Though it would showcase the strengths of George Harrison as a songwriter better than The Beatles ever did, All Things Must Pass was not a smooth time for the so-called quiet one.
Harrison’s breakout solo album would come just a year after The Beatles had formally dissolved. His fellow bandmates had released projects of their own, but it was All Things Must Pass and songs like My Sweet Lord that gave Harrison a head start in his post-Beatles career. Despite the triple album featuring some of Harrison’s all-time great songs, including the Bob Dylan-inspired I’d Have You Anytime, the Something songwriter found himself feeling musically “paranoid” as a result of working with Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The songwriting duo would hardly let Harrison’s songs feature on The Beatles’ albums, leaving Harrison with a backlog of quality material that he placed on All Things Must Pass.
Speaking back in 1977 to Crawdaddy Magazine, Harrison confirmed that having Derek and the Dominos play on most of the songs, as well as finding a love for the Dylan-inspired I’d Have You Anytime, helped with the pains of recording his massive studio album.
He said: “I liked different songs for different reasons. I liked the first song that was on the album, I’d Have You Anytime, and particularly the recording of it, because Derek and the Dominos played on most of the tracks and it was a really nice experience making that album– because I was really a bit paranoid, musically. Having this whole thing with the Beatles had left me really paranoid.
“I remember having those people in the studio and thinking, ‘God, these songs are so fruity! I can’t think of which song to do.’ Slowly I realised, ‘We can do this one,’ and I’d play it to them and they’d say, ‘Wow, yeah! Great song!’ And I’d say, ‘Really? Do you really like it?’ I realised that it was okay… that they were sick of playing all that other stuff. It’s great to have a tune, and I liked that song, I’d Have You Anytime because of Bob Dylan.”
Harrison’s paranoia in the studio is likely part of being in the shadow of McCartney and Lennon during his time in The Beatles. Harrison would even call out McCartney for not giving him the chance to explore a song beyond what the Let It Be hitmaker wanted.
He said: “No, I didn’t play. We laid the track because what Paul would do, if he’s written a song, he’d learn all the parts for Paul and then come in the studio and say, ‘Do this.’ He’d never give you the opportunity to come out with something.”
While it would be difficult to challenge McCartney on where a song should go or how it should sound, Harrison says he managed to break through this with one unlikely Beatles hit. He added: “But on Drive My Car I just played the line, which is really like a lick off Respect, you know, the Otis Redding version — and I played that line on guitar and Paul laid that with me on bass.
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