4 ‘Basement Tapes’ Songs by Bob Dylan and The Band That Received Early Exposure via Cover Versions

Unless you were tuned into the burgeoning bootleg scene, you wouldn’t have originally heard the music that Bob Dylan and the guys who would become The Band made in Woodstock in 1967. The official Basement Tapes album wouldn’t arrive until 1995. Luckily, you could get access to those songs early on thanks to some intriguing cover versions. Here are four that made their mark not long after Dylan and The Band first laid the songs down in the first place.

Videos by American Songwriter

“This Wheel’s On Fire” by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity

Technically, the reason that Dylan and The Band were holding those sessions was to create publishing demos. Of course, they ended up doing much more than that, as their back-to-roots approach influenced many artists who heard the bootlegs. Meanwhile, a few artists were able to score solid hit singles with the material. And that’s kind of amazing when you think about how offbeat songs like “This Wheel’s On Fire” are. Written by Dylan (words) and Rick Danko (music), the portentous track hit the Top 5 in the United Kingdom in 1968 thanks to a duet of sorts between Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger And The Trinity. Driscoll makes a torch song out of it, at least until some far-out effects on the chorus vocals add a psychedelic twist.

“The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)” by Manfred Mann

British keyboardist Manfred Mann was in Phase 2 among the various incarnations of the bands named after him when he and his cohorts took a stab at this one. Mike d’Abo provided the chipper lead vocals. And that’s none other than Klaus Voorman, known for running for so many years in The Beatles’ circles, piping away on the flute. It’s a fun song that suggests that the titular character is going to solve all ills when he arrives on the scene. Its US chart success outstripped all other songs from those sessions, landing in the Top 10. Interestingly, this didn’t appear on The Basement Tapes LP released in 1975. Only when Dylan released his Biograph collection a decade later did the original Woodstock recording officially surface.

“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” by The Byrds

The Byrds fused country music to their familiar folk rock stylings on the 1968 album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Heavily influenced by new member Gram Parsons, the band took a big chance, and it paid off in a beautifully rendered album. But they knew that fans from their earlier years might be a bit scared off by the change. As such, they decided to ease folks in by making the first song on the record a Bob Dylan cover. After all, the band had covered Dylan often in the past. Only this time they did it via a song that hadn’t yet been released. Thanks to session player Lloyd Green on steel guitar, the country flavor came on strong.

“Million Dollar Bash” by Fairport Convention

By 1969, the songs from those famous sessions had made their way far and wide. Many of the cover versions came off as more curious than inspired. But few captured the anarchic spirit of the original quite like Fairport Convention did with “Million Dollar Bash”. The British folkies recorded three different Dylan covers on their 1969 album Unhalfbricking, including one in French. At that point in their careers, the band boasted not only the legendary vocals of Sandy Denny but also the acrobatic guitar work of Richard Thompson. By choosing a different member of the group to sing one verse apiece, it indeed sounds like a wide variety of people are getting ready for this once-in-a-lifetime get-together.

Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns