When you hear the term “confession,” you may be curious about what we mean. Even if the word is self-explanatory, there’s something enigmatic about it that catches your attention and compels you to click on this post. You may be wondering what Paul McCartney had to confess about Bob Dylan because the word “confession” seems so serious and gloomy.
Although McCartney has been carrying around a little secret for years, there have been occasions when people have believed that the legendary Beatles member had ties to the dark side. For example, several individuals—mostly TikTokers—said that Paul was connected to witchcraft. They thought he was in a coven, and he had penned a very well-known song about his devotion to black magic.
However, Paul’s admission regarding fellow rock musician and master songwriter Bob Dylan was not as sinister as the notion that he was a warlock. It had overtones of jealousy and was more artistic. As you would imagine, jealousy of other people and their abilities is a common emotion, but among rock stars, wanting one could write like another goes beyond simple commonality.
So, it was entertaining to watch a young Paul, who was beginning to establish himself as a legend, admit in a 1966 interview with Flip Magazine that he was jealous of a quality shared by Bob Dylan. When questioned about his favorite rockers, the then-young rocker couldn’t help but admit that he was a fan of Dylan, despite his self-consciousness about composition.
Paul talked about Bob’s songwriting ability, “Dylan is a fantastic composer, At first, I didn’t understand. I used to lose his songs in the middle, but then I realized it didn’t matter. You can get hung up on just two words of a Dylan lyric. ‘Jealous Monk’ or ‘magic swirling ship’ are examples of the fantastic word combinations he uses. I could never write like that, and I envy him. He is a poet.”
Therefore, McCartney’s revelation was not a sinister secret that he kept hidden for years. Rather, it was a wonderful complement laced with a hint of envy from a young Beatle attempting to recognize Bob Dylan’s musical brilliance. Paul was adamant that Dylan was a poet, and fortunately, they both felt the same way.