(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

The ‘Quiet Beatle’ has long since been deemed a misnomer for George Harrison, as his good friend Tom Petty comically asserted, the guitarist actually never shut up. However, he was the youngest of the gang and certainly the most diplomatic, riding the wave of fame with unfettered dignity and friendship throughout. As he said himself, “heaven and hell is right now, you make it heaven or you make it hell by your actions”. Harrison always sought the triumph of the former.

With that sanguine outlook he guided music towards a more introspective sense of spiritualism; initially with his exultant riffs and personable charm, before darting between the bouncers of the band and adding to The Beatles’ repertoire with masterpieces like ‘Something’. Yes, for all he was a guitarist who subtly defined the sound of an era; he was, in truth, a born songwriter.

It says a lot on this front that he was able to create a space for his own work on a Beatles album full stop. Then again, Harrison was used to that battle; he was also the youngest of four children in a family sense. It may well have been this disposition that instilled his own free-spirited attitude in life – an attitude that would lead to him studying the sitar of Ravi Shankar and arguably making the biggest leap away from the Fab Four sound with his own debut solo album.

Thereafter, he remained a glowing presence in the music industry, continually collaborating, helping to form supergroups like The Traveling Wilburys, and encouraging his pals in Led Zeppelin to try out a ballad every now and again. Now the dust has settled on his artistic brilliance; one humble truth shines through more than any other, he was in this game for the fun of it and he certainly spread that love around.

Now, 80 years on from his birth, the true extent of his impact is still being appraised. To celebrate this joyous legacy, we’ve waded through the pivotal diegesis that he was central to and curated his life in momentous moments. From the beginnings of the Beatles to searching out the meaning of life in music, these are the iconic moments that define the life of the anything but quiet one.

George Harrison’s career in his 80 most iconic moments:

Hearing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’

For every budding musician, there is always that one song that hooks you in. No matter how you end up playing music, every artist has that one defining moment when it becomes clear that nothing is going to be the same ever again. Although George Harrison caught the rock ‘n’ roll bug at an early age, his first exposure to crowned king, Elvis Presley, was fittingly secondhand.

When talking about his earliest memory of music, Harrison recalled the sound of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ blaring out of a radio while riding his bike. It was a sound that made him take notice. Harrison singled that out as his rock ‘n’ roll epiphany, and even used it to get back in touch with his roots when playing Eastern music later in life. Although the grainy sounds of the King might have merely been caught on the wind that fateful day, it was all Harrison needed to spark his musical fire.

Joining The Beatles

The biggest hurdle that Harrison had to jump through when joining the Beatles was just how young he was. While Lennon and McCartney had an age difference, Harrison’s baby-faced charms were a hurdle, they also didn’t sit well with Lennon. Despite looking so tiny next to Lennon and McCartney, Harrison blew away any other competition during his audition.

After wanting someone that they knew could solo, Lennon and McCartney heard Harrison play the instrumental song ‘Raunchy’ on top of a double decker bus and were convinced that he needed to join the band. Being transfixed by Harrison’s playing, Lennon and McCartney welcomed him into the group as lead guitarist. As much as Harrison’s cherubic face gave him away, none of that mattered once he had a guitar in his hand.

Getting kicked out of Germany

The seedy streets of Hamburg is where the Beatles cut their teeth in the early days. Although their home in Liverpool may have been welcoming enough, having to play for their lives in a country where hardly anyone spoke English was trial by fire. Harrison braved it for a while, but it became a bit complicated when his passport was called into question – itself a mark of his foolhardy determination.

After playing for a few months, Harrison was deported from Germany after authorities found out he was underage. The rest of the band didn’t fare much better, with McCartney being arrested after accidentally starting a fire when moving their equipment. Though the Beatles continued on for a few more gigs, it wasn’t long before they found their way back to Liverpool, bringing with them their newfound fashion sense of leather jackets. Harrison might not have gotten a fond farewell, but the experience of playing night after night gave him a workhorse mentality when playing live.

