Paul McCartney reveals Bob Dylan is the one musician he’s “nervous to approach”
Paul McCartney has spoken about his love of Bob Dylan, but admits that he still remains “nervous to approach” him.
Notably, the history between the two legendary musicians dates back more than 60 years to when they first met each other in a New York hotel in 1964, which famously saw the singer-songwriter introduce the Fab Four to marijuana for the first time.
Since then, their paths have naturally crossed on a number of occasions, but McCartney wouldn’t consider Dylan to be a friend despite holding nothing but reverence towards the all-time great.
In a new interview on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years, McCartney named ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ by Dylan as one of the ten songs that have soundtracked his life.
Reflecting on their relationship, McCartney admitted, “I’m a fan, but y’know, I don’t know him well enough. George knew him very well because they were in the Traveling Wilburys together. I’m a little bit nervous to approach him. Some people, it’s easy, you sort of think we can chat easily.”
He then cast his mind back to 2016 when they last met, recalling, “Last time I saw Bob, it was a few years ago, we are at Coachella and they did the Desert Trip, so it was a lot of vintage acts. Us, Stones, Bob, Neil Young, and one of our girls said, ‘Bob Dylan wants to see you’.”
Upon being told that Dylan wants to meet him, McCartney naturally presumed that it would be in a packed backstage area, but much to his delight, the legendary singer-songwriter wanted a one-on-one conversation.
He elaborated, “Anyway, I came in to see him, and it was like, ‘Wow’. It was just him and me in this massive, big tent backstage. He was very complimentary, it’s funny because it was kind of a little bit embarrassing, he said, ‘You’re a star’. I thought, what do you say to that, ‘Thank you, Bob. I love what you do’.”
McCartney then repaid the compliments by praising Dylan’s “crooning record”, presumably 2015’s Shadows in the Night, before adding, “When you go see him in a show, he doesn’t care whether you want to hear the tune,” then delivered his best contemporary Dylan impression.
Nevertheless, while Dylan performs live these days may not be to his taste, McCartney insisted, “He’s great, I love his music, I love his songs.”
McCartney’s latest comments about Dylan come after he was less than complimentary about him during a recent episode of The Rest is Entertainment, while also on the promotional trail for his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
He said of Dylan, “In fact, talking about Mr Dylan – I’ve been to see a couple of Bob’s shows, and honestly, I couldn’t tell what song he was doing. Now, that’s a bit much, because I know his stuff.”
The Beatle admitted that he does understand “if he doesn’t want to do ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ – maybe he’s fed up with it”, but speaking from a fan’s perspective, he added, “But I would like to hear it. And I paid.”
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