George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — June 25, 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

872) George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It”

Bob Dylan wrote but never recorded this “lost gem” (Andrew Grant Jackson, https://solobeatles.com/2015/06/02/harrison-revives-an-unfinished-gem-by-dylan/) about not wanting to go on the road and leave his family. Dylan gave it to George Harrison, who demoed the song during the All Things Must Pass sessions. Harrison didn’t record and release an official version until the pre-Cloud Nine 80’s, when it was added to the soundtrack of the cinematic classic Porky’s Revenge! I’m not making this up!

Tony Attwood explains:

“I Don’t Want to Do It” was written by Dylan after “I threw it all away” in 1968 and was seemingly given to George Harrison who demoed it for “All things must pass” but then passed up on it. However although Dylan did not record it Harrison returned to [“It”] later and recorded the song again in 1984 and released it in 1985.  The song was produced by Dave Edmunds . . . .  It was the only song Harrison released between 1982 and 1987. Dave Edmunds’ involvement came about because he was helping to select the music for the soundtrack of the film, Porky’s Revenge! (itself a sequel to “Porky’s”) and this movie then contained the song.  The version of the song released as a single is different from the version heard in the movie but in both cases the vocal harmonies as well as the lead vocal are performed by Harrison. . . . It has been suggested that Dylan was writing about leaving his wife and young family in order to go touring, and the fact of being torn between the two – as we now know he stayed at home.

https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/6595

About that soundtrack, Stephen Thomas Erlewine muses:

Who knows what Dave Edmunds was thinking when he agreed to produce and assemble the soundtrack to 1985’s Porky’s Revenge! It’s easier to see the motives of the movie’s producers — they were flush with cash after two successful teen-sex comedies set in the ’50s, and who would be better to create a new soundtrack of old-time rock & roll than Edmunds, who was not only well-known for his retro-rock, but was riding a wave of popularity . . . . That makes sense. What boggles the mind is that Edmunds, after accepting the job, decided to treat this soundtrack — which, let’s remember, is the second sequel to a film best known for a scene of horny teenage boys spying on the girls in a gym shower and for a female character called “Lassie” who howls like a dog during orgasm — as a prestige project, recruiting such superstars as George Harrison, Carl Perkins, Jeff Beck, Willie Nelson, and Robert Plant (performing under the Crawling King Snakes moniker with Phil Collins on drums!), along with the up-and-coming, Fabulous Thunderbirds, to record new material for this exploitation film! And they agreed to do it! Most amazingly of all, they wound up with a neat little record, something that’s far more fun than the accompanying film. Edmunds keeps it simple here, never straying from his own aesthetic of modernizing classic rock & roll, hiring a house band and letting his guest stars do their thing. . . . [A]ll the performances are infectious . . . . [How a ] third-rate sequel like Porky’s Revenge! could produce a soundtrack this good . . . is a mystery for the ages.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/porkys-revenge%21-expanded–mw0000653021

Andrew Grant Jackson adds:

[“It”] was written by Bob Dylan circa 1970 but never recorded by him. Harrison laid down an acoustic demo during the All Things Must Pass sessions. Structurally, the song was pretty much in place then, but Harrison dropped it for fourteen years. Out of nowhere, [“]It” was revived through the prodding of Dave Edmunds. . . . commissioned to put together the soundtrack of the ignominious Porky’s Revenge (1985), sequel to Porky’s (1982), which, along with Animal House (1978) instigated the ’80s wave of raunchy teen sex comedies. Edmunds did his own songs for the movie and also got others to contribute. Somehow it was decided to revive Dylan’s understated, melancholy composition for the occasion [which] has a unique place in Harrison’s oeuvre, with a sound different from any other period. It’s a little more rich, deep, and organic than Gone Troppo and without the pop sheen of 1987’s Cloud Nine. The piano matches the poignancy of the lyrics, accompanied by an organ, perhaps in honor of Dylan’s mid-sixties classics. . . . It’s too bad this very appealing sound with Edmunds was a one-off. Dylan’s lyrics are unusually generic and seem to be not quite finished, which could be why he never released it. It opens with the singer wishing he could have another day of youth, back when he knew what was true and all he had to do was play in the yard. It was probably written in the late ’60s by Dylan when he was under pressure to resume touring, which would mean leaving his wife and young children, now playing in the yard themselves. The singer takes his woman into his arms and reassures her he doesn’t want to make her cry by saying goodbye. Ultimately Dylan decided not to leave his home and family for another half decade. Harrison could certainly relate, as this was the only song he released in the five years between 1982’s Gone Troppo and 1987’s Cloud Nine, except for a few songs for the movie Shanghai Surprise (1986).

https://solobeatles.com/2015/06/02/harrison-revives-an-unfinished-gem-by-dylan/

Here’s the soundtrack version:

Here’s the single version, with organ:

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