3 Hit Songs Written but Not Originally Performed by Bob Dylan

When you’re perhaps the greatest songwriter of all time, it’s easy to hand out a few of your gems and not feel worse for wear. Such is the case for the Minnesota-born Bob Dylan, an artist known both as the Bard and a Nobel Prize winner.

Here below, we wanted to explore three songs Dylan composed that he gave away. A trio of tracks that the musician penned and instead of taking them himself to record or perform off the bat, he doled out to friends and other great performers. Indeed, these are three hit songs written but not originally performed by Bob Dylan

[RELATED: Bob Dylan’s Off-Brand ’80s Stint Leaving Fans Scratching Their Heads 40 Years Later]

“Wanted Man” by Johnny Cash from At San Quentin (1969)

This song was first heard by music fans on the 1969 live album from the Man in Black (aka Johnny Cash) known as At San Quentin. The record, which was recorded in a prison, featured the track about a man on the run—a wanted man. That was something inmates could surely resonate with. Cash performed the song just a week after learning it from Dylan. And it later appeared on Cash’s 1970 soundtrack album Little Fauss and Big Halsy. Don’t snitch if you see the wanted man. And on the song Cash croons,

Wanted man in California
Wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City
Wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Mississippi
Wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man

“Farewell Angelina” by Joan Baez from Farewell, Angelina (1965)

Dylan wrote this song and intended it for his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. But something about it didn’t quite work for him and he let it go. The recording was later released in 1991 on his bootleg LP The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. But with no home for it, folk singer and former Dylan romantic partner Joan Baez took it up and recorded it in 1965 for her album of the same name, Farewell, Angelina. On it she sings sweetly, lamenting,

Farewell, Angelina
The bells of the crown
Are being stolen by bandits
I must follow the sound
The triangle tingles
And the trumpets play slow
But farewell, Angelina
The sky is on fire
And I must go

There’s no need for anger
There’s no need for blame
There’s nothing to prove
Everything’s still the same

“I’d Have You Anytime” by George Harrison from All Things Must Pass (1970)

Co-written by Dylan and the former Beatle George Harrison, this song kicked off Harrison’s 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass. That triple LP was a major work for Harrison, both for its length and being the first major release after the dissolution of The Beatles. The love song is one of devotion. In the lyrics, Harrison sings about how much he loves the subject. On it, he offers lovingly over guitar by Eric Clapton,

Let me in here, I know I’ve been here
Let me into your heart
Let me know you, let me show you
Let me roll it to you

All I have is yours
All you see is mine
And I’m glad to hold you in my arms
I’d have you anytime

Let me say it, let me play it
Let me lay it on you
Let me know you, let me show you
Let me grow upon you

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