Someone once asked Dylan what was his favorite of all the recordings other artists had done of his songs. He immediately said that Elvis’s cover of “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” was the one that meant the most to him. I think that sums it up nicely.
Dylan’s famous quote was the first time he heard Elvis, it felt to him that “he was breaking out of jail.” He reportedly said that one of his biggest thrills was hearing Elvis sing “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”, a Dylan composition also recorded by Odetta among others.
“Dylan was HUGE fan of Elvis, even did a couple of Elvis songs in early part of his career including A Fool Such as I. Of course Elvis loved Dylan’s music as he did Tomorrow is a Long Time; I shall be Released; Doth Think Twice Its Allright, and a couple of others! He must have admired Dylan”
Why did Bob Dylan not wish to meet Elvis Presley?
He gives an answer at length in an interview with Rolling Stone. Short answer – he just really didn’t want to. Verbatim answer – it’s over to Bob:
“I never met Elvis, because I didn’t want to meet Elvis. Elvis was in his Sixties movie period, and he was just crankin’ ’em out and knockin’ ’em off, one after another. And Elvis had kind of fallen out of favor in the Sixties. He didn’t really come back until, whatever was it, ’68? I know the Beatles went to see him, and he just played with their heads. ‘Cause George [Harrison] told me about the scene. And Derek [Taylor], one of the guys who used to work for him. Elvis was truly some sort of American king. His face is even on the Statue of Liberty. And, well, like I said, I wouldn’t quite say he was ridiculed, but close.
“You see, the music scene had gone past him, and nobody bought his records. Nobody young wanted to listen to him or be like him. Nobody went to see his movies, as far as I know. He just wasn’t in anybody’s mind. Two or three times we were up in Hollywood, and he had sent some of the Memphis Mafia down to where we were to bring us up to see Elvis. But none of us went. Because it seemed like a sorry thing to do. I don’t know if I would have wanted to see Elvis like that. I wanted to see the powerful, mystical Elvis that had crash-landed from a burning star onto American soil. The Elvis that was bursting with life. That’s the Elvis that inspired us to all the possibilities of life. And that Elvis was gone, had left the building.”
