The 5 Best Covers: "The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan

"Come gather 'round people wherever you roam..." the opening lines to quite possibly one of the most iconic songs ever written. It has been covered far and wide by many. But first, let's have a look at the song itself and the incredible lyricism of it all. After this briefing, we'll get into the top five covers of the song.

By the September-October of 1963, a 22-year-old Bob Dylan had seemed to have already penned the lyrics to the grand protest anthem, "The Times They Are a-Changin.'"The song was recorded as a Witmark Demo (which produced the Bootleg V1-3 version of the song) and then at Columbia Studios, NY during the days of October the 23rd and 24th. Bob Dylan himself would call this song a "song for purpose" in 1985—deliberately referencing it as an anthem for change and a battle cry for the oppressed.

Michael Gray, a Dylan biographer, would go on to call it the "archetypal protest song" and this song would become one of the greatest songs to ever go down in history as being the key anthem of the Civil Right's Movement.

It has spanned generation after generation and pretty much every generation (I do not know about the one after my own, I do confess) know the words to this song. It is lyrically perfect, it is timeless, it is iconic and most of all—it was, and will always be, so very important.

Only a month after recording the song, JFK was assassinated and Bob Dylan, even believing the audience would "throw rocks" at him, would open his next concert with it.

The audience began to clap and a legend was born.

Here are my top five best covers of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'"—quite possibly one of, if not the, most iconic song ever to be written.

The band Peter, Paul, and Mary did a cover of this song and I don't think it is all that bad. The video shows them performing it live on the BBC. The only problem I have with this cover is that it doesn't bring anything new in terms of sound to the song, it's basically a rehash. But, with the singing talent of Mary Travers, I think there is a little to be said about the way the song was performed.

The singing is quite key to this cover as the rest of the song is pretty much the same, if not a lot worse, than Dylan's original. This only makes the list because of the great harmony in the singing voices. I quite like this cover though I'm not overly joyful about having to listen to this particular band. The cover is good, but there are better—as you shall see.

Tracy Chapman's cover is a bit better than the version put out by Peter, Paul and Mary because of, well, the vocals. The band at number five may have good harmonies, but the strength and power behind these vocal chords are a lot better and a lot better suited to the song. Tracy Chapman performed this at the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Bob Dylan's Solo Career in 1992, Live at Madison Square Garden. So, to be selected to do that - you have to be pretty good at the song.

It required a strong and powerful voice to sing this song. Though, I am not overly impressed with the backing music as it takes away from the folk-ballad feel of the song. You'll see that this will come back in the covers to follow, but know that this one isn't the worst.

Okay, so I'm a bit biased because I do like The Beach Boys. But their cover of this song bought something new to it. The Beach Boys added a light-heartedness to the tune and made it an actual Beach Boys song without just rehashing it, or without taking away the key points. You still have the folkie feel to the song, but now you've got the strange vocals of the Beach Boys over the top. A lot of people don't like this cover of the song, but at least they tried something new and inventive.

The song was released on The Beach Boys Party in 1965. It takes a while to get started, which is my only problem with the song. There are better covers to come, but know that this one shouldn't be hated for being different. It's a fun take on an otherwise, incredibly serious and pensive song.

Simon and Garfunkel's cover of this song is pretty damn awesome. I am going to say it is still not as good as number one, nor is it as good as Bob Dylan's version. The vocals on this song are intense to listen to and incredible to hear. The song has been slightly sped up and the guitar strumming in the background is still there to keep the folkie feel. I like this cover for its nice, smooth sound—which changes from Bob Dylan's raw vocals.

I will say though, it is Bob Dylan's raw vocals that convey the story of the oppressed whilst also singing about it. The song itself sounds a bit too perfect, as if this song was worked on for a long time. I think it represents something that Bob Dylan recorded this song in two days and well, it may be good—but it will never be Bob Dylan good.

This is something that is probably up there with Bob Dylan's version. Not only is Nina Simone directly related to the exact same movement, but her voice sounds incredible. The jazz feel of the song is absolutely perfect, she changes it entirely, putting it in a whole new genre. If you're gonna go folk, go folk, but if you're going to take out that folk sense of the guitar—then change it to something inventive. This is very inventive. This is the best cover of the song I have ever heard.

Nina Simone gives incredible vocals and a smooth piano to the song - the piano is supposed to imitate the guitar, but instead of folk, we have a jazz mixture to the song. It is delightful to listen to because of the intensity of the vocals and the smoothness of the backing music. She does what Dylan does in another genre: keeping the backing music smooth and making the vocals raw. The song's tempo is still slow and steady, probably slowed down a little more for the jazz feel—but it is absolutely perfect as a cover of Bob Dylan's original. I think he'd be very happy about this.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my list of the top five best covers of this song and I hope you go away and listen to each of these and make up your own mind. I love the original too much to say that any cover is better, Bob Dylan singing Bob Dylan's songs is just too touching for me. If you want to have a look at another, I suggest you watch Bob Dylan's "MTV Unplugged Session: 1995" where he sings the song. The album of that session is available on streaming services and on iTunes—please go and listen to it because even he changes it ever so slightly.

Thank you for reading my article!