George Harrison: The Not-So-Quiet Beatle

Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:

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When The Beatles first landed in the U.S., a guy who knew a thing or two about music was unimpressed, predicting their metaphorical demise. That guy was Frank Sinatra, who would later change his mind and even cover their songs. His favorite track was “Something” from the Abbey Road album, which he introduced as his favorite Lennon-McCartney song. The only problem is that “Something” was actually written and composed by George Harrison, the band’s lead guitarist. This anecdote best captures the career and legacy of George Harrison, known as the “quiet Beatle.” His musical contributions were often overlooked, fading in the shadow cast by the songwriting giants John Lennon and Paul McCartney. However, as we’ll learn in today’s episode, George was far from being a wallflower, and his musical talent was on par with the greatest stars of the 1960s and 1970s.

George Harrison was born on February 23, 1943, in Liverpool, Northern England. He was the youngest of four children born to Harold, a bus driver and trade union official, and Louise, a grocery store clerk. George’s childhood was relatively peaceful and stable, but the Harrisons were not wealthy, and their house in Liverpool was small and cramped. George’s parents signed him up at Dovedale Primary School, the same one attended by John Lennon, but George was three years younger, and the two never met. A fellow Dovedale schoolmate remembered George as a choir boy who nonetheless possessed a great sense of humor and liked to cause mischief. More importantly, he had a strong moral compass, defending schoolmates against bullies.

In 1949, the Harrisons moved to Speke, southeast of Liverpool. George continued his studies, winning a place at the prestigious Liverpool Institute in 1954, but he did not fit in well in this new environment. An intense love for popular music had swept away any interest in academics. While teachers lectured, the skinny teenager filled his notebooks with drawings of guitars and lyrics from his favorite Elvis Presley songs. George’s musical epiphany happened at the age of 13 when he heard “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis drifting from an open window. It hit him like a double-decker bus; he knew he wanted to be a guitarist.

The young Harrison started dressing up as a “Teddy Boy,” sporting drainpipe trousers and a quiff. He listened avidly to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, as well as early British skiffle records. George wanted rock or skiffle or both, and to do that, he needed money, encouragement, and a guitar. He received all three from his parents, especially Louise, who worked part-time as a ballroom dancing instructor and was happy to indulge George’s musical inclination. The Harrisons bought George his first guitar for three pounds, not a small sum in post-war Britain. He taught himself the first chords, and his six-string beauty became his entire world. In Harrison’s own words, “When I was a kid growing up, the guitar was the main thing that saved me from boredom.”

Eventually, George graduated from the Liverpool Institute with only one O-level in art. Rather than continuing his studies, he apprenticed as an electrician. However, his time at the Liverpool Institute had one positive consequence: while riding the bus back from school, George befriended an older schoolmate, Paul McCartney. Paul’s first impressions of George were of a “cocky little guy” with a good sense of himself. By the time George and Paul became friends, George had started taking his first steps in showbiz. He and his brother Peter formed a band called Johnny and the Rebels. Their debut gig was at the British Legion Club in Speke, where they played just two songs over and over, returning home with bellies full of ale and pockets stuffed with ten shillings each.

Meanwhile, the foundations of The Beatles were being laid. In July 1957, Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen. In February 1958, the group needed a new guitarist, and Paul suggested they audition George. Lennon was not thrilled, as he didn’t want a 14-year-old kid in his band, but he agreed to give him a chance. An audition was organized, and the three future Beatles met on the top floor of a double-decker bus. John asked the newbie to play “Raunchy” by Bill Justice. When George launched into the twangy lead guitar, John gave his approval, but later admitted that he didn’t care much for George at the beginning.

Shortly after the audition, The Quarrymen abandoned skiffle for the more promising rock and roll genre. In May 1960, the band changed its name to The Silver Beatles and launched a two-week tour in Scotland. That summer, the band was joined by drummer Pete Best, becoming a quintet along with George, John, Paul, and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. The Silver Beatles gained confidence and skill, so much so that their agent organized a residency at two clubs in Hamburg, Germany. George played his first German gig on August 17, 1960. By then, the band had dropped “Silver” from their name and altered the spelling to “Beatles,” a homage to the Beat Generation. Harrison and the guys played for eight hours straight on stage for two pounds and fifty pence a day—not a fortune, but at just 17, George was earning more than his parents.

In Hamburg, George also gained confidence in another aspect of rock and roll life—getting on with the ladies. It was there that he lost his virginity, with the other Beatles in the room pretending to ignore him but unable to help themselves from applauding at the end. To keep up with the demands of the Kaiserkeller Club, George started taking prescription stimulants, which caused him to froth at the mouth and hallucinate. The time spent in Hamburg was also a time of cultural growth for George. He became a sort of mascot for a group of young intellectuals, including art student Astrid Kirchherr. Thanks to their influence, The Beatles honed their image, ditching Teddy Boy quiffs for a look inspired by Parisian existentialists, and with that, The Beatles haircut was born.