Taking a black eye for Ringo Starr

For Beatles purists, the band didn’t fall into place until Ringo Starr joined the group. While the Fab Four had been going strong with Pete Best behind the drum kit, it was George Martin’s suggestion to get a new drummer, thinking that Best wasn’t as precise as he should be, that elevated them. Even though Beatles fans fell in love with Starr over time, Harrison had to deal with a few naysayers in the beginning.

During their first gigs with Starr behind the kit, the band had to fight off fans who were picketing the show, thinking that Best had been unjustly booted out. After fighting off a few of the critics in Liverpool, Harrison was battered when they went in the studio for Please Please Me. The group were determined to press on with Starr, and there is proof of this defiance in that fact that Harrison is sporting a black eye in some of the press photos for this era.

His first vocal performance

George Harrison being called ‘The Quiet One’ wasn’t just a PR stunt. From day one, Harrison was always the more introverted member onstage, being content to let Lennon and McCartney do most of the singing while he played the guitar. When he did open his mouth to sing, though, fans were given something a bit more rustic than what the songwriting duo could deliver.

While Harrison may have gotten his start singing the song ‘Chains’ on Please Please Me, his real turn as a vocalist comes on the McCartney-penned ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’. As opposed to the traditional 12 bar songs we were used to, this is a slower ballad, as Harrison sings about telling a girl that he’s in love with her like an old time crooner. Although Lennon and McCartney could deliver these stately ballads in their sleep, Harrison’s sense of innocence is exactly what the song needs.

His jazzy Break on ‘Til There Was You’

Rock ‘n’ roll was always just a small fraction of what The Beatles were able to do. Outside of their Chuck Berry records, McCartney remembers scouring Liverpool to find different chords that they could use, whether that be from show tunes or even classical music. While McCartney takes centre stage on their take on ‘Til There Was You’, the real star of the show musically is Harrison’s guitar break.

Compared to the usual lead lines expected in rock, Harrison sticks to a nylon string guitar, giving a slightly classical feel to the music. Instead of just serving the melody, Harrison goes off into different modes, bringing together elements of Spanish music and jazz into the song. Whereas most guitarists would use an opportunity like this to show off, Harrison’s approach is much more tasteful than his rock contemporaries. Harrison’s heart may have been with Carl Perkins, but this is a solo that could have made Tommy Emmanuel proud.

The guitar hook on ‘And I Love Her’

Lennon and McCartney always approached their craft as a songwriting team. Even though one person might come up with the crux of a song, every one of their collaborations would feature the same ‘Lennon-McCartney’ banner on the album sleeve. Although McCartney might have had the basis for ‘And I Love Her’ when making A Hard Day’s Night, the most melodic part of the song actually came from Harrison.

When McCartney first brought the song into the studio, he was playing the basic chords without any other arrangements. Once Harrison got ahold of the tracks, he thought that it needed a riff to tie everything together and came up with the iconic five-note phrase that leads you into the verses of the song. Despite McCartney doing most of the heavy lifting, even he admitted that Harrison’s playing was the real star of the show. Harrison wasn’t writing yet, but his understanding always laid in serving the song.

Writing his first song ‘Don’t Bother Me’

When it came to writing songs, Harrison was always the odd one out. Whereas Lennon and McCartney had each other to work with, Harrison was left to his own devices and had to learn how to write songsby himself. After a bout of sickness on tour, Harrison finally offered up his first song to the Beatles, the paradoxically morbid ditty, ‘Don’t Bother Me’.

Sick in bed, Harrison started to write the material as an exercise to see if he could write a full song. After playing one happy love song after another, Harrison’s first step up to the plate is drenched in melancholy, dominated by minor chords and singing about how he doesn’t want to talk to anyone since his girlfriend had left him. Lennon and McCartney may have been the kings of the earnest love song, but Harrison set himself up as a different kind of songwriter on this track.

