"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by the American singer-songwriterBob Dylan, written forthe soundtrack of the 1973 filmPat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, 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 fromEric Clapton,Guns N' Roses,Randy Crawford, and more.
Described by Dylan biographerClinton Heylin as "an exercise in splendid simplicity",[3] the song features two short verses, the lyrics of which comment directly on the scene in the film for which it was written: the death of a frontier lawman (Slim Pickens) who refers to his wife (Katy Jurado) as "Mama".[4]
It was ranked number 190 in 2004 byRolling Stone magazine, in their500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[5] and number 192 in 2010,[6] but excluded from the revised list in 2021.
According to his website, Dylan has performed the song in concert 460 times between its live debut in 1974 and its last outing in 2003.[29] Some of these versions have appeared on Dylan's live andBootleg Series albums including:
In January 1975Eric Clapton played onArthur Louis's recording of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" which was arranged in a cross-overreggae 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.[30] This version was released onTimepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton. Clapton's version made it to No. 38 on the UK charts,[31] but the single was less successful in the U.S. where it failed to chart on theBillboardHot 100 (although it reached on No. 109 onCashbox'sLooking Ahead chart[32]). Clapton's 1996 boxed setCrossroads 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 theJourneyman (1990) and theOne More Car, One More Rider (2003) world tours. Several Clapton compilation albums also feature the song.[33]
In 1987, Americanhard rock bandGuns N' Roses started performing the song. A live version of the song was released on the12-inch single of "Welcome to the Jungle" the same year. They recorded and released a studio version in 1990 for the soundtrack of the filmDays of Thunder that reached No. 18 on the USBillboardAlbum Rock Tracks chart and No. 56 on Canada'sRPM 100 Hit Tracks chart.
This studio recording was slightly modified for the band's 1991 albumUse Your Illusion II, discarding the responses in the second verse. Released as the second single from the album, it reached No. 2 on theUK Singles Chart and theNew Zealand Singles Chart. Elsewhere, the single topped the charts of Portugal, 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.
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 theDunblane 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.[79][80]
This version of the song, featuring children from the village singing the chorus with the guitarist and producer of Dylan's albumInfidels (1983),Mark Knopfler, was released on December 9, 1996, in the United Kingdom and reached No. 1 on theUK andScottish Singles Charts,[81][82] as well as No. 6 in Iceland and Ireland.[83][84] The proceeds went to charities for children.[85]The song was featured on the compilation albumHits 97, where all royalties from the song were given to three charities.[86]
Gabrielle's single "Rise" (2000) sampled from this song. Dylan liked "Rise" so much that he allowed Gabrielle to use the sample for free, while receiving a co-writer credit for providing the song's chord progression and vocal sample.[90]
