4th Time Around


"4th Time Around" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.

Comparisons to "Norwegian Wood"

"4th Time Around" was commonly speculated to be a response to the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood" – written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the 1965 album Rubber Soul – as the two tracks share a reasonably similar melody, lyrical premise, and 3/4 time signature. "4th Time Around" has been seen as either a playful homage, or a satirical warning to Lennon about co-opting Dylan's well-known songwriting devices. Lennon expressed a range of opinions on this topic in interviews between 1970 and 1980. He initially felt it to be a somewhat pointed parody of "Norwegian Wood", but later he considered Dylan's effort to be more a playful homage. Still, the last line of "4th Time Around" played into Lennon's apparent paranoia about Dylan in 1966–67, when he interpreted this line as a warning not to use Dylan's songs as a "crutch" for Lennon's songwriting.