His contribution to harmonies

The key component of The Beatles sound was always their impressive vocal harmonies. Although the band might have been looking to make a racket in the early days, their love of Motown made them pay special attention to the way their vocals held together in the mix. And while Lennon had a searing tone and McCartney held the upper register, it took Harrison’s middle harmony to provide the musical glue together.

Take a song like ‘This Boy’, for instance. Written as a way to give the Beatles their own Smokey Robinson-esque anthem, the track is dominated by the Threetles harmonising with each other. Though it’s easy to pick out McCartney’s voice at the top, Harrison’s vocal is tucked away in the background, always adding a sense of longing to the final product. You might not even notice Harrison’s voice on first listen, but his voice is the reason why your brain wants to play these tracks again and again.

His rockabilly guitar breaks

Every rock guitarist relies on their bag of tricks, and George Harrison was no exception. Although Harrison eventually moved on to playing everything under the sun, his starting point was always with the guitar gods of the ‘50s, from Chuck Berry to Scotty Moore. Outside of rock and roll, though, Harrison was always keen to pull from the world of rockabilly.

Along with his rock idols, Harrison always held Carl Perkins in well esteem, and his guitar playing always had a country twang to it. Although ‘All My Loving’ might be one of the cornerstone tracks from the Beatles’ early days, Harrison’s tone is ripped straight out of Nashville, dancing around the chord changes and bringing a Western spin on the tune. Throughout the ‘60s, Harrison would flesh out his tone even more, adding pedal steel to ‘Yes It Is’ and even covering the country classic ‘Act Naturally’ on Help!.

The infectious guitar riff in ‘I Feel Fine’

In the wake of A Hard Day’s Night, it dawned on The Beatles they couldn’t play the same rock ‘n’ roll love songs forever. Despite the band being in high demand, they were still reaching for different influences every time they walked into the studio. While John Lennon’s ‘I Feel Fine’ could have easily just been another 12-bar blues song, Harrison’s riff gave the entire song a sense of movement.

Taking inspiration from ‘Watch Your Step’ by Bobby Parker, Harrison adds a sense of gallop to ‘I Feel Fine’, keeping the listener on their toes as he outlines every chord. Throughout the entire song, Harrison never plays straight chords, always weaving his phrases together and playing off of Starr’s technical drum part. While the solo might be criminally short, Harrison outlines every chord before going back into the main riff without you even noticing. Although The Beatles had written countless love songs like this, they had never hit on a groove as tight as this before.

Meeting Bob Dylan for the first time

In the ‘60s rock landscape, The Beatles and Bob Dylan felt like they came from two separate planets. Although the Liverpudlians were huge fans of Dylan, their songs about love were miles apart from Dylan’s political epics about the injustices going on in America. The two artists were friendly, though, and the trajectory of the Beatles was changed once they caught up with Dylan in a New York hotel room.

After coming off of a long show, the Fab Four were talking with Dylan when he sparked up a joint, turning the rest of the band onto marijuana. Though the band weren’t necessarily choir boys behind the scenes, their love of pot carried them through their next film Help!, with every band member being blazed when they showed up for work. The Beatles may have been fans of Dylan’s at the time, but this meeting marked a turning point for Dylan as well, going electric and betraying his folk based fanbase.

The brilliance of ‘I Need You’

On the set of A Hard Day’s Night, George Harrison fell in love. During one of the scenes filming in a train car, Harrison became smitten by Pattie Boyd, whom he would later marry and pen some of his greatest love songs for. Though Harrison originally dedicated ‘I Need You’ to his girlfriend, it’s far different than the traditional Beatles love songs.

Set up as a breakup song, Harrison sounds defeated throughout this track, trying to plead his case to his girlfriend that he understands the error of his ways and is going to do everything he can to make it up to her. With the help of Harrison’s new wah wah pedal, the guitar sounds like it’s crying along with him as he begs for forgiveness. While this might lay his feelings out as clear as day, the question is left hanging in the air by the end of the song. It could be a breakup song or a reconciliation song, but that’s entirely up to the listener.

