Did Bob Dylan want to record with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones?

Musician and record producer Glyn Johns has claimed that Bob Dylan enquired about the possibility of making an album with The Beatles and Rolling Stones.As reported by Rolling Stone, the 72-year-old recalls an encounter with Dylan at a New York airport in his new book Sound Man when the singer-songwriter asked if he could gauge the two bands’ potential interest in such a project. Johns had worked with both The Beatles and Stones on various records.

“[Dylan] asked me about The Beatles album I had just finished and was very complimentary about my work with The Stones over the years. In turn, I babbled about how much we had all been influenced by his work,” writes John.

“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?”

Rolling Stone estimates the chance meeting happened in the summer of 1969. Johns’ subsequent proposal, however, was met with varrying degrees of enthusiasm: “Keith [Richards] and George [Harrison] thought it was fantastic. But they would since they were both huge Dylan fans. Ringo [Starr], Charlie [Watts] and Bill [Wyman] were amicable to the idea as long as everyone else was interested. John [Lennon] didn’t say a flat no, but he wasn’t that interested. Paul [McCartney] and Mick [Jagger] both said absolutely not.”

“I had it all figured out,” Johns continues. “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.”

Johns’ CV also includes work with The Who, The Band, Neil Young and The Clash. Sound Man is due to be released on November 13.

Source: NME