Watching The Wheels

I was listening to this acoustic version of Lennon's Watching the Wheels the other day when I couldn't help notice how much his guitar work on the track sounds like Neil Young.

I can't think of another Lennon song where he uses hammer ons and pull offs like this, it is really nice, very Sugar Mountain to my ear. Lot of elaborate fingerstyle that I can't recall him ever indulging in again. Classic Harvest/ After the Gold Rush style picking and playing.

And its sort of funny because if the nexus I suggest is accurate, not all the Beatles liked Young, in fact George despised his playing. They all loved the equally facile Apple signee James Taylor but not Neil. 

Here's George:

In 1992, While Harrison was in the studio working on a recording of his 1975 song “This Guitar (Can’t Keep from Crying)” from Extra Texture with Eurythmics‘ Dave Stewart, Bob Geldof was in the studio and brought up Young and “Around the World,” which Harrison shot down.

When Geldof asked Harrison if he heard the live version of “Around The World,” Harrison said “I’m not a Neil Young fan. “I hate it. Yeah, I can’t stand it.” Geldof mentioned that he liked Young’s 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps, and Harrison added, “It’s mainly his [Young’s] voice. I liked some of his songs but I hated the sound of his voice, his singing is even worse than me.”

Harrison then imitated Young’s guitar style and added, “It’s good for a laugh,” then referenced his 1992 Bobfest performance with Young, Clapton, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn on Dylan’s 1964 “My Back Pages.”

“We did this show with him [Young],” said Harrison. “I saw it from the other side of the stage and looked around, I looked at Eric and said ‘What’s going on?’ He did the solo in the middle then he kind of looked at me like – ‘Don’t look at me. It’s not me.’”

John Lennon was a heck of a guitar player, one of the best rhythm players ever and he could play a biting lead. So is Paul. And John once said that he thought he was a better player than George. I say they are both great. 

And so is Neil, no matter what George thought.

Can you hear the influence or connection here or am I crazy?