Jimmie Vaughan Discusses His Connection to George Harrison

I recently spoke to Jimmie Vaughan about his 2011 album, Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites, which came out this summer on Shout! Factory Records.

Near the end of our conversation, I asked him about the Porky's Revenge soundtrack album from 1985. Yes, I know that's obscure. But there's a George Harrison song on that album, a Bob Dylan cover called "I Don't Want to Do It," that features Jimmie Vaughan on guitar.

Think about it: George Harrison and Jimmie Vaughan on the same song together ... a song that was written by Bob Dylan ... that was used on the soundtrack of Porky's Revenge, no less.

I wouldn't be a good Harrison fan if I didn't point out that two mixes of "I Don't Want to Do It" were released. One is the version from the soundtrack album (the one on which Vaughan is credited), which you can hear in the video at the bottom of this story.

The other one features someone playing what sounds like a Parsons/White B-Bender-equipped Telecaster. It doesn't sound like Vaughan's playing style. Of course, we can assume Harrison is playing lead, but people used to assume he played the guitar solo on "Taxman," too ... .

Anyway, Vaughan and I shot the bull about Porky's Revenge ...

Let's talk about Porky's Revenge.

OK [Laughs]. That's way back.You play guitar on "I Don't Want To Do It" on the soundtrack album. I remember being a little perplexed when I saw your name in the credits to that song. How did that happen?I think we were working with Dave Edmunds at the time, and we were in Los Angeles recording, and George Harrison was doing something, and he liked what the Fabulous Thunderbirds did on some record. He just asked if we wanted to come in and record, and we're like, "Sure, sure!" So George was there in the studio?Yeah. He was great. We were trying to be cool, like, I wanted to go ask him all these questions. And I asked a couple, and then I kind of shut up, because I didn't want to be just another guy pestering him. But he was real nice.That's how I feel with you!No, no. [Laughs] He was real nice and he just liked music. And that was really what it was. So we were all happy to be there. We [The Fabulous Thunderbirds] had that song called "Look at That, Look at That" from Tuff Enuff, and I don't know if it was in that movie or not. I can't remember. But they wanted us to do "Stagger Lee." That's right, you actually appear on two songs on the soundtrack -- "I Don't Want to Do It" by George Harrison and "Stagger Lee" by The Fabulous Thunderbirds.Yep, we did "Stagger Lee," but we also had this other song, "Look at That, Look at That," and George goes, "Yeah, that sounds like --" Well, he named a song he thought it sounded like. A Larry Williams song or something. He knew every Larry Williams song. He loved Larry Williams.Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World.