A Song That Sounded Like a Love Ballad but Was Really a Quiet Confession: How George Harrison Turned His Deepest Friendship With Bob Dylan Into the Opening Statement of His Most Personal Solo Album

When The Beatles officially broke up in 1970, things had been over for a while, even if it hadn’t been announced. Each of the Fab Four had been plotting their next move for a long time, and George Harrison, in particular, had been wanting to make it on his own for a long time. His first release after The Beatles broke up was a triple album, filled with songs he had been writing during the last few years of the band. All Things Must Pass was a huge success, making Harrison the first Beatle to achieve a number 1 album after the breakup. The opening track is titled “I’d Have You Anytime,” a love song credited to both him and Bob Dylan. But what a lot of people don’t know is that the song is actually a reflection of the deep bond between these two legendary musicians.

When The Beatles officially broke up in 1970, things had been over for a while, even if it hadn’t been announced. Each of the Fab Four had been plotting their next move for a long time, and George Harrison, in particular, had been wanting to make it on his own for a long time. His first release after The Beatles broke up was a triple album, filled with songs he had been writing during the last few years of the band. All Things Must Pass was a huge success, making Harrison the first Beatle to achieve a number 1 album after the breakup. The opening track is titled “I’d Have You Anytime,” a love song credited to both him and Bob Dylan. But what a lot of people don’t know is that the song is actually a reflection of the deep bond between these two legendary musicians.

All Things Must Pass came out in 1971, but “I’d Have You Anytime” was far from their last collaboration. Through the years, they worked on each other’s albums and played live shows together. In 1988, the two of them finally started a band together, alongside three other legends: Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra. The supergroup only stayed together for a few years, as Roy Orbison passed away shortly after the release of their first album, but they still had several hits. The four surviving members remained friends, collaborating with each other occasionally, and Dylan and Harrison especially remained as close as ever.

Years later, in the George Harrison documentary, Living in the Material World, Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, spoke fondly of her husband’s friendship with Dylan, describing it as one of “George’s most important relationships.”

“I mean, George… “I’d Have You Anytime,” the song that George and Bob wrote together. He was talking directly to Bob because he’d seen Bob, and then he’d seen Bob another time and he didn’t seem as open. And so, that was his way of saying, ‘Let me in here. Let me into your heart.’” She went on to say that Harrison “was very unabashed and romantic” about it his friendships. “You know, I found that he had these love relationships with his friends. He loved them.”

Indeed, Harrison was not afraid to rely on his friends. While this love song was about his friendship with Dylan, he recruited a lot of people for All Things Must Pass. As happy as he was to finally be embarking on his solo journey, he was also nervous, and having Dylan and other musicians he loved play on the album helped his confidence. He had Eric Clapton play on “I’d Have You Anytime” as well, and the collaboration with two of his closest friends was what made him want to use the song as the opening track of the album.

“Subconsciously, I needed a bit of support. I had Eric playing the solo, and Bob had helped write it, so it could have been something to do with that,” Harrison said about the track in one of his last interviews in 2001.