Knockin' on Heaven's Door



"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's release, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Guns N' Roses, Eric Clapton, Randy Crawford and more. Described by Dylan biographer, Clinton Heylin, as "an exercise in splendid simplicity", the song features two verses, each of which represent the film's title characters and American frontier legends Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Other Bob Dylan versions
The song has featured on many of Dylan's live and Bootleg Series albums including:
 * Before the Flood
 * Bob Dylan at Budokan
 * Dylan & the Dead
 * The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
 * MTV Unplugged
 * Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances
 * The Rolling Thunder Revue

Eric Clapton and Arthur Louis versions
In January 1975 Eric Clapton played on Arthur Louis's recording of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" which was arranged in a cross-over reggae style. After the recording sessions with Louis, Clapton recorded his own version of the song which was released as a single in August 1975 two weeks after Louis's version. Clapton's version made it to No. 38 on the UK charts, but the single was less successful in the U.S where it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (although it reached on No. 109 on Cash Box's Looking Ahead chart ). Clapton's 1996 boxed set Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies features a performance of the song recorded in London in April 1977. There were also performances of the song included on the Journeyman (1990) and the One More Car, One More Rider (2003) world tours. Several Clapton compilation albums also feature the song.

Guns N' Roses versions
In 1987, Guns N' Roses started performing the song. A live version of the song was released on the maxi-single of "Welcome to the Jungle" the same year. They recorded and released a studio version in 1990 for the soundtrack of the film Days of Thunder that reached No. 18 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 3 on Poland's LP3 chart. This version was slightly modified for the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II, discarding the responses in the second verse. Released as the second single from the album, it reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and the New Zealand Singles Chart. Elsewhere, the single topped the charts of Belgium and the Netherlands; it was the best-selling song of 1992 in the latter country. In Ireland, where the song also reached No. 1, it became Guns N' Roses' third (and to date last) number-one single as well as their ninth consecutive top-five hit.

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. The music video for this version of the song was directed by Andy Morahan.

Dunblane tribute
In 1996 and with the consent of 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 school massacre. This has been, according to some sources, one of the few times Dylan has officially authorized anybody to add or change the lyrics to one of his songs. This version of the song, including children from the village singing the chorus with guitarist and producer of Dylan's album Infidels (1983), Mark Knopfler, was released on December 9 in the United Kingdom and reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and Scottish Singles Chart, as well as number six in Ireland. The proceeds went to charities for children. The song was featured on the compilation album Hits 97, where all royalties from the song were given to three separate charities.

Sampled version
Gabrielle's single "Rise" (2000) sampled from this song.