Bob Dylan‘s new album, Together Through Life was just released on April 28th. This was his 46th release… wow. That’s 39 albums more than Right Said Fred. Yes, Right Said Fred released seven albums.
Today’s Bit O’ Covers post focuses not on the new release, but on a classic Dylan song written in 1967, “I Shall Be Released”. Dylan recorded two versions of this song – the first was done in 1967 but not released until 1991′s The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 [Rare And Unreleased, 1961-1991] 2 disc set, and the second was done for Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II, which was released in 1971.
There have been SO many versions done of this song. We’ve included just a small sampling of them below in the Dig-It section, but I know there are several others out there. One of the earliest recorded versions was done by Joan Baez for her 1968 Any Day Now album, The Band recorded the song for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, and as you’ll see below, the song has been performed live by several great artists and bands, including Gov’t Mule, Wilco, Fleet Foxes… just to name a few.
One cool version we’ve included below is a version done by the late Jeff Buckley during a phone interview. This version was was recorded September 6, 1992 with Barry Reynolds, Chris Cunningham, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Gordon in studio, and Jeff Buckley singing over the phone from Hoboken, NJ. The performance was broadcast on Nick Hill’s “Music Faucet show” on WFMU 91.1 FM. I love the rawness of this recording. Jeff’s performance is amazing… even over the phone.
Like I said, we haven’t included every version there is of the song, but I think we’ve given you a good taste of what’s out there.
Your Dig-It Downloads:
Download: ZIP FILE OF ALL SONGS
Individual Files:
Download: I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan)
Download: I Shall Be Released (The Band)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Joan Baez)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Jack Johnson)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Nina Simone)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Jeff Buckley – WFMU)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Jeff Tweedy – live @ The Vic Theater, Chicago)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Gov’t Mule with Widespread Panic – live)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Jack Johnson, Eddie Vedder, Boom Gaspar, Zach Gill & more – live)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Wilco & Fleet Foxes)
Download: I Shall Be Released (Wilco)
Download: I Shall Be Released (The Embracers)
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What an awesome bunch of covers! I am going to see him in July with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp :)
Great covers. I was so excited to hear something from Jeff Buckley, that I haven’t heard yet, but for some reason the application had an error and wouldn’t download :( Maybe it’s my computer. Anyhoo! great post.
I love this song. Was gonna list my favorites, but turns out there are lots, so I’ll just say thanks.
Oh and the Buckley one is way cool to hear.