Bob Dylan wanted to do an album with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Sounds amazing, right? Legendary producer Glyn Johns thought so, too. He's releasing a new book, Sound Man, on Nov. 13, and it includes a classic scene with Dylan (via Rolling Stone).
"He asked me about the Beatles album I had just finished and was very complimentary about my work with the Stones over the years," Johns writes. "In turn, I babbled about how how much we had all been influenced by his work.
"He said he had this idea to make a record with the Beatles and the Stones. And he asked me if I would find out whether the others would be interested. I was completely bowled over. Can you imagine the three greatest influences on popular music in the previous decade making an album together?"
Of course, the album never happened, but why?
"Keith and George thought it was fantastic," Johns writes. "But they would since they were both huge Dylan fans. Ringo, Charlie and Bill were amicable to the idea as long as everyone else was interested. John didn't say a flat no, but he wasn't that interested. Paul and Mick both said absolutely not."
Dang.
"I had it all figured out," Johns writes. "We would pool the best material from Mick and Keith, Paul and John, Bob and George, and then select the best rhythm section from the two bands to suit whichever songs we were cutting. Paul and Mick were probably, right, however I would have given anything to have given it a go."
From Rolling Stone: Johns doesn't give the exact timeframe for this story, but he does indicate that Wenner was in the process of editing his interview with Dylan when they met at the airport. That would likely place this sometime in the summer of 1969. At the time, Dylan was just beginning to work on Self Portrait and was gearing up for his comeback performance with the Band at the Isle of Wight.
As has been documented thousands of times, Dylan was a huge influence on The Beatles. Check out this old video of Ringo, Paul and George gushing over Bobby D.
