John Lennon changed The Beatles' sound after hearing iconic singer for first time
The Beatles changed their songwriting styles and techniques a lot throughout the 1960s. But John Lennon once revealed how discovering the music of Bob Dylan in 1964 had a particular effect on his writing. He said in Anthology: "In Paris in 1964 was the first time I ever heard Dylan at all. Paul [McCartney] got the record [The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan] from a French DJ. For three weeks in Paris, we didn’t stop playing it. We all went potty about Dylan."
Dylan's poetic penmanship led Lennon to begin writing in a more emotional way, he recalled.
The following year, in 1965, Lennon released You've Got to Hide Your Love Away on The Beatles' fifth studio album, Help! Reminiscing about this track, he said: "It’s one of those that you sing a bit sadly to yourself. 'Here I stand, head in hand...' I’d started thinking about my own emotions." He added: "I don’t know when exactly it started, [songs] like I’m A Loser or Hide Your Love Away, those kind of things. Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself, which I’d done in my books."
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
