‘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. It was ranked number 190 in 2004 by Rolling Stone magazine, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and number 192 in 2010.
This song is written from the perspective of a dying sheriff. Dylan wrote it for the 1973 Western film, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid. It plays while Sheriff Colin Baker is dying from his gunshot wounds. Dylan cameos in the movie as the character, Alias. Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as "an exercise in splendid simplicity", 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".
In a 2008 interview with Arthur Magazine, screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer remembered: “Bob wrote the film score in Mexico City”. Detailing further, he continued: “But before that, one night when we were returning to Durango from Mexico City – I forget why we were there – he said he wanted to write something for Slim Pickens’ death scene, which was due to be shot the next day. He scrawled something on the aeroplane and showed it to me line by line and when we got off the plane, there it was, ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door'”.
Guns N' Roses covered this on their 1991 album, Use Your Illusion II. They played it in 1992 at a tribute concert for Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who had died of AIDS. 72,000 people attended the concert, which was held in London's Wembley Stadium. In case you're wondering, towards the end of the end of this version, the man on the telephone says, "You just better start sniffin your own rank subjugation Jack, 'cause it's just you and your tattered libido, the bank and the mortician, forever man and it wouldn't be luck if you could get out of life alive."
Label – Columbia
Songwriter – Bob Dylan
Producer – Gordon Carroll
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
[Verse 1]
Mama, take this badge off of me
I can’t use it anymore
It’s getting dark, too dark to see
I feel I’m knockin' upon heaven’s door
[Chorus]
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
[Verse 2]
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can’t shoot them anymore
That long black cloud is coming down
I feel I’m knockin' on heaven’s door
[Chorus]
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
[Outro]
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh