Bob Dylan Reveals His Favorite Bob Dylan Cover

Bob Dylan - Pawn Stars / Youtube
If we take into consideration the most covered artist of all time, Bob Dylan would perhaps top the list. Dylan’s impact on the music industry is unparalleled. He has inspired numerous musicians to follow a more authentic creative path with the cultural credibility, exquisite poetry, and songwriting strength he has provided during his nearly six-decade-long career. Undoubtedly, Dylan is now universally acknowledged as a legendary figure in the history of popular music.
With that, an extensive range of musicians often pays tribute to the freewheelinโ troubadour, either making a song about him or making their version of Dylanโs songs. Over the years, some of these versions earned Dylanโs approval, but thereโs a certain rendition that he singled out and gave praise with all gratitude.
The folk legend stops to laud the praises of an unheralded cover of his work in his autobiography, Chronicles One. It was Johnny Riversโ rendition of โPositively 4th Streetโ is the one that won him over, explaining: โOf all the versions of my recorded songs, the Johnny Rivers one was my favorite. It was obvious that we were from the same side of town, had been read the same citations, came from the same musical family, and were cut from the same cloth.โ
He added: โMost of the cover versions of my songs seemed to take them out into left field somewhere, but Rivers’s version had the mandate down โ the attitude, the melodic sense to complete and surpass even the feeling that I had put into it.โ
Dylanโs โPositively 4th Streetโ was one of the best songs in his extensive canon, yet it was only released as a B-side. We may all be thankful about this, as โPositively 4th Streetโ is one of Dylanโs finest compositions and was originally meant to be the A-side before being bumped by โCan You Please Crawl Out Your Window?โ
Listen to Johnny Riversโ sleek version of the song below.