Expecting Rain

Dylan wrote this after Norweigian Wood by The Beatles, (both melodically and lyrically) and I really like it; it's probably one of the most under-rated songs from his electric period. However, do we think that it tops its source material?????

I personally think that, with respect to The Fab Four, perhaps it does. It's so hilarious, and despite the absurdist structure of the narrative (which is simply hilarious) there really are moments which I can identityfy with. Particularly:

"She screamed till her face got so red
Then she fell on the floor,
And I covered her up and then
Thought I'd go look through her drawer"

I mean, come on, wouldn't we all do that, once we'd found out she was ok????????

What do you all think?

I suspect he wrote Wood tooo but dont quote me on that!!! Just a though of mine nothing else to do about that really Just a though

Dylan and Lennon claim to have written their respective songs simultaneously.

I voted for 4th, but Norwegian Wood is my second favorite Beatles song, which is saying something, becuase I really dont like them

dylan kicks the beatles ass anyday, ive only twice ever reconsidered that, first time i heard a day in the life, and the first time i heard julia, and then is still stuck with dylan..
btw sgt. peppers is the most overrated album ever made, revolver or the white album are far superior

Well, you know this is a Dylan forum!

I think 4th time is the bestest song in the world (yeah, even before LMZ or Mobile or Spirit ) !!!!!!

No contest.

4th Time Around is a seriously good song, arrangement and performance and Norwegian Wood is none of these things.

I vote for Fourth Time Around...and agree with you about Pepper, the White album and Revolver. But...not so sure about Bob kicking the Beatles ass. To me, they were two very different animals.

Bob should've used a sitar on 4th Time Around. That really would've put the zap on John's brain.

you guy's are rediculous, I love the beatles a fraction as much as bob dylan, but Norwegian Wood blows 4th time around out of the water, not even close.

Norwegian wood is so beautifully composed, I really like 4th time around, but it doesn't come close to the quality song that Norwegian wood is.

I don't know about that. I don't think that Norwegian Wood is a great song lyrically....not in any sense. (If the lyrics are brilliant, or even above average..it really passed me by.) I am not saying that Fourth has brilliant lyrics, either..it's just a very sardonic song...lot of humor. Both have pretty melody's.

i dunno, the beatles are obviously in the pantheon of greats, BUT, dylan was a better lyricist than mcartney or lennon or harrison or any combination of those three, granted lennon and mcartney are immense as vocalists, but dylans got his own charm in that department, even the beatles said that, and i spose the real stumbling block in any beatles v bob is the music, and obviously they were much better musicians than bob, but, and this is important, bob didnt really play, he had a separate band at the time they were competing, and they rocked

also the beatles only really achieved greatness between '65 and '70, rubber soul was their first really great album, bob got their in 65 to 67 and 75-76 and 1999-now
let me put it like this
great beatles albums:rubber soul, revolver, sgt pepper, the white album, abbey road
great bob albums: BIABH, highway 61, blonde on blonde, john wesley harding, blood on the tracks, desire, time out of mind and love and theft
beatles:5, bob 9..

Dyaln speaks for the world but Lennon speaks to me

I love Dylan a lot but he seems like a god, lennon i can identify with a lot more

Can't compare really my two favourite artists, Dylans the most talented by far though

4th wins for me. Norweigian Wood loses on account of that damn sitar. Annoys the hell out of me.

I personally pefer 4th Time Around, it's an amazing song.

But, I have to say I think that Norweigian Wood has more of a commercial sort of appeal to it. I think it's a more of an accessible song to the casual listener.

Bumped this thread since it is apparently a response song to Norwegian Wood and there is some sort of contest on the front page related to this.

For me, 'Fourth Time Around' is so closely linked to the genius sequencing and performance of those 1966 shows that its superiority over the Beatles song cannot be overstated. Flanked on both sides by songs about powerful, entrancing, mystical women - 'She Belongs To' Me and 'Visions of Johanna' - the song slyly pulls the rug from under this notion, giving us that Dylan The Arrogant Little Prick character he was parading at this time, par excellence. That he chose this - brand new to the audience, lest we forget - song to be the first of the BoB songs and the second of the set, that surely must have been with a design in mind.

I love the song for its sheer banality and paradoxical profundity - it's like 'Clothesline Saga' in that respect, with everything and nothing going on on the surface.

Plus it has an ace tune.

The Beatles one is too sugary and slight.

Right on.

The beatles are my second favs after Bob... But 4th Time Around is my favourite bob dylan song.. so 4th time. norwegian wood, is great though

Norwegian Wood for the tune, the tunefulness, and the originality.

Fourth Time is Is Your Love in Vain backwards.

Crazy talk. "Norwegian Wood" is one of the best songs by the best band is the world. I have trouble classifying "Fourth Time Around" as anything other than one of Dylan's lesser songs (although, to clarify, it is a lesser song from his best period and better than anything he did after say, 1975). I really like the 1966 shows Dylan put on too but I don't think that has anything to do with "Fourth Time Around" (the version found on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 is O.K. I guess but not the reason I listen to that performance). With all due respect (cuz usually you are right on the money), I think you may have been spending too much time with the true believers and developed Stockholm syndrome. Next you're going to be talking about how you prefer Dylan's NET performances in 2012 to his RTR performances in 1975 and how Christmas In the Heart is really under-rated.

Or maybe I'm wrong.

I read somewhere and have no idea where or if it is even accurate, that Norwegian Wood was written after hearing 4th Time Around which is why Bob decided to record it. Does anyone have any idea where this came from and is it just speculation or is there something more conclusive.

That last sentence.

If Norwegian Wood sounds sugary, that's a little deceptive because it does end up with him burning down his lover's house, so it's got a sweet sour tang.
I think Wood's the better construction, but then it's one of The Beatles' best - whereas 4th Time Around may not even be in the top ten on Blonde On Blonde.