Product Description

While Bob Dylan is known first and foremost as an exceptional composer, he also remains a master interpreter of the songs of others. During a career which now spans more than 45 years, Dylan has covered, in concert or on record, more than 500 songs from the pens of others. Set out in an encyclopaedia style format, this book includes details of every song Dylan has covered. Each song is listed alphabetically, providing a history of the origins of the songs and explanations of how Dylan came to record or perform them. This exhaustive work is the first to cover this topic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139655 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Customer Reviews

Yet another side of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan has dedicated a large and significant proportion of his career to interpreting the songs of others, and this 500-page book provides fascinating evidence of this. Largely overlooked in print until now, Derek Barker has done a great job in turning the spotlight onto this previously neglected aspect of Dylan's career.

This valuable book documents both the history of the songs Dylan has covered and their key performances, and will send you scurrying back to your Dylan records with renewed curiosity.

It's a book that will cast Dylan in a new light for some: primarily thought of as a songwriter, here is the Bob Dylan who turned the force of his interpretive gifts onto the words of others.

Extensively illustrated throughout with pictures of the performers from whom Dylan borrowed the songs, and of record labels, concert posters and of course Dylan himself, you can dip into the book or be entertained from cover-to-cover - it works either way. Want to know the background to that obscure song Dylan played at the last show you attended? You'll find it here. Want to marvel at the sheer breadth of Dylan's musical knowledge and interest? Settle down for an afternoon and read.

There are also extensive appendices which give the reader the low-down on a range of associate topics. These give details of recording sessions, information on bootleg recordings, and further text that fleshes out some of the key people, places and artefacts referred to in the body of the book. Two take two examples, 'Theme Time Radio Hour' and the genre of 'Talking Blues' are both expanded upon.

It is worth adding that this book is bang up-to-date, including references to material from Dylan's latest 'Bootleg Series' release, 'Tell Tale Signs'.

There are always new angles to find with Bob Dylan. Derek Barker has identified one with "The Songs He Didn't Write". Crucially, has done his subject justice.

A Quite Astonishing Work!
Derek Barker has surpassed his own exemplary high standards with this astonishing reference book. Anyone with the slightest interest in the history of music or anyone with the slightest interest in Bob Dylan will find a wealth of interesting facts here. There are hidden gems and snippets of information covering every genre of music from ancient folk songs to the most recent of musical trends. This book tells of who wrote some of the greatest songs of recent times and what became of them. All told in Derek Barker's wonderful easy to read style. Where on earth does he find all this stuff. Read it page by page or dip in and out as you like, every page is a true delight. I thought I knew it all. I had to think again. One of the truly great music books.

Reference and Pleasure
It isn't surprising that this book is right up my street; when I wrote my history of the Never Ending Tour I remarked often on the "extraordinary procession of traditional songs that Dylan would cover over the years of the N.E.T." and that "night after night, year after year, they have supplied the high points. So fully does Dylan inhabit these traditional numbers that they often sound more like Dylan songs than some he has penned himself". My main beef is that this wasn't around then for me to use as a reference work, or when I came to write my next book which discussed their effect on Dylan's own writing style and how he draws his inspiration from them. Unless you have spent hours researching songs for what turns out to be one passing reference and then multiply that a hundredfold for the study of any and every Dylan album in particular you'll not appreciate the huge amount of time it takes to track all this kind of information down.

For those dealing only in pleasure I see this book having many uses, I can imagine a dedicated collector listening to a recording from a show in say 1992 checking the background to a song he's never heard before popping up in the middle of the set, similarly anyone listening to a Dylan album with the odd cover on it, or a Dylan albums that are nothing but covers. It's also perfect just for opening at random and reading whatever your eye alights upon.