George Harrison talking about "I'd Have You Anytime" (1976)
Q: “You said ‘All Things Must Pass’ was like an explosion for you.”
GEORGE: “Yeah. I had a lot from during the Beatles time and I was writing all the time, and I wrote a few while making the album as well.”
Q: “Which was your favorite? ‘My Sweet Lord?’”
GEORGE: “No, not particularly. 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 Dominoes 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 realized, '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 realized 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.
“I was with Bob and he’d gone through his broken neck period and was being very quiet, and he didn’t have much confidence anyhow– that’s the feeling I got with him in Woodsock. 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, like, very nervous and shy and he said, 'What do you think about this song?’ And I’d felt very strongly about Bob when I’d been in India years before– the only record I took with me along with all my Indian records was 'Blonde On Blonde.’ I felt somehow very close to him or something, 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 that 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.’ So I was thinking, 'There is a way out of it all, really, in the end.’”
“He sang for me, 'Love is all you need/ Makes the world go 'round/ Love and only love can’t be denied/ No matter what you think about it/ You’re not going to be able to live without it/ Take a tip from one who’s tried.’ 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 realize his own peace, and it meant something. You know, he’d 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. I was saying to him, 'You write incredible lyrics,’ and he was saying, 'How do you write those tunes?’ So I was just showing him chords like crazy. Chords, because he tended just to play a lot of basic chords and move a capo up and down. And I was saying, 'Come on, write me some words,’ and he was scribbling words down. And it just killed me because he’d been doing all these sensational lyrics. And he wrote, 'All I have is yours/ All you see is mine/ And I’m glad to hold you in my arms/ I’d have you anytime.’ The idea of Dylan writing something, like, so very simple.”