It Was 37 Years Ago Today: Bob Dylan & George Harrison Do "Yesterday"

Bob Dylan's effusive praise of Paul McCartney in his recent Rolling Stone interview brings to mind a musical tribute that Zimmy paid to Macca in this rare May 1, 1970 studio take of "Yesterday." On guitar and background vocals is a cat named George Harrison.

Bob Dylan & George Harrison, "Yesterday" (mp3)

This session at CBS studios in New York City is documented in the boot CD Almost Went to See Elvis. While no other Beatles songs appear on the CD, there are Big Pink-ish run-throughs of several Dylan classics, including "Song to Woody," "One Too Many Mornings" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." There's even a lively stab at "Da Do Ron Ron." Their duet of "If Not For You" which wound up on the first edition of Dylan's Bootleg Series (and in different versions on New Morning and All Things Must Pass) was also done at these legendary sessions. As Dylan-Beatle duets go, it's exceeded only by the 1966 Dylan-Lennon London taxi ride.

ZIMMY LUVS MACCA!

Rolling Stone is a total hit-or-miss rag these days. One issue will treat Britney Spears or Panic! At the Disco like a serious artist, but just when you’re about to write the magazine off, along comes something like this month’s Fortieth Anniversary issue. It’s packed tight with fascinating interviews with survivors of the Rolling Stone era – Dylan, Sir Paul, Ringo, Mick, Keith, Jack, Tom Wolfe, Neil, Weir, Scorsese, Spielberg, etc.

One of the threads that runs through the interviews is favorite music. Jack Nicholson, for example, cites “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding.)” as his desert-island Dylan tunes. And Dylan, in the lead interview with Jann Wenner, has some very nice things to say about Paul McCartney.

“I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he’s never let up. He’s got the gift for melody, he’s got the rhythm, he can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody. And his melodies are effortless, that’s what you have to be in awe of… He’s just so damn effortless. I just wish he’d quit [laughs]. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in melody.”

Dylan isn’t saying anything we haven’t known for decades. Macca is absurdly talented. A genius by any standard. Buddy Holly, Mozart, Cole Porter and Prince in one convenient, Liverpudlian package. Yet it’s rare to see a contemporary talk about him so highly. Lennon has gotten his due since his tragic 1980 assassination, made into a one-dimensional martyr for peace thanks to Yoko’s tireless marketing efforts. And Harrison has been the cool favorite Beatle for years, due to his understated guitar playing, disdain for Beatlemania, and the fact that so many of his beautiful songs got run over by the Lennon/McCartney hit machine.

But the cute Beatle is often a subject of derision – written off for writing silly love songs, being cheeky, friendly to the press, devoted to his wife. His songs come from a love of melody, not revenge against “the Man.” Even when he’s been getting screwed over by a money-grubbing trophy wife, he’s been nothing but gracious and cordial (in public anyway).

But now that Dylan has given Paul worship the A-OK, his disciples should fall right into place. Perhaps Patti Smith will do a pointless cover of “Too Many People” or “For No One” on her next album of bar-band quality cover versions. Cheers, Macca. Rock Turtleneck joins the Bard of Hibbing in giving you a big thumbs-up.

10,000 Maniacs: Rock Turtleneck's Visitors

Rock Turtleneck recently had its 10,000th official visitor. To put this milestone into some sort of pop-culture context, the Rock Turtleneck team of statisticians put together the following facts.

• Of Rock Turtleneck’s 10,000+ visitors, 68 were by someone other than RT’s obsessive-compulsive founder Steve Walsh.

• In contrast to RT’s 10,000 hits, walrusy songbird David Crosby took 8,887 hits from “ol’ Smokey,” his freebase pipe, on the North American leg of CSN’s 1983 “Daylight Again” tour.

• Bob Dylan’s epic story-song “Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts” has 9,937 verses.

• Psychotic producer/murderer Phil Spector produced 3,481 Top Ten singles with a gun placed squarely at the artist’s head.

• Sheryl Crow has endorsed 2,566 products and services. Yet somehow, her artistic integrity has remained completely intact. More importantly, so has her hair color. No, thank you, Revlon Colorist!

• Rock Turtleneck’s thought-provoking music criticism has been savored in 5,136 of the world’s most exotic locales, including Zuienkerke, West-Vlaanderen in Belgium; Lelystad, Flevoland in the Netherlands; and Parsipanny in New Jersey.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin, Apple founder Steve Jobs, Today host Meredith Viera and Pulitzer Prize-winning “free jazz” saxophonist Ornette Coleman are only a few of the over 4.99997978 billion people who have no plans to read Rock Turtleneck. But don’t let that stop you.

