“Bob Got It Right the First Time”: Keith Richards on Why He Prefers the Original “Girl from the North Country”

Bob Dylan originally recorded “Girl from the North Country” for his 1963 sophomore album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Years later, in 1969, he re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash for Nashville Skyline. The song remains one of Dylan’s most popular songs, and the duet with Cash is the most popular version. However, the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards prefers the solo version.

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Many agree that Dylan’s duet version with Cash is the best rendition of the song. After all, it’s a pair of legendary musicians singing an expertly written song. However, Richards believes that the song loses a bit of its magic with the addition of Cash. He discussed his preference for the original in a feature for Rolling Stone in 2011.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1969, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash Record the Iconic Duet Version of “Girl from the North Country”]

In 2011, Rolling Stone polled a panel of musicians, academics, and writers to find Dylan’s best song. Richards put “Girl from the North Country” at the top of his list and explained why.

Keith Richards on His Favorite Bob Dylan Song

“While the British Invasion was going on, Bob Dylan was the man who really pulled the American point of view back into focus,” Keith Richards said. “At the same time, he had been drawing on Anglo-Celtic folk songs, and that’s certainly true of ‘Girl from the North Country.’ It’s got all the elements of beautiful folk writing without being pretentious,” he added.

“In the lyrics and the melody, there is an absence of Bob’s later cutting edge,” Richards opined. “There’s none of that resentment. He recorded it again later with Johnny Cash, but I don’t think it’s a duet song. Bob got it right the first time,” he said.

Richards went on to reveal that he views “Girl from the North Country” as part of a trilogy with “Boots of Spanish Leather” and “To Ramona.” He pointed to lyrical and musical themes that connect the songs. “The guitar picking is almost the same lick in ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ and ‘Girl from the North Country.’ It’s like an extension of the same song,” he explained.

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