A Letter To Alistair Taylor From George Harrison, And The Photo In Question; Images Courtesy Of Heritage

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)

George Harrison and John Lennon talking about their recent holiday in Tahiti. The Beatles press conference in Sydney, 11th June 1964

SCREAMING full first name “Robert” like he’s a kid in trouble. get him joanie.

The Beatles backstage at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada | 17 August 1965

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

INT: Who are some contemporary artists you admire most?

George: There are so many, I'm madly in love with Smokey Robinson, from the old Miracles. When the Beatles first came here everybody was amazed that we all liked Tamla/Motown which was at that time a relatively new company. I like Smokey but just to try and pick one or two, Smokey Robinson is my favorite. I like Dickey Betts, there are a lot of guitar players – Ry Cooder I think is sensational and I hope Warner Bros. will try and sell a few more of his albums.

— George interviewed by Steven Rosen at Warner Bros. Records offices in Burbank, California (1974)

~

“Pure Smokey started out with nice chord changes. I’ve always liked Smokey Robinson and he’s probably one of the best songwriters around. He writes great lyrics and great melodies, and he is fantastic to see in concert, because one tends to forget how many good tunes he has written. He brought out an album called Pure Smokey, and I’ve met him once or twice.

Sometimes you get an idea and write a specific song, but other times – often – it turns itself into whatever it’s going to be – with the effort put into it – and it turned into Pure Smokey.

I’m trying to make the point – if I like someone I want to say ‘I like you’. I don’t want to die and then to think 'Oh I forgot to tell them I liked them’.

Throughout my lifetime I’d hesitate I’d feel some joy But before I showed my thanks It became too late

So this song turned into an all purpose thing of generally trying to show appreciation, and then to focus on my appreciation of Smokey.”

— George Harrison, I, Me, Mine (1980)

~

“Of all Tamla-Motown acts, George listened hardest to The Miracles, whose leader, Smokey Robinson had an ‘effortless butterfly of a voice**’ that he would never bring himself to criticize.”

— Alan Clayson, George Harrison (2001)

** “It’s hard to see the greats go, and I’m a big fan of so many kinds of rock and popular music, from Bob Marley to Cole Porter to Smokey Robinson to Hoagy Carmichael. I mean, I wrote ‘Pure Smokey’ on 33 1/3 as my little tribute to his brilliant songwriting and his effortless butterfly of a voice. The Beatles did Smokey’s ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me,’ and there was a song John did that was very much influenced by Smokey - ‘This Boy.’ If you listen to the middle eight of ‘This Boy,’ it was John trying to do Smokey. It suddenly occurs to me that there’s even a line on ‘When We Was Fab’ where I sing, ‘And you really got a hold on me.’”

— George Harrison interviewed for Musician Magazine (November 1987 Edition)

“The musicians crowded around center stage for final bows, cheers washed up in waves from the audience, and even Dylan was swept up in the euphoria. Backstage, Dylan picked George up and squeezed him. ‘God,’ Dylan said, ‘if only we’d done *three* shows.’”

— Joshua M. Greene on the Concert for Bangladesh, Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison

The Beatles – Hello Goodbye (Alternate Video)

tHe GrEaTeSt BaNd iN tHe WoRlD