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Peak: #15 (Cher) and #40 (The Byrds) on the Hot 100
Streams: 3.6 million (Cher) and 355,000 (The Byrds)
Almost 60 years ago, The Byrds got in a fight with Sonny Bono and Cher. The band accused the duo of secretly taping one of their concerts so they could copy their songs and arrangements. The focus of this dust-up was “All I Really Want to Do,” a Bob Dylan tune that both The Byrds and Cher covered at exactly the same time in 1965. If this happened today, there would absolutely be social media wars about it. A pop culture website would almost certainly litigate the case. Even then, executives at Columbia (The Byrds’ record label) wanted to stifle Cher’s version. Since their band had already had a hit by covering Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” they figured they could ride this song to similar glory.
In the end, both versions clicked. In fact, this was Cher’s first song to chart. It debuted on the Hot 100 for the week of July 3, 1965. “I Got You Babe” debuted the week of July 10. That’s wild to consider, right? Technically, Cher’s solo career kicked off before her time with Sonny and Cher! And really, she was always releasing solo singles, even when the duo’s songs were doing well. Check out the story of “You Better Sit Down Kids,” her top 10 hit from 1967. Cher was right there, proving she could do it on her own. (Sonny produced all her early solo hits, but still!)
Anyway, Cher’s version of this song is great. The way she holds those low notes, and the way she growls some of the verse lines, creates a striking sense of urgency. It helps, too, that Bono puts her voice so high in the mix, so we can’t ignore her personality and power. Add that to Dylan’s excellent melody, and you get a charming ode to a serious crush.
And the Byrds’ version is good too. (Though it stopped at #40 in the U.S., it actually did better than Cher’s version in the U.K. Her cover reached #9 on their chart, and theirs reached #4.) For one thing, the band melodically restructures the second verse, so that it’s got a dreamy, Beatles-esque quality.
To me, the big takeaway is that Dylan’s song is sturdy enough to take me on two different journeys as a listener. Cher’s raw performance and The Byrds’ blissed-out take paint different emotional textures, but they both suit the lyrics. Sometimes your crush makes you desperate, and sometimes your crush makes you moony. I welcome both interpretations.