Two of the songs in my cover series are Bob Dylan originals. I guess it makes sense that the work of somebody with as limited a voice as Dylan would attract more capable singers.
I’ve already featured another Dylan cover that could have fit here, and like yesterday’s post, it was by Adele. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a covers album in her future… she’s a fine interpreter of others’ tunes.
Joan Osborne is as well (and she has released a covers album — 2002’s How Sweet It Is). Today’s song, however, comes from her excellent debut album, Relish.
‘Man in the Long Black Coat’ is a great Dylan song, a highlight of 1989’s Oh Mercy. It was one of my two selections from that album during my Dylan Weekends.
This is a song that makes excellent use of Dylan’s low, gravelly delivery. And it makes excellent use of Osborne’s higher, gravelly delivery as well.
There’s a soft cotton dress on the line hangin’ dry
Window wide open, African trees
Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze
Not a word of goodbye, not even a note
She gone with the man
In the long black coat
Somebody seen him hanging around
At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town
He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask
Somebody said from the Bible he’d quote
There was dust on the man
In the long black coat
Preacher was a talkin’, there’s a sermon he gave
He said every man’s conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it’s you who must keep it satisfied
It ain’t easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat
She gave her heart to the man
In the long black coat
There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way
But people don’t live or die, people just float
She went with the man
In the long black coat
There’s smoke on the water, it’s been there since June
Tree trunks uprooted, ‘neath the high crescent moon
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force
Somebody is out there beating a dead horse
She never said nothing, there was nothing she wrote
She gone with the man
In the long black coat
Meet Me In Montauk 
This is a fine cover, although I can’t say that it improves on the original Dylan version.
I’m reaching here, but this is an audition from this season:
We liked her, but she didn’t get very far. You only have to listen to 1:35 to hear the song, but you can certainly watch the judges’ antics if you’d like 🙂
I love today’s SOTD, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Dylan version before. I agree that good singers must be attracted to the idea of making a Dylan song actually sound great!