home. This album was recorded over three days inside Jack White’s painstakingly restored Voice-O-Graph machine. Just Neil, his voice, guitar and harmonica – and Dylan’s 1963 ‘Girl From The North Country’:

 

 

 

Bryan Adams

 

What can one say about Bryan Adams that hasn’t already been said? Over 100 million record sales; multiple #1 albums and singles in Australia (& across the globe); seventeen Grammy Award nominations (only one win); 57 Juno Award nominations (18 wins); and the most coveted 1992 APRA Award for ‘most performed foreign work’.

 

Since 1980, Bryan has released 15 studio albums that have comprised original or co-written songs. The only deviation from this recording legacy is Bryan’s 12^th studio album, released in 2014 and titled Tracks Of My Years.

 

Tracks Of My Years consists of 10 cover songs, drawn from the catalogues of Chuck Berry, Lennon-McCartney, Smokey Robinson, John Fogerty, Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan. The song selected from Dylan’s catalogue is ‘Lay Lady Lay’ – which Dylan released on his 1969 Nashville Skyline album:

 

 

 

Jordan Officer

 

Jordan is a Canadian guitarist with a keen interest in jazz, blues and country. Between 2010 – 2024, he released six studio albums.

 

It was on his 3^rd studio album – 2015’s Blue Skies – that Jordan decided to dive into the Dylan anthology and record a cover of ‘When The Deal Goes Down’:

 

 

Trivia: Dylan’s original recording of ‘When The Deal Goes Down’ appears on his 2006 Modern Times album. There have only been 2 known covers of this song by artists with recording contracts – Tom Jones (in 2012) & Jordan (in 2015).

 

 

Paul Anka

 

Paul is mostly recognised as a singles artist from the late 1950’s. Paul’s chart success in Australia included: ‘Diana’ (1957 #1); ‘You Are My Destiny’ (1958 #13); ‘Lonely Boy’ (1959 #3); and ‘You’re Having My Baby’ (1974 #2).

 

Between 1958 – 2022, Paul released 32 studio albums, although only one album managed to sneak into the US/Canadian top 10. Within those albums, Paul has recorded some 300 cover songs to flesh out around 30 original songs. The only time Paul has plucked a song from Dylan’s songbook was on his final 2022 Sessions album, with a cover of Dylan’s ‘Farewell Angelina’.

 

 

Trivia 1: Although Dylan wrote ‘Farewell Angelina’ in 1965, it was found unsuitable for his Bringing It All Back Home album. Instead, the song was first recorded by Joan Baez in 1965. Dylan’s studio version was eventually released on his 1991 Bootleg Series Vol 1-3: (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 box set.

 

 

Barney Bentall

 

Barney is a pop/rock singer/songwriter who had some minor local chart success in the 1990’s with his band ‘The Legendary Hearts’. Barney released fifteen studio albums between 1980 – 2022.

 

It was on his most recent album – 2022’s Cosmic Dreamer – that Barney turned his attention towards the Dylan songbook and recorded a cover of ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’.

 

Very, very occasionally, I come across a YouTube Dylan covers clip that delights me more than most – and the following clip is one of those…..I can feel this lovingly simple, slightly quirky, rendition tugging at my heartstrings – a rendition that, in my opinion, captures the essence of Dylan’s original.

 

 

 

Michael Buble

 

It is interesting to note that Michael’s greatest chart success has (marginally) been in Australia. Of the nine studio albums released between 2003 – 2022, five reached #1 and four reached #2 on the Australian albums chart.

 

Although Michael has written and recorded just over a dozen original songs, his international reputation is founded on covering other peoples’ romantic and swing-themed songs. It is therefore no surprise, that Michael would eventually stumble upon Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ as ‘made famous’ by Adele in her 2008 debut 19 album. Michael’s cover of ‘Make You Feel My Love’ was released on his most recent 2022 Higher album:

 

 

Trivia: I feel obliged to comment on Buble’s authorised video to his cover version of ‘Make You Feel My Love’ – which also happens to be the exact same video to accompany six other songs on the album. Worst cheapskate video ever!

 

 

Final words:

 

Many, many months from now, when I return to Canadian shores, it will be time to explore what the females have to offer on the Dylan covers front.

 

Spoiler alert: it will be exciting; it will be diverse; and it will be exemplary.

 

 

More from Karl Dubravs can be read Here.

 

 

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