ABSTRACT
In the period between Bob Dylan’s first visit to London in the winter of 1962–1963 and his next trip in May 1964, such was the changing musical, social, and cultural climate of the Britain of those times. Dylan himself had become an important early musical influence on some of the most popular and influential British groups of that fruitful period. Dylan’s influence on The Beatles, and on Lennon in particular, was to become evident from midsummer 1964 onwards in their songwriting on their fourth, fifth, and sixth studio albums, Beatles for Sale, Help, and Rubber Soul respectively. The most popular, influential, and enduring of such groups was unquestionably The Beatles. The most significant change accelerating that shift of power, or at least influence, to recording artists and their youthful audience and market was the growing tendency of British popular musicians to write their own songs, following the outstanding examples of The Beatles and Bob Dylan.
