Why John Lennon made his famous "Bigger than Jesus" statement

After decades of studying John Lennon and The Beatles in general, I came to an understanding that the reason John made his famous "Jesus" statement to Maureen Cleave was a rift he had with Bob Dylan. The two were seen as songwriting rivals in both the pop and folk genre, though Dylan undeniably owned the latter. They were also friends. Perhaps not good friends, but friendly enough. Bob introduced The Beatles to pot, and had praised their virgin hit, "I Want to Hold Your Hand." To be fair, Bob said that he thought the line I can't hide was I get high . . .

One thing that needs to be set aside, because it's always bothered me, is the idea Lennon copied Dylan--in vocals and style. It's so not true. If you go back and listen to "I Want to Hold Your Hand," you'll find John has a natural vocal slide akin to Dylan. And vice versa.

At one point, John and Bob are seen together conversing strangely in the backseat of a limo--a moment Lennon later said was a bad experience because they were both high on heroin. Dylan was sick the entire time. It was moments like these--the back and forth of praise and regret--that I feel led to a bitter discourse. To illustrate this, when "4th Time Around" came out, John assumed Dylan had written it about him.

But back to the comment. In the 1967 D. A. Pennebaker documentary Don't Look Back, Dylan is approached by none other than Maureen Cleave of the London Evening Standard. She digs into the American music beat poet, the non-pop pop star of the era and asks quite candidly, "Do you believe in religion?" Dylan dodges, stumbles and becomes a Judas to himself. This is the moment which gave John his identity, because he did not believe in religion--not in the standard sense. He didn't believe in the shackles of dogmatic thinking in life or society, and thus a rift began.

"Jesus was all right," John told Marueen when she interviewed him amid his luxury digs in Weybridge, Kent. "But his disciples were thick and ordinary. Religion will shrink in favor of rock n' roll. We're more popular than Jesus now." Or something like that. The comments came out to no great attention as he was known for making stark assumptions akin to this--but in August after a progressive American rag took them out of context and a bloodthirsty DJ used them on air, the damage was done. Riots, record burnings and threats from the KKK all turned the image of the cute, loveable Beatles into a rusted mirror and ended tours altogether. John was forced to apologize in Chicago after manager Brian Epstein tried on numerous occasions to quell the discord, but the dye had been tragically set.

You can't blame Dylan, who knew nothing of his part in the affair. Yet I do feel looking back he was the reason John felt emboldened to make the original Jesus statement. Almost a decade later Dylan wrote the iconic "You Gotta Serve Somebody." John's answer? A mock version called "Serve Yourself." Clearly the animosity never went away, but the friendship wouldn't die altogether. Dylan has said he loved John, and thought he had the greatest rock voice ever.