COVERLAND Vol.13: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

Here is another song by Bob Dylan in the Coverland series, although this one is not that legendary as “All Along the Watchtower.” Actually, both versions of “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” Dylan’s original and Beck’s cover) didn’t even come close to the success of All Along the Watchtower, but nevertheless it’s a great song, in both variants. The lyrics ridicule a female "fashion victim" who wears a leopard-skin pillbox hat, which was a hit in the United States in the early to mid-1960s among fashionable ladies, most famously worn by Jacqueline Kennedy. Dylan satirically crosses this accessory's high-fashion image with leopard-skin material, perceived as more downmarket and vulgar. Beck must have caught up to the motif and intentionally rendered the electric blues song into a glam rock piece. The chords are still there, as well as the harmonica, but Beck somehow deconstructed the tune and reassembled it into a hard driven, soulful rock song.

The original song was released on “Blonde on Blonde” released on May 16, 1966. Beck’s cover is from his 2009 “War Child Presents Heroes,” charity album devoted to the War Child charity's aid efforts in war-stricken areas, such as Iraq, Uganda, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.