| "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bob Dylan | ||||
| from the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid | ||||
| B-side | "Turkey Chase" | |||
| Released | July 13, 1973 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock, gospel | |||
| Length | 2:18 | |||
| Writer(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
| Producer | Gordon Carroll | |||
| Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Contents |
The song describes the feelings and impressions of a dying deputy, who can no longer continue his role as a law enforcer. The song consists of four chords in the key of G major: G, D, Am7, and C. The basic pattern throughout the song is G-D-Am7-Am7 and then G-D-C-C, and this is repeated. Over the years, Dylan has changed the lyrics, as have others who have performed this song. The song is very similar to Neil Young's song Helpless, recorded in 1969.
Arthur Louis recorded a version of the song in a reggae crossover style. Louis's arrangement was released as a single in July 1975,[1] a week before Eric Clapton released his own interpretation of Louis's arrangement,[2] of the same song.[3]
Eric Clapton recorded a reggae influenced version of the song produced by Albhy Galuten in August 1975[4] and released it as a single later that year,[5] almost two years after Dylan's original track was released, using Arthur Louis's arrangement. Clapton's single featured "Someone Like You" as the B-side, previously recorded with Louis.[2] Live recordings of this arrangement of the song appear on Clapton's album Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies (1996), which features a performance recorded in London in April 1977. The song was also included on his album Time Pieces: The Best of Eric Clapton (1982)[6] and resurrected for the Journeyman and One More Car, One More Rider world tours in 1990 and 2003.
The song was performed by Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead, during a joint tour in July 1987. Between August 1987 and July 1994 the Grateful Dead often closed their shows with a performance of this song. On July 7, 1989, the Dead used the song as an encore at John F. Kennedy Stadium. It was not known at the time, but it was to be the swansong for the stadium, which was condemned 6 days later.
| "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Guns N' Roses | ||||
| from the album Use Your Illusion II | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Format | CD single, 7", 12" | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 5:36 | |||
| Label | Geffen | |||
| Producer | Mike Clink and Guns N' Roses | |||
| Guns N' Roses singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
In 1987, Guns N' Roses started including the song in their live sets. A live version of the track was initially released on the Maxi-Single of "Welcome to the Jungle". They recorded a studio version in 1990 for Days of Thunder (soundtrack)'s soundtrack, which was later slightly modified for the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II (basically discarding the responses in the second verse). Released as the fourth single from the album, it reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart as well as #12 in Australia and #1 in Ireland. Their performance of the song at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 was used as the B-side for the single release and was also included on their Live Era: '87–'93 album, released in 1999.[7]
The Alarm regularly played the song at concerts. When The Alarm supported Dylan, they joined him on stage to perform the song.
In 1996 and with the consent of Bob Dylan, Scottish musician Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in memory of the schoolchildren and teacher killed in the Dunblane massacre. This has been, according to some sources, one of the very few times Dylan has officially authorized anybody to add or change the lyrics to one of his songs.[8][9] This version of the song, which included children from the village singing the chorus and guitarist Mark Knopfler, was released on December 9 in the UK and reached #1. The proceeds went to charities for children.[10]
The song was featured on the compilation album Hits 97, where all royalties from the song were given to three separate charities.
In 2003, Warren Zevon released a version of the song on his album The Wind (2003), shortly before his death of cancer in September.[11]
Avril Lavigne performed the song on radiosponsored multi-artist appearances, which took place on January 23, 2003 and ended on June 4, 2003. A music video was made with her performance. Later on she included the song during her Try To Shut Me Up Tour.[12] She first released her cover version on the bonus CD of her My World video release in 2003, and afterwards as a Japanese bonus track for her 2011 album Goodbye Lullaby.
In the year 2007, Babyface released his eleventh album Playlist which contained a cover of this song.
In August 2010, Bono invited Yuri Shevchuk to join him on the stage for a spontaneous duet.[13] During the performance Shevchuk performed a version of the first part of the song.[14][15]
Other artists to perform the song include Bon Jovi, Dylan alongside Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, Boy George, Mike Peters, The Animals, Wyclef Jean, Cat Power, Pat Pacino, Aretha Franklin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alex Rooke & Richard Keeley, The Sisters of Mercy, Bryan Ferry, Meir Ariel, Yuri Shevchuk, Dan Kleederman, Television, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen, Heaven, The Lost Dogs, Mungo Jerry, Luciano, Opposite Sides, Les Fradkin, Selig, Beau Jocque, Randy Crawford, Chaozz, Roger McGuinn, Cold Chisel, Zé Ramalho, DMX, Sandy Denny, Antony and the Johnsons, GWAR, Neil Young with Dylan, Roger Waters, Herman Brood, Nazareth, Angela Aki, Tomoya Nagaze, Daniel Lioneye, Sunny Jim Band, United Rhythms of Brazil, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dolly Parton, The Red Army Chorus and Ensemble with the Leningrad Cowboys, Jane Gurney, Ruth Lorenzo (as seen on on The X Factor (UK)), Bride, Josh Sigurdson and Seether.
Gabrielle's single "Rise" (2000) sampled from this song. In the same year the DJ "TNT" sampled the Arthur Louis version of this song.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||