The song that Paul McCartney and David Byrne both agree is Bob Dylan’s greatest
It’s difficult trying to put into words how much of an influence Bob Dylan had, not only on the artistic world, but the world of poetry, lyricism, and literature in general. Luckily, we have Leonard Cohen to help us out.
Despite the two having pretty similar musical styles, they didn’t have much of a creative rivalry. They were big fans of one another, to the extent that they celebrated their achievements rather than stewed in them. When Leonard Cohen was asked about how he felt about Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, he said it was “Like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain.”
This is one of the best assessments of Bob Dylan’s music available. In other words, this acclaim is inevitable, not up for debate, a complete given. His songs didn’t just change the way that people viewed writing lyrics, but they also impacted how people considered poetry, literature, and art. How can that sort of influence not receive the highest of awards?
Of course, while he is celebrated as being a cultural innovator, his career wasn’t without its controversies, and one of the biggest he ever came face-to-face with was his decision to go electric in the mid-60s. You can blame The Byrds for this, as when they covered his song ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, Dylan heard how well some of his folk songs sounded when played over a 4/4 beat and with a little more oomph injected into them.
“He came to hear us in the studio when we were building The Byrds,” said David Crosby, recalling the moment Bob Dylan first heard the revamped version of his song, “After the word got out that we gonna do ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and we were probably gonna be good, he came there and he heard us playing his song electric, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. It was plain as day. It was like watching a slow-motion lightning bolt.“
This revelation influenced his decision to go electric, a move which upset and excited fans around the world. Folk purists were enraged because they felt as though Bob Dylan had turned his back on the genre; meanwhile, other music lovers were excited by this new turning point. Both David Byrne and Paul McCartney fell into the latter category, as they cited ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ as one of their favourite Bob Dylan songs because of how it represented a moment of revelation for the artist.
The first time David Byrne heard The Byrds’ rendition, he said it “blew my little mind.” Discussing what he loved about the song, Byrne first highlighted the lyricism. “The words were, to me at that time, impenetrable,” he said, “They spoke of another world — a place both weird and magical, a bohemian land with links to the Beat poets, with whom I was familiar, a little. Late nights huddled in cafes blathering about what must have been incredibly interesting ideas.”
Byrne also loved the contrast between the harmonies you often hear in folk music, as they were reflected under a new light thanks to these different circumstances. “The vocal too, with its soft dreamy harmonies, was familiar — folk groups often sang in harmonies like this — but in this very different context it implied a kind of trippy reverie,” he said, “So, not just the words but the sound itself was a message from another world, far from this little suburban town. Someplace I had to know more about.”
Meanwhile, Paul McCartney was a huge fan of Bob Dylan’s rendition of the song and despised the critique he received because of his newfound affinity for folk rock. He remembers going to a gig in ‘65 and being confused by the critiques heading Dylan’s way. “First half is folky, and then the second half was electric with The Band – it was the all-time concert,” he said.
When watching Dylan perform live, The Beatle ached for a rendition of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ given it was his favourite song. “But then of course, somebody starts going, ‘He’s deserted the folk world!’ Yeah, no wonder, look at you, mate,” recalled McCartney, “So he did it there, the first time I’d ever heard it live. A really good song, very much of the period. Totally nailed that year. I was lucky to be there.”
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.