They were being schooled, and they were excellent students. My twenty-something son and daughter went to Bonnaroo last week and both said McCartney was absolutely amazing.
Dylan was listening to the lads, as well. Apparently the first time he heard a Beatles song on the radio he froze and said, “This changes everything.”
It may have been a two way street, but with an 18 wheeler going one way and a “beetle” going the other, at least lyrically. Dylan was impressed with the innovative chord combinations on I Wanna Hold Your Hand, but I don’t think he attained that lyrical height until Wiggle, Wiggle. I have read that Lennon said he wrote I Am the Walrus as a joke because he thought Dylan was writing nonsense that was being called profound and that he told someone with Playboy, “I can write that crap too.” As between all artists, I think there was a love/hate thing between them, Roll On John notwithstanding.
Yes. Dylan was closer to Harrison personally, but didn’t write a tribute to him. He was, instead, morning the death of a myth, from the perspective of an artist who had himself become a myth, and missed a mythic peer. Lennon might have been the only person Dylan knew who really understood what it was like to be Dylan.
They were being schooled, and they were excellent students. My twenty-something son and daughter went to Bonnaroo last week and both said McCartney was absolutely amazing.
Dylan was listening to the lads, as well. Apparently the first time he heard a Beatles song on the radio he froze and said, “This changes everything.”
It may have been a two way street, but with an 18 wheeler going one way and a “beetle” going the other, at least lyrically. Dylan was impressed with the innovative chord combinations on I Wanna Hold Your Hand, but I don’t think he attained that lyrical height until Wiggle, Wiggle. I have read that Lennon said he wrote I Am the Walrus as a joke because he thought Dylan was writing nonsense that was being called profound and that he told someone with Playboy, “I can write that crap too.” As between all artists, I think there was a love/hate thing between them, Roll On John notwithstanding.
Love or hate, Lennon was a peer to Dylan, and Dylan didn’t have many peers. Here are my thoughts on his tribute to Lennon — http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2012/09/12/tempest-track-by-track-roll-on-john/
If by “peer” you mean artistic equal, I can think of at least a dozen Dylan songs that have no equal.
I mean more someone who had the same cultural importance and the same cultural celebrity.
I’ll grant that. The following Atlantic article gets it right, I think:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/09/bob-dylan-and-john-lennons-weird-one-sided-relationship/262680/
Yes. Dylan was closer to Harrison personally, but didn’t write a tribute to him. He was, instead, morning the death of a myth, from the perspective of an artist who had himself become a myth, and missed a mythic peer. Lennon might have been the only person Dylan knew who really understood what it was like to be Dylan.