Lay Lady Lay

"Lay Lady Lay"
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Nashville Skyline
B-side	"Peggy Day"
Released	July 1969
Format	7" single
Recorded	February 14, 1969, Columbia Studio A, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre	Country rock
Length	3:20
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"I Threw It All Away" (1969) "Lay Lady Lay" (1969) "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" (1969)
Nashville Skyline track listing 12 tracks Side one "Girl from the North Country" "Nashville Skyline Rag" "To Be Alone with You" "I Threw It All Away" "Peggy Day" Side two "Lay Lady Lay" "One More Night" "Tell Me That It Isn't True" "Country Pie" "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You" Music sample "Lay Lady Lay"

"Lay Lady Lay"
1969 Dutch picture sleeve.
Single by The Byrds
B-side	"Old Blue"
Released	May 2, 1969
Format	7" single
Recorded	March 27, 1969, Columbia Studios, Hollywood, CA April 18, 1969, Columbia Studios, Nashville, TN
Genre	Rock
Length	3:18
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Bob Johnston
The Byrds singles chronology
"Bad Night at the Whiskey" (1969) "Lay Lady Lay" (1969) "Wasn't Born to Follow" (1969)

"Lay Lady Lay"
Single by Ministry
from the album Filth Pig
B-side	"Paisley"
Released	February 1996
Format	7" single, CD
Recorded	1995, Chicago Trax Studios, Chicago, Illinois
Genre	Industrial rock, alternative rock
Length	5:44 (album version) 5:11 (edit)
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Bob Dylan
Producer(s)	Hypo Luxa, Hermes Pan
Ministry singles chronology
"The Fall" (1996) "Lay Lady Lay" (1996) "Reload" (1996)

"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier (and eventually later) recordings. The song has become a standard and has been covered by numerous bands and artists over the years, including The Byrds, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, The Everly Brothers, Melanie, The Isley Brothers, Duran Duran, Magnet, Hoyt Axton, Angélique Kidjo, Ministry, Malaria! and Lorrie Morgan.

"Lay Lady Lay" was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to be included in the finished film. Dylan's recording was released as a single in July 1969 and quickly became one of his top U.S. hits, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single did even better in the United Kingdom where it reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart. Like many of the tracks on Nashville Skyline, the song is sung by Dylan in a warm, relatively low sounding voice, rather than the more abrasive nasal singing style with which he had become famous. Dylan attributed his "new" voice to having quit smoking before recording the album, but some unreleased bootleg recordings from the early 1960s reveal that, in fact, Dylan had used a similar singing style before.