Lots of musicians have made songs to honor John Lennon, a super famous singer from The Beatles. In 2012, Bob Dylan, another big music star, wrote a special song called “Roll On, John” to remember him. John and Bob lived at the same time and made music that people loved back in the 1960s. They even met and hung out sometimes—Bob once showed John and The Beatles a plant called marijuana, and John later said Bob’s name in a song called “God” after he left The Beatles.
Sadly, John Lennon died on December 8, 1980, but years later, Bob wanted to visit where John grew up. In 2009, while he was on a trip in Europe, Bob took a day off and went to John’s old house in Woolton, Liverpool. He didn’t tell anyone big about it—he just joined a small group of 13 people on a little bus tour run by the National Trust. The house looked like it did when John was a kid in the 1940s, with stuff from his early life inside. Bob wore regular clothes and looked like any other visitor, so no one knew he was a famous singer.
Bob loved learning about John’s childhood. He thought a lot about a Beatles song called “Strawberry Fields Forever,” which was about a park near John’s house. Bob said a line in the song—“Nothing to get hung about”—made him curious. He figured out it meant John was telling his mom not to worry because no one was going to punish him. Bob thought that was really interesting.
Back in the 1960s, Bob Dylan and The Beatles were both huge stars, and sometimes they tried to be better than each other on the music charts. But even with that competition, Bob felt close to John. He told Rolling Stone magazine in 2012 that they were alike in many ways. “John grew up in the north of England, and I grew up in the north of America,” Bob said. “We both came from tough places where it wasn’t easy to succeed.”
Bob also said, “We were the same age and liked the same things growing up. We had hard times, but we understood each other. I really miss him and wish he was still around to talk to.” His song “Roll On, John” tells John’s story, from his kid days in Liverpool to his last days in New York City. Bob added little bits from Beatles songs, like “Come together right now over me” and “I heard the news today, oh boy,” to make it extra special.
When someone asked Bob how he wrote the song, he said, “A person’s life has so many stories. I just picked the parts I felt in my heart and knew about.” “Roll On, John” is a sweet way Bob said thank you to his friend John Lennon, and it’s a song kids and grown-ups can listen to and enjoy together!
