Two events during 1964 were to have
a profound effect on John's writing. The first was hearing
Bob Dylan's music in Paris during January, when Paul
acquired The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan from and interviewer at
a local radio station.
Paul had heard Dylan's music before
through the student friends in Liverpool but it was the
first time John had heard it. After hearing Freewheelin',
which was Dylan's first album, they went out and bought his
debut album Bob Dylan and, according to John, "for the rest
of our three weeks we didn't stop playing them. We all went
potty on Dylan."
The second event to affect John in
a big way was meeting journalist Kenneth Allsop, a writer
for the Daily Mail and a regular interviewer on Tonight, BBC
Television's news magazine programme, John first met him on
March 23, when he was interviewed for four minutes on
Tonight about his book In His Own Write, and then again at a
Foyles Literary Luncheon at the Dorchester Hotel in London's
Park Lane. Allsop, a handsome craggy Yorkshirman, was 44
years old at the time and about to become one of the
best-known faces on British television. He had been in
journalism since 1938, with a brief interruption caused by
the war, during which he served in the Royal Air
Force.
It was in the 'green room', the
hospitality suite, at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios on March
23 that Allsop first spoke to John about his songwriting
encouraging him not to hide his true feelings behind the
usual banalities of the pop song. It was obvious to Allsop
from reading In His Own Write that John had much more to
give if he was prepared to open up to his deeper
feelings.
Years later, John told his
confidant Elliot Mintz that this meeting marked a
significant turning point in his songwriting. "He told me
that he was very nervous that day and, because of this,
became very talkative and engaged Allsop in conversation,"
says Mintz. "Allsop had in essence said to him that he
wasn't terrible enamoured with the Beatles' songs because
they all tended to be 'she loves him', 'he loves her', 'they
love her' and 'I love her'. He suggested to John that he try
to write something more autobiographical, based on personal
experience rather than these abstract images. That stuck a
chord with him."
Although recorded five months
later, 'I'm A Loser' was the first fruit of this meeting
with Allsop. It would be wrong to say it was a complete
change of direction, because from the beginning John had
written songs in which he exposed himself as lonely, sad and
abandoned, but in 'I'm A Loser' he let a little more of his
true self show. On the surface, it's another song about
having lost a girl but the lines, which announce that
beneath his mask he is 'wearing a frown', suggests that he
considers himself a loser in more ways than one. He's not
just a loser in love; he feels that he's a loser in
life.
All this would be idle speculation
if it wasn't for the fact that 'I'm A Loser' can now be seen
as an early stage in John's tortuous journey towards candid
self-revelation in his songwriting. At the time, he was
quick to credit the effect Bob Dylan had on 'I'm A Loser'.
"Anyone who is one of the best in his field - as Dylan is -
is bound to influence people," he said at the time. "I
wouldn't be surprised if we influenced him in some
way."
Kenneth Allsop went to present the
television news programme 24 Hours and then, in May 1973, he
was found dead at his home. The cause of his death was an
overdose of painkillers but the lack of a suicide note meant
that the inquest was left to record an open
verdict.
Hard Travellin', Allsop's account
of the life of the American hobo which was first published
in 1967, has become a classic of its kind and is still in
print.
|