George Harrison Visits Bob Dylan, Byrdcliffe, Woodstock, New York. November 1968.

“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 all his kids 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 had 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 so 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 these 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.” (George Harrison in his book I, Me, Mine) Harrison, George. I, Me, Mine. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981, 0671427873

“Another attraction of the Band was their group ethic and camaraderie, something that Harrison experienced firsthand when he accepted their invitation to spend Thanksgiving 1968 with them in Woodstock. The easygoing mood was a far cry from the tensions at large during the White Album sessions. Where the guitarist would always be ‘our kid,’ the younger brother in the Beatles, with the Band he was an equal.

“More than that, Bob Dylan regarded him as a potential musical partner. Harrison stayed for a few days at his house in Woodstock. The idyllic setting gave Dylan not only a place to recuperate after his 1966 motorcycle accident but also a much-needed refuge from his own celebrity and the pressures of stardom. In fact, the bucolic tranquility of Bearsville, surrounded by woods, waterfalls, and natural swimming pools, provided the same rustic haven for Dylan that Harrison was to find at Friar Park within two years. And Dylan’s life-affirming immersion in family at this time was also something George would later find at Friar Park. Despite the good vibes, both Dylan and Harrison were awkward during the visit, until the guitars appeared on the third day. The mix of Harrison’s harmonic knowledge and Dylan’s linguistic mastery fused to produce ‘I’d Have You Anytime’ and ‘When Everybody Comes to Town.’ Dylan also showed George a new song, ‘I Don’t Want To Do It,’ which neatly captured the American’s reflective mood. This opened a channel of collaboration for Dylan that spanned thirty years.

“But why did Dylan collaborate only with this particular Beatle? What did George Harrison offer that John Lennon or Paul McCartney didn’t? In 1968, George had no illusions about his skills, and no pretensions to be considered a genius. He wasn’t competitive at all and was happy to share his harmonic knowledge. By all accounts, this is what Bob was most interested in: Harrison’s knowledge of harmony and chords, which, objectively, exceeded Dylan’s at this time. Harrison was also a lead guitarist, something Dylan didn’t have time to be!”

I stayed at the Byrdcliff house in 1969-70 after the cabin I rented on Yerry Hill Road burned down. My buddy Artie Traum (R.I.P.) was house-sitting for Bob and he graciously invited me and my roommate Mickey Friedman to stay there. I have particularly fond memories of this window where Bob and George are smiling through. It is a freestanding cabin in front of the house that was a fully equipped “pool hall” on the property. I spent many a moonlit evening in that room. “If I could go back to that room again …”

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Written by ugur