The Ballad of the House of Cash

In the film Walk the Line, Johnny Cash’s house saves him before even June Carter can. Hitting rock bottom after years of pills, booze and career suicide, Johnny passes out in the woods near a Tennessee lake. He wakes up facing a majestic log cabin-style house. A true moment of clarity: Johnny knows he is finally Home, and he buys the house on the spot. Then June joins him for good, he kicks drugs, makes amends with his old man, plays Folsom Prison. The credits roll.

The Hendersonville house, 20 minutes north of Nashville, was where Johnny raised his family and acted as musical patriarch as well. Legends passing through Music City, USA would drop by for dinner, play music, exchange ideas and enjoy some genuine God-fearing Southern hospitality.

At the time of Johnny’s death in 2003, there was a story in Rolling Stone or somewhere of a 1969 dinner party at the House of Cash. Guests included Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Joni Mitchell and her man at the time, Graham Nash. June cooked up a hearty meal, maybe some short ribs or a big crock of chili, and there was plenty of wine. After dinner they retired to the living room and passed the guitar around. Neil played “After the Gold Rush” or one of his other new songs, Dylan debuted “Lay Lady Lay,” Joni played “Big Yellow Taxi” and Graham sang his new song “Our House.” I’m sure Johnny sang a few, too.

The house’s final public appearance was also Johnny and June’s: the video for his cover of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt.” To call it a mere video is almost an insult. It’s a haunting celebration of life, love and family — and a damnation of death and the passing of time. The house is filled with memorabilia of an epic life: guitars, goblets, awards, photos, pianos, handcrafted furniture. All the while we see flashes of young Johnny playing prisons and hopping trains. At the end, Johnny closes the piano, and a whole lot more.

In 2006, the house was sold by Cash’s heirs to, of all people, Barry Gibb. A fine singer/songwriter in his own right, the Bee Gee in the White Tux couldn’t be further in musical sensibility from the Man in Black. It’s a long way from San Quentin to “Massachusetts.”

Barry admirably pledged to preserve the house’s integrity. He planned to use it as a summer home while away from his main Miami residence. Apparently, the house had other ideas. This week, as workers finished renovations, fumes from a wood preservative caught fire and the house burned to the ground. There you go.

Snorter's Banquet: Keith Richard's Puts His Pappy Up His Nose

In an interview published in the British mag NME, Keith Richards revealed he snorted the ashes of his late father Bert after he passed away in 2002. The Rolling Stones guitarist simply mixed some of his pappy with a little coke and snorted away. He blew his nose and then he blew his mind.

Had anyone else in the universe snorted their father, the news would have been shocking and disgusting. But with Keef, it seems normal, even charming. Still, the bigger question remains: why stop with Dear Old Dad? When you’re Keith Richards, the world is a snorter’s oyster. Suggestions for further snorting:

Chuck Berry. He’s still alive and well at 80. But when Chuck’s number comes up, what better way to avenge Johnny B. Goode for the way he abused Keith in the film Hail! Hail! Rock & Roll than to cut his ashes with a little Bolivian Marching Powder and snort that arrogant, penny-pinching sonofabitch right up the ol’ schnozz?

Exile: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones. Robert Greenfield does a huge disservice to the making of the Stones’ 1972 masterpiece Exile on Main St. by skipping the music and obsessing over Keith’s burgeoning heroin habit and decadent South-of-France lifestyle. Show that hack Greenfield what decadence really is: grind his book to a fine, powdery pulp and snort it up your nose.

The Crossroads. Through his music, Keith has absorbed and expanded upon Robert Johnson’s blues more fully than anyone. But it’s high time for Keith to close his own Deal with the Devil. Take the next Greyhound to Clarksdale, stick a straw in the nearest dirt road intersection and snort like the wind. Maybe even mix in a little coke. It’s hard to tell, it’s hard to tell if all your snorting’s in vain, but how are you going to know unless you try?

Brian Jones. With a drug habit that made Mick & Keith look like Scientologists, the Stones’ founder and brilliant multi-instrumentalist was fired in 1969. Then Brian's old lady Anita Pallenberg left him for Keith. Only weeks later, Jones was found dead in his swimming pool. Was his drowning accidental or was it murder? We’ll never know. But it’s not too late to make amends, Keith. Simply dig up his corpse, grind up what’s left and snort him up your honker. Then he’ll be onstage with you every night. It’ll be like he never left.

