The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

Last year, I re-read The Beatles Anthology, and I made a note of page 158, where John Lennon says that "'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' is my Dylan period.'"  I'd thought I noticed a resemblance between the chords of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'," but I never got around to investigating that.  Listening to it now though, I discovered a lyrical similarity.  "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" has the line "Gather ‘round, all you clowns" where Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" starts with "Come gather 'round, people, wherever you roam" (incidentally, I think Dylan took that line from Woody Guthrie).  Unless Lennon hadn't mentioned "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" in his "Dylan period," I would just think that resemblance a similarity (if I would have remarked it at all), but because he did mention it, I think that phrase is a bit of Dylan's influence.

Bob Dylan's "North Country Blues"

Recently, I’ve been reading a book by Andy Gill about Bob Dylan’s songs from 1962 to 1969, so after I read about a particular album, I listen to it.  Gill mentions that some of the melodies that Dylan uses are from older folk songs.  For example, he says that “Girl from the North Country” and “Boots of Spanish Leather” bear some melodic resemblance to “Scarborough Fair.”

I’m in the midst of listening to The Times They Are A-Changin’, and I realized that the melody of “North Country Blues” is similar to the melody of the folk song “Barbara Allen.”

Gill also mentions that an-other musician who was inspired by folk songs - and “Scarborough Fair” in particular - is Paul Simon.  One of the bonus tracks for the Sounds of Silence album is “Barbriallen” - a variation of “Barbara Allen.”  So it seems that “Barbara Allen” was as important as “Scarborough Fair.”