Regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time, Bob Dylan is a famed American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. In addition to having a successful solo career, he was a member of the late 1980s and early 1990s ensemble The Traveling Wilburys, which also included George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbinson, and Petty.
Although Bob Dylan hasn’t spoken with the media much over the years, he has occasionally discussed The Beatles’ guitarist.
What is Bob Dylan’s opinion on George Harrison
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2007, Bob Dylan claimed that George Harrison had to “fight” with his fellow Beatles members to get his songs recorded since Paul McCartney and John Lennon would not take credit for songs that they did not write.
“George got stuck with being the Beatle that had to fight to get songs on records because of Lennon and McCartney. Well, who wouldn’t get stuck? If George had had his own group and was writing his own songs back then, he’d have been probably just as big as anybody.”
“George had an uncanny ability to just play chords that didn’t seem to be connected in any kind of way and come up with a melody and a song. I don’t know anybody else who could do that, either. What can I tell you? He was from that old line of playing where every note was a note to be counted.”
Bob Dylan responded as follows to the interviewer’s question on the nature of their friendship:
“We’d known each other since the old days, really. I knew the Beatles really early on, all of them.”
Bob Dylan complimented Harrison’s guitar playing, as stated by UDiscover Music in 2021, saying: “I’ve always liked the way George Harrison plays guitar restrained and good.”
The artist paid homage to his buddy who had passed away the previous year by covering George Harrison’s iconic Beatles song “Something” at a Madison Square Garden performance in 2002.
George Harrison and Bob Dylan loved each other according to their late bandmate Tom Petty
In a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone, Tom Petty of the Traveling Wilburys disclosed that George Harrison and Bob Dylan were in love, and the Beatles cited Dylan as if he were writing scripture:
“George quoted Bob like people quote Scripture. Bob really adored George, too. George used to hang over the balcony videoing Bob while Bob wasn’t aware of it. Bob would be sitting at the piano playing, and George would tape it and listen to it all night.”
Tom Petty responded to Harrison’s query about whether he owned any Bob Dylan bootlegs. Tom Petty replied, “Yeah. One day George was hiding in the hedge at the house where we were recording. As everybody flew off, George would rise up out of the bushes with his video going. And he did that with Bob.”
“I think George frightened Bob. When the Wilburys started, George was so reverent of Bob. At the end of the first say, he said, ‘We know that you’re Bob Dylan and everything. But we’re going to just treat you and talk to you like we would anybody else.’ Bob went, ‘Well great. Believe it or not. I’m in awe of you guys. It’s the same for me.'”
“I said to George, ‘That is really amazing. How you said that to Bob.’ George goes, ‘I can say those sort of things. But you can’t.’ [laughs] George adored Bob Dylan, like ‘Dylan makes Shakespeare look like Billy Joel.’ George absolutely adored the Wilburys. That was his baby from the beginning. He went at it with such great enthusiasm. The rest of his life, he considered himself a Wilbury.”