Barking Dog: May 22, 2025
In honour of Bob Dylan’s 84th birthday on Saturday, we’ve got a special show for you today, with many different versions of Dylan’s music recorded by a wide range of artists. We won’t hear from Dylan himself at all, so if you’re the kind of person who prefers his songwriting over his voice, don’t fear.
The Kingston Trio - Blowin’ in the Wind
They were a very prominent American folk group that emerged out of and helped launch the folk revival of the 1950s and 60s
Dylan included the song on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Their version is from their album Sunny Side from the same year
Dave Van Ronk - Song to Woody
He was member of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York City, known as the “Mayor of MacDougal Street”, MacDougal Street being where practically every coffeehouse was located in the 60s
Bob Dylan wrote this one in 1961 and released it on his self-titled debut album
It uses the tune of Woody Guthrie’s song “1913 Massacre”
Van Ronk included it on his 1980 album Somebody Else, Not Me
It was the second original song by Bob Dylan that he had heard
Geneviève Racette - Boy from the North Country
She’s a musician based in Montreal who began releasing music in 2014
This is from her 2017 EP Covers, on which she also covers music by Nirvana and the Beatles
Bob Dylan wrote the song in late 1962, and it’s from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Joan Baez - Seven Curses
Baez is one of the best known musicians to come out of the 1960s folk revival
She performed for over 60 years and released over 30 albums before retiring in 2019
This song is from her 75th birthday celebration, from 2016
Bob Dylan wrote it around 1963
The song borrows heavily from older songs like “The Hangman” and especially “Anathea”
Marley’s Ghost - Lay Down Your Weary Tune
They’re a band from Washington and North Carolina that formed in 1986 and records in roots genres as wide ranging as Celtic, reggae, and country
This one is from their first album, Haunting Melodies, from 1987
Dylan wrote it in 1963, though his version remained unreleased until 1985
Pete Seeger - Who Killed Davey Moore?
He was a very influential folk singer and an activist from New York who who advocated for countless social causes through his music
Seeger recorded this version live at Carnegie Hall in New York City in June of 1963
Dylan wrote it that year after the boxer Davey Moore was knocked down during a fight with Sugar Ramos in March and died of inoperable brain damage four days later
It follows a similar structure to the English nursery rhyme “Who Killed Cock Robin”
Neil Young - The Times They Are A-Changin’
This version is from his 2020 EP The Times, which is comprised of recordings Young made during live streams from his home during the pandemic
It’s the title track from Dylan’s 1964 album
Hart-rouge - Dieu à Nos Cotés (With God on Our Side)
They’re a francophone folk group formed by three siblings from Saskatchewan in 1986
This is from the 2001 compilation album A Nod to Bob: An Artists’ Tribute to Bob Dylan on His Sixtieth Birthday
Dylan wrote the song in 1963
Mason Jennings - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
He’s a folk-pop musician from Minneapolis who’s been playing since the late 90s
Jennings’ recording is from the soundtrack for the 2007 film I’m Not There, a fictionalized biopic based on the different eras of Dylan’s life
This is one of two recordings lip-synched by Christian Bale in the movie
Anne Murray - Paths of Victory
She’s a Grammy-winning musician from Springhill, Nova Scotia who’s been performing since the 1960s
This comes from her debut album What About Me from 1968
The song is based on the hymn “Palms of Victory,” written in 1836 by John B Matthias, and Dylan adapted it in the early 1960s
Courtney Marie Andrews - To Ramona
Artist from Arizona who’s been touring since age 16
Dylan wrote this in 1964, and it’s inspired by Mexican Corrido music
Similarities have also been drawn between this song and Rex Griffin’s 1937 song “The Last Letter”
Lucy Kaplansky - It Ain’t Me, Babe
She’s a folk musician and clinical psychologist from Chicago who moved to New York City as a teenager in the late 70s to get a start in the Greenwich Village folk scene
This is another track from the 2001 album A Nod to Bob
Dylan released the song in 1964 on his album Another Side of Bob Dylan
The Duhks - It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding
They were a band from Winnipeg that formed in 2002 and played in a variety of roots genres
This is from the 2009 compilation album The Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich Village
