by Jochen Markhorst
In this series, we shine a spotlight on a thriving, fascinating, and polarizing fringe phenomenon within Dylanology: the semi-professional cover artist. And more specifically, on a veteran from the southern part of a small country on the North Sea: Jan Barten from Breda, the Netherlands.
Jan: “I’ve opted for an open beginning: just piano and vocals by Fons Havermans. In the second verse, the Wurly comes in with extra tremolo. I waited until the third verse to bring in the electric guitar (Telecaster) and the drums (Roland TR 626 and played by hand). I then added an organ for the bridge. For a bit of variety, I’ve also included a verse without drums.”
After some initial hesitation, the song goes down a treat with the colleagues. Dozens, probably more than a hundred covers since its release in 1965. Across all genres too: jazz, industrial rock, folk, blues, instrumental, in Danish, Hungarian, Spanish… the exceptional combination of the solemn, Teutonic-dramatic music and frenzied, surrealist lyrics is magnetic, apparently – but strangely enough, only from the 1980s onwards. Until 1981, “Ballad Of A Thin Man” was virtually ignored, and then suddenly the floodgates burst open. In 2024, musicologist Jürg Lehmann, in his thoroughly researched and fascinating series of articles The Covers We Missed, attempts to clear a path through the jungle:
“If you systematically go through Dylan cover songs, you inevitably discover that the well-known and frequently covered original songs in particular have a very different impact: some – such as Blowin’ In the Wind – provoke a flood of musically highly questionable, boring campfire kitsch, others inspire cover musicians to highly varied, interesting and colourful experiments. Ballad of a Thin Man belongs rather to the latter type.”
Jürg then gives a more or less historical overview, starting with the very first, lonely 1960s cover (The Grass Roots, September ’65 – just a few weeks after the release of Highway 61 Revisited) – and goes on to offer a crash course in Thin Man covers. The Grateful Dead, Robyn Hitchcock, Golden Earring and others, before concluding: “From the turn of the century, the covers have become more daring and seek to explore what the song has to offer. The result is some very fine covers.”
That’s right. Kula Shaker, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Andy Santana… quirky, languid, biting, triumphant covers. But Jürg seems to have been most moved by an outsider: the avant-garde collective Laibach from Slovenia:
“Laibach’s version of Ballad can be quite disturbing. You hear SS trademark vocals and firing squad drums, and the treatment turns the song inside out. “Dylan’s version mocks the uncool outsider Mr. Jones,” writes Tom Bolton in his review, “who just isn’t hip enough to get ‘it’: Laibach turn the mockery into threats, sarcastically growling “You don’t know what it is / Do you, Mr Jones”, and make it very clear how easily victimisation emerges from group ideals of what’s cool and what’s not. It’s a concise and persuasive comment on the 60s, once heard hard to forget.”
It really is quite an experience. Jürg goes on to highlight around twenty other 21st-century covers, ranging in eccentricity, and concludes with Richard Hawley’s cover – the one used for the finale of Peaky Blinders:
“No wonder Ballad Of a Thin Man was used for the finale of the crime drama Peaky Blinders. It perfectly encapsulates the schadenfreude of watching an arrogant egotist having the rug pulled from under them, as happens to protagonist Tommy Shelby in the show’s last episode.”
Ewan Gleadow’s review in the January 2023 issue of Cult Following may be a little over the top (“Sincerely one of the greatest covers ever recorded, not just of Dylan, but in general”), but it is indeed a fine piece of work. It shares the same philosophy as Jan Barten: the original cannot be improved upon – at most made more enjoyable musically. For that, you need a born musician with a genuine love of Dylan. Because something is happening, but you don’t know what.
To be continued. Next up Jan’s Take 17: Queen Jane Approximately
Previously in the series
- Jan’s Take 1: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
- Jan’s Take 2: It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Jan’s Take 3: 4th Time Around
- Jan’s Take 4: To Be Alone With You
- Jan’s Take 5: Ballad Of Hollis Brown
- Jan’s Take 6: I Want You
- Jan’s Take 7: I Pity The Poor Immigrant
- Jan’s Take 8: Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You
- Jan’s Take 9: You’re A Big Girl Now
- Jan’s Take 10: Sooner Or Later (One Of Us Must Know)
- Jan’s Take 11: Lay, Lady, Lay
- Jan’s Take 12: Forever Young
- Jan’s Take 13: From A Buick 6
- Jan’s Take 14: Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
- Jan’s Take 15: Girl From The North Country