Many artists have covered the song, including Baez, Jeff Buckley, Judy Collins, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Bettye LaVette, Dion and the Belmonts, Linda Ronstadt, and Rod Stewart on his 1972 album Never a Dull Moment.
According to biographer Clinton Heylin, the song was one of three he wrote while visiting Europe that addressed the breakup with his girlfriend Suze Rotolo in mid-March 1964.
Dylan's first public performance of the song was in a guest appearance with Joan Baez at her concert at Forest Hills tennis stadium in Queens, New York on August 8, 1964.
He performed the song in another duet with Baez a couple of months later, on October 31, in his solo debut at New York City's Philharmonic Hall, this time with her as his guest.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Dylan added the song to his Never Ending Tour set list, performing it often as part of his nightly acoustic segment.
[10] "Mama, You Been on My Mind" has been recorded by numerous artists since the mid-1960s, including Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Dion & the Belmonts, The Dylan Project, Flatt & Scruggs, George Harrison, Steve Howe, The Kingston Trio, Mylon LeFevre, Peter Mulvey, Ricky Nelson, Rod Stewart and We Are Augustines.
In addition, some female vocalists have used "Daddy" in place of "Mama", including Joan Baez, who introduced the substitution jokingly in her guest appearance at Dylan's 1964 Philharmonic Hall concert.
[12] In 1965, Baez recorded "Daddy, You Been on My Mind" for the album Farewell, Angelina, the song's first commercial release (Discogs and Second Hand Songs say the Johnny Cash version was released several months earlier, on his Orange Blossom Special LP), while that same year Judy Collins recorded "Daddy, You've Been on My Mind" for her Fifth Album.