"The deal is usually this: if a superstar dies young, their stock stays high; if they grow old, it slowly sinks. The classic case in point is Lennon and McCartney. In the Seventies, they stood level in the pantheon, and rightly so: each had written just under half of the Beatles’ great songs, and, solo, each had been fitfully great (“Mother”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”), mostly adept, and occasionally poor; if Lennon had been the greater solo icon, McCartney had had more hits. Since his murder in 1980, Lennon’s stock has risen, while McCartney’s has bobbed about below it. In this galaxy, immortality is best achieved by dying young."

- Bob Dylan’s Curious Dotage, Tim de Lisle