Musicians Love Making Fun of Bob Dylan 

At the first Dylan concert I saw, he parodied The Beatles by hitting one chord and singing one word, "Yesterday".

George Harrison and Bob Dylan had the long running joke that they would make remarkable grotesque claims about each other in interviews..Harrison finally won it with his statement that Dylan's poetry was so great , he made William Shakespear look like Billy Joel. They decided to stop their game as this was undoable to top.

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery"

'Stuck in the Middle With You' is the best Bob Dylan song that Bob Dylan didn't write.

"Dylan, everything he sings has two meanings. He's telling you the truth and making fun of you at the same time. " (Paul Simon) Yep.

Bob, you can poke fun at him but can't ignore him. long live Bob.

my personal favorite Dylan parody is "Flakes" by Frank Zappa. You are just listening to the song, and then all of a sudden, one of the musicians starts doing a pitch perfect Bob Dylan impression, and then the song goes on like it never happened. He never comes back at the end, he's never referenced later in the song, the impression just happens.

That "And i blushed brightly when she showed me her, perfume that she buys" got me.

It's a shame that Bob Dylan's legendary early protest music and controversial switch to electronic music completely overshadows the wonderful love songs he wrote throughout the 60's and 70's. You come for Like a Rolling Stone, you stay for Girl from North Country

I refuse to see Dylan as anything other than pure, unfiltered genius.

I can't believe you missed out Syd Barrett's iconic "Bob Dylan Blues", possibly the most direct parody of Dylan ever

8:00 I’m not a big Lennon fan, but. That. Is. Hilarious.

"I once had a girl Or should I say She once had me"

Dylan took lyric-writing to a level which few have ever come close to attaining. Let it also be said that those few only did so after being inspired by him.

Making fun of Dylan just increases his myth since he must be so interesting that his peers actually spent so much time thinking about him. Dylan was comedian who loved to party. He created a character to have fun with people. The public took it seriously and created an image he never intended. So anyone trying to diss Bobby is dissing the public.

Another example is Syd Barrett’s “Bob Dylan Blues”

It's incredible how good Dylan is though. Every time you play the Dylan song after the parody, the Dylan song is musically just so so good

Dylan is a natural hard-nosed introvert. He is undeterred to such philanderies.

Dylan's great originality and genius often brought imitators, most of which didn't have the talent in their entire lives to match Dylan's baby finger. Enough said, Dylan is unassailable.

I see "A Simple Desultory Philippic" more as an hommage to Dylan than a parody though

Pink Floyd’s fascination w live show antics like the wall shows. Might be a good vid

Polyphonic is one of the few youtubers that inspires me, amazing work

"...target of satire over the last century..." Ahhh, remember all the Bob Dylan jokes in the 1920's - 1950's? Classics

Zappa's song "Flakes" has a Bob Dylan impression

How is this man able to upload such high quality so frequently?

3:52 “Dylan everything he sings has two meanings. He’s telling you the truth and making fun of you at the same time.”

“Oh I hate the government, more than you and me. The government stole my hamster and they unplugged my tv”-Animaniacs

The best imitation of Dylan's voice is by Joan Baez, it's uncanny.

Gotta love the zim. Gets a nobel prize, and quotes elvis. “Thank you very much”. And looks like he would rather be over at dave’s place, watching him paint.

Never been into Simon & Garfunkel but damn that was fucking savage. Everyone needs to listen to Blonde On Blonde at least once a year, though (Great video btw, man!)

Hasn’t Dylan always made fun of himself too? I always thought he took jabs in good jest.

Zappa's flakes is a great parody, and if i remember well, Frank also once said that Dylan and him were sort of kindred spirits.

Syd Barrett's Bob Dylan Blues is another great poke at Dylan.

Would've been nice to mention how Bob Dylan parodied Beatles for parodying him with Norwegian Wood and 4th Time Around.

What people seem to miss when they mock Dylan's delivery and tone is that he has profoundly influenced the way all pop singers sing. He is the raw form of an approach which now pervades the many genres. He took Billie Holliday's talk singing thing and went all in, bringing a vast number of devices into the art form which now go unnoticed because virtually everyone uses them. When i hear that he sounds like an old blues guy it makes me laugh/cry at the ignorance of what old blues guys actually sounded like - big bold tenors with heaps of vibrato. Dylan is difficult, doesn't give AF about us, and his concerts are a mix of the intensely frustrating and the sublime. But his singing is simply.... everywhere.

