hyderboy
Feb 18, 2003, 06:20 PM
.....ran across an excerpt of an interview with George Harrison in which he discussed how he was influenced by the spirit of the Band's music. In conjunction with the release of his album Cloud Nine, Harrison was interviewed by Timothy White in the November 1987 issue of Musician magazine.
WHITE: You mentioned knowing Albert Grossman. I always wondered how the Band came to invite you up to Woodstock in November 1968. You wrote I'd Have You Anytime with Dylan during that visit.
HARRISON: I wrote All Things Must Pass there as well. To this day you can play Stage Fright and Big Pink, and although the technology's changed, those records come off as beautifully conceived and uniquely sophisticated. They had great tunes, played in a great spirit, with humor and versatility.
I knew those guys during that period and I think it was Robbie Robertson who invited me down. He said, "You can stay at Albert's. He's got the big house." I hung out with them and Bob. It was strange because at that time Bob and Grossman were going through this fight, this crisis about managing him. I would spend the day with Bob and the night with Grossman and hear both sides of the battle.
Artistically, I respected the Band enormously. All the different guys in the group sang, and Robbie Robertson used to say he was lucky, because he could write songs for a voice like Levon's. What a wise and generous attitude. The hard thing is to write a song for yourself, knowing you've got to sing it. Sometimes I have a hard time singing my own stuff.
WHITE: You once remarked that you were trying to write a Robbie Robertson kind of song with All Things Must Pass.
HARRISON: The Weight was the one I admired, it had a religious and a country feeling to it, and I wanted that. You absorb, then you interpret, and it comes out nothing like the thing you're imagining, but it gives you a starting point.
We used to take that approach with the Beatles, saying, "Who are we going to be today? Let's pretend to be Fleetwood Mac!" There's a song on Abbey Road, The Sun King, that tried that. At the time, Albatross was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, "Let's be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross" just to get going. It never really sound like Fleetwood Mac, just like All Things never sounded like the Band, but they were the point of origin.
--------------------------------------------------
I was a fan of Fleetwood Mac back then. It occurred to me that the Beatles might actually have been influenced by it, but I never expected to read it. I always thought that The Sun King did sound like Albatross! graemlins/thinker.gif
WHITE: You mentioned knowing Albert Grossman. I always wondered how the Band came to invite you up to Woodstock in November 1968. You wrote I'd Have You Anytime with Dylan during that visit.
HARRISON: I wrote All Things Must Pass there as well. To this day you can play Stage Fright and Big Pink, and although the technology's changed, those records come off as beautifully conceived and uniquely sophisticated. They had great tunes, played in a great spirit, with humor and versatility.
I knew those guys during that period and I think it was Robbie Robertson who invited me down. He said, "You can stay at Albert's. He's got the big house." I hung out with them and Bob. It was strange because at that time Bob and Grossman were going through this fight, this crisis about managing him. I would spend the day with Bob and the night with Grossman and hear both sides of the battle.
Artistically, I respected the Band enormously. All the different guys in the group sang, and Robbie Robertson used to say he was lucky, because he could write songs for a voice like Levon's. What a wise and generous attitude. The hard thing is to write a song for yourself, knowing you've got to sing it. Sometimes I have a hard time singing my own stuff.
WHITE: You once remarked that you were trying to write a Robbie Robertson kind of song with All Things Must Pass.
HARRISON: The Weight was the one I admired, it had a religious and a country feeling to it, and I wanted that. You absorb, then you interpret, and it comes out nothing like the thing you're imagining, but it gives you a starting point.
We used to take that approach with the Beatles, saying, "Who are we going to be today? Let's pretend to be Fleetwood Mac!" There's a song on Abbey Road, The Sun King, that tried that. At the time, Albatross was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, "Let's be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross" just to get going. It never really sound like Fleetwood Mac, just like All Things never sounded like the Band, but they were the point of origin.
--------------------------------------------------
I was a fan of Fleetwood Mac back then. It occurred to me that the Beatles might actually have been influenced by it, but I never expected to read it. I always thought that The Sun King did sound like Albatross! graemlins/thinker.gif