Dylan Talks Lennon, Springsteen and Bono To Rolling Stone [VIDEO]

Nearly 32 years after his murder, Bob Dylan has finally eulogized John Lennon in song on his newly released album, Tempest. In the current issue of Rolling Stone, Dylan talks about three of the most important artists of the past half century -- all of whom Dylan has shared a personal bond with -- Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and Lennon.

Dylan spoke about Lennon -- whom he paid tribute to on the Tempest closing track, "Roll On John," explaining, "John came from the northern regions of Britain. The hinterlands. Just like I did in America, so we had some kind of environmental things in common. Both places were pretty isolated. Though mine was more landlocked than his. But everything is stacked against you when you come from that. You have to have the talent to overcome everything. That was something I had in common with him. We were about the same age and heard the same exact things growing up."

He went on to say: "Our paths crossed at a certain time, and we both faced a lot of adversity. We even had that in common. I wish he was still here because we could talk about a lot of things now."
When asked about Springsteen and U2, he said: "I love Bruce like a brother. He's a powerful performer -- unlike anybody. I care about him deeply. U2's a force to be reckoned with. Bono's energy has far-reaching effects, and in some ways he's his own tempest."

E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren has had the pleasure of performing with Dylan on several occasions. He shed some light on what its like to be onstage with Dylan: ["Not only is he a genius writer, but he's also someone on stage that's very loose and likes to mix it up and improvise, and doesn't worry about, y'know, pretenses or airs, and it's just very genuine. And he likes the surprise element in improv."

Bob Dylan kicks off his next string of dates on October 5th at Winnipeg's MTS Centre.