Not Used Lyrics For I'd Have You Anytime Are Insane

A letter to Alistair Taylor from George Harrison, and the photo in question; images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

“Sometimes, being the Beatles resident Mr Fixit didn’t seem such a great idea. Like the day George sent me a note from America. I’m not sure exactly where it was from, but then neither was he. The address was given as ‘Somewhere in America’ and the date as ‘Sunday the something’. George told me he had seen a great picture of him in the US papers taken in an unguarded moment when he was pulling an angry face and flashing a well-known two-fingered salute. George thought this was the most hilarious photo of him ever taken. He enclosed a scrap of a newspaper with this image on and my task was to track down the original. He wanted to buy the negative, have a lifesize print made of it, and have it mounted on hardboard and have it screwed on the outside of his front door. There are a lot of photographers in America and tracking down the one who had taken this particular snap took a great deal of time and effort. But eventually a friend in Fleet Street provided a vital contact and I managed it. George was delighted with the result, but the lifesize image was so alarming he did relent enough to switch it to his bathroom door. And he had them printed on the front of his Christmas card with the seasonal greeting ‘Why don’t you…?’ George always did have a rather individual sense of humour. George wrote, ‘To Al and Lesley, without whom it would not have been possible.’” - Alistair Taylor, With The Beatles (2003)

This might connect with another anecdote:

“The Beatles don’t collect pin-up photographs of themselves, but love anything a bit off-beat. In the spare bedroom, next to George and Patti[e]’s, there’s a massive 6-ft. high photograph of George, propped up against a wall, looking as though he’s about to hit somebody. George thinks he’s getting a bit tired of it, though, and might throw it out.” - The Beatles Book, January 1967 (x)

here’s more !!

I love my beautiful emo gf

1970

The Basement Tapes (Trailer, 2015)

George and Pattie  August,9  1967

John Lennon & George Harrison • Buddies & Pals

George Harrison visiting Bob Dylan, Sara Lownds, and Robbie Robertson near Woodstock, NY (November of 1968). In Bob’s home, he and George wrote “I’d Have You Anytime”.

George on writing with Bob:

George “I liked ‘I’d Have You Anytime’ because of Bob Dylan. I was with Bob and he had gone through his broken neck period and was being very quiet, and he didn’t have much confidence. That’s the feeling I got with him in Woodstock. He hardly said a word for a couple of days. Anyway, we finally got the guitars out and it loosened things up a bit. It was really a nice time with his kids all around, and we were just playing. It was near Thanksgiving. He sang me that song and he was very nervous and shy and he said 'What do you think about this song?’ And I felt strongly about Bob when I had been in India years before, the only record I took with me along with all my Indian records was Blonde on Blonde. I somehow got very close to him, you know, because he was so great, so heavy and observant about everything. And yet, to find him later very nervous and with no confidence. But the thing he said on Blonde on Blonde about what price you have to pay to get out of going through all things twice, 'Oh mama, can this really be the end.’ And I thought, 'Isn’t it great?’ because I know people are going to think, 'Shit, what’s Dylan doing?’ But as far as I was concerned, it was great for him to realise his own peace and it meant something. You know, he had always been so hard and I thought, 'A lot of people are not going to like this,’ but I think it’s fantastic because Bob has obviously had the experience. I was saying to him, 'You write incredible lyrics,’ and he was saying, 'How do you write those tunes?’ So I was just showing him chords like crazy, and I was saying, 'Come on, write me some words,’ and he was scribbling words down and it just killed me because he had been doing all these sensational lyrics. And he wrote, 'All I have is yours, All you see is mine, And I’m glad to hold you in my arms, I’d have you anytime.’ The idea of Dylan writing something, like, so very simple, was amazing to me.”

(‘The Beatles: Off The Record 2 - The Dream is Over’, Keith Badman)

I’d Have You Anytime was started in Woodstock - I was invited by The Band. It was Thanksgiving time… I was hanging in his house, with him, Sara and his kids. He seemed very nervous and I felt a little uncomfortable - it seemed strange especially as he was in his own home. Anyway, on about the third day we got the guitars out and then things loosened up and I was saying to him 'Write me some words’, and thinking of all this: 'Johnnie’s in the basement, mixing up the medicine’, type of thing and he was saying 'Show me some chords. How do you get those tunes?’ I started playing chords, like major sevenths, diminisheds and augmenteds and the song appeared as I played the opening chord (G major 7th) and then moved the chords shape up the guitar neck (B flat Major 7th). The first thing I thought was: 'Let me in here/I know I’ve been here/Let me into your heart’. I was saying to Bob 'Come on, write some words’. He wrote the bridge: 'All I have is yours/All you see is mine/And I’m glad to hold you in my arms/I’d have you anytime.’ Beautiful. And that was that.

(‘I, Me, Mine’, George Harrison)

smokign the shit that made george harrison and bob dylan if not for you live at the concert for bangladesh rehearsals at madison square garden 31st of July 1971

George Harrison & Bob Dylan “If Not For You” Concert For Bangladesh rehearsal, July 31, 1971.

GEORGE HARRISON and BOB DYLAN rehearsing "If Not For You" for the CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH, July 1971