by Jochen Markhorst
VIII “I can only hope I can be as influential”
Hush li’l children, you’ll soon understand The Beatles are coming they’re gonna hold your hand Slide down the bannister, go get your coat Ferry ‘cross the Mersey and go for the throat
It is 27 March 2020 and Dylan surprises the world with the release of “Murder Most Foul”, the first original Dylan song since 2012 – so it attracts quite a lot of attention for that reason alone. More than just attention, in fact: it is the first – and so far only – time that Dylan himself has reached the number one spot in a Billboard chart with a song (admittedly not in the Hot 100, but in the less prestigious Rock Digital Song Sales, but still). No one realises yet that this is the prelude to a whole album. But with the benefit of hindsight, we can say that here, at 2’17”, we get the first hint of the theme – or at the very least the leitmotif – of that forthcoming album: songs.
And as the very first of these, embedded in paternal encouragement and instructions, the poet chooses “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, which is fitting in this context. And at the same time a somewhat loaded choice; this is precisely the one Beatles song that has become part of Dylan folklore. Fans have known the story for over fifty years: in 1964, Dylan heard the song on the radio and got absolutely excited when he heard the lads singing I get high. So when he meets them for the first time, on 28 August 1964 at the Delmonico Hotel in New York, he has the perfect welcome gift: cannabis. A bit taken aback, manager Brian Epstein reveals that the lads have never used marijuana before. Dylan is flabbergasted. “But what about your song? The one about getting high?’ Embarrassed, Lennon has to explain: the actual words are I can’t hide, not I get high. Never mind: the Beatles are always willing to learn and open-minded, so this becomes the legendary evening on which Dylan introduces the Fab Four to weed. For which we’re all grateful, of course. After all, it leads to “Got To Get You Into My Life” and “The Word” and “Fixing A Hole” and, above all, the extraordinary gem “Rain”, about which John later remarks: “That one was the gift of God, of Jah, actually, the god of marijuana, right? So Jah gave me that one.”
The loaded undercurrent, however, will not have influenced Dylan’s choice; The Beatles are coming, they’re gonna hold your hand is, after all, historically accurate. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is the Beatles’ first single in the US, and the starting signal for the all-consuming whirlwind that Beatlemania would turn out to be. A most fitting prelude, incidentally; on the morning of the assassination, 22 November 1963, CBS Morning News broadcast a light-hearted feature on that strange phenomenon in Europe known as The Beatles.
It was due to be repeated that evening on CBS Evening News by Walter Cronkite, but was – understandably – cancelled due to the events in Dallas, and the feature was eventually rescheduled for 10 December. Fourteen-year-old Marsha Albert in Silver Spring, Maryland, then sees that repeat broadcast, is hooked, and writes a letter to the local radio station: “Why can’t we have music like that here in America?” DJ Carroll James sees a challenge, knows a BOAC stewardess, and has her buy a copy of the single in England and bring it to Maryland. He then invites the girl, Marsha, to the studio, and so, on 17 December 1963, she becomes the first person to announce a Beatles song on American radio: “Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time on the air in the United States, here are the Beatles singing I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The result is hardly surprising: the station is inundated with requests and WWDC continues to play the song.
Capitol had actually intended to release the single on the US market in mid-January 1964, but realised that, contrary to the prevailing marketing conventions, they had to release it now, right in the middle of the festive season. And so it came to pass: 26 December 1963 marks the unofficial start of the British Invasion and of the still-unbroken record of seven number-one singles in a single calendar year (following “I Want To Hold Your Hand” came “She Loves You”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Love Me Do”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Feel Fine” and “Eight Days A Week”, all in 1964).
Once the door to The Beatles has been opened, the next step is a small and obvious one:
“Our next group was managed by Brian Epstein and this song was produced by George Martin. That’s right – here’s Gerry And The Pacemakers, and this song was kind of the anthem from Merseybeat music.”
(Dylan in Theme Time Hour 23 January 2008, Ep. “Around The World II”)
… the words with which the DJ announces “Ferry Cross The Mersey”. And after the final chord, DJ Dylan delves a little deeper into the history of Merseybeat, and tells, whilst The Shadows’ “Apache” provides a gentle backdrop to his words:
“According to what some people believe, the music being played by all these young bands, all comes down to one guy: the name was Bob Wooler, and he became known as the disc jockey of the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Bob was a huge fan of American music, and he ordered and bought records in a local shop in Liverpool, the North End Music Store. The man behind the counter was the shop owner, Brian Epstein. Many groups heard Bob Wooler play records as a disc jockey and went into Brian Epstein’s store, looking to buy them. Some of them not only bought them – they sped ‘m up and recorded them themselves. Some of the most famous were The Beatles. I can only hope I can be as influential as a disc jockey as Bob Wooler was.”
Well, as a DJ, that ambition may not have quite come true, but there are surely areas where Bob Dylan has still made some of an impression.
To be continued. Next up Murder Most Foul part 9:
Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle: 
- *Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue*
- Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
- Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
- Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
- Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
- Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
- Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
- John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
- Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s looking for the fuse
- Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
- Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s second Big Bang
- Time Out Of Mind: The Rise of an Old Master
- Crossing The Rubicon: Dylan’s late-career classic
- Nashville Skyline: Bob Dylan’s other kind of music
- Nick Drake’s River Man: A very British masterpiece
- I Contain Multitudes: Bob Dylan’s Account of the Long Strange Trip
- Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways – Side B
- Bob Dylan’s High Water (for Charley Patton)
- Bob Dylan’s 1971
- Like A Rolling Stone b/w Gates Of Eden: Bob Dylan kicks open the door
- It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry b/w Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Bob Dylan’s melancholic blues
- Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways – Side A
- Bob Dylan takes Highway 61 – Seven mercurial songs
- Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways – Side C