‘If I Needed Someone’

As the British Invasion got started, the American market was paying attention. When Roger McGuinn first heard the Beatles playing on The Ed Sullivan Show, he traded in his acoustic instrument for a 12 string electric guitar and formed the Byrds. Though the Byrds were the closest that America had to the Beatles’ sound, Harrison outdid McGuinn at his own game with ‘If I Needed Someone’.

Being inspired by the Byrds’ ‘The Bells of Rhymney’, Harrison penned this song as an ode to the California-based rock and roll that he had been hearing on tour. Of course, the rivalry was never malicious, with Harrison sending a version of Rubber Soul to the Byrds, directly thanking them for the inspiration on the song. Although Lennon and McCartney were still the songwriting bosses, this was the one tune that previewed the next great songs that Harrison would write during The Beatles’ classic period.

The pioneering use of the sitar on ‘Norwegian Wood’

On the set of Help!, Harrison became intrigued by some of the hired musicians who played Beatles songs in an Indian restaurant. After being impressed with the sitar, Harrison bought one from a shop next to his house, Indiacraft, and decided to learn to play the beguiling instrument. When John Lennon came in with a brand new song, it gave Harrison the perfect opportunity to try out his new toy.

Harrison later admitted that his work on ‘Norwegian Wood’ is primitive compared to what he would later do with the instrument. Harrison said he had no idea how to play the sitar when first learning the song, only finding the notes that matched the melody Lennon had written for the verses. Despite its infantile start, this marked the first time the sitar was heard in Western pop music, inspiring The Rolling Stones to later feature sitars on their hit song, ‘Paint It Black’.

Meeting Elvis Presley for the first time

As far as The Beatles were concerned, Elvis Presley was the greatest artist ever to walk the Earth. However, when the ’60s began, it looked like the Fab Four had taken the mantle from the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ whose career had stalled. As the band toured across America in the mid-60s, Harrison finally met the man behind ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ face to face, and the opportunity didn’t disappoint.

During a stop in Memphis, the group met Elvis at his grand home, with the Memphis Mafia holding court at Graceland. Although there might have been a bit of resentment on Presley’s part for The Beatles becoming the next big thing, he was gracious to all of the band. They even enjoyed a jam session with Elvis, and McCartney gave him a few pointers on how to play the bass. The rule might be not to meet your heroes, but The Beatles were already too culturally significant to see Elvis as competition.

Letting India inspire ‘Love You To’

On a string og records by The Beatles, Harrison persistently toyed with how to incorporate Indian influences into the band’s sound. As much as he may have wanted to play the sitar at the time, he wasn’t skilled enough to put it into a Beatles song yet. Although ‘Love You To’ began life as an Indian-infused exercise on acoustic guitar, Harrison was finally confident to put his Eastern influences to good use.

While Revolver included surprising turns from every Beatles member, Harrison delights on the sitar on ‘Love You To’ as he sings about the fleeting nature of love. Along with the new instruments, Harrison started incorporating philosophical teachings into his music, talking about moving from one life to the next and trying to hold on to love before it passes. Although Harrison didn’t have as many songs under his belt as the rest of the band, he made a statement whenever he grabbed the pen.

‘Taxman’

In 1966, rock ‘n’ roll had a completely difference face compared to when The Beatles started. With new bands popping off everywhere, The Beatles were eager to reach for new influences every time they entered Abbey Road. After getting acquainted with the sounds of soul, Harrison dealt a dosage of sarcasm on the opener to Revolver.

As well as being the first Harrison song to open up a Beatles album, ‘Taxman’ was a radical departure from the folk-tinged Rubber Soul. After hearing about the amount of money the band gave away in taxes, Harrison is seething on this song and plays the role of a greedy taxman. Although McCartney takes the solo, the track’s tone is unmistakably Harrison and is carried by his trademark cynical sense of humour.

