# Olivia Newton-John covers Dylan- most unlikely remake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195 "2006-10-12T14:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/1 "2006-10-12T14:32:29Z")
Back in the early 70’s stereotypical airhead (I kid I kid) Olivia Newton-John had a hit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You”. THE Bob Dylan, legend, poet of his generation, etc. etc. covered by the Australian Twiggy. Does it get any less likely? Or did New Kids on the Block ever cover a Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen song? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/2 "2006-10-12T14:40:57Z")
My wife and I were trying to remember odd bits of stuff from our childhood when I mentioned how ONJ was once considered a _country_ singer. She didn’t believe me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/3 "2006-10-12T14:55:57Z")
I have a nominee for most unlikely cover… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ILMhm5HEIFA/hqdefault.jpg "From www.ukuleledisco.com 2004 Wild Thing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILMhm5HEIFA) You really have to watch this one. It’s hard to describe… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/4 "2006-10-12T14:55:59Z")
William Shatner singing _Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,_ maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/5 "2006-10-12T15:02:56Z")
Mitch Miller covering John and Yoko’s “Give Peace a Chance” which was on the Rhino Records “Golden Throats Volume 2” CD several years ago. Olivia Newton-John won some kind of country music award in the late 1970s (they give out country music awards every month) for covering a Hank Williams Sr song and said she was looking forward to meeting him. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/6 "2006-10-12T15:26:34Z")
I think Cake’s cover of “I Will Survive” is pretty weird in concept – although it kicks complete ass in execution. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/7 "2006-10-12T15:53:40Z")
“If Not For You” was a co-write with George Harrison, and though good, isn’t the kind of densely poetic thing people think of when they think “Dylan song.” Same kind of thing with Garth Brooks’ version of “Make you Feel My Love.” Had she covered “Gates of Eden,” THAT would’ve been something. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/8 "2006-10-12T16:02:45Z")
**Nonsuch** - damn good point 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/9 "2006-10-12T16:13:13Z")
Dylan has been covered by everybody. [Check out this partial listing at the [Covers Project](http://www.coversproject.com/artist/bob%20dylan).] It’s only odd when somebody who’s been around a while and is famous enough so that you could drop the name in a thread title _hasn’t_ covered Dylan. It probably all goes back to Hendrix. He actually covered several Dylan songs, but it was his interpretation of “All Along the Watchtower” that really planted the thought in everybody’s mind that they could reinterpret Dylan in their own styles. Heck, even Dylan started using Hendrix’s arrangement of “Watchtower” after that. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/10 "2006-10-12T16:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Dylan has been covered by everybody. [Check out this partial listing at the [Covers Project](http://www.coversproject.com/artist/bob%20dylan).] It’s only odd when somebody who’s been around a while and is famous enough so that you could drop the name in a thread title _hasn’t_ covered Dylan. It probably all goes back to Hendrix. He actually covered several Dylan songs, but it was his interpretation of “All Along the Watchtower” that really planted the thought in everybody’s mind that they could reinterpret Dylan in their own styles. Heck, even Dylan started using Hendrix’s arrangement of “Watchtower” after that. [/QUOTE] Wasn’t there some kind of contract clause in Dylan’s career that he got more money from someone else covering his song than he got for recording it? His manager would really push others to record them. Plus he was very prolific in the 1960s. Back in the 1960s people would record more albums. The Beatles were required to release two albums and 4 singles a year. How many albums has Brittany Spears released in the last 10 years.. 3? 4? People such as Fairport Convention and the Byrds needed material Also the idea that “groups write their own material” was just evolving. Many such as Elivis Presley, Pat Boone, Animals, Yardbirds did realatively little writing. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/11 "2006-10-12T17:51:15Z")
Kind of the done thing nowadays: Flaming Lips covered Kylie Minogue, the Cardigans covered Black Sabbath. It’s old news. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/12 "2006-10-12T18:02:19Z")
Pat Boone’s perky version of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” must be heard to be believed. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/13 "2006-10-12T18:25:26Z")
I don’t really care for ON-J (in my version of hell, “Physical” is one of the songs Satan will be playing in constant rotation) but it should be mentioned that her cover of “If Not for You” was her first hit on the American charts. At the time, she was still too new to listeners for her to have the shallow, slick, and sickly-sweet image that was established by her later songs. In retrospect, it may seem unlikely but it wasn’t at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/14 "2006-10-12T18:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Dylan has been covered by everybody. [/QUOTE] Indeed. I’m sitting here looking at Volume I of _Golden Throats_. On this volume alone, Dylan songs are covered by Sebastian Cabot (twice!), Eddie Albert and, of course, William Shatner. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/15 "2006-10-12T18:35:19Z")
[QUOTE=Jim’s Son] Wasn’t there some kind of contract clause in Dylan’s career that he got more money from someone else covering his song than he got for recording it? [/QUOTE] Nah – the amount a songwriter gets is usually pretty standard, and there is a default payment that the person doing the cover can pay if you ask too much. It’s a separate negotiation each time someone wants to record, and usually it’s pretty much pro forma. However, Dylan may have gotten more money from covers simply because there were a lot of them, and often the cover did better than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/16 "2006-10-12T18:44:38Z")
Maybe the oddest one for me would be Celtic Frost’s cover of Aztec Radio’s "Mexican Radio. Also, Tori Amos’ cover of “Raining Blood” by Slayer. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/17 "2006-10-12T20:39:46Z")
An acid rock group called “Crowbar” did a cover of “Dream Weaver” which is kind of disturbing. And then we have UB40’s cover of Neil Diamond’s “Red, Red Wine.” ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/18 "2006-10-12T23:27:21Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Back in the early 70’s stereotypical airhead (I kid I kid) Olivia Newton-John had a hit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You”. THE Bob Dylan, legend, poet of his generation, etc. etc. covered by the Australian Twiggy. Does it get any less likely? Or did New Kids on the Block ever cover a Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen song? [/QUOTE] It really wasn’t a “Dylan” song in that George Harrison sang it on “All Things Must Pass” ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/19 "2006-10-12T23:42:46Z")
Rolf Harris’s cover of _Stairway to Heaven_. Just unbelievable. And actually very funny… ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195/20 "2006-10-13T00:26:50Z")
[QUOTE=Nonsuch] “If Not For You” was a co-write with George Harrison, and though good, isn’t the kind of densely poetic thing people think of when they think “Dylan song.”…QUOTE] “I’d Have You Anytime” was the Dylan/Harrison co-write on “All Things Must Pass”. “If Not For You” was solely Dylan. Dylan would often portray himself as a “troubadour” rather than the Great Folkie Voice Of Our Time. Just a singer of songs… and there are many of his songs (like INFY) that have a simple direct message. (and many that don’t!). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olivia-newton-john-covers-dylan-most-unlikely-remake/376195.md?page=2)