Why no George Harrison at The Last Waltz?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Interpolantics, Mar 7, 2018.

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  1. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland
    Well, he goes on about it at some length. The transcript is in the "Get Back" book with the first issue if Let It Be.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2018
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  2. Wright

    Wright Forum Resident

    Ok, I'd be interested in seeing that.
     
  3. redsock

    redsock Writer, reader, grouch.

    If Harrison took Diamond's spot, when would everyone watching the movie know when the pee break was?
     
  4. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland

    I dug out my copy and photographed the following. It’s as much as I dare, in case the pages fall apart.

    @Wright

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
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  5. GroovyGuy

    GroovyGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Halifax, NS Canada
    My first thought exactly. I've read that Harrison's influence on The Band has been overstated in the past.
     
  6. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland

    Don’t think Harrison had any influence on The Band. It was the other way round.
     
  7. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    If I was going to pick an artist that should have been there it would be john Hammond. Members of the band played on at least three of his early releases.
     
  8. The Elephant Man

    The Elephant Man Forum Resident

    Very true. Helen Reddy didn’t need to be there and neither did Nick Jonas. I skip over their performances all the time.
     
  9. chrisblower

    chrisblower Norfolk n'good

    He wasn't the only one ...Steve Stills also had no guest spot, but was around for the post gig jam.
     
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  10. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    The only concert in history with both Neils (Young and Diamond).
     
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  11. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    During van Morrison of course
     
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  12. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    I've always longed to know why things in general were never the way they weren't.
     
  13. Chance

    Chance Forum Resident

    Location:
    Morris County, NJ
    Close the Internet, we have a winner! :laugh:
     
  14. jonboy71

    jonboy71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxnard, CA
    Great performance too.
     
  15. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Ha - the best moment of the show.
     
    sekaer, Davmoco, Cokeman118 and 5 others like this.
  16. Maccastarr

    Maccastarr Forum Resident

    He was too busy being the subject of every other thread at the SHF.
     
  17. All Rights

    All Rights Senior Member

    Only if he got there before Neil Young.
    :eek:
     
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  18. Brother Maynard

    Brother Maynard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    He talks about the Band to the others on more than one occasion during those sessions as documented by Sulpy and Schweighardt. Also, he's featured in the Classic Albums episode on Music from Big Pink in the 1990's discussing how much he admired what they were about.
     
  19. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Actually, when you read Robbie Robertson's autobiography, you find that George was a friend of Richard's and they actually all knew him quite well!
     
  20. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA

    she cooks too?


    No wonder two of the most famous rock songs on earth were written about her.
     
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  21. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were only connected by Canada. Diamond is so far from their style. I would have preferred 4% Pantomime instead of Caravan but Van Morrison was great anyway. Great show but I wish Richard Manuel was on camera more especially on I Shall Be Released.Wish a lot more performances were included on the DVD extras.
     
  22. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    This is actually a question which has piqued my curiosity for quite some time now.
    And if George was to play at The Last Waltz, that would have been the perfect song to play- hell, have Ringo come out and sing it. I think even The Band would have had to change their underwear, sharing the stage with two Beatles:D
    Clearly I doubt Robbie thought to invite George, but I admit I am kind of surprised that if George caught wind about The Last Waltz ahead of time (and I'd imagine he had heard about it given the timeline), he didn't ring Robertson up and say "I want in!"
    Richard Manuel claimed "In A Station" was like his "George Harrison song", so make of that what you will. But absolutely The Band had a huge influence on George Harrison's music, frankly you'd have to be deaf not to notice it. He did try to steer The Beatles in that vein on occasion (see below) but in his solo career, absolutely- take Living In The Material World, that's like George's "Band" album, with all those slow, rootsy, acoustic guitar, piano/organ based arrangements. Apparently it was actually Ringo's idea to use The Band on "Sunshine Life For Me", something that surprised the hell outta me when I found it out because I just assumed it was George's.
    Hell...ask @RayS himself, he's probably around here someplace. But, yeah, George probably drove the other three to distraction raving about The Band in the Get Back/Let It Be period, because not only did he want The Beatles to sound like them, he wanted The Beatles to act like them as well...i.e. get along and cooperate- remember, this was still early days for The Band actually being "The Band" when George hung out with them in Woodstock.
    Stills was probably there mainly to party like everybody else- I wonder how Stephen felt being back onstage with Neil Young that night, it was probably the first time they'd at least played together since the "Eat a peach" incident:laugh:
    Robbie played on a couple of Joni's songs, I think, and Rick and Levon played with Neil on "Revolution Blues", that's the musical connection there.
     
  23. couchdave

    couchdave Founding member of Mystik Spiral

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Ringo and Ron Wood supposedly just came to watch the gig and were invited up spontaneously to play along on the grand finale, "I Shall Be Released." Every other guest musician at the concert had previously recorded with the Band or at least one of its members, so I don't see how they were "unrelated."
     
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  24. MagneticNorthpaw

    MagneticNorthpaw Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    It's fun to envision the other Beatles' reactions to this suggestion circa the White Album. :whistle:
     
  25. ohnothimagen

    ohnothimagen "Live music is better!"

    Location:
    Canada
    Hey, Paul's the one who briefly quoted "The Weight" when they played "Hey Jude" on The David Frost Show...

    Anyway, my copy of Barney Hoskyns' Across The Great Divide Band bio has a blurb from George Harrison on the back cover: "The best band in the history of the universe". Now that's an endorsement:righton:
     
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