the process of learning Spanish before I die is a joy beyond my wildest dreams / the friendship of George Harrison and Bob Dylan

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"Harrison was a lifelong fan of Bob Dylan's music."

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"Musical legend Bob Dylan joined those who mourned Harrison's passing calling him "a giant, a great, great soul, with all of the humanity, all of the wit and humor, all the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion for people.

He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men," Dylan continued in his statement. "He was like the sun, the flowers and the moon, and we will miss him enormously. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him."

Remembering "Nelson Wilbury" on what would have been his 78th birthday

Of all the Beatles, it is George Harrison and his songs that have meant the most to me for the longest time, especially his final album, "Brainwashed," released in 2002.  R gave me the triple album "All Things Must Pass" for Christmas a few weeks after he returned from Vietnam in 1970.  R first heard the album while he was still in Vietnam.  It was R who called me from California in November 2001 with the sad news that George Harrison had died. 

Today when George Harrison would have been 78 years old,  I am remembering him in his role as one of the Traveling Wilburys.  In this song, his presence, his voice, and his guitar work are particularly distinctive and heartening to me: