3 Essential Bob Dylan Covers by Joan Baez

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan are forever linked.

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Their romantic relationship added great intrigue to a pivotal period in American music history. But Dylan’s music also became part of her repertoire as she transitioned from traditional folk standards to contemporary songs.

When Dylan lost interest in protest music, Baez used what he’d already written to further her social activism. Meanwhile, her defining original “Diamonds and Rust” describes the residual pain from their breakup. A song initiated when Dylan called her from a Midwest phone booth in 1974, as detailed in the lyrics.

Perhaps this explains why Baez singing Dylan feels so natural. Check out these three essential versions below.

“It Ain’t Me Babe” from Joan Baez/5 (1964)

There’s concert footage from the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 where Baez calls for Dylan while she’s on stage. She affectionately calls him Bobby. He walks out, and she helps him pull the guitar over his head. They discuss which song to play, and you can hear her say it’s the only one she knows. Baez then says, “This is George Washington,” before they sing “It Ain’t Me Babe.”

A reenactment of the incident appears in A Complete Unknown. But the 2024 film version of the event changes the narrative from a tender moment to a belligerent one. Where Baez tells Dylan to “f–k off and sing.” Nonetheless, this excellent studio version appears on Baez’s fifth album.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” from The First 10 Years (1970)

On her first compilation album, Baez’s collection of songs recorded for Vanguard Records includes several Dylan covers. Dylan created “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” from the framework of Paul Clayton’s song “Who’s Gonna Buy You Ribbons (When I’m Gone).” (Clayton based his on a public domain standard called “Who’s Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I’m Gone.”)

Dylan’s uptempo original sounds like an old-time artform yanked into modernity. But Baez slows things down, returning the recycled melody to its earthy roots.

“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” from Farewell, Angelina (1965)

Whether Dylan aimed this song at Baez, Paul Clayton, or singer David Blue remains anyone’s guess. Like many of his subjects, Dylan may have assembled a composite sketch of people he was bidding farewell to. Or “Baby Blue” might be the entire folk scene as Dylan went electric and became Judas to the Greenwich Village purists.

Baez sang with such melancholy in her voice you wonder if she understood who Dylan had in mind. Her cover sounds like an aria. It’s the dark opera of her doomed relationship.

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