5 Times Waylon Jennings Covered Songs by Bob Dylan

In the late 70s, reporter Robert Hilburn mentioned to Bob Dylan that he was heading down to Nashville to see Waylon Jennings. “I love Waylon,” replied Dylan. “Why don’t you get him to record one of my songs?” Years later, when Hilburn crossed paths with Dylan again, he was asked “What ever happened with Waylon?”

By this time, Jennings was already a longtime fan of Dylan’s, performing some of his songs during his earlier days in Scottsdale, Arizona, while DJing and during his residency run at JD’s. Jennings would eventually record several Dylan songs, including one with his fellow Highwayman Johnny Cash.

In 1986 Dylan also started covering Jennings’ “We Had It All.” Jennings originally released the song on his 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes, and Dylan’s version was later featured on the 2016 Dylan and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers triple album Decades – ’61 To ’94 (Live).

Here’s a look behind five Dylan songs Jennings covered from the early ’60s through the mid-’80s.

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[RELATED: The 2 Beatles Songs That Waylon Jennings Covered]

1. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (1970)

Right from the beginning, Jennings released a cover of Dylan’s From The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan track “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” on his debut album Waylon at JD’s. Several years later, Jennings revisited the song again, and used it as the album title of his 1970 album Don’t Think Twice.

Dylan originally wrote the song after his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo went to Italy to study leaving him in New York City, but there was always more behind the lyrics. “A lot of people make it sort of a love song—slow and easygoing,” said Dylan. “But it isn’t a love song. It’s a statement that maybe you can say something to make yourself feel better. It’s as if you were talking to yourself.”

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” was covered by everyone from Peter, Paul, and Mary, Johnny Cash, to Glen Campbell, Cher, Elvis Presley, and Eric Clapton, along with Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard on their 2015 album Django & Jimmie.

2. “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)” (1970)

The second song Jennings featured on Don’t Think Twice was Dylan’s “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met).” Released on Dylan’s Another Side of Bob Dylan in ’64, the lyrics in “I Don’t Believe You” hint at the sting of abandonment after a night of love—Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime / She said she would never forget / But morning is here, it’s like I ain’t here / She acts like we never have met.

3. “One Too Many Mornings” With Johnny Cash (1986)

By 1978 Cash and Jennings scored a No. 2 hit with their duet “There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang” from their album I Would Like to See You Again. The duo returned with another collaborative release, Heroes, in 1986, which closed on Dylan’s 1964 song “I Would Like to See You Again” from The Times They Are a-Changin’.

Dylan previously recorded “One Too Many Mornings” for his 1969 album Nashville Skyline with Johnny Cash but the track never made the cut. But Dylan’s album still opened with a duet with Cash on “Girl from the North Country.” Cash later covered the song “One Too Many Mornings” on his 1978 album with June Johnny & June.

3.-4. “Girl From the North Country” / “It Ain’t Me Babe” (Recorded in 1964; released in 2000)

In the summer of 1964, Jennings started a residency at JD’s in Scottsdale, Arizona. That year, Jennings also released his debut album Waylon at JD’s. Around this time, Willie Nelson made his way out to Scottsdale to see what everyone was talking about. “I drove out to JD’s to see what the fuss was all about,” said Nelson in his 2015 book It’s a Long Story: My Life. “Didn’t take more than one song to convince me,” said Nelson. “This son of a bitch was going places.”

During these JD’s sets, Jennings performed a series of covers, including songs by one of his heroes Harlan Howard, along with his renditions of Johnny Cash’s “The Restless Kid”. and Chuck Berry‘s “Memphis” and “Candy Man,” Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” and “The Streets of Laredo,” and more.

Jennings also threw in plenty of Dylan during his ’64 recordings at JD’s, including “Girl From the North Country” and “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which were released decades later on the 2000 album The Restless Kid: Live at J.D’s.

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images