Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert back in 2020, Springsteen spoke adoringly about the folk hero, citing tracks like ‘Visions Of Johanna’ and ‘Ring Them Bells’ as major influences on his own songwriting.
However, he also noted the ire of those comparisons between Dylan and himself back in the early days. “I became self-conscious about the Dylan comparison, so I moved away from [that style of songwriting] quickly,” Springsteen shared.
(Wesley Stace began his musical career using the stage name John Wesley Harding, which he took from the 1967 Bob Dylan album John Wesley Harding, for which Dylan misspelled the outlaw John Wesley Hardin's name, adding a final 'g'. - Watch belove.)
“Looking back, I kind of had my own Dylan-Esque style,” he continued, “And I kind of wish I had never moved away from it so quickly.” Of course, Springsteen would revisit his folk-adjacent roots at multiple points during his career, with a particularly notable instance being 1982’s Nebraska, which featured a stripped-back acoustic-led sound and a wealth of socially conscious and introspective lyricism.
During the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, Springsteen was given the ultimate honour and inducted his icon in Cleveland. During his speech, he delved deep into his love of Dylan and revealed the moment that the love affair started. “The first time that I heard Bob Dylan I was in the car with my mother, and we were listening to, I think, maybe WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody kicked open the door to your mind, from ‘Like a Rolling Stone,'” Springsteen revealed.
“And my mother, who was – she was no stiff with rock and roll, she liked the music, she listened – she sat there for a minute, she looked at me, and she said, ‘That guy can’t sing.’ But I knew she was wrong. I sat there, I didn’t say nothin’, but I knew that I was listening to the toughest voice that I had ever heard.
“It was lean, and it sounded somehow simultaneously young and adult, and I ran out and I bought the single. And I came home, I ran home, and I put it on my 45, and they must have made a mistake at the factory, because a Lenny Welch song came on.
