George Suggesting Bob Dylan Should Join The Beatles Was Like When A Couple Opens Up Their Relationship

John Lennon & George Harrison backstage at the Liverpool Empire | 1963 © Philip Jones-Griffiths

"The highlight was the reading of letters from female fans that shocked the group. ‘How do they even know about this stuff!’ was one remark." - Philip Jones-Griffiths

George Harrison during the recording of the song How Do You Sleep? (1971)

btw. something so satisfying? about the fact that john lennon, who never thought much of george and his talent & potential, admired and idolized bob dylan but once they met in person bob wasn't all that impressed by lennon and instead was much more interested in george. Likeeee..... WOAH.

the fact he drops shit like this mid convos is so sexy

george harrison (+ john lennon) on the set of magical mystery tour, 1967

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)

“When Julian went to George’s concert the next day, Neil Aspinall, John, and I went to talk with Lee Eastman, Linda’s father. While there, Julian called with a message from George: “All’s forgiven, George loves you and he wants you to come to his party tonight.” We did go the party at the Hippopotamus Club, where George, John, and Paul hugged. John, Julian, and I left New York the following day to spend Christmas in West Palm Beach, Florida.

On December 29, 1974, the voluminous documents were brought down to John in Florida by one of Apple’s lawyers. “Take out your camera, Linda,” he joked to me. Then he called Harold Seider to go over some final points.

When John hung up the phone, he looked wistfully out the window. I could almost see him replaying the entire Beatles experience in his mind.

He finally picked up his pen and, in the unlikely backdrop of Disney World, at the Polynesian Village Hotel, officially ended the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in history by simply scrawling John Lennon at the bottom of the page.”

– FROM MAY PANG’S INSTAMATIC KARMA (2008)

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

Paul McCartney & George Harrison in Tokyo, Japan | July 1966 © Robert Whitaker