Writing the genius chorus of ‘Eleanor Rigby’

By the time The Beatles landed at Revolver, Paul McCartney had come into his own as a balladeer. Although he started by writing silly love songs with John Lennon, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ didn’t have a trace of rock ‘n’ roll running through it. Though the liner notes read ‘Lennon/McCartney’, the lyrics were more of a group effort.

After having the basic idea of the song in his head, The Beatles and some friends met up one night to discuss how the rest of the song should go. While McCartney had the idea of a woman picking up rice in a church after a wedding, Harrison added the chorus line about all the “lonely people”, adding a touch of melancholy to the song. Though McCartney might be known as the eternal optimist of the group, it took Harrison to bring the song back to reality with just one line.

His contribution to ‘She Said She Said’

There was an unspoken rule that nothing came between the partnership of Lennon and McCartney. Even in the band’s salad days on the road, any onlooker recommending changes to the duo’s songs was met with a cold response. Both Lennon and McCartney had become iconic songwriters in their own right by Revolver, but Lennon surprisingly turned to Harrison to help him with the acid-soaked ‘She Said She Said’.

After needing one more song to fill out the rest of Revolver, Lennon had fragments of this song together and worked with Harrison to turn his ideas into reality. While Harrison was more than willing to help, he said trying to get every piece of the puzzle was hard, singling out the bridge section as the toughtest part to fit together. This track is also one of the few Lennon-McCartney songs to hardly feature McCartney, with Harrison playing the iconic riff and singing the backing vocals that echo Lennon’s at the tune’s end.

Taking the lead on ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’

Every songwriter on Revolver was looking to make creations outside of their wheelhouse. While Harrison was making songs related to strange Eastern scales, Lennon thought it would be interesting to try to write a number that Paul McCartney could write in his sleep. Though ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ is a much happier tone than listeners were used to from Lennon, Harrison’s lead made the song come alive.

Written in dual harmony, Harrison and McCartney play circles around each other, turning this tiny piece of power pop into one of the greatest guitar showcases of either of their careers. Though Harrison had gotten his hard rock chops down on songs like ‘Paperback Writer’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ was about as psychedelic as possible. While Harrison’s mind was about to be expanded slightly differently a few months later, these guitars are the sound of The Byrds if they were dipped in acid.

Being turned on to LSD

Drugs informed every member of The Beatles in the mid-60s. Ever since being turned onto pot by Bob Dylan, the ‘Fabs’ were using substances as their muse half the time. For instance, Lennon and McCartney wrote ‘The Word’ in crayon on a technicolour piece of paper before showing it to the rest of the band. Although weed was initially about as crazy as it got, Lennon and Harrison were in for a rude awakening during a party put on by their dentist.

At the meal, they had LSD slipped into their coffee. Harrison described his first trip as life-changing, comparing it to being in love with everything in the world. The effects of psychedelics changed Lennon and Harrison to such a degree they couldn’t relate to the other Beatles until they also took the drug. Although Harrison would go on a few more trips after that fateful night, his experimentation with acid helped open his mind to what else could be done with music going into the ‘Summer of Love’.

Embracing Eastern philosophy

Harrison began losing touch with his sense of spirituality as The Beatles were being shuffled from one room to the next on tour. Once he thought he found the meaning of life through acid, the guitarist admitted there was only a finite time someone could use the drug before it started to detrimentally affect their health. Instead of getting high to calm his nerves every single day, Harrison found a new goal in life by investing in a higher power.

Around the time he became interested in Indian music, Harrison became fascinated with Hindu concepts and became friendly with swamis on his trips to India. As he explored different musical styles, Harrison also concluded that he needed to have a deeper connection with God, which led him to transcendental meditation later in life. That devotion sustained itself until the end of Harrison’s life, asking for his ashes to be scattered in the river Ganges according to Hindu tradition.

The infectious guitar hook of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’

Many questions were hanging in the air once The Beatles decided to retire from the road. Rock bands traditionally pride themselves on bringing their music to the