Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other—and the World

Bob Dylan and the Beatles shaped one another’s music in enduring ways, even though Dylan initially dismissed the Fab Four’s songs as “bubblegum” and Paul McCartney once referred to Dylan’s music as “folk crap,” according to this lively debut from New York Times features editor Windolf. By early 1964, Dylan was the darling of the folk world, but had fallen into a creative limbo and was toying with the idea of writing plays, while the Beatles had achieved stadium-filling fame, but were questioning whether their aim was “to make it big... or were they in it for some other reason?” This period spurred the musicians to draw from one another in search of new musical directions; John Lennon began writing more introspective lyrics, while Dylan experimented with rock rhythms, started playing with a band, and began using electric instruments. The author draws on archival research and detailed music analysis, and includes an August 2025 interview with Paul McCartney. (On his artistic inspiration, McCartney observes: ”it just kind of comes down and you’re like a conduit”—much like Dylan, who noted it sometimes felt “like a ghost” was writing such songs as “Like a Rolling Stone.”) The result is a fresh portrait of two of the most influential music acts of the 1960s and ’70s. (Apr.)