Don't Let Me Download: Are The Beatles Coming to iTunes?

Yesterday, technology overlord Steve Jobs announced that EMI’s vast catalog of music will available for download from the Apple iTunes store in a copyright-free format for the first time.

But the bigger news was the one EMI artist exempt from the deal: those loveable, long-haired, pill-popping Liverpudlians The Beatles. Rumors continue to swirl, however, that iTunes will finally make the entire Beatles catalog available online very soon.

To fill the void while the world awaits this momentous news, the Rock Turtleneck staff worked around the clock (well, for 15 minutes) preparing an “iMix” of 11 lesser-known Beatles classics to download. Of course, all of these songs may also be purchased on shiny, quaintly named saucers known as Compact Discs.

“You Know My Name (Look Up the Number).” This wacky comedy number was originally the B-side of “Let it Be.” Here the Fabs run through about 11 musical genres, including ska and cocktail, ending with a Brian Jones sax solo. Fun to listen to with your mates when you’ve had a few pints. Allegedly one of Paul McCartney’s favorite Beatles tracks.

“Long Long Long” It’s easy to miss this quiet Harrison ballad on the White Album – chances are your ears are still ringing, if not bleeding, after the end of the previous track “Helter Skelter.” But it’s one of George’s most beautiful ballads, and a template for the entire oeuvre of the late great Elliott Smith, who was fond of playing it live.

“Helter Skelter” (unreleased 27-minute version). Supposedly the Beatles recorded a raging version of the Charles Manson favorite that goes on for nearly a half-hour. As an act of good faith to their devoted fans, why not dust it off and make it available for 99 quid?

“Things We Said Today.” Sir Paul’s haunting minor key melody distinguishes it from the rest of the cheery A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack. One of the very best “early Beatle” tracks, it should be much better known than it is. Such was the Beatles greatness; even their throwaways were masterpieces. The sense of wan ennui would be heard later in R.E.M. and Nirvana among others.

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” At 7:47, it’s the longest Beatles track, but it has much to recommend it beyond value for the money. It's part twisted blues, part Fluxus art project. The interwoven guitar figures reach a Beethoven-like grandeur after minutes of repetition. And in a move surely inspired by Yoko, a white-noise machine takes over and seems to suck the song into the great beyond. The Beatles were wise enough to try stuff like this once and move on. These days, “experimental” bands like Sonic Youth have done it on pretty much every track for the past 25 years.

“No Reply.” On paper, this Beatles For Sale song is nothing special, but it has an urgency to it that keeps it fresh a whopping 43 years later. Lennon’s Dylan influence is starting to show here as the themes begin to move from puppy love to a stalker-like obsession, and more blatantly on the next track “I’m a Loser.”

“Leave My Kitten Alone.” The Fabs rock the cavern in their take on this Little Willie John classic. First released on the Anthology 1 outtakes collection in 1996. Whatever took its place in the official release is nowhere near as good as this.

“Hey Bulldog.” Many of us purchased the mediocre Yellow Submarine soundtrack just to get this one song. In his essential Beatles book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald shrewdly observed that this 1968 song was John Lennon’s first return to rock & roll after his two-year bout with psychedelia. Interestingly, this is the only Beatles song that was known to be filmed as it was recorded. Of course, it can be seen on YouTube.

“Rain.” Probably the greatest rock B-side of all time (“Paperback Writer” was the A-side). The fulcrum on which the Beatles' musical development rests. The quantum leap that took them from moptops to flower-power visionaries, “Rain” was the first song of any kind to feature backwards loops. It also has a beautiful melody, some amazing high-octave bass by McCartney and incredible drumming by Ringo. Cool video too. If anyone tells you Ringo is a lousy drummer, play them this.

“Two of Us.” Paul says he wrote this Let it Be opener about his courtship with Lovely Linda (“You and I Sunday driving/Not arriving”) but the song could just as easily describe his disintegrating relationship with John (“You and I chasing paper/Getting nowhere”). As Rock Turtlenecks’s TCB Walsh and his lovely bride Liz will testify, it also makes a great wedding song.

“Cry Baby Cry.” As interesting as the demos and outtakes of the Anthology series are, very few of the alternate takes are actually superior to the “official” versions. I venture that the nakedness of this Anthology 3 demo is indeed better than the White Album version. Am I right people?