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1964. Bob Dylan is the aloof and groundbreaking folk-singer from Minnesota. His trademark:the unique, surreal songwriting that is already beginning to define the modern songwriter. Dylan is on the verge of going electric, polarizing the “intellectual” music circles of America, and releasing a hailstorm of his most beloved albums between 1965-66 (Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde). The Beatles, meanwhile, are no more than a Boy Band. They write love songs, bubblegum pop, and summer hits. They are massively popular but critically snubbed.



Then, they meet in late August in 1964. Bob Dylan meets the Beatles in a hotel room and they spend the night together. Dylan introduces them to ideas (and drugs) that would turn the Beatles into the Psychedelic, lyrical rockers found in Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Abbey Road. Beforehand, the Beatles were bubblegum pop artists. This introduction to the extravagance of American rock, which included drugs and parties, would change the Beatles forever. Paul McCartney even had a groupie walk around with a notebook and write down everything he said that night.

Earlier that year, the Beatles first heard Dylan’s second album, Freewheelin’, and instantly fell in love. Their meeting with him that year had a big affect on their psyche. John Lennon would later say “I had a sort of professional songwriter’s attitude to writing pop songs. We would turn out a certain style of song for a single…Then I started being me about the songs, not writing them objectively, but subjectively…It was Dylan who helped me realise that” (Anthology, 158).



One of the earliest examples of Dylan’s influence on the Beatles can be heard on Rubber Soul, with the track Norwegian Wood. It features a very Dylanesque rhyme scheme and subject matter. Interestingly, Dylan was very aggravated by Lennon’s “ripping” of his signature. Rubber Soul was released in December of 1965. In June of ‘66, Dylan’s album Blonde on Blonde features the song Fourth Time Around. This song has the same melody and subject matter of Norwegian Wood, though its rhyme scheme and word play is much more sophisticated. The final line is believed to be aimed at Lennon, “And I, I never took much, I never asked for your crutch. Now don’t ask for mine.”

Ryan Winegardner

Opinion Editor

