Who do you think is the most iconic singer and songwriter? well, surely there are many artists who are listed as the most iconic or the greatest, however, two of the names that will come up front are John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Both of these artists are from the 1960s and they both have a big hand in changing the music industry for good.
Furthermore, we can also find something similar in their songwriting; they both are inspirations to many artists. In fact, Dylan even inspired Lennon to write certain tracks. Furthermore, Lennon’s band The Beatles has various songs that are inspired by various musicians.
They were not afraid to get inspired to write songs by others. Maybe it helped them become the greatest band of all time with 183 million units of certified sales. As mentioned, Lennon was not afraid to embrace other artists’ styles however, Dylan did not like Lennon embracing his style which is why he even alerted Lennon.
And Lennon has even confessed about the song. So what did he say? and first of all what song are we talking about? find out these answers below in the article.
John Lennon’s confession about Bob Dylan
Before we start and reveal the song, why don’t you guess what song it is? well, now that you have guessed, the song that Lennon was inspired to write by Dylan is “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.” This song is from the Beatles’ fifth studio album Help! which was released on August 6, 1965.
This album was really popular and the song Yesterday from the album also happens to be the most covered song of all time. It is the only song that has over 1,600 recorded covers. Other than this song the title song Help is also quite popular from this album.
However, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away is a song that Lennon wrote in Dylan’s style. Back in 1980, talking to Playboy he said, “That’s me in my Dylan period again, I am like a chameleon, influenced by whatever is going on. If Elvis can do it, I can do it. If the Everly Brothers can do it, Paul and I can. Same with Dylan.”
He has talked about the song on more than one occasion and has further said that this is a sad song that you sing to yourself. He further said that he started to feel like a loser and he started writing. Moreover, he said further said, “I think it was Dylan who helped me realize that – not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work.”
Although Lennon has inspired by Dylan, it does not seem that Dylan was ever inspired by Lennon because we can’t hear anything Lennon liked in Dylan’s tracks, however, we can be sure that Lennon was really inspired by Dylan because the mentioned track is not the only song that was inspired by Dylan.
After their album Help! they released their new album Rubber Soul on December 3, 1965, which included the song, “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).” And it was also the song that was inspired by Dylan. In fact, Dylan even mentioned that he felt he owned that song.
He later released a song named “4th Time Around” and it is believed that Dylan created this song as a satire or warning for Lennon to not copy or write in his style. And it seems true that the song was a satire because it sounds really similar to Norwegian Wood.
Furthermore, it sounds so similar that Dylan’s friend and fellow musician was a bit concerned that the Beatles will sue Dylan.
