Neil Young says he would be Bob Dylan if he could, as he considers the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter “the master”.
In an interview given by the Harvest hitmaker, he made it clear he wishes he could be just like his peer. Young, who has a discography which rivals the quality of Dylan’s decades of album releases, would share he wants to be like the veteran songwriter as his music has “touched me” with an intensity and consistency other writers do not have. Young would make this clear in an interview with Time Magazine, as the Like a Hurricane songwriter would say the poetry of Dylan’s music is crucial in wanting to be like him. Young said: “He’s the master. If I’d like to be anyone, it’s him.
“And he’s a great writer, true to his music and done what he feels is the right thing to do for years and years and years. The guy has written some of the greatest poetry and put it to music in a way that it touched me, and other people have done that, but not so consistently or as intensely.”
Young and Dylan would cross over on stage countless times over the decades, notably when backed by The Band at Kezar Stadium. The performance was lauded by members of the public who attended, and in a review from Cult Following of a bootleg release of the performance. It reads: “This is a trio of musicians who moulded the future of music and the sound they provide here is a plain imitation of that.”
But not all their work would delight, with Dylan criticising a song by Young, which he believes is a pale imitation of his sound. He said: “The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about ’72 and the big song at the time was Heart of Gold.
“I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to Heart of Gold. I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I’d say, ‘Shit, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me.’ There I was, stuck on the desert someplace, having to cool out for a while. New York was a heavy place.
“Woodstock was worse, people living in trees outside my house, fans trying to batter down my door, cars following me up dark mountain roads. I needed to lay back for a while, forget about things, myself included, and I’d get so far away and turn on the radio, and there I am, but it’s not me. It seemed to me somebody else had taken my thing and had run away with it, you know, and I never got over it. Maybe tomorrow.”
