Showing posts with label Bob Dylan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob Dylan. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was a major influence on the Beatles. The first time the Beatles met Dylan was during an American tour in 1964. Dylan introduced the Beatles to marijuana, a meeting which Ringo Starr describes as one during which the group giggled more than they ever had before. All the Beatles said that this was the beginning of their "herbal" days, with cannabis replacing alcohol and pills.

Dylan had been smoking marijuana for a while by 1964, having been exposed to it through the folk scene in Greenwich Village. Many sources say that the Beatles were stones during most of the filming of Help!, which is corroborated in The Beatles Anthology. The influence of marijuana, and later stronger drugs, especially LSD, had a profound effect on the group, both personally and musically.

Bob Dylan also influenced the Beatles directly through his music. It is said by Harrison that through John Lennon, the Beatles became big fans of Bob Dylan, beginning with Dylan's album Freewheelin'. The musical influence is most obvious in Lennon songs such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Yes It Is." Lennon's intentionally casual delivery mimics Dylan's vocals very closely.

Many have made the argument that Dylan and the folk scene in the United States made the Beatles more aware of social issues, such as civil rights and the anti-war movement of the 1960s.

Dylan would later become good friends with George Harrison, who spent time with Dylan in Woodstock, New York in 1968 during his brief hiatus from the Beatles. Dylan performed at the Concert for Bangladesh, and became a part of The Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For more info on Dylan, consult the sitemap below under "Beatles Connections.

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Friday, February 13, 2009

Beatles Songs: Norwegian Wood

"Norwegian Wood" is associated with some great Beatles facts. The song, issued on Rubber Soul in both the UK and U.S., was a Lennon composition about an affair he was having. Most biographers agree that the affair was with Maureen Cleaves, the journalist who also wrote the infamous story about Lennon's belief that the group was bigger than Christianity, which he said was dying.

Harrison used the sitar for the first time on this track, although it took many takes to satisfy Lennon that Harrison's contribution fit the song. Harrison, it is said, was still learning the instrument. There is an early take on Anthology that demonstrates the different sitar backing, and the song, with slightly reversed lyrics in one spot, is sung more slowly. Harrison's interest in the sitar began after he heard it on the set of Help! Later, he would become more interested after listening to a Ravi Shankar record.

Bob Dylan did a parody of the song, called "4th Time Around" from his Blonde on Blonde LP.

Lennon sang lead, and McCartney sang harmony. Lennon played acoustic guitar (his Gibson 160E), McCartney bass, and Starr tambourine.

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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Beatles Song: Michelle

This classic song is related to numerous Beatles facts. McCartney's "Michelle" was recorded on November 3, 1965 at Abbey Road for Rubber Soul. Lennon is credited with a few lyrics and a bar or two of melody (the middle eight). In concert, McCartney often relates that he and Lennon were at a party when Lennon said words to the effect that Paul should sing "the old French song" for a joke.

Ironically, Bob Dylan, who liked the Beatles (his album BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME was allegedly a phrase alluding to the Beatles), thought that "Michelle" and "Yesterday" were "cop-outs" and that there were much better tunes lying around the Library of Congress.

Composer Irving Berlin admired the tune, as did rhythm and blues singer and producer Allen Toussaint.

McCartney sings lead, with Harrison and Lennon doing backing vocals. McCartney plays bass, Harrison and Lennon play acoustic guitar, and Starr plays drums.

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Beatles History: George Harrison Leaves the Beatles

A legendary Beatles fact is that on February 10, 1969, George Harrison left the Beatles for a short time during the Let It Be sessions at Twickenham Studios, where the band was filming their recording work to be released as a film culminating in a live concert. Harrison had recently returned from Woodstock, where he had been playing and jamming with Bob Dylan and The Band.

George Martin has commented in many interviews that given John's preoccupation with Yoko, Paul had more and more assumed responsibility for organizing the group and its musical and film projects. According to Martin, the other Beatles were growing increasingly resentful of his bossiness.

Harrison himself admitted many times after the Beatles' final break-up that he had ignored Paul's bossiness for the sake of peace but that he was becoming increasingly frustrated with what both he and Lennon perceived as an absolute preoccupation by McCartney with perfecting his own songs, giving perfunctory attention to the compositions of Lennon and Harrison. George stated unequivocally that this attitude even resulted in his accumulating many songs that simply weren't getting recorded.

On February 10, 1969, the Let It Be film chronicled an argument during which McCartney criticized Harrison for his playing on "Two of Us." Harrison's first response (on camera) was to say that he'd play it any way McCartney wanted--or perhaps not play at all. His second response was to simply quit the band. He was later approached by Neil Aspinall, who convinced him to rejoin the band and finish the album.

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Friday, January 30, 2009

Lennon's Dylan Period

Lennon acknowledged that he went through what he called "a Dylan period" in 1965, when his words and music were inspired by Bob Dylan. Although Lennon's band the Quarrymen started off playing folksongs, Lennon later said that he wasn't much of a fan of folk music. After listening to Dylan's album Freewheelin', however, Lennon obviously had a change of heart. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" exhibits the most obvious influence. "Yes It Is" is also strongly influenced by Dylan, although the influence is harder to detect unless one listens to the Anthology version, on which Lennon slurs the lyrics a bit while playing acoustic guitar. The most peculiar Beatles fact here is that Lennon said that "Norwegian Wood" was also part of his Dylan period. The song (about an affair Lennon was having) is more associated with eastern influence because of the addition of George's sitar to the track, but if one listens closely to the lyrics and acoustic work (especially on the Anthology version), one can hear strains of Dylan.

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