The Reason Paul McCartney Was ‘Jealous’ Of Bob Dylan

If there’s one thing that the past and the present became much alike, it’s rivalries between any two parties. Perhaps the longest rivalry we’ve come across is between the two biggest rock bands in the world: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Recently, a comment from Paul McCartney saying that the Stones are merely a “blues cover band” sparked a heated argument between both fandoms. But it’s not just the Stones whom the Beatles have heated debates with, sometimes it’s with American bands like Beach Boys, or even with a single person, like Bob Dylan.

It was during the mid-1960s that the Fab Four and Dylan were the most important musical performers in the world. Despite their mutual admiration for one another’s work, the artists had a noticeable competition at various points during this time.

Inside Lennon Remembers, a published lengthy interview book by Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Werner, John Lennon didn’t hide his profound admiration towards the folk legend and complimented the latter’s way of singing his songs. “You didn’t have to hear what Bob Dylan’s saying,” Lennon said. “You just have to hear the way he says it like medium is the message, all-whatever mix of-but Dylan was like that.”

Then, Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, interrupted him: “But you respect him [Dylan] a lot,” which John approved of. He added: “I know Paul [McCartney] didn’t, I think Paul was jealous. Paul didn’t like any other artist. But that’s valid. Paul didn’t get hyped by me. I had too many father figures.”

Lennon’s words were a bit opinionated, but it isn’t hard to see why he had to say them. In the early years of his career, McCartney had a hard time expressing admiration for his contemporaries. Fortunately, he became much more open to voicing out compliments now, with one of them being Bob Dylan.