Today in History: John Lennon Left the ‘Concert for Bangladesh’ Screening During Bob Dylan’s Performance
In 1972, footage from George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh was released as a documentary, and John Lennon left the premiere when Bob Dylan came on screen. Lennon was openly a fan of Dylan throughout the 1960s, but his feelings toward the musician eventually shifted. It’s not clear why Lennon left the screening early, though.
John Lennon was extremely complimentary of Bob Dylan in the 1960s
While Lennon said he didn’t think Dylan would ever be as big as The Beatles, he admitted that much of his early inspiration came from the American artist.
“I started thinking about my own emotions – I don’t know when exactly it started like ‘I’m a Loser’ or ‘Hide Your Love Away’ or those kind of things – instead of projecting myself into a situation I would just try to express what I felt about myself which I’d done in me books,” Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1971. “I think it was Dylan helped me realize that – not by any discussion or anything but just by hearing his work – I had a sort of professional songwriter’s attitude to writing pop songs; he would turn out a certain style of song for a single and we would do a certain style of thing for this and the other thing.”
They spent time together throughout the 1960s but eventually drifted apart.
John Lennon left the theater during Bob Dylan’s set
On Wednesday, March 22, 1972, Apple Corps previewed The Concert For Bangladesh in New York. The documentary featured Harrison’s reasoning for putting on the concert, backstage footage, and the performances. Lennon did not perform in the Concert for Bangladesh, but he did attend the preview with Yoko Ono. Harrison did not want Ono to perform, and Lennon worried that The Beatles would reunite at the show.
According to the book The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Breakup, Lennon enjoyed the screening. Still, he left during Dylan’s four-song performance. Dylan appeared late in the film, so Lennon could simply have been trying to get out early. At this point, though, Lennon’s interest in Dylan’s music was waning, so he may have left to avoid watching him.
The former Beatle eventually criticized the American musician
After The Beatles broke up, Lennon gave a number of scathing interviews in which he discussed other musicians. He directed much of his ire at his former Beatles bandmates but admitted that he was no longer a fan of Dylan’s music.
“I thought it wasn’t much,” he said. “Because I expect more — maybe I expect too much from people — but I expect more. I haven’t been a Dylan follower since he stopped rocking. I liked ‘Rolling Stone’ and a few things he did then; I like a few things he did in the early days. The rest of it is just like Lennon-McCartney or something. It’s no different, it’s a myth.”
Dylan didn’t regain Lennon’s affection, either. In a recording toward the end of Lennon’s life, he referred to Dylan’s new music as “embarrassing” and “pathetic.” He also lumped Dylan in with Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger, calling all of them “company men.”
