News The John Lennon songs directly inspired by Bob Dylan
It is not controversial to claim that Bob Dylan was one of the most talented and prolific songwriters of the 20th century. The quality of his work, as he moved from folk to electronic in the mid-1960s, was nothing short of genius. Expectedly, for such a prominent artist operating at an incredibly pivotal point in musical history, the influence of Bob Dylan on the wider landscape of music is beyond comprehension.
Among the vast sea of prominent songwriters that arose from the rock and pop boom of the 1960s, there were few names bigger than Bob Dylan — except, perhaps, John Lennon. Alongside fellow Beatle Paul McCartney, Lennon was responsible for some of the most popular and brilliant songs of all time. Stimulation for the Beatles’ many hits came from a variety of sources. Seemingly, though, Lennon found inspiration in the musings of Bob Dylan on more than one occasion.
The Beatle was impressed by Dylan’s introspective songwriting and signature folk style. In fact, Lennon’s track ‘Norwegian Wood’ – taken from 1965’s Rubber Soul – was so inspired by Dylan that the singer exclaimed, “What is this? It’s me, Bob. [John’s] doing me!” The track was something of a milestone within The Beatles’ discography and rock music as a whole, as it was the first Western rock track to feature the Indian influence of a sitar. Nevertheless, the track’s lyrics borrowed more from Bob Dylan than they did from the cultural landscape of India.
Elsewhere on Rubber Soul, the influence of the Minnesota-born songwriter could be heard on the deeply emotional track ‘In My Life’. A retrospective track based on Lennon’s childhood in Liverpool, the singer referred to the song as his “first major piece of work”.
Continuing, he added: “Up till then, it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric. Inspired by Kenneth Allsop, the British journalist, and Bob Dylan.”
Prior to ‘Norwegian Wood’ and ‘In My Life’, Lennon had explored the influence of the bard on Help!, particularly the track ‘You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away’. During a 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon said of the song, “That’s me in my Dylan period again,” before, somewhat arrogantly, saying, “I am like a chameleon… influenced by whatever is going on.”
Furthermore, on Beatles For Sale, released the year prior, Lennon took a leaf out of Dylan’s playbook on the track ‘I’m a Loser’. He explained: “I objected to the word ‘clown’ because that was always artsy-fartsy, but Dylan had used it, so I thought it was all right, and it rhymed with whatever I was doing”.
For the White Album in 1968, Lennon once again called upon the influence of Bob Dylan when penning the song ‘Yer Blues’. His attempt at writing a hard-hitting blues number, the song is perhaps more radical than something Dylan would have put his name to, yet the influence is undeniable. Within the song, Lennon even references ‘Mr. Jones’, from the Dylan masterpiece ‘The Ballad of a Thin Man’.
There is no doubt that Lennon had a certain sense of hero-worship when it came to Bob Dylan, bordering on obsession. On the other hand, Dylan himself seemed less than flattered when it came to the Fab Four’s lead singer. On the song ‘Fourth Time Around’, Dylan lamented the ‘inspiration’ Lennon took from him, declaring, “I never asked for your crutch; now don’t ask for mine”.
