On This Day in 1972, Bob Dylan Began Shooting for a Film That Produced a Pair of Timeless Songs

On this day (December 18) in 1972, Bob Dylan and the rest of the cast of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The film starred Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid and James Coburn as Pat Garrett. Dylan played the character Alias and created the film’s score. While the movie received mixed reviews, the soundtrack became a classic, producing two of the songwriter’s best-known songs.

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The movie was released in May 1973, and Dylan released the soundtrack in July. Most songs on the album are instrumentals, written to fit the film. It also contained the major hit “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

[RELATED: The Massively Underrated Bob Dylan Song That Originally Flopped With the Listening Public]

Dylan penned the song from the perspective of a dying lawman. In the film, it plays as Sheriff Colin Baker (Slim Pickens) dies. It became an international hit and inspired dozens of covers from a long list of artists. Notably, hard rock band Guns ‘N Roses had a huge hit with their version of the song in 1992.

According to Songfacts, recording “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was an incredibly emotional experience for drummer Jim Keitner. “When we did ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,’ that was such a moment,” he recalled. “We were in the dark, looking at a big screen with the film showing, and Boby’s playing this song, with these changes and these words,” he added.

“Then, the fact that Katie Jurado, the Mexican actress, she’s got these big ol’ eyes, and her husband, and her husband is this white guy, this sheriff, and he’s dying at the edge of the river. And Bob’s singing, and man, I just started crying. I’m playing, but I’m crying hard. And I’m just thinking, don’t blow it, don’t blow the take,” he said.

A Bob Dylan Outtake Becomes a Major Hit

Bob Dylan recorded several songs for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid that didn’t appear on the soundtrack or in the film. Those scrapped recordings were eventually released as bootlegs. One of those outtakes was a scrapped partial song then titled “Rock Me, Mama.”

Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show heard the song, which was just the chorus at the time, and fell in love with it. Eventually, he reached out to Dylan to request permission to finish the track. They worked out a deal, Secor finished writing the song, and, in 2004, OCMS released “Wagon Wheel.”

While their version was popular, the song would get a massive boost nearly a decade later when country singer and former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker released his version in 2013. It topped the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts.

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