Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes?

[beatlegeek]

Someone asked me what the lyrics to "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson were about and I tried to explain as best I can my interpretation.

But when it came to these lyrics, I was stumped. So I went online and this website claims that "Mr. Hughes" is really George Harrison and Mr. Hughes was a nickname he used when traveling.

Is this true? Is "Mr. Hughes" George?

[FPSHOT]

That is right, George is Mr. Hughes.

If you google a bit you will find info on it.

Here is a story about the song:

In October 1971 Rick was invited to play in a reunion show at Madison Square Garden, alongside such early rock luminaries as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and others. By this time his hair had grown shoulder length and he was heavily into the country rock genre. When he mixed in new material with his old music, the audience began to boo. Whether it was really their reaction to their idol's new look and sound, or, as one report states, ". . . there were reports that police were in the back moving people out, and in the political spirit of the early 70's the crowd was actually booing the police activity," Rick felt the crowd was booing him. He wrote about the experience: "I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends / A chance to share old memories and play our songs again. / When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name / No one recognized me, I didn't look the same."

Rick realized at that point that he had to be true to himself. Hence the chorus of the song: "I learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself."

"Garden Party" was pounced on by the pundits and dissected unmercifully. Some clues were obvious. For instance, "Yoko brought her walrus"--John Lennon and Yoko Ono were at the concert. Lennon, of course, was responsible for the Beatles song "I Am The Walrus."

The lyric you ask about, "Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise," is more difficult to interpret, but I finally found it for you. ""Mr Hughes" isn't Howard Hughes, as most people think, but refers to George Harrison, the ex-Beatle. Rick Nelson was good friends and next-door neighbor to Harrison, and was also a good friend of Bob Dylan. "Mr. Hughes" was the alias Harrison used while traveling, and "hid in Dylan's shoes" apparently refers to an album of Bob Dylan covers Harrison was planning that never came to fruition. "Wearing his disguise" is more obscure, but presumably had something to do with Harrison's habit of traveling incognito.

[pepperland67]

Oh cool, thanks for the info. I've always wondered what this part of the song meant and I had no idea that Rick new George.

[beatlegeek]

Ah, I see. Thanks FPSHOT! Now I like the song even more because George is a part of it.

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

That sounds interesting. Thanks FP. :smile1:

[rubbersoulster_mel]

Wow, thanks for that info FP. I've always liked that song and wondered about some of the lyrics, never suspecting that Mr. Hughes was George. Hmmm, that song's on my ipod, which happens to be right next to me (getting me through a long day at work)... time to have a listen to Garden Party. :teeth1: