Waylon Jennings First Bob Dylan Cover in 1964 Was One He Later Revisited as the Title of Another Album

“I love Waylon,” Bob Dylan told reporter Robert Hilburn in the late 1970s. At the time, Hillburn was en route to see Waylon Jennings in Nashville. Dylan added, “Why don’t you get him to record one of my songs?” By this time, Jennings had already taken the liberty of covering several Dylan songs, from his 1964 debut Waylon at JDs, and with several more recordings through the mid-’80s.

Dylan also shared a mutual respect for Jennings and even covered “We Had It All” in 1986. The song was originally released on Jennings’ 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).

By 1964, Jennings was already a fan of Dylan’s, releasing a cover of his The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan track “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” on his debut album Waylon at JD’s. 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.”

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“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.

[RELATED: Waylon Jennings Got His ’80s Country Groove on With This Dire Straits Cover]

‘Don’t Think Twice’

Several years later, Jennings revisited “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and used a portion of it as the title of his 1970 album Don’t Think Twice.

Along with his cover of the title track, the second Dylan song Jennings featured on Don’t Think Twice was “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met).” Originally 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.

Jennings went on to cover two more Dylan songs, including his 1964 song “I Would Like to See You Again” from The Times They Are a-Changin’ on his 1986 collaborative album with Johnny Cash, Heroes.

In 2000, more of Jennings’ earlier recordings at JD’s from 1964 were released, including his covers of Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” and “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which appear on his 2000 album The Restless Kid: Live at J.D’s.

Photo: Waylon Jennings, November 1970. (Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images)