All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

"All Along The Watchtower" was written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan in 1967, but it was the Jimi Hendrix cover that made the song famous. Many other artists have covered it, including Eric Clapton, Neil Young, U2, Dave Matthews Band and The Grateful Dead. Dylan was so impressed with Jimi's version that for years he played it the way Hendrix recorded it.

It was Hendrix' only Top 40 hit in the US, where his influence far outpaced his popularity. He charted a few times in the UK, where he rose to fame before making a name for himself in America.

Forever Young - Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart's 1988 hit "Forever Young" is not the same as Dylan's 1974 "Forever Young," but that song has a similar sentiment; so similar that Stewart agreed to give him half of the publishing royalties.

"As soon as we realized there were some similarities, we took the initiative to go right to Dylan and ask him what he wanted us to do," Stewart's manager, Arnold Stiefel, told the Los Angeles Times. "It would be fair to say that while the melody and the music is not at all the same, the idea of the song is similar. The architecture of the lyrics of the song is very much from Dylan - there are definite similarities."

Dylan's name didn't appear on the credits to the album or single, but his publishing company, Special Rider Music, did. In the age of streaming, Dylan's name started showing up in the official credits.

Stiefel added that Stewart was donating his royalties from the song to organizations that help the homeless in America.

If Not For You - Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John's first hit was a cover of Dylan's "If Not For You," one of his more sincere and straightforward songs. It's a tribute to Sara, his wife at the time, with lovey-dovey lyrics like:

If not for you
My sky would fall
Rain would gather too

He released the song on his 1970 album New Morning, and the next year Olivia Newton-John covered it, taking it to the charts in her strongholds of Australia and the UK but also America, where it went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. A few years later, she went on a run with hits like "I Honestly Love You" and "Let Me Be There," then in 1978 she starred in Grease, playing a high school student even though she was 29.

It Ain't Me Babe - The Turtles

The Turtles - that "Happy Together" bunch - also had their first hit with a Dylan song: "It Ain't Me Babe." They released their version in 1965, a year after Dylan's original appeared on his album Another Side Of Bob Dylan.

Dylan's version is very folky, with harmonica breaks between verses. The Turtles borrowed from The Zombies by adding harmonies and dynamics, with soft-sung verses that burst into a big chorus.

It's one of the songs that Dylan played in concert throughout his career, with well over 1000 appearances in his setlists.

Jammin' Me - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Yep, Bob Dylan co-wrote the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers hit "Jammin' Me." He toured with the group in 1986, which led to him writing the lyric with Petty (the music was written by Petty's guitar player and right-hand man, Mike Campbell).

The song is a reaction to the chaotic barrage of information coming through on television and other media, specifically the ads and all those people promoting themselves. At the time, it seemed like a lot.

It was Dylan who called out three specific celebrities:

Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give 'em all some place to go

Eddie Murphy was a huge star and deserved a little ribbing for "Party All The Time" and Best Defense, but Joe Piscopo was a B-list (at best) comedian, and we can't think of anything the actress Vanessa Redgrave did to deserve this diss.

Make You Feel My Love - Adele

A track from Dylan's 1997 album Time Out Of Mind, it was quickly covered by Garth Brooks, who took it to #1 on the Country chart. But the most popular version is by Adele, who included it on her debut album, 19, in 2008. It's the only song on the album she didn't write.

Adele was dealing with an epic heartbreak that powered her songwriting - "Chasing Pavements" and "Cold Shoulder" among them - and when she heard Dylan's song, she realized it told her story.

"I was bitterly upset and then my manager played me this Bob Dylan song 'Make You Feel My Love,'" she told the Manchester Evening News. "The lyrics are just amazing, and summed up exactly what I'd been trying to say in my songs. It's about regretting not being with someone, and it's beautiful. It's weird that my favorite song on my album is a cover, but I couldn't not put it on there."

Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds

Dylan's original "Mr. Tambourine Man," was released on his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home, in March 1965. It didn't take long for The Byrds to flock to it: They released their cover just a few weeks later, and in June it went to #1. Remarkably, it's the only song written by Bob Dylan ever to top the Hot 100.

With lines like, "Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship" and "Take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind," it sure sounds like some chemical enhancements are at play here, but Dylan insisted it's not about drugs. He says it's about a folk guitarist named Bruce Langhorne, who is the Tambourine Man.

And by the way, there's no tambourine on Dylan's version, but there is on The Byrds cover.

Quinn The Eskimo - Manfred Mann

This one isn't really a cover because Manfred Mann were the first to record it. It's a rare case of Dylan letting another artist record his song before he did. The Manfred Mann version was released in 1968 and Dylan didn't put it out until 1970 on his Self Portrait album.

The song is better known as "The Mighty Quinn," with a scattershot story about a guy who is hailed as a hero when he comes to town. Unlike most Dylan songs, it's very chorus heavy, giving it more hit potential. In America it went to #10, but it went to #1 in the UK, where Manfred Mann are from (they're a British band named after their keyboard player).

In 1989 Denzel Washington played Xavier Quinn in a movie called The Mighty Quinn. A version of the song by Sheryl Lee Ralph is used in the film.

Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show

"Wagon Wheel," which you'll now hear at every hoedown and hootenanny from here to Honolulu, is based on an outtake Dylan recorded in 1973 when he was working on the soundtrack for the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Labelled "Rock Me Mama" on the bootleg, the outtake has the chorus but not much else - Dylan was clearly working on the song and never released it.

Decades later that bootleg found its way to a high school student named Ketch Secor, who added verse lyrics and started performing the song when he formed the string band Old Crow Medicine Show in 1998. When the band released the song on their first album in 2004, Secor secured the rights by negotiating a 50/50 songwriting credit split with Dylan. The song quickly built a reputation as a crowd pleaser, and many bluegrass bands added it to their setlists. When Darius Rucker covered it in 2013 it became inescapable; his version was a #1 Country hit.

May 5, 2025

Here's our list of Bob Dylan songs, and our list of songs inspired by Dylan.

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