The song is from Bob Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
Dylan has stated that he thinks the song is one of his most meaningful compositions
Joni Mitchell - It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
This is a recording she made while signed to Geffen Records, released on the 2003 album The Complete Geffen Recordings
It’s from the sessions for her 1991 album Night Ride Home
Dylan released the song on Bringing It All Back Home in 1965
Jessica Rhaye, The Ramshackle Parade - I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
Rhaye is a musician from New Brunswick who’s been performing for 25 years
This is from her 2019 album Just Like a Woman: Songs of Bob Dylan
Dylan included it on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding
Jerry Garcia, David Grisman - The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
Garcia was a musician from California, best known as a main member of the Grateful Dead
David Grisman is a mandolinist who combines folk, jazz, and bluegrass in a genre he calls “Dawg music”
This is from their 2004 album Been All Around This World, the final release from the duo’s collaborative efforts, recorded in the early 1990s
Bob Dylan played the song with the Grateful Dead in 1987, and included it on John Wesley Harding 20 years earlier
The band Judas Priest took their name from this song
Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle - You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
They’re a band from Toronto, formed in 2000 by Barenaked Ladies member Kevin Hearn, bassist Chris Gartner, and drummer Great Bob Scott
This one’s from the 2010 album Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of the Band
Hudson was the keyboardist for The Band, and he plays keyboards on this track as well
It’s originally from The Basement Tapes, which Bob Dylan recorded with The Band in 1967
Happy Traum - Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You
Traum was an artist known for his involvement in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s and the Woodstock music scene of the 70s and 80s
This version of the song is from his 2005 album I Walk the Road Again
It’s off Bob Dylan’s 1969 album Nashville Skyline
George Harrison - If Not For You
This is a demo of the song from the second day of the recording sessions for his 1970 album All Things Must Pass
The song was written by Bob Dylan and released on his October, 1970 album New Morning, though Harrison also recorded a demo of the song with Dylan in May of that year
Thurston Moore - Buckets of Rain
He’s a founding member of the band Sonic Youth, though he’s made many recordings as a solo artist and as a member of other groups over the years
This is from the 2021 compilation album Dylan… Revisited, released in celebration of Dylan’s 80th birthday
It’s from Dylan’s 1974 album Blood on the Tracks
Jimmy LaFave - Shelter from the Storm
He was a musician from Oklahoma who began performing in the late 1970s and recorded in a style known as “red dirt music”
This is off his 1992 debut album Austin Skyline, which includes three other Bob Dylan covers
This one is also from Blood on the Tracks
Gillian Welch, David Rawlings - Señor
Welch and Rawlings are one of the best-known contemporary American roots duos
This is from their Grammy-winning 2020 album All the Good Times, which is a collection of cover songs and traditional folk songs
It’s from Dylan’s 1978 album Street-Legal
Townes Van Zandt - Man Gave Names to All the Animals
He was a musician from Texas whose music has been recorded by many artists including Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, and Bob Dylan
This is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 album Slow Train Coming
Van Zandt included it on his 1994 live album Roadsongs
Richie Havens - License to Kill
He was a musician from New York City who got his start as a kid singing doo-wop with his neighbourhood friends, and later moved to Greenwich Village to join the folk scene
He later signed with Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, and was the opening act at Woodstock in 1969
This is from Bob Dylan’s 1983 album Infidels
Havens’ recording seems to have been made sometime in the 1990s
Nathan Salsburg, Joan Shelley - Dark Eyes
Shelley is a musician from Kentucky who’s been performing since 2010
Salsberg is her husband, a guitarist and musicologist with whom she often performs
This is another one from the 2021 album Dylan… Revisited
The song is from Bob Dylan’s 1985 album Empire Burlesque
Jeremy Irons - To Make You Feel My Love
