![\"Mick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mick-Jagger-Singer-The-Rolling-Stones-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Press)<\/p>\n
Tue 24 March 2026 15:00, UK <\/p>\n
Between the two of them, Mick Jagger<\/a> and Keith Richards have changed musical history with a long career, making hits that will long outlive them. <\/p>\n It\u2019s tough to find a single artist around that wouldn\u2019t acknowledge that, or doesn\u2019t dream of fostering the kind of career they\u2019ve had as a truly enduring act where inspiration never seemed to slip away from them. <\/p>\n But when you\u2019re as powerful as that, where do you look for inspiration? When you\u2019re almost instantly in the God tier from only a few years into your career, what peers do you turn to for influence? They had the old greats that moved them and spurred their music onwards, but in terms of the musical world around them, The Rolling Stones do have a legacy of being quicker to critique rather than praise.<\/p>\n There is a long list of artists<\/a> that Jagger and Richards don\u2019t, or at least didn\u2019t, like, including Sex Pistols, Elton John, Prince, Grateful Dead, even The Who. They\u2019ve never been shy about a bad word or a negative opinion, and it\u2019s always been rare for Jagger to loudly revere one of his peers like he does the old blue legends, but one man was exempt from that: Dylan.<\/p>\n Jagger\u2019s connection to Dylan starts way early. Back when the American was still only just breaking out, Jagger was clued in, telling The Guardian, \u201cI was playing Bob Dylan records at my parents\u2019 house when he was still an acoustic folk singer\u201d. It doesn\u2019t immediately seem like the type of stuff he\u2019d be into, given Jagger\u2019s blues influences and his lover for a heavier, louder style of rock and roll. But something about Dylan appealed as he added, \u201cHe was already very important and his lyrics were on point. The delivery isn\u2019t just the words, it\u2019s the accentuation and the moods and twists he puts on them\u201d.<\/p>\n He stayed hooked onto the singer, buying each record and watching as Dylan evolved more and more. Then, in 1965, there was one song that truly struck him. \u201c\u2018Desolation Row\u2019s\u2019 lyrics are just so interesting and diverse. It isn\u2019t a real street so you create your own fantasy. I imagine an unforgiving place, somewhere you don\u2019t want to spend much time, peopled with strange characters,\u201d he said about the Highway 61 Revisited tune. From his first listen to now, his fascination with the song endures, along with his own imagination about it.<\/p>\n To him, that\u2019s the sign of sheer greatness. Just like the Stones\u2019 devotion to timelessness<\/a> and their desire to write songs that are free from trending fads that will fade quick, they\u2019ve always been a band all about endurance, wanting songs to live a long life. In his mind, \u2018Desolation Row\u2019 is a perfect example of that, as he said in 2021, decades upon decades on from its release, \u201cYou can listen to it all the time and still get something wonderful and new from it\u201d.<\/p>\n Mostly though, he loves the song\u2019s guitar line. \u201cMusically, he prettifies it. I love the lovely half-Spanish guitar lines from the session guitarist, Charlie McCoy. It\u2019s actually a really lovely song, which shouldn\u2019t work with the imagery but does,\u201d he said, liking the juxtaposition of lyricism and sound. <\/p>\n But overwhelmingly, Jagger just loves Dylan, and always has; the latter clearly appeals to the softer, more folk-influenced side that occasionally creeps out on a Stones record. The feeling is mostly mutual with Dylan loving him right back, although he did take one swipe<\/a>, stating, \u201cTo see him jumping around like he does, I don\u2019t give a shit in what age, from Altamont to RFK Stadium, you don\u2019t have to do that, man\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter<\/p>\n