Roll on John

Dylan closes his thirty-fifth album Tempest with this heartfelt tribute to his friend John Lennon. Dylan recounts the murder of the former Beatle on the ballad as he imagines him "breathing his last." Asked why he did the song, Dylan told Rolling Stone: "I just felt like doing it, and now would be as good a time as any." He added that he felt a kinship with Lennon, saying, "We were all about the same age and heard the same exact things growing up. Our paths crossed at a certain time, and we both had faced a lot of adversity. We even had that in common. I wish that he was still here because we could talk about a lot of things now."

The song features quotes from several Lennon-penned songs including "Come together right now" from "Come Together" and "I heard news today, oh boy" from "A Day In The Life."

Dylan is showing a lot of grace in paying tribute to Lennon, as the ex Beatle included several caustic references to him in his songs. In particular Lennon wrote and recorded the stinging parody "Serve Yourself," as a riposte to Dylan's overtly Christian "Gotta Serve Somebody."