On the Simon song he also added "Lost my harmonica, Albert" - a reference to Albert Grossman (I always thought).

They're just jealous of his lyricism lol.

And yet, none of the parodies are funnier than Dylan himself. They just make fun of the surface stuff (his voice, inflections, complex lyrics, etc). But if you're in on the joke; if you know the musical and literary references that Dylan throws into his songs, you'll often be rolling on the floor! The greatest thing about him, though, in my opinion, is that you don't have to be well-read or have a great grasp of music history to enjoy his songs. He has the ability to make you feel smarter than you probably are, which is something people always like. And at the same time, he pulls you in with a great sense of wit, and a palette of emotions that run from gallows humor to desperate cries for redemption, and everything in between. His jokes can be blunt or very subtle, but they're always there on each and every album. Even on his religious ones. And his sad songs have the power to break the heart of the soulless.

Having a style that is easy to parody has to be one of my biggest creative aspirations

Check out Flakes by Frank Zappa for a really funny Dylan parody that starts at 1min 23 seconds . Right after Frank says " Take It Away Bob"

Controversial in many ways but one can’t argue the fact that he had a profound impact on American culture.

Bob Dylan had the biggest impact on my perspective and way of thinking more than anyone in my life and not just with music. Before I discovered Bob ( and I still vividly remember the day) I only listened to Punk Rock but then I realized who the original Punk was and there was no looking back.

Better title ( musicians loved impersonating Bob Dylan. ) most of them were his buddies roasting on him,

"Dylan often spun wild yarns like this song...115th Dream..." > Proceeds to play one of the most biting criticisms of imperialism ever put to page in 4 phrases Dude, you cannot be serious?

Sad not to see Dewey Cox's "Royal Jelly" here, but was happy to see the Lennon parodies.

the fact that he has been ridiculed and impersonated and satirized so much just makes his legend even bigger. will always love bob dylan

The thing is, Bob Dylan was trolling his critics in a lot of his lyrics. He was painfully aware of how seriously some of his fans took his music, which is part of the reason he kept changing it up.

I am honestly shocked that Frank Zappa wasn’t talked about in this video.

Poor Paul, he's always been jealous of Bob.

The Sex Pistols' "I hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt is an evidence of their importance. The same goes to Dylan, right?

Everything in this channel is meticulously calculated and chosen. That reflects an enormous accuracy and attention to details! Good job Polyphonic !

A great Dylan parody is located in Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti album in the song Flakes. Its hilarious how they nailed Dylan’s impersonation

Who else wants another Pink Floyd closer look episode? if not then who?

The love of my life introduced me to Dylan, among others, in the late 70’s. My lifelong regret has been listening to my mother and ending the relationship that had brought me so much joy, happiness, maturity in my music...and our beautiful daughter. But I did my best to make sure our daughter appreciated the arts in the way her father had taught me. Now in her Mid-30’s, she’s still singing the covers of Dylan, Patti Smith, Joan, James Taylor and more.

Dylan is a true artist. He cares about his craft, which is genius, and gives not one turd who thinks what about it. Neil Young is also a pure artist.

Flakes by Frank Zappa has one of the greatest Bob Dylan parodies ever

Bob Dylan stole his whole act from Dewey Cox

4th Time Around is Dylan mocking Norwegian Wood

Frank Zappa brilliantly parodies Bob Dylan in the song "FLAKES" from the Sheik Yerbouti album.

Johnny Winter made a whole album that just reeked of Dylan imitation and I might still have my copy of it somewhere in my stack of neglected old stuff... It's a very rare record.

Neil Young on his song "Bandit": "You're invisible now, you've got too many secrets Bob Dylan said that - or something like that" I've always loved the layered reference there with the line from "Like a Rolling Stone" as well as "Talkin' World War III Blues": "Half of the people can be part right all of the time Some of the people can be all right part of the time But all of the people can't be all right all of the time I think Abraham Lincoln said that I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours I said that" I don't know if it counts as making fun, but I always got a kick out of that one.

Bob Dylan is a genius. Everybody beneath him. He is Father of roots rock. He combines all styles. He’s a creative genius. He’s self made Independent. Not a corporate schill tool.

dont forget Dewey Cox "mailboxes drip like lampposts through the twisted birth canal of a coliseum, rim job fairys tea pots mask the temper tantrum oh say can you see 'emmmm"

Bob laughing all the way to the bank.

