On July 29, 1965, Bob Dylan released “Positively 4th Street,” between his Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde albums. Though the song didn’t make either album and remained a one-off single, a follow-up to Dylan’s hit “Like a Rolling Stone,” it left an indelible mark on two icons.
The Beatles once rehearsed “Positively 4th Street” during their Let It Be sessions, but they never finished a complete version. Joni Mitchell, who said that Dylan helped her focus on the “emphasis on lyrics,” cited “Positively 4th Street” as the song that prompted her to reach the more vulnerable or darker points in her songs.
“There came a point when I heard a Dylan song called ‘Positively Fourth Street’ and thought ‘Oh my God, you can write about anything in songs,’” said Mitchell. “It was like a revelation to me.”
She continued, “I started scraping my own soul more and more and got more humanity in it. It scared the singer-songwriters around me; the men seemed to be nervous about it, almost like Dylan plugging in and going electric. It’s just humanness that I’m trying to describe.”
The song also had a similar impact on John Lennon at the time. Lennon never hid Dylan’s influence on him and on some of the Beatles’ songs, including “In My Life,” “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” “I’m a Loser,” and more.
“That’s me in my Dylan period again,” Lennon once said while discussing the Beatles’ Help! track “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and Dylan’s influence on the song. “I am like a chameleon, influenced by whatever is going on. If Elvis can do it, I can do it. If the Everly Brothers can do it, me and Paul can—same with Dylan.”
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Dylan’s 4th Streets
From 1959 through 1960, Dylan lived on fraternity row at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, on 4th Street, then at 161 West 4th Street in New York City, from 1961 to 1964.
His “Positively 4th Street” spoke to some of the fake people he started to encounter further into his career, those who became jealous of his fame within the Greenwich Village music community in New York City or criticzed him for his transition from folk to electric.
You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend
When I was down, you just stood there grinnin’
You’ve got a lotta nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on the side that’s winnin’
You say I let you down, ya know its not like that
If you’re so hurt, why then don’t you show it?
You say you’ve lost your faith, but that’s not where it’s at
You have no faith to lose, and ya know it
I know the reason that you talked behind my back
I used to be among the crowd you’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool, to think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?
You see me on the street, you always act surprised
You say “how are you? Good luck,” but ya don’t mean it
When you know as well as me, you’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once and scream it
[RELATED: 5 Songs by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles on John Lennon’s 1965 Playlist]
Dylan on Lennon’s “Jukebox”
In 1989, Lennon’s 1965 Swiss-Made KB Discomatic, which he filled with 40 of his favorite 45s to keep him “company” on tour, surfaced at a Christie’s auction. Lennon’s own personal “jukebox” sold to music engineer John Midwinter for £2,500 (approximately $2,770).
Midwinter then spent the next several years restoring and researching the 45s Lennon personally placed inside, along with his handwritten notes around some of his favorite songs, which was all later compiled on the 2004 release John Lennon’s Jukebox.
Along with Lennon’s diverse musical mix of rock, rhythm, and blues, Motown, and folk, there were songs by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and the Lovin’ Spoonful, among many others.
Within Lennon’s playlist was also a copy of the sole Dylan song he added on: “Positively 4th Street.”
Photo: John Lennon, Paris, January 16, 1964. (Harry Benson/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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