The song's first release was in January 1968 as "Mighty Quinn" in a version by the British band Manfred Mann,[4] which became a great success.

The subject of the song is the arrival of Quinn (an Eskimo), who prefers a more relaxed lifestyle [" jumping queues, and making haste just ain't my cup of meat"] and refuses hard work ["Just tell me where to put 'em and I'll tell you who to call"], but brings joy to the people.

Dylan is widely believed to have derived the title character from actor Anthony Quinn's role as an Eskimo in the 1960 movie The Savage Innocents.

A 2004 Chicago Tribune article[6] said the song was named after Gordon Quinn, co-founder of Kartemquin Films, who had given Dylan and Howard Alk uncredited editing assistance on Eat the Document.

Meanwhile, the song was picked up and recorded in December 1967 by the British band Manfred Mann,[7] who released it as a single in the US on 8 January 1968 under the title "Mighty Quinn".

A live recording of part of the instrumental midsection was released on the 1975 Earth Band album Nightingales & Bombers under the title "As Above So Below".

On the album Mann Alive, the "As Above So Below" middle part has been replaced with a riff from "Oh Well" and in recent years, the band often quoted "Smoke on the Water" as well before returning to the main hook.

This title was repeated when the same live recording was released on the album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol.

When Dylan's original "basement tapes" recording of the song, backed by The Band and recorded in West Saugerties, New York in 1967, was eventually released as part of the compilation album Biograph, in 1985, it was entitled "Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)"; this is the title according to the official Bob Dylan website.

[18] In 1969, the Hollies put their own spin on "The Mighty Quinn", adding a prominent banjo accompaniment, a horn section, and a flute part in reference to Manfred Mann's version.

[24] Cornershop released a version of the song on their 2009 album Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast, retitled "The Mighty Quinn".

A 1989 film, The Mighty Quinn, takes its name from the song; Dylan makes reference to the movie in his 2004 autobiography Chronicles: Volume One: The Adult Swim show Joe Pera Talks with You uses "Mighty Quinn" as a season 2 opener in the episode "Joe Pera Talks with You About Beans".

On the Adult Swim Podcast Joe states that it wasn't as expensive to get rights to the song because the children were singing.