In a great interview on Frank Santopadre's podcast, "Fun for All Ages" promoting his book Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other — And the World, author Jim Windolf describes how in 1966, Bob Dylan stole/parodied the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood," and then filmed himself provoking John Lennon about it (while very high on something).
The episode seems to encapsulate the friendly rivalry, and the mutual influence, between Dylan and The Beatles. When the Beatles came out with the Lennon-written song "Norwegian Wood" on their 1965 album "Rubber Soul," Dylan apparently felt that it copied his own style.
So he wrote and recorded a song "Fourth Time Around" for his 1966 album "Blonde on Blonde" that borrowed heavily from the melody and other elements of "Norwegian Wood."
Dylan played "Fourth Time Around" for the Beatles, and Lennon cracked that it sounds like it should be on Northern Songs, which was the name of the publishing company that held the copyright for Lennon's and Paul McCarney's songs.
A few weeks later, Dylan was making a documentary and had a cameraman filming himself and Lennon in the back of a limousine. Dylan seems dangerously high on some kind of drug and is giggling, slurring and eventually getting sick.
He tries to create a provocative moment by trying to recall what Lennon had said about his song — in fact, the accusation Lennon had cheekily made — but can't remember the name of Northern Songs. And Lennon refuses to take the bait, looking merely bemused.
You can watch the eight-minute video of the two icons — one trashed and trying to get a provocative response to a song dispute, and the other slightly bored — here, at 2:50. Lennon is very funny as he mocks Dyan's preoccupation with his Northern Songs comment. The conversation eventually devolves into whether or not they'll get to their hotel before Dylan gets sick.
Windolf's book, about the complicated and profound relationship between Dylan and the Beatles sounds fascinating.
