Knockin' on Heaven's Door

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
B-side"Turkey Chase"
ReleasedAug. 1973[1]
Recorded1973
Genre
Length2:32
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bob Dylan
Producer(s)Gordon Carroll
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"George Jackson"
(1971)
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
(1973)
"A Fool Such as I"
(1973)

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter 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 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 from Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Randy Crawford, and more.

Described by Dylan biographer Clinton 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 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[5] and number 192 in 2010.[6]

  1. ^ "Billboard". Billboard. August 25, 1973.
  2. ^ a b Abercrombie, Olivia; Mitchell, Matt (March 10, 2024). "The 50 Best Original Songs Written for Films". Paste. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  3. ^ Heylin, Clinton (2009). Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973. Chicago Review Press. p. 434.
  4. ^ TonyAttwood (30 September 2019). "Knockin on Heaven's door: change, change again. | Untold Dylan". Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  5. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004 101-200". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008.
  6. ^ "192. Bob Dylan, 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 May 2022.