One of the most prolific songwriters and musicians of all time, Bob Dylan changed the course of music in the ’60s when he showed the world that songs didn’t have to be only about love. He influenced The Beatles and countless other groups who went on to write their own tracks. Although he became a massive star and toured almost non-stop every year, he has spoken to the press less and less over the past few decades. As a result, we don’t often hear him talk about other artists, but there are two musicians he loves and is great friends with.
Two musicians that Bob Dylan loves
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan is a good friend and a fan of Bruce Springsteen‘s work, having praised the musician a few times over the decades. Back in 1985, for example, in a TV interview in 1985 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) he said he was happy to see Bruce achieving fame. “I’m glad to see Bruce making it so big. It’s good, it’s good for the reality of Rock and Roll”. They had the chance to play together many times live.
In 2015 Dylan was honored at the MusiCares Person of the Year ceremony. Bruce was one of the artists who paid tribute to him that night, playing “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” with RATM’s Tom Morello on guitar.
Talking with Bill Flanagan some time after the ceremony, Dylan praised Springsteen’s performance. “Incredible! He did that song like the record, something I myself have never tried. I never even thought it was worth it. Maybe never had the manpower in one band to pull it off. I don’t know, but I never thought about it.”
“To tell you the truth, I’d forgotten how the song ought to go. Bruce pulled all the power and spirituality and beauty out of it like no one has ever done. He was faithful, truly faithful to the version on the record, obviously the only one he has to go by.”
He continued:
“I’m not a nostalgic person, but for a second there it all came back, Peckinpah, Slim Pickens, Katy Jurado, James Coburn, the dusty lawless streets of Durango, my first wife, my kids when they were small. For a second it all came back … it was that powerful. Bruce is a deep conscientious cat and the evidence of that was in the performance. He can get to your heart, my heart anyway,” Bob Dylan said.
They really have a special friendship and mutual respect because it was Bruce who inducted Bob into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony happened in 1988 and Springsteen said during his speech that “I knew that I was listening to the toughest voice that I’d ever heard.” It was a special night which had many stars on stage with Bob, like Bruce and Mick Jagger. They performed tracks like “Forever Young” and “Like a Rolling Stone”.
Although Bob Dylan is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, with more than 600 songs written, he usually covers a few tracks during his shows. In 1990, for example, he covered Bruce Springsteen’s hit “Dancing in the Dark”.
John Cougar Mellencamp
The other artist mentioned by Bob in the TV interview was John Cougar Mellencamp, “John Cougar too (Besides Bruce). I think there’s good signs that people can make it and have an individual point of view and get that across on a larger scale,” Bob Dylan said. They are also good friends and the legendary songwriter mentioned John during his MusiCares speech in 2015. “Like my friend John Mellencamp would sing — because John sang some truth today — one day you get sick and you don’t get better. That’s from a song of his called ‘Life is Short Even on Its Longest Days.’ It’s one of the better songs of the last few years, actually. I ain’t lying,” Bob Dylan said.
“Longest Days” was released by John Mellencamp in 2008 on his 20th album Life, “Death, Love and Freedom”. A few years after that speech, Mellencamp was asked by Rolling Stone what that meant to him.
He said:
“That wink and a nod was worth more than 50 Grammys. That came from Bob, that came from his heart. He didn’t have to fucking say that. The girl I was with started crying. Bob doesn’t like very many people.”
They were so close that Dylan used to call him in the middle of the night and read some lyric ideas to him to see what was his opinion about them. After a while Mellencamp told Dylan to stop calling him because he would love everything the legendary musician would write.
“(…) Bob Dylan used to call me up in the middle of the night and read his lyrics to me that he was working on for new records. And I finally told him, ‘Bob, would you quit calling me, because I’m not gonna say anything. I’m not a good sounding board because I like everything you do. I’m happy to hear this stuff, but I’m not that great of a sounding board.’ And it’s the same with Bruce. There’s very few guys I ended up admiring, musically. Bruce and Bob are definitely two of those guys. I’m happy to say I have a good relationship with both of them.” he told Billboard in 2022.
