The most successful version of the song was released by Joan Baez in 1971. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart.[11] Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1971. The version reached number six in the pop charts in the UK in October 1971. The song became a Gold record.
The Baez recording had some changes in the lyrics.[12] Baez later told Rolling Stone’s Kurt Loder that she initially learned the song by listening to the recording on the Band’s album, and had never seen the printed lyrics at the time she recorded it, and thus sang the lyrics as she had (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson.[13]
Chart performance
All due respect to The Band, but in my mind, as someone who grew up during that 70’s era, Joan Baez OWNS this song as a performer, and always will.
Interesting about Baez changing the lyrics unintentionally. I thought she did it on purpose, and disliked her version because of that. I thought she should have shown more respect for the original. It seems strange to me that no one told her that she used the wrong lyrics while she was rehearsing and recording. It’s a famous song.