I've read a book called "1965: The Most Revolutionary Year", and in the Rubber Soul chapter, it's said some things about John and Dylan's relationship. John said in some interviews that Dylan inspired him to make music about himself. In this chapter, it's said that Dylan mocked about the storyline and the rhythm of "Norwegian Wood" in his song "4th time around", because it sounded like the "type" of song that he's used to make. Then Al Kooper said about "4th time around": "It sounds like 'Norwegian Wood' ". Then Bob said: "Well, actually, Norwegian Wood sounds like '4th time around' ." He said that because he played this song to John, when they were in a hotel, and Lennon said he didn't like that much. John later said in some interviews that this drove him paranoic, and that he stopped writing songs inspired on Dylan. Maybe that's why John got a little "mad" at Dylan. Sorry for the bad english by the way!

Please! Do a Pink Floyd Video on the Live shows and films over the year Including Pulse and The Wall 1982 movie! :D Bob Dylan rocks too.

They forgot Zappa's "Flakes", that song is a riot

I always thought that 'Stuck in the Middle with You' was done as if Dylan tried to do a parody of Randy Newman's 'Mama Told Me Not to Come.'

Frank zappa also does it on a song called 'flakes'.

I always associated stuck in the middle with you with cutting off someone's ear now i associate with bob dylan for better or worse

John Lennon reading the paper and singing like Bod Dylan was a riot😂

Paul Simon wasn’t mocking Dylan, he was trying to tap into Dylan’s vibe. Same can be said about Raffery and the other examples used. Where is the Dewey Cox clips?

Good stuff man. Would love to see your take on the Talking Heads or Grateful Dead!

The ad I got for this video was playing a cover of “The Times They Are-a Changing”

I love the jab that John C.Reiley takes at Dylan in Walk Hard ... He fucking NAILS IT!!

No one compares to Dylan. The man captures emotion like no other artist

whenever i imagine Holden Caulfeild i always imagine him as looking like young bob dylan

I'd LOVE to see a Comedy Central Roast of Bob Dylan

I don't think Paul Simon was taking so much the piss out of Dylan himself but rather that type of new bandwagon-jumping self-proclaimed intellectual Dylan fan who thought of himself as so rebellious and educated without even knowing who the guy was that Dylan took his name from. Btw, whatever one might think of Weird Al, writing an entire song lyric in palindromes is just a stroke of genius. Hats off to that!

Bob Dylan is the best!

Lennon looked down upon Dylan because he became christian. Just listen to Dylan's "You got to serve somebody" and then Lennon's "Serve yourself". But it's ridiculous to make all those cheesy boi-band lemonade songs for teenage girls and then make fun of Dylan's style and exploration of profound subjects. edit: replaced "hated" with "looked down upon" to make the sentence more accurate

Parodying Bob Dylan or giving respect, i think they respected him and were influenced by him.

This is a really great video! I actually learned some stuff, unlike most articles/videos about Dylan which are the same old stories all the time.

Respect the man, by jokin' bout the man x'j

POke at him all you like, he's the best lyricist of all time ! None of the artist's taking the piss can ever come close to the multiple amazing songs he's written

great video! It also reminds me of the snippet in Dewey Cox when he is doing a Dylan thing, i die laughing every time.

A video on Interpol would be amazing 👍 keep up the good work man, so inspiring.

It wasn’t mocking, it was a tribute, referring to Simon. He was inspired.

Just shows what a powerful influence Dylan has/had.

Traveling Wilburys, Best lyricist- Bob Dylan, Best singer- Roy Orbison, One of the best American Songwriters-Tom petty, ELO guy Jeff Lynne, and a Beatle!

Someone should take all the Song Making of Dylan turn into a compilation and title it "The Roast of Bob Dylan"

He never mentioned “You’ve got to hide your love away”

Syd Barrett parodied Dylan in his "Bob Dylan's Blues"

I just want to say that you are an amazing journalist. Thanks for all your work.

Does Bryan ferry’s voice in “Virginia Plain” count as a Dylan impression?

You should do a video on Jim Morrison

paul feels dylan is a Threat.

Finally this video is up again!

Bob Dylan's 115th dream - It's captain Ahab. He's referencing Moby Dick.

My favorite lyricist 1. Bob Dylan 2. John Lennon 3. Joni Mitchell