"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

. Dylan's version first appeared on the Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II compilation, released in 1971. It was subsequently included in the rare triple LP compilation, Masterpieces

Masterpieces

Masterpieces is a compilation album by Bob Dylan. The 3-LP set was released in Japan and Australia in anticipation of his 1978 tour. Primarily a greatest hits collection spanning Dylan's career up that point, the album features three previously unreleased tracks, including "Rita May", "George...

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Dylan's versions

Dylan's officially released version of the song is a live recording from his April 12, 1963, concert at New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Town Hall

The Town Hall

The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...

. He had originally recorded the song in December 1962 as a demo for M. Witmark & Sons

M. Witmark & Sons

M. Witmark & Sons was a leading publisher of sheet music for the United States "Tin Pan Alley" music industry.The firm of Marcus Witmark & Sons was established in New York City in 1886...

, his publishing company. Long available as a bootleg, this recording was released by Columbia in 2010 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964. A studio version of the song, an outtake from the June 1970 sessions for New Morning

New Morning

New Morning is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 11th studio album, released by Columbia Records in October 1970.Coming only four months after the controversial Self Portrait, the more concise and immediate New Morning won a much warmer reception from fans and critics. Most welcome was the return of...

, has also been bootlegged.

The song was featured in the first season finale of The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead (season 1)

The first season of AMC's television series The Walking Dead premiered on October 31, 2010 and concluded on December 5, 2010. The series is based on the series of graphic novels of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard; it was developed for television by Frank Darabont, who...

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Cover Versions

Several versions of this song were released before Dylan's own 1971 release. In 1964, Ian and Sylvia

Ian and Sylvia

Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, née Fricker. They began performing together in 1959, married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.-Early lives:...

 recorded the song, and Hamilton Camp

Hamilton Camp

Hamilton Camp was an English-American singer, songwriter, actor and voice actor.-Early life:Camp was born in London, England, and was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister. He became a child actor in films and onstage...

 sang and played it on his Paths of Victory album. Odetta

Odetta

Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...

 included it on her 1965 Odetta Sings Dylan

Odetta Sings Dylan

Odetta Sings Dylan is the 1965 album by American folk singer Odetta, an entire album of covers of Bob Dylan songs. In addition to a number of well known Dylan compositions, a couple of fairly obscure songs were included, including "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You".This album was re-released on CD by...

album. In 1967, Dorris Henderson

Dorris Henderson

Dorris Henderson was an American-born, United Kingdom-based folk music singer and autoharp player.-Early years:Born in Lakeland, Florida but raised in Los Angeles, she was the daughter of an African American clergyman and the granddaughter of a Blackfoot Native American...

 recorded a version of it for her Watch the Stars album. In 1966, Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 recorded the song which appeared as a bonus track on the Spinout

Spinout

Spinout is a 1966 musical film and comedy starring Elvis Presley as the lead singer of a band and part-time race car driver. The movie was #57 on the year end list of the top-grossing films of 1966.-Plot:...

movie soundtrack album

Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...

. Dylan said this was his favorite cover of any of his songs.

The song has also been covered by Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...

, Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...

, Nick Drake

Nick Drake

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...

, Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

, Dion

Dion DiMucci

Dion Francis DiMucci , better known as Dion, is an American singer-songwriter whose work has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop oldies music, rock and R&B styles....

, Chris Hillman

Chris Hillman

Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

, Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

, The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...

, Sandy Denny

Sandy Denny

Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...

, Danielle Howle

Danielle Howle

Danielle Howle is an American singer-songwriter. After releasing an early song on a Columbia, SC music sampler, she joined the Columbia band Lay Quiet Awhile, which had been formed by brothers Dan and Phil Cook in 1989 and had released two EPs...

, The Silkie

The Silkie

The Silkie were an English folk music group. Their name derived from an Orcadian song The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, which they sometimes performed...

, Rosalie Sorrels

Rosalie Sorrels

Rosalie Sorrels is an American folk singer-songwriter who resides in the mountains near Boise, Idaho. She began her public career as a singer and collector of traditional folksongs in the late 1950s. During the early 1960s she left her husband and began traveling and performing at music festivals...

, Judy Collins

Judy Collins

Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...

, Dream City Film Club

Dream City Film Club

Dream City Film Club were a North London rock band founded in July 1995.Their sound was difficult to categorize in that it encompassed tortured lovelorn balladry, avant-garde flourishes, Tin Pan Alley, straightforward rock and gospel yearnings in both lyrics and subject matter. Ultimately, Dream...

, and The Black Family

The Black Family (band)

The Black Family are a Celtic music ensemble, composed of Mary and Frances Black and their siblings, Shay, Michael, and Martin. The family has been called "one of the most important musical clans in Ireland"....

. A number of Swedish bands have covered the songs under the translation title Men bara om min älskade väntar (Only if My Lover Waits); Nationalteatern

Nationalteatern

Nationalteatern is a Swedish progg rock group from the 1970s that featured leftist political lyrics. It was originally a traveling theater ensemble with many members, most notably Ulf Dageby, Anders Melander, Totta Näslund, Nikke Ström, Hans Mosesson and Pale Olofsson.-History:Initially formed as a...

 and Joakim Thåström

Joakim Thåström

Sven Joachim Eriksson Thåström , as an artist known as Thåström, is one of Sweden's best known rock musicians, he is mostly known for the bands Ebba Grön and Imperiet...

are two of the more well-known. The Spanish duo Sergio y Estíbaliz included a cover of this song in their second album, "Piel", in 1974.