Imagine - A Simple Twist of Fate- If Dylan was born in Liverpool and John.......

[Paperback Writer]

....and John was born in the US, where Dylan was born.  Would Dylan have had the hots for rock and roll in England, would he have formed a rock band, met McCartney,  formed a writing duo, etc.  He was a word-smith with bite. attitude, could they have still been - if not the Beatles - as powerful a form or force of nature musically, especially had they also met George and Ringo, makes you wonder.

If John was born in the Mid-western United States, would he also be influenced by rock, but also Woody Guthrie and folk and became the great bard, then turning to rock and his own mountain of culture.  What do you think?
I can see it happening!  I think John would have had to do less drugs and keep The Band as permanent (and stay off motor-cycles) to pull it off.  Whew!

 

[mervap]

Well, I don't know nearly enough about Dylan to make an educated guess....the trauma of losing his mother (in the John timeline) may have affected him very differently than it affected JL. He might have had his 'spiritual awakening' far earlier because of it and never shown much interest in secular music at all. Lennon (in the Dylan timeline), growing up in Minnesota (where there are bars on every corner), might have fallen in love with drinking earlier and heavier than he really did and never made it out of Hibbert.

[chris]

since this is all speculative anyway...

things may not have been all that different. john wouldn't have met paul...and that would have been pretty consequential. but all of the influences john had would have still been available to him. even in the states. and folk music was around, perhaps in limited fashion, in england for the fictional dylan to enjoy.

it all comes down to which side you subscribe to...i think. nature or nurture?