Bob Dylan's All-Night Songwriting Session Inspired George Harrison's Beatles Classic

Just like the Beatles influenced countless musical contemporaries, the Fab Four drew inspiration from many of the other talented artists of the era. One of those legendary peers was Bob Dylan, particularly in the case of George Harrison's songwriting (which makes sense, considering the pair would later become bandmates in the Traveling Wilburys).

In fact, a song Dylan stayed up all night writing during the recording of his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde inspired Harrison to write a classic track which appeared on the so-called White Album.

The Dylan song in question? "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."

Sean Wilentz (author of Bob Dylan in America) shared firsthand accounts of the night "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was written in a 2007 essay for the Oxford American.

"I saw Dylan sitting out in the studio at the piano, writing all night long by himself. Dark glasses on," recalled Kris Kristofferson (who was working as a studio janitor at the time). With the aid of Coca-Cola and chocolate bars, Dylan stayed up until four o'clock in the morning working on the lyrics, which have been said to be about his first wife, Sara Lownds.

It wasn't the lyrics of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" that Harrison took his cue from while writing "Long, Long, Long," however…it was the chords themselves.  "I can't recall much about it ['Long, Long, Long'] except the chords, which I think were coming from 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' – D to E minor, A, and D – those three chords and the way they moved," Harrison explained in an interview shared by uDiscoverMusic.

Source: yahoo.com/Jacqueline Burt Cote

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