Here’s More !!

George Harrison photographed by Bill Zygmant in 1968

John Lennon, George Harrison, Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Boyd, Cilla Black and Twiggy at the opening of Apple Boutique, December 5, 1967, taken by Terry O'Neill. ㅡ From the book "THE BEATLES" by Terry O'Neill.

JOAN BAEZ during THE ROLLING THUNDER REVUE TOUR

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

George Harrison at the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark | June 1964 © Harry Benson

George Harrison in MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (1967)

Maybe i’m literally just fucking crazy but also it feels like a callback to idiot wind

“i woke up on the roadside” “i’ve been sleeping on the road” and then talks about what’s in his head . now obviously the going going gone line is more specific to the fact he’s been on tour for a year during the rolling thunder revue, but still.

and holy fucking shit the line about diamonds and rust. BEFORE it’s all diamonds and rust . he’s saying that he feels he can salvage their relationship and not leave it in this “diamonds and rust” memory, that they can still be friends and have some sort of nuance - but first, for joan’s own good, and bobs, joan has to let go. joan has to stop loving him. and he knows it too, and he’s saying the same to himself too.

the first time he sings this verse he’s more gentle. he also admits that he’s still in love with joan. literally just right then and there. he says i’m in love with you, but you have to understand that freeing yourself means letting go of me. the next time he just says “i’ve been telling you baby”, being a bit more mean and direct. he still calls her baby but it’s still way more like “come on just get over it”.

i think it can also connect to this line from winds of the old days about being set free -

this entire song is about bob, but this line directly references a hard rains a gonna fall. there’s so much analysis to be done of this line and how it’s about bob moving on from protest song and also how bob not only lies to all the reporters, but to his loved ones. “the sixties are over so set him free” means leaving that all behind, and i think yes she’s singing to bob but here she’s singing a bit to herself, saying that her and bob will never be together, it’s no longer the sixties so she needs to let their potential child go. and i think bob is directly responding to this: you want to be free, it’s you who needs to let go, not me. and this goes back to bob Not Taking Responsibility like in a simple twist of fate. i forgot if i yapped about it here but like when joan changed the lyrics to simple twist of fate, bob was originally just “i was born too late blame it on a simple twist of fate” but joan said basically i’m better than this, she adds “i was born too late to blame it on a simple twist of fate”, meaning i’m not just going to simply blame it on fate, i know what i’ve done and i’ve taken my own actions. and bob does the same thing here, he refuses to acknowledge that he also initiated shit with joan . and holy fucking shit this song is insane

In July [1971], the music press gave reports of the many people George was assembling for the concert. It was rumoured that his friend Dylan might even turn up, but Terry [Doran] told me George was having slight problems with Bob. Dylan had not performed for quite a while. Now George was asking him to make his 'comeback' in the hardest of all performing situations: at Madison Square Gardens with a bunch of musicians he had never played with before. One day during rehearsals, Dylan apparently got uptight and said he just couldn't do it; he was too nervous. George went wild: "You're nervous! What, are you crazy? I've never performed without the other three. At least you're used to performing on your own!" Dylan then explained that the concert was becoming a hassle. Again, George went wild. "I'm the one trying to put it together. All you have to do is sing!" Dylan walked out of the rehearsals. (He was not seen again by George, or anyone else, until the night of the concert. George didn't know if he was coming or not. So when the time allotted for Dylan came in the concert, live and on stage, George looked into the stage wings. There was Dylan, ready to come on. George still didn't know he was going to perform until Dylan started to stroll on stage. Dylan was a major hit, possibly the limelight of the show. It did Dylan good, too. He had regained his confidence and returned to the road for a tour shortly after the concert.)

Waiting for the Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story, Carol Bedford (1984)