'It Ain't Me Babe'

Joan Baez's version of It Ain't Me Babe is probably one of versions of Dylan that is closest to the original recording. The song was first released on the 1964 Dylan album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, and was later a monster hit for The Turtles, but it was Baez's version which brought Dylan to a wide audience in '65.

Much of the fame and fortune that Dylan received in the late sixties was due to Baez's support; she recorded his songs, and brought him on stage with her at concerts, for example.

'Masters of War'

This commanding version of Masters of War by Julie Felix, demonstrates some of her passion for Dylan's lyrics (which she sang all through her career). Apparently, she was such a big Dylan fan that she released 2 of his songs on her debut album, and went on to record a double cd of his songs.

'Wheels on Fire'

Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger's version of Wheels on Fire from 1968 is not bad, but the smoke-effects and weird dancing-styles are not really my taste...

The song was co-written with Rick Danko from The Band, for the 'Music from the Big Pink' album, but Brian claims that he got it from a bootleg of Dylan and The Band's 'Basement Tapes'. The 'Tapes' have been an important source for fans of Dylan, particularly those keen to cover his music.

'Gotta Serve Somebody'

This video of Roebuck 'Pops' Staples (founder of The Staples Singers) on 'Later with Jools' is a great version of Gotta Serve Somebody!

The song comes from Dylan's controversial Slow Train Coming album, full of explicitly Christian/religious songs, and is (in my opinion) one of the best Dylan songs.

'All I Really Wanna Do'

Here are The Byrds, singing Dylan's All I Really Wanna Do (though this is not, admittedly, one of their better performances of the song).

Aside from Joan Baez, The Byrds are probably the act most associated with Dylan. Their version of Tambourine Man was their first hit, and in total they recorded 15 of his songs.

'Like A Rolling Stone'

'Greatest song of all time', Rolling Stone magazine called it, in 2004.



And I'm inclined to agree that it's a good 'un (though probably not the best ever). And in case you're wondering, the rest of the Rolling Stones top 10 looks like this:

2. Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
3. Imagine, John Lennon
4. What's Goin' On, Marvin Gaye
5. Respect, Aretha Franklin
6. Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
7. Johnny Be Goode, Chuck Berry
8. Hey Jude, The Beatles
9. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
10. What'd I Say, Ray Charles

To see the other 490 songs in the list, go to http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs

The blip-firing media

'In describing today's accelerating changes, the media fire blips of unrelated information at us. Experts bury us under mountains of narrowly specialized monographs. Popular forecasters present lists of unrelated trends, without any model to show us their interconnections or the forces likely to reverse them. As a result, change itself comes to be seen as anarchic, even lunatic.' - Alvin Toffler

Popped blog-cherry!

And boy, does it feel good!

Actually, I'm not so sure it does... But what the hey, it's got to be done, right?! And who knows, maybe it'll start feeling a bit more natural over the course of the next couple of months...

Ok, now onto the task of uploading some images, etc. Will write again when I conjure some inspiration from somewhere (could be some time)! :)