Dylan, Lennon, Marx and God

Ground-breaking dual biography that explores pop music's two most influential songwriters, offering new insights into their creative thinking.

This dual biography explores popular music's two most influential songwriters and their place within the political and social movements of their time. It discusses their relationship, politics, appreciation of history and spirituality to show how each artist challenged convention and asked profound questions about what it means to be human.Bob Dylan and John Lennon are two of the most iconic names in popular music. Dylan is arguably the twentieth century's most important singer-songwriter. Lennon was founder and leader of the Beatles who remain, by some margin, the most covered songwriters in history. While Dylan erased the boundaries between pop and poetry, Lennon and his band transformed the genre's creative potential. The parallels between the two men are striking but underexplored. This book addresses that lack. Jon Stewart discusses Dylan's and Lennon's relationship; their politics; their understanding of history; and their deeply held spiritual beliefs. In revealing how each artist challenged the restrictive social norms of their day, the author shows how his subjects asked profound moral questions about what it means to be human and how we should live. His book is a potent meditation and exploration of two emblematic figures whose brilliance changed Western music for a generation.