Something deeper was born in Hamburg, though: the power dynamics within the band. Lennon and McCartney were already competing for preeminence, a duel fought with lyrics and melodies as weapons of choice. Harrison, still a junior member, was relegated to the backseat, but from there, he observed, listened, and learned. He developed his signature lead guitar style, one that eschewed fretboard gymnastics, preferring carefully crafted riffs and short solos where every note had a purpose.

However, this early adventure was short-lived. In October 1960, The Beatles were booked by a new club, The Top Ten. Their promoter was furious for this betrayal and got revenge by snitching to the police that Harrison was still a minor, resulting in his expulsion. McCartney and Best retaliated by setting a condom on fire in one of the venues, which resulted in their expulsion as well. By December 1960, The Beatles were reunited in Liverpool, performing at the legendary Cavern Club.

In April 1961, once George turned 18, the band returned to Hamburg. In June, they had their chance to record their first single, “My Bonnie,” which attracted the attention of Liverpool record shop owner Brian Epstein. The band was invited back to their hometown by Epstein. In November 1961, he took them under his wing, paving the way for The Beatles’ big break. In February 1962, Brian sent an audition tape to major record label Decca, which was famously rejected. It was a hard blow for the band, but Lennon later recalled how it was George who kept everybody’s spirits up. Luckily, they persevered, and another demo tape was well received by Parlophone. In May 1962, the band signed a record deal, and in June, they started their first recording sessions.

During these early sessions, they were assigned to producer George Martin, who asked them to let him know if there was anything they didn’t like. George Harrison replied, “Well, for a start, I don’t like your tie.” The two Georges did not get along well, but one thing they agreed on was that Pete Best was not the right drummer for The Beatles. When Martin raised the issue with the other band members, Harrison enthusiastically suggested they hire his old pal from Hamburg, Ringo Starr.

In October 1962, The Beatles released their first successful single, “Love Me Do.” Before long, Beatlemania had started, and the U.S. embraced it enthusiastically. The Fab Four from Liverpool started their tour across the Atlantic in February 1964, leaving a profound mark, especially after appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show. On that occasion, George was suffering from the flu, which almost prevented him from playing and made it difficult for him to speak. The press and the public immediately dubbed him the “quiet Beatle,” which wasn’t exactly true but matched his serious persona and growing dislike for the excesses of Beatlemania. He was in it for the music and soon grew tired of the constant barrage of unwanted public attention and hysterically screaming fans.

His frustration was compounded by still being considered a junior partner when it came to songwriting. Producer George Martin always gave precedence to the compositions by John and Paul, but Harrison was undeterred. His first solo writing credit with The Beatles was “Don’t Bother Me,” written in August. Harrison’s contributions to The Beatles’ sound were not limited to penning songs; he also enriched his bandmates’ compositions with carefully crafted riffs and solos and expanded their sonic palette by introducing new instruments and equipment. For example, in 1964, he picked up the Rickenbacker 12-string guitar and later introduced synthesizers.

The instrument that became the trademark of Harrison’s sound was the sitar, central to Indian traditional music. George had first picked it up while shooting the film “Help!” but only started formal training after meeting sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar in June 1966. George had been married since January 1966 to British model Patty Boyd, who encouraged him to expand his interest in Indian culture beyond music and into a spiritual quest. Harrison started studying yoga and meditation, attended lectures, and visited India in September 1966. By August of the following year, George had converted the other three Beatles to the practice of transcendental meditation popularized by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

In February 1968, the band traveled to Rishikesh, India, where they spent several weeks studying and meditating with the Maharishi. Ringo and Paul left the retreat early, but Lennon and Harrison remained until April. That’s when a scandal erupted with allegations that the Maharishi had made improper advances towards actress Mia Farrow. John and George left Rishikesh, and in June, the band made a statement distancing themselves from their guru. However, George would later cast doubts on the allegations and continue to support and fund his movement.

It could be argued that George Harrison’s interest in Indian music and culture was almost entirely responsible for their influence on the counter-culture movement of the 1960s, and his spiritual activism may have inspired John Lennon’s own activism. The Indian and Eastern influences can be clearly appreciated in Harrison’s musical development. For example, the lyrics of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” were inspired by the Chinese classic “Book of Changes,” and “Here Comes the Sun” features unusual time signatures borrowed from traditional Indian music.

At the same time, George was developing a musical life outside of The Beatles, forging friendships with legends like Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. Clapton collaborated with George on his first solo album, “Wonderwall Music,” in 1968, inspired by Indian music and blues rock. This record was followed by a radical change in direction: 1969’s “Electronic Sound,” an atmospheric and sometimes disturbing avant-garde piece performed entirely on a Moog synthesizer.

While George was thriving musically, his home life was not going well. He was a man of contrasts, at times plunging into ascetic meditation fueled by an increasingly dogmatic spiritual outlook, while at other times partying hard and indulging in drugs, especially LSD and cannabis. On March 12, 1969, Harrison’s house was raided by police, and he was charged with possession of marijuana. Meanwhile, George and Patty were trying to conceive a child, but the accumulating tensions led to the deterioration of their marriage, which paralleled the gradual dissolution of The Beatles.

