This is a Bob Dylan song, originally – if just barely. By 1965, Bob Dylan was so universally regarded as a brilliant lyricist with a terrible voice that record studios were in an all-out race to cover his best songs.

This hit the height of insanity with The Byrds, a promising group of young folk singers who hadn’t yet put out an album as a group. In August 1964, the band’s manager Jim Dickson acquired a demo of Dylan testing out “Mr. Tambourine Man” in the studio. The Byrds spent months tinkering with the instrumentals, working to shape the rambling lyrics into a dance-hall hit.

Their master take of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was recorded on January 20, 1965, only five days after Dylan made his final studio recording of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Dylan’s version came out on album on March 22, 1965, but his studio elected to go with a different song (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”) as the first single off the album. As a result, on April 12, 1965, the Byrds were able to release their version as a pre-album single before Dylan’s could come out.

With its brilliant composition and perfect timing, the Byrds' version immediately shot to #1 in the USA and UK, a first for any Bob Dylan-written song. Dylan never bothered to release his version as a single.