Comments on: What could be worse than Captain Kirk singing Dylan?

Question: What could be worse than Captain Kirk singing Dylan?

Astro Zombie — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:30:48 -0800

What are the worst covers of Bob Dylan's songs of all time?

I mean the equivalent of George Burns singing "With a Little Help from My Friends" or Ed McMahon's rendition of "Thank Heavens for Little Girls"; just hideously idiotic pairings of the songs with inappropriate artists, or abominably misconceived versions of Dylan's music. Obviously, Bill Shatner's "Mr. Tambourine Man" would start this list. What else?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:31:19 -0800

I will steal your suggestions for a blog post I am writing.

By: jk252b

jk252b — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:39:36 -0800

Avril Lavigne singing Knocking on Heaven's Door. You can just tell from the way she sings it that she has no the hell it's all about, the historic context in which Dylan wrote it, or probably even who the hell Bob Dylan is.

By: lovecrafty

lovecrafty — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:43:17 -0800

For research on this topic, I would direct your attention to: DylanCovers. I can't imagine Chuck Barris's version of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" can be very good.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:48:27 -0800

There are some fine candidates on the instrumentals pages at DylanCovers.com. Or you could search for your favorite schlockmeister at the Dylan Covers Database.

By: wsg

wsg — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:09:31 -0800

Guns & Roses' cover of Knocking on Heaven's Door.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:22:54 -0800

This. (caution: self link)

By: umbú

umbú — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:27:52 -0800

Check out this. Knocking on Heaven's door in Portuguese is Bate na porta do céu, or Batendo na porta do céu and there are lots of versions, tracing back to Zé Ramalho.

Also, Caetano Veloso does a version of Jokerman that I've always thought was odd, although I have friends who defend it.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:52:00 -0800

Mr. French does Dylan.

By: alms

alms — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:11:25 -0800

Hands down, William Shatner covering Mr. Tambourine Man. Worst cover of any song ever by anyone.

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:15:50 -0800

I would also vote for the Shatner song, assuming you accept Mr. Tambourine Man as a Dylan song (since it was originally by the Byrds).

By: jeffxl

jeffxl — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:33:12 -0800

I thought Madeleine Peyroux's cover of "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" was pretty horrible. That may just be my taste, though.

By: rottytooth

rottytooth — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:39:09 -0800

Knocking on Heaven's Door is a much-abused song. I can remember a particularly bad Grateful Dead cover off a bootleg. The Wikipedia article has a list of other perpetrators.

By: box

box — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:56:49 -0800

The Rage Against the Machine version of 'Maggie's Farm' and the Ministry version of 'Lay Lady Lay' both pretty much sound how you'd expect them to.

By: box

box — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:02:45 -0800

And the Jamie Saft Trio's album of Dylan covers, Trouble, is mostly instrumental, but it features Mike Patton (of Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, etc.) singing 'Ballad of a Thin Man' and Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) singing 'Living the Blues.' I don't have very strong feelings about either of those vocalists, but I could see how somebody might.

By: box

box — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:05:39 -0800

And there's Is It Rolling Bob, the album of reggae Dylan covers (there's an album of dub versions, too), and the soundtrack to Masked and Anonymous. All of these albums feature some Dylan covers that might produce strong reactions.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:18:41 -0800

Michael Bolton - Like a Rolling Stone

The random noise in the background of Lee Renaldo's version of "Mama You've Been on My Mind" is sure to annoy a lot of folks. It annoys me at least, and I'm a huge fan of Sonic Youth.

Of course, the real answer is anything Dylan did once he took the stage of the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

By: SansPoint

SansPoint — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:27:30 -0800

Well, it's intentionally bad, but it probably counts. DEVO (as their Christian Rock alter-egos) did a live cover of "Gotta Serve Somebody", featuring vocals by Booji Boy (Mark Mothersbaugh in a baby mask, and in a falsetto). I love it, but if you're a Dylan purist, you'll hate it. You can find it on the rarities collection "Recombo DNA".

By: SansPoint

SansPoint — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:28:28 -0800

Oh, their christian rock alte-egos are "DOVE - The Band of Love"

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:31:29 -0800

assuming you accept Mr. Tambourine Man as a Dylan song (since it was originally by the Byrds).

Wait, is that a joke?

By: history is a weapon

history is a weapon — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:05:15 -0800

Have you seen Dylan live recently? He's changed the melodies to all his old songs. Dylan is DOING the worst covers himself. It's meta-CRAZY!

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:20:07 -0800

Any cover of Knockin' on Heaven's Door by anyone anywhere ever.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:20:09 -0800

assuming you accept Mr. Tambourine Man as a Dylan song (since it was originally by the Byrds).

gingerbeer, you might want to refresh yourself on the history of folk-rock before you go making pronouncements in Dylan threads. The Byrds covered *four* Dylan songs on their first album, including "Mr. Tambourine Man."

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:07:14 -0800

Me first and the gimme gimmes - Blowin' in the wind

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:17:21 -0800

Nice choreography from the Jacob Sisters - Blowin' in the wind

By: Roach

Roach — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:19:31 -0800

G 'n R's version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door unequivocally kicks ass.

My vote goes to John C. Mellencamp's All Along the Watchtower.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:02:37 -0800

William Shatner's cover of Mr Tambourine Man is one of the most bizarre recordings of all time.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:47:28 -0800

Buy the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. You'll be spoilt for choice.

By: fidelity

fidelity — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:03:22 -0800

I second Optamystic here. Goddamn.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:23:37 -0800

gingerbeer is probably alluding to the fact that the Byrds' recording of Tambourine Man came out before Dylan's own did. Not that I buy that as meaning that their version is "the original," since Dylan performed the song in public the year before. Recordings of a couple of those performances were released later.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:52:31 -0800

Well Brian Ferry recently released Dylanesque. It's pretty hit and miss in my opinion, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues in good. But some of the other songs not so much. YouTube page with most of the elevin songs.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:06:42 -0800

Bryan Ferry's new album Dylanesque is chock full of moderately sucky covers. Odd, because I like Ferry and Dylan and yet putting the two together is less then complimentary. The Times They Are A Changin' needs some anger and fear in the delivery, turning it into a happy future-positive Paul Simon/Dire Straits remix does not serve it well.
I would also like to second GnR's version Knockin' on Heaven's Door as as repellant tripe. A textbook example of reach exceeding grasp.

By: wsg

wsg — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:28:21 -0800

Madeleine Peyroux's cover of You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go unequivocally kicks ass. It's like if Billie Holiday sang it in the 40s.

By: robotot

robotot — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:59:43 -0800

Australian band The Whitlams did a pretty atrocious cover of Tangled Up In Blue.