80 Bob Dylan covers released as singles in one 1965 fortnight?

March 9, 2014 7:04 PM

Yesterday I was reading an article written by Johnny Black about Bob Dylan in an old (November 1998) MOJO magazine, and was intrigued by the following statement: "In one fortnight at the end of 1965, 80 cover versions of Dylan songs were released as singles." Is there any way I could find out exactly what those 80 singles were, short of writing to MOJO or Johnny Black and asking for the source of an article from well over a decade ago? Have any official data been retained (by, say, recording industry bodies or Dylan's publishers) pertaining to single releases during the mid-60s? Or have any Dylanologists organized such data?
posted by paleyellowwithorange to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Is it possible they may just mean that there were entire bands that were putting out albums of Dylan covers (that may have also been made available as singles)? If you look at this page you'll see six albums released in 1965 (and one in 1964) that might total up to eighty songs. But otherwise, yeah this is tricky to look up.
posted by jessamyn at 7:20 PM on March 9, 2014

Response by poster: I thought of that, too - but I was thinking that Johnny Black wouldn't use the word 'singles' to refer to album tracks. It was the idea that there were 80 singles released in a single fortnight, all composed by Dylan, that raised my eyebrows.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 7:23 PM on March 9, 2014

That sounds suspiciously like a pop critic talking out of his tailpipe.
posted by Scram at 1:12 AM on March 10, 2014

I would try emailing Bob Lefsetz for some guidance. He writes a well read music industry blog and he refers back to the 60s regularly. He responds to emails he wants to. [e-mail]
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:22 AM on March 10, 2014

Well, in addition to those albums, both The Byrds and Joan Baez released two singles a piece written by Dylan in 1965.
posted by JohnLewis at 5:28 AM on March 10, 2014