During the last two years of the band’s activity, 1969 and 1970, Harrison frequently clashed with Lennon and McCartney. His compositions were often overlooked or modified by John and Paul. Harrison retaliated by pointing out that since Yoko Ono had entered the picture, Lennon’s creative juices had dried up. He expressed his frustrations in a new song, “Wah-Wah,” which made it clear how the Lennon-McCartney duo didn’t hear him. “Wah-Wah” didn’t make it to any of the last two Beatles albums, “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be,” but it enriched the vast catalogue of unpublished Harrison tunes that would soon see the light of day.

In April 1970, The Beatles announced their split, and music fans worldwide mourned. But George was ready to go solo. In November, he released his third album, “All Things Must Pass.” This triple LP contained the popular track “My Sweet Lord,” which unfortunately was at the center of a lawsuit in February 1971, as the song was deemed too similar to “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons. However, the album contained more than 100 minutes of excellent music, showcasing Harrison’s first use of slide guitar, which would become a signature technique.

Most of the album was composed at George’s new lavish residence, Friar Park, an extravagant neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. George loved spending weeks of solitude and relaxation behind its walls, tending to the vast gardens. He could spend a fortune on a new home but also dedicated energy to alleviating the plight of the poor and desperate. In August 1971, with the help of Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, and Ringo Starr, he organized two charity concerts in New York to collect aid for the victims of floods in Bangladesh. These events set the template for future rock charity concerts, like Live Aid.

Professional success was counterpointed by personal misery, however. His relationship with Patty took a huge hit in 1974 when she left him for his good friend Eric Clapton. But Harrison did not have the moral high ground, as he had been having several affairs, including one with Ringo Starr’s wife, Maureen. In that same year, George undertook a tour in North America with Ravi Shankar, disappointing fans by refusing to play any Beatles songs. While starting to feel the strain of life on the road, the tour was a failure, but it had a silver lining: while preparing for it, George met Olivia Trinidad Arias, a marketing manager with A&M Records. Olivia captured George’s interest thanks to their shared interest in meditation and was able to exert a positive influence on him, curbing his excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs.

When George and Patty Boyd eventually divorced in 1977, he was ready to fully embrace a new life with Olivia. On August 1, 1978, they welcomed their baby boy, Dhani, and one month later, they married at Henley’s registry office. George was happiest when he could just relax with his family and spend long hours gardening at Friar Park. So much so that Dhani, as a little boy, had no idea that his father was a world-famous rock star. He recalled, “I was pretty sure he was just a gardener.”

Besides gardening, George expanded his endeavors into other forms of artistic expression. In 1979, he co-founded a movie production company, Handmade Films. It was thanks to Handmade that Monty Python could produce “Life of Brian,” a religious satire that no other company dared to fund. Harrison and Handmade produced other successes like “Time Bandits,” “The Long Good Friday,” and “Withnail and I,” but also bankrolled flops like “Shanghai Surprise,” one of several wrong decisions that eventually bankrupted Handmade Films.

In 1980, George also picked up the typewriter, authoring his autobiography, “I Me Mine.” In it, he avoided any mention of John Lennon, which took great offense. Harrison tried to contact him to resolve their issues, but fate intervened in the shape of a gunman, Mark David Chapman, who shot Lennon on December 8, 1980. Now, The Beatles were truly history.

George continued to compose throughout the 1980s, releasing two solo albums, one compilation, and two records with a supergroup of musical friends, The Traveling Wilburys. The band was founded in April 1988 as the brainchild of Harrison and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra. The duo recruited three musicians: Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. The Wilburys were anything but traveling, as they never went on tour, but their success encouraged George to organize his last set of gigs. Despite the Boyd-Clapton affair, the two guitarist friends had never fallen out and decided to tour Japan in 1991 and 1992. This would be the last time George performed in public.

His health had already started to deteriorate, and in 1997, he was diagnosed with throat cancer as a result of a life of excess and heavy smoking. The initial treatment was successful, but it would be a short-lived respite. In the early hours of December 30, 1999, Michael Abram, a paranoid schizophrenic, managed to sneak into Friar Park armed with a kitchen knife. Harrison tackled the intruder but was stabbed multiple times. Luckily, Olivia intervened, knocking out the would-be killer with a table lamp. Harrison recovered quickly from the attack, joking that Abram certainly wasn’t auditioning for The Traveling Wilburys. However, the wounds contributed to George’s declining health. His cancer returned, affecting his lungs and later his brain. After further treatment in Switzerland and the United States, George Harrison died in Los Angeles on November 29, 2001. His spirits were up until the very end; shortly before his death, he was cracking jokes with his old pal Ringo Starr. According to George’s wishes, his ashes were dispersed in the River Ganges.

At the peak of his artistic activity with The Beatles, George Harrison may have struggled to have his voice heard, but he successfully built a legacy of profound, inspiring music spanning at least four different genres. Ten years after his death, Dhani Harrison returned to Friar Park and noted how the garden had never looked better. The trees planted by his father had finally grown. He remarked, “You don’t build a garden for yourself; you build a garden for future generations. My father definitely had a long view.”

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