It’s hard to think of a songwriter as prolific and influential as Paul McCartney. Penning some of the most iconic songs of the 1960s and beyond, McCartney’s lyricism has written him into history.
As one half of the songwriting powerhouse duo with John Lennon, the pair penned the majority of The Beatles hits. It’s estimated that McCartney has songwriting credits on over 1,000 songs, with hundreds more sure to be in his archive.
During his time as part of The Beatles, then into his solo career and his later band Wings, McCartney’s sincere lyricism and ever-evolving style have made him one of the most influential songwriters ever to exist. Tracks like ‘Let It Be’, ‘Blackbird’, ‘Live And Let Die’ and ‘Yesterday’, to name only a few, are stellar examples of McCartney’s phenomenal skill.
But who can possibly inspire a songwriter that talented? Who could conceivably influence one of the most influential writers in history? Well, Paul McCartney’s answer is simple: Bob Dylan.
As part of a campaign called My Inspiration, HMV quizzed musical icons about their own influences and inspirations. When it came to McCartney, the musician picked out Bob Dylan, specifically for the song ‘She Belongs To Me’.
“Bob Dylan has written some great stuff,” McCartney told them in what might be the understatement of the century. Coming up at the same time but in very different musical spheres, The Beatles always seemed to look up to Dylan. While the Liverpudlian band became the ultimate mainstream stars, gaining fame on a scale the world had never really seen before, Dylan only seemed to get more mysterious and elusive the more famous he got.
Finally, in 1964, the Fab Four got to meet the folk legend. “He was our idol. It was a great honour to meet him, we had a crazy party that night we met. I thought I had gotten the meaning of life that night,” McCartney recalled of the meeting.
The feeling was shared between the band members as even John Lennon once recalled his love for the artist, stating, “In Paris in 1964 was the first time I ever heard Dylan at all. Paul 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.”
The relationship between The Beatles and Bob Dylan would go on to be quite strained as admiration, claims of plagiarism and different approaches to fame combined. After hearing ‘Norwegian Wood’, Dylan famously accused the band of copying him, saying, “What is this? It’s me, Bob. [John’s] doing me! Even Sonny & Cher are doing me, but, fucking hell, I invented it.”
For McCartney, Dylan’s influence never faded despite their differences. In 1965, his love for the folk artist was still as strong as ever when Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home, featuring the track ‘She Belongs With Me’.
Over 40 years later, when HMV asked him for his biggest inspiration, this Dylan track still stood out to McCartney. Quoting one line in particular, McCartney loves the lyrics, “She’s an artist, she don’t look back.”
The respect and admiration was shared as Dylan said of McCartney and the boys, “I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go.”
