Why John Lennon Believed Bob Dylan’s “Basic” Songs Came From the British Isles

No genre of music has one sole creator. Rather, the creation of a genre comes from generations of influence, impact, and ultimately metamorphosis. That being said, some of the most famous songs that are deemed entirely unique aren’t that unique after all. Now, that is not to say that they are bad songs, but they are songs that came from somewhere else, were influenced by someone else, and seemingly wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for their predecessor. One artist and their early catalog that seemingly falls into this paradigm is Bob Dylan.

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Bob Dylan’s early career was, of course, heavily steeped in the folk music tradition. As a matter of fact, a good deal of the songs on Dylan’s first album were cover songs. With that in mind, Dylan often pulled ideas and inspiration from old folk songs, and one person who agrees with that notion is John Lennon.

Folk music is all about pulling from the past and implementing it into the present. Frankly, one could make the same argument for rock ‘n’ roll. Regardless, the past Lennon believes Dylan to be pulling from is a musical past that transpired in the British Isles, as he thinks Dylan’s most “basic” songs come from Scottish, Irish, and English influence.

Bob Dylan Was Part of a Large “Cultural Exchange”

John Lennon did not single out Bob Dylan in his statement. Rather, he made the sweeping claim that much of America’s country, western, and folk music all came from the British Isles. Specifically, Lennon stated, “We all were very conscious of being imitation Americans in the early days, but we delved into the music and found out that it was half white country western and half Black rock ‘n’ roll, African,” per  Lennon On Lennon: Conversations With John Lennon.

He continued, “And most of the country songs basically came from England—Sure they did, Scotland, and Ireland. The basic folk song comes from Europe. So it was just a cultural exchange.” Per that logic, Lennon went on to say, “I mean, they went to America and Americanized the songs, and they sang about working on the railroads, but all the basic songs … like lots of Dylan’s basic songs are Scottish, Irish, or English folk songs. So that made us feel better. We delved into that side of it.”

Lennon’s comments are not a jab at Dylan and his work. Instead, he was merely acknowledging an inevitable fact of the creation of music. That fact is that no matter what kind of music you make, there will always be a similar sound that came far before you.

Photo by Max Scheler – K & K/Redferns