Of course Bruce has covered “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Hasn’t everybody?
It sure seems that way, at least. Bob Dylan’s soundtrack contribution to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was an instant hit upon its release in 1973 (notching as high as #12 on the Billboard Hot 100), and covers started piling up almost immediately.
From Eric Clapton in the seventies, to The Alarm in the eighties, to Guns N’ Roses in the nineties to Avril Lavigne in the 2000s, both megastars and indie artists took their swing at covering it, but (IMO, anyway) Dylan’s original remains the definitive recording.
(I have to give special mention to Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s team-up with Dolly Parton, however. There’s zero Bruce connection, but it’s too delightfully and unexpectedly off-the-wall not to share.)
Bruce took a turn at covering “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” twice. The most recent time was just four years ago when Bruce and Tom Morello performed it for Dylan himself at MusiCare’s tribute event. Dylan’s organization has put a fierce lid on that footage, but you can catch a few glimpses here:
To see a full performance, however, we’ll have to travel a bit further back in time, to July 9, 1995, at Cafe Eckstein in Berlin.
What was Bruce doing in Berlin in 1995? In one of his stranger career moves, Bruce decided to shoot an official video for his 1980 single “Hungry Heart,” but instead of recording it with the E Street Band, he joined German rocker and friend Wolfgang Niedecken’s Leopardefellband instead. Which would have been odd enough on its own, but in the actual released video, Bruce decided not to use any of the German band’s backing track–he reverted to the original E Street Band backing track instead.
So now the official video for “Hungry Heart” has Bruce’s 1995 vocals layered on top of the 1980 E Street Band, all while Wolfgang and his band rock out silently on screen before an audience of lucky radio listeners who heard the open call for a free mini-concert earlier that day.
And yes, I realize I’ve diverted from the topic at hand twice now, but again: too delightfully odd not to share.
Anyway: after Bruce and Niedecken’s band played “Hungry Heart” six times, they decided they should play a couple of Dylan covers, because it was just that kind of day.
So they played impromptu, fun, bilingual and surprisingly tight versions of “Highway 61 Revisited” and (naturally) “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” And for that performance, we’re lucky enough to have both pro-shot video and actual audio.
Enjoy.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
First performed: July 9, 1995 (Berlin, Germany)
Last performed: February 6, 2015 (Los Angeles, CA)
