{"id":484709,"date":"2026-05-14T18:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484709\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:16:12","slug":"paul-mccartney-on-seeing-bob-dylan-live-honestly-i-couldnt-tell-what-song-he-was-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484709\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney on seeing Bob Dylan live: “Honestly, I couldn\u2019t tell what song he was doing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul McCartney<\/a> has spoken about seeing Bob Dylan<\/a> perform and revealed that, even as a big fan of his, he \u201ccouldn\u2019t tell what song he was doing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The legendary singer-songwriter spoke about his love of the American artist during a new interview on The Rest Is Entertainment<\/a>, where he was promoting his personal new solo album \u2018The Boys Of Dungeon Lane<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

During the interview, he shared what he admires most about Dylan is his ability to do what feels right to him, and not seem to worry about what other people think of it \u2013 particularly when it comes to omitting most of his biggest hits from his live shows.<\/p>\n

Discussing why he feels like he needs to play his biggest hits at each and every show of his, McCartney said: \u201cI think we could do songs [most people] don\u2019t know and have a lot of \u2018black holes\u2019\u2026 But they\u2019ve paid a lot of money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember as a kid, I used to go to shows and save up. I went to a Bill Haley concert [\u2026] I\u2019d saved for months and done a paper round and done everything. And I knew what I wanted: I wanted him to do his hits. And if he got all clever on me, I would be like, \u2018oh, OK.\u2019 I\u2019d let him indulge himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how his approach differs to what he\u2019s seen from Bob Dylan, McCartney added: \u201cIn fact, talking about Mr Dylan, I\u2019ve been to see a couple of Bob\u2019s shows, and honestly, I couldn\u2019t tell what song he was doing. Now, that\u2019s a bit much, because I know his stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

He then added that while he understands if Dylan \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to do \u2018Mr Tambourine Man\u2019 \u2013 maybe he\u2019s fed up with it\u201d, from a fan\u2019s perspective, \u201cI would like to hear it. And I paid!\u201d<\/p>\n

McCartney also discussed how playing the biggest hits is something guaranteed to unite the audience, particularly when it comes to issues like political divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticularly these days \u2013 you do something like \u2018Hey Jude\u2019 and you see the whole audience singing together,\u201d he explained. \u201cIn Trump\u2019s America, where Republicans and Democrats are at each other\u2019s throats \u2013 when we do that song, they\u2019re not. They\u2019re all loving it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, wow. Suddenly, this room has forgotten all of that. We\u2019re not going to argue; we\u2019re just going to sing together. Those kinds of things, I think, are valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beatles\u2019 friendship with Bob Dylan dates back to the mid \u201860s, and both artists have frequently shared praise for one another over the years since.<\/p>\n

In 2007, for instance, the \u2018Blowin\u2019 In The Wind\u2019 singer shared his longstanding appreciation<\/a> for the Fab Four, and denounced any rumours of competitiveness towards McCartney and John Lennon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were fantastic singers. Lennon, to this day, it\u2019s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or than McCartney was and still is,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m in awe of McCartney. He\u2019s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he\u2019s never let up\u2026 He\u2019s just so damn effortless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments were reciprocated by McCartney in 2020, when he spoke to BBC Radio 2 and said that The Beatles\u2019 more \u201cinterpersonal, reflective\u201d songwriting was influenced by the American folk icon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly got a lot from Dylan and I know I had one of his first LPs at home before The Beatles,\u201d he told Sean Ono Lennon<\/a>. \u201cI used to play that quite a lot so I was steeped in him and I think your dad was too, but that was just one of the influences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul McCartney new album cover, \u2018The Boys Of Dungeon Lane\u2019. Credit: Press<\/p>\n

He also said that year that he always wished he \u201ccould be a bit more like\u201d Bob Dylan<\/a>, particularly when it comes down to not worrying about what other people think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always like what he does. Sometimes I wish I was a bit more like Bob. He\u2019s legendary\u2026 and doesn\u2019t give a shit! But I\u2019m not like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2021, McCartney recalled how The Beatles first got stoned with help from Dylan<\/a> when they stopped by his hotel room in 1964, and before then, also recalled how speaking with Dylan once made him convinced that he had worked out the meaning of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could feel myself climbing a spiral walkway as I was talking to Dylan. I felt like I was figuring it all out, the meaning of life,\u201d he said, adding that he ordered Beatles roadie, Mal Evans, to find a piece of paper so he could quickly write it down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going \u2018I\u2019ve got it!\u2019 and wrote down the key to it all on this piece of paper. I told Mal \u2018You keep this piece of paper, make sure you don\u2019t lose it, because the meaning of life is on there,\u201d he continued. \u201cMal gave me the piece of paper the next day, and on it was written \u2018There are seven levels.\u2019 Well, there you go, the meaning of life\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Macca\u2019s new album, \u2018The Boys Of Dungeon Lane\u2019, is set for release on May 29 (pre-order here<\/a>) and includes a duet with former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr<\/a> on \u2018Home To Us\u2019<\/a> \u2013\u00a0 a nostalgic reflection on their Liverpool roots, that marks their first ever vocal collaboration. It also features Texas\u2019 Sharleen Spiteri<\/a> and The Pretenders<\/a>\u2019 Chrissie Hynde<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as reflecting on his roots in the new album, McCartney also looked back at his time with The Beatles and his relationship with that era when speaking to NME in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of his close relationship with Lennon and the disputes they would sometimes have, he said: \u201cWorking with John was great. Those are the kinds of things you remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a film, you remember that bit where the guy says \u2018Hasta la vista, baby\u2019 or whatever, and John definitely did have those withering putdowns, you know, but it was two per cent of who he was and it\u2019s the two per cent people remember. Most of the time he was very generous, very loving, very easy to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also opened up about returning to his hometown after reaching global fame, saying it makes \u201call these things come flooding back\u201d, particularly when he sees the famous Cavern venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes you play better, I think, being back in a little club like that, inches from your audience,\u201d he shared. \u201cIt reminds you of how it was.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney has spoken about seeing Bob Dylan perform and revealed that, even as a big fan of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[18,117,15225,19,17,337,6318],"class_list":["post-484709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-folk","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-rock"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116574302720299507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}