George Harrison stated he initially wrote his 1970 music, “All Things Must Pass,” with a sure tune by The Band in thoughts. Then, George heard a member of the group singing his title observe each time he listened to it.
The Beatle frolicked with Bob Dylan and The Band in 1968
In November 1968, The Band invited George to stick with them and Bob Dylan in Woodstock, New York. George defined the expertise throughout a 1987 interview with Musician Journal’s Timothy White.
“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,” George stated of The Band. “They’d nice tunes, performed in a nice spirit, and with humor and flexibility.
“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 [Grossman, Dylan’s manager]. He’s got the big house.’ I hung out with them and Bob.”
George stated it was a clumsy time for Dylan and The Band, not simply because Dylan was nonetheless in his self-imposed exile following his 1966 bike accident. George claimed that Dylan and Grossman had been preventing in regards to the “crisis” of managing Dylan. He spent the times with Dylan and the nights with Grossman, listening to each side of the “battle.”
A minimum of George received a couple of songs out of the expertise.
George wished ‘All Things Must Pass’ to sound like a Band music
Whereas in Woodstock, George managed to get Dylan to open up, and so they ultimately wrote “I’d Have You Anytime” collectively.
Being round The Band and Dylan a lot, the Beatle couldn’t assist however be impressed.
“Artistically, I respected The Band enormously,” George stated. “All of the completely different guys within the group sang, and Robbie Robertson used to say he was fortunate, as a result of he may write songs for a voice like Levon’s. What a sensible and beneficiant angle.
“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.”
George instructed White that one among The Band’s songs influenced “All Things Must Pass.” Though, the tune didn’t precisely come out the best way George hoped.
“‘The Weight’ was the one I admired, it had a religious and a country feeling to it, and I wanted that,” George defined. “You take in, you then interpret, and it comes out nothing just like the factor you’re imagining, however it offers you a start line.
“We used to take that strategy with The Beatles, saying, ‘Who are we going to be today? Let’s fake to be Fleetwood Mac!’ There’s a music on ‘Abbey Road,’ ‘The Sun King,’ that attempted that. On the time, ‘Albatross’ was out, with all of the reverb on guitar.
“So we stated, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing ‘Albatross,” just to get going. It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac, just like ‘All Things’ by no means gave the impression of The Band, however they had been the purpose of origin.”
George additionally heard a member of The Band singing each time he listened to ‘All Things Must Pass’
George heard The Band’s “The Weight” whereas writing “All Things Must Pass.” In a while, after he recorded the music, George at all times heard a member of The Band singing it.
In a 2000 interview with Billboard, George stated, “I wrote it after [the Band’s 1968] ‘Music From Big Pink’ album; when I heard that song in my head I always heard Levon Helm singing it!”
George spoke additional about “All Things Must Pass” in his 1980 memoir, I Me Mine. He wrote, “When I wrote ‘All Things Must Pass’ I was trying to do a Robbie Robertson-Band sort of tune and that is what it turned into…”
George had many influences over his lengthy profession. These influences may not have come via in his songs the best way he wished, however they had been there. Lurking between lyrics, you’ll be able to perpetually hear how a lot George cherished Dylan, The Band, and all his different idols.