Paul McCartney on why Bob Dylan is the one artist he’s “nervous to approach”

Paul McCartney has explained why Bob Dylan is the one artist that he feels “nervous” to approach.

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The two music legends have been mutual admirers for over 60 years, having first met when Dylan came to The Beatles’ hotel suite in New York in August 1964 and introduced them to marijuana for the first time.

In a new interview on BBC Radio 2’s Track Of My Years, McCartney was asked to pick his favourite songs and among them was Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’.

When asked about his relationship with the singer-songwriter, he said: “I’m a fan, but y’know, I don’t know him well enough. George [Harrison] knew him very well because they were in the Travelling Wilburys together. I’m a little bit nervous to approach him.”

McCartney continued: “Some people, it’s easy, you sort of think we can chat easily. Last time I saw Bob, it was a few years ago, we are at Coachella and they did the Desert Trip, so it was a lot of vintage acts: us, the Stones, Bob, Neil Young. And one of our girls said, ‘Bob Dylan wants to see you’.”

He went on to explain that he was surprised that it would be a private one-on-one meeting. “I came in to see him, and it was like, ‘Wow’. It was just him and me in this massive, big tent backstage. He was very complimentary, it’s funny because it was kind of a little bit embarrassing. He said, ‘You’re a star’. I thought, what do you say to that. ‘Thank you Bob, I love what you do’.”

In another recent interview, McCartney said that he had recently been to see a Dylan show and admitted: “Honestly, I couldn’t tell what song he was doing.”

He said that he understood if he “doesn’t want to do ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, maybe he’s fed up with it”, but added, “I would like to hear it. And I paid!”

Dylan has spoken highly of McCartney many times, including in 2007 when he said: “I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he’s never let up…He’s just so damn effortless.”

The comments were reciprocated by McCartney in 2020, when he spoke to BBC Radio 2 and said that The Beatles’ more “interpersonal, reflective” songwriting was influenced by the American folk icon.

“We certainly got a lot from Dylan and I know I had one of his first LPs at home before The Beatles,” he told Sean Ono Lennon. “I 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.”

He also said that year that he always wished he “could be a bit more like” Bob Dylan, particularly when it comes down to not worrying about what other people think.

Macca’s new album, ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’, is set for release on Friday (May 29), and you can pre-order it here. It includes a duet with former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr on ‘Home To Us’ –  a nostalgic reflection on their Liverpool roots, that marks their first ever vocal collaboration. It also features Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.