10 Greatest Covers Of Bob Dylan Songs

While they don’t share much of a sonic tapestry, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone had more in common with one another than set them apart. Both were fiercely individualistic artists with a willingness to take strong political stands, and most importantly, whose music you could recognise within a couple of bars.

To this end, Nina Simone’s version of Dylan’s top tier swooning ballad “Just Like A Woman” sounds not a jot like the song found on Blonde On Blonde, but she completely maintains the spirit of longing and regret in the original.

This is a constantly evolving composition, a slow build and release of tension. We start with Simone’s bright jazz piano and percussion, adding bass and organ. At the midpoint, cinematic strings start to swell. At the middle eight, the volume rises and rises, a massive wall of sound. Simone’s vocal, though, stays focussed on the task at hand. She never struggles to rise above the noise, her crystal clear voice remaining the centrepoint of the song no matter what else is going on around it.