David Gilmour on Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney

David Gilmour is regarded as one of the most influential guitarists of all time, helping to make Pink Floyd one of the most successful bands that ever existed. But before them, other groundbreaking songwriters like Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney paved the way.

Over the decades, Gilmour has spoken about both artists, sharing his opinions and revealing some interesting moments he experienced with these legendary musicians.

David Gilmour on Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney

Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney have inspired David Gilmour a lot over the decades, and they are two of the few artists he said he has always followed, no matter what new music they release. Paul is viewed by most people as a complete musician who can really do everything, but in David’s opinion, Bob Dylan, whom many people pay more attention to and give more credit for his lyrics, is underestimated as a musician. He has said Dylan is more than just someone who writes incredible lyrics.

“To me, I was never one of the people who thought Dylan was a monster for going electric. I liked the change. But I must say the power of the young Dylan as the acoustic-playing protest singer- which he’s always denied. But sorry Bob, you were a protest singer. Just to get his guitar and play to a crowd of people and it’s like an arrow. His words come out and the music. People underestimate his actual musical abilities. And the melodies and the words just shoot out like an arrow. I think he was unbelievable. And is,” David Gilmour told The Guardian in 2006.

Gilmour has the same opinion about McCartney, whom he also admires as an instrumentalist, having said he has a good level on every instrument he plays. “He is a musician in the broadest sense of the word. He can play everything: bass, guitar, piano, drums … And on all these instruments, he has a very good level.”

He continued:

“We cannot therefore mystify him, he knows exactly what he wants. We owe him certain productions which were not of the greatest interest. But he definitely deserves the success and respect he enjoys,” David Gilmour told Guitarist magazine in 2002. Gilmour never had the chance to play with Dylan, who is one of his heroes, but he did record with McCartney and was “part” of The Beatles for one day.

He has appeared on Paul’s solo work, playing on the Wings single “Rockestra Theme”, on the album “Give My Regards to Broad Street” (1984), on which he recorded the beautiful guitar solo in “No More Lonely Nights”, as well as on the albums “Flowers in the Dirt” (1989) and “Run Devil Run” (1999).

He also had the chance to be a Beatle for a day in 1999 when he played at the historic Cavern Club in Liverpool in a supergroup formed by McCartney, which also featured Ian Paice (Deep Purple) on drums. “I’ve completed all the stuff that Paul has so far asked me to do with him. I don’t know if he’s doing anymore but it was really good fun to get back to that kind of music for a change. Getting to be a Beatle for that night at the Cavern was unforgettable. (…)”

David Gilmour continued:

“You make that comparison with a number of different bands. I’m a huge fan of the Beatles, but I don’t know what parallels are between us except we were both pretty good at what we did.” When asked if his kids like Pink Floyd, he said: “I think they’re all fans. But possibly they prefer the Beatles,” Gilmour said in a MSN webcast at the time. He has already said, when asked, that The Beatles were the band he would have liked to have been a member of if he could choose.

The songs by Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney had said are some of his favorites of all time

When asked by BBC Radio 4 to pick which songs he would take to a desert island, Gilmour mentioned one Bob Dylan song. When it came to the American artist, his choice was “Ballad in Plain D”, from the 1964 album “Another Side of Bob Dylan”. “I’ve lived through a lot of his heavy protest stuff. But this was another side I’m very keen on. This sort of love song approach. He is wonderful,” Gilmour said in 2003.

Three years later, when he was part of the BBC Radio 2 show “Tracks Of My Years”, he mentioned the Lennon/McCartney composition “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love” from “Help!” (1965) as one of his favorites of all time. Curiously, in his opinion, that track was inspired by Dylan. “I fwas an absolute mad Beatles fan. ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’ is, I think, John Lennon‘s first moment of being influenced by Bob Dylan. It’s very much on the Bob Dylan vein. So it’s just one example of hundreds of things I could choose. Anything by The Beatles, really. Fantastic song,” David Gilmour said.

Dylan likes Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney called Gilmour a genius

Both Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney admire Gilmour’s work as a musician. The musician had the chance to meet Bob a couple of times and during the second occasion, the American artist told him he loved the song “The Dogs”, which is actually “Dogs” from the album “Animals” (1977). “The second time we met was around the time of ‘The Delicate Sound Of Thunder’. He said (adopts perfect Dylan accent) ‘Hey, I love your record, The Dogs, man’. I was so thrilled. Not many Pink Floyd fans like this track. But Bob does. So it was OK with me.”

Paul McCartney has praised Gilmour publicly multiple times over the years. He even called him a genius in his book “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” (2021). “David Gilmour plays the solo on the record (‘No More Lonely Nights’). I’ve known him since the early days of Pink Floyd. Dave is a genius of sorts, so I was pulling out all the stops.”

He continued:

“I admired his playing so much, I’d seen him around; I think he’d just done his solo ‘About Face’ album. So I rang him up and said, ‘Would you play on this?’ It sounded like his kind of thing,” Paul McCartney said.

Gilmour is only four years younger than McCartney, so he was already old enough to understand and witness Beatlemania in England and around the world in the 1960s. More importantly, since he lived in England, he experienced that incredible movement up close.

What helped him discover Bob Dylan’s music, who was on the other side of the Atlantic, were actually his parents, who lived in New York for a while and used to send him presents, such as instruments and, on one occasion, a Bob Dylan record. He received one of Dylan’s albums on his 16th birthday, which became a really important source of inspiration.

“I got Bob Dylan’s first record for my 16th birthday. They (his parents) sent me from Greenwich Village (New York). Before that they sent me the Peter Seeger’s guitar tutor record, which is my only actual instruction (To play guitar). (It) was with Peter Seeger’s guitar tutor record,” David Gilmour told BBC Two in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).