Knockin' on Heaven's Door

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For other uses, see Knockin' on Heaven's Door (disambiguation).

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written by Bob Dylan from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, the soundtrack of the 1973 film of the same name. The song includes just four basic chords -- G, D, Am7, and C. The strumming pattern of each chord is different. The order of the chords is G-D-Am7, G-D-C, G-D-Am7, and so on.

[edit] Covers

Although it was originally recorded as a slow acoustic country song, "Knockin'" has been covered in many tempos and styles, by many artists, including The Grateful Dead, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Seether, Cold Chisel, Guns N' Roses (which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart), Television, Avril Lavigne, Warren Zevon, Bon Jovi, Randy Crawford, Beau Jocques, Lachfläsh and Zé Ramalho (Brazil).

In 1993 it was performed by the Red Army Chorus and Ensemble with the Leningrad Cowboys in the Total Balalaika show and subsequent video.

In 1998, South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and U.S. country diva Dolly Parton teamed up to record the song.

The song was used to somewhat of a humorous effect in the 2005 film, Be Cool and thus it is featured on the movie's soundtrack. It was most recently featured on the reality show Rock Star: Supernova, performed by Toby Rand. The song was part of the soundtrack for the film Lethal Weapon 2 and was also sung by Korean artist Youme for the movie Windstruck

With the consent of Bob Dylan, a Dunblane musician named Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for Knockin' On Heaven's Door in memory of the Dunblane schoolchildren and teacher killed in the Dunblane massacre.^{[citation needed]} The recording of the revised version of the song, which included brothers and sisters of the victims singing chorus and Mark Knopfler on guitar, was released on December 9, 1996 in the UK, and reached number 1. The proceeds went to charities for children.

Although not a cover, Gabrielle's 2000 UK number one single Rise samples extensively from the track.