John Lennon Called Some Bob Dylan Songs ‘Basic’
TL;DR:
- John Lennon felt the “basic” Bob Dylan songs were based on the music of three countries from Europe.
- Yoko Ono said The Beatles’ songs were influenced by “the frame of capitalism.”
- Yoko felt that “to make their names big, [The Beatles] had to play the game, smiling and all that.”
John Lennon called some of Bob Dylan’s songs “basic.” Yoko Ono had a similar view of The Beatles’ songs. Despite John’s comment, Dylan’s songs still influenced him.
John Lennon said ‘basic’ Bob Dylan songs were ‘Scottish, Irish, or English folk songs’
The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations With John Lennon includes an interview from 1971. In it, John discussed how American music influenced his style. “We all were very conscious of being imitation Americans in the early days,” he said. “But we delved into the music and found out that it was half white country western and half Black rock ‘n’ roll, African.
“And most of the country songs basically came from England — all those train songs,” he opined. “Sure they did, Scotland and Ireland. The basic folk song comes from Europe. So it was just a cultural exchange.
“I mean, they went to America and Americanized the songs, and they sang about working on the railroads,” he said. “But all the basic songs … like lots of Dylan’s basic songs are Scottish, Irish, or English folk songs. So that made us feel better. We delved into that side of it.”
Yoko Ono revealed she thought The Beatles’ songs were modern folk songs
Notably, Yoko didn’t see The Beatles’ catalog as that different from the sort of music John was discussing. “Let’s face it: Beatles music was a 20th-century folk song within the frame of capitalism,” she opined. “They couldn’t do it otherwise. And to make their names big, they had to play the game, smiling and all that. And if the whole society will change, their song will change, too.”
John responded by saying The Beatles were a Trojan Horse. Once they got into the spotlight, they started being more subversive. For example, they were open about their drug use.
John Lennon revealed which Beatles tunes were inspired by Bob Dylan
While John said some of Dylan’s music was basic, he didn’t dismiss the “Mr. Tambourine Man” singer entirely. The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono includes an interview from 1980. In it, John was asked to explain his song “I’m a Loser.” He said it came from a time when Dylan’s music influenced him.
He also revealed “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” from the Help! soundtrack was an imitation of Dylan. John said he was a musical chameleon. He said he and Paul McCartney drew inspiration from Dylan, Elvis Presley, and The Everly Brothers. John also compared the lyrics of his Paul diss track “How Do You Sleep?” to those of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
John felt Dylan made some basic music but he couldn’t help but draw inspiration from it.
