Where the Music Had to Go

FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE NEW INTERVIEW WITH SIR PAUL McCARTNEY

‘An astonishing amount of research’ NEW YORK TIMES
‘An easy and addictive read’ MOJO
★★★★★ THE TELEGRAPH
‘Meticulously [and] lovingly told in this delightful history’ JANN WENNER

Persuasive, captivating and bursting with insight, this dual biography by acclaimed journalist Jim Windolf dives into the surprisingly supportive, occasionally rivalrous, always fertile relationship between Bob Dylan and the Beatles.

Few artists have shaped pop culture as profoundly as the Beatles and Bob Dylan. In Where the Music Had to Go, Jim Windolf offers a new, persuasive interpretation of how two of the twentieth century’s greatest recording artists influenced one another – and reveals how their apprenticeships, accomplishments and legacies are uncannily intertwined.

From Dylan’s early dismissal of the Beatles as being for ‘teenyboppers’ to his rapid acknowledgment of their talent, the book captures the pivotal moments that pushed Dylan to ‘go electric’ and inspired the Beatles to deepen their lyrics. Packed with vivid anecdotes (the Beatles rehearsing Dylan songs; Dylan spending hours at Lennon’s childhood home), the book paints a picture of a relationship full of camaraderie, rivalry and mutual evolution.