This week we’re bringing you Definitely Dylan’s belated International Women’s Day episode (after all, every day is Women’s Day)!
On this occasion we’re dedicating the hour to the many women that have sung Bob Dylan’s songs over the years by playing a small selection of songs from the Spotify playlist I’ve put together! Join us in celebrating these artists and the contributions they have made to our understanding of Dylan’s work, by reframing the songs and often showing us a different and new dimension to the song’s meaning.
If you’re interested in checking out the IWD episodes from previous years, here’s the “Women & Dylan” episode from 2018, where I make a case for importance of female perspectives in the discussion of Dylan’s songs, especially in their treatment of women. And here’s the one from last year, with requests from female Dylan fans.
If you’d like to check out the episode in which I analyse the song She Belongs To Me, you can listen to that here.
One version that we didn’t have time for and that I couldn’t include in the playlist because it’s not on Spotify, is Ren Harvieu’s gorgeous Just Like A Woman, which she recorded for Definitely Dylan the other week. If you haven’t heard that yet, I urge you to check it out!
Below you can find the Spotify playlist that I’ve put together of some fantastic Dylan covers sung by women. I hope you’ll enjoy it and maybe discover some new favourites. I’d love to know your thoughts!
Let me know what your favourite version of a Dylan song interpreted by a female artist is by leaving a comment below - I’m always up for discovering more!
Correction: the Jackie DeShannon version of Don’t Think Twice (It’s All Right) that we played in this episode id not the one that appeared on her 1965 album, but rather one that she recorded in 1973 (this version remained unrelased until 2015, when it appeared on the compilation All the Love: The Lost Atlantic Recordings). The actual 1965 version has a much more mid-60s folk pop accompaniment, and you can listen to it here.
Playlist:
Like A Rolling Stone - Maxine Weldon
Clothes Line Saga - Suzzy & Maggie Roche
Ain’t Talkin’ - Bettye LaVette
Covenant Woman - Hannah Cohen
Don’t Think Twice (It’s All Right) - Jackie DeShannon
She Belongs To Me - Ane Brun
Gotta Serve Somebody Etta James