Six months after The Beatles paid tribute to Bob Dylan on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Dylan released the album John Wesley Harding on December 27, 1967. A long-recurring rumor is that Dylan returned the favor and included the faces of The Beatles on the album cover hidden in the knots on the tree.
The photo was taken by John Berg in Woodstock, New York in the yard of Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman. To see the “faces” of The Beatles you must turn the album cover upside down and focus. Check it out…
It’s a bit hard to make out but there’s definitely some faces there. Although it seems kinda bogus, Rolling Stone verified it with photographer prior to the album’s release. It is also thought that the faces were much more apparent but brushed over sometime before press time (hence, the unusually dark features on the most prominent tree trunk). When Berg was asked about it in 1995 he said,
Later on, I got a call from Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco. Someone had discovered little pictures of The Beatles and the hand of Jesus in the tree trunk. Well, I had a proof of the cover on my wall, so I went and turned it upside down and sure enough . . . Hahaha! I mean, if you wanted to see it, you could see it. I was as amazed as anybody.
The Rolling Stones also included The Beatles on one of their album covers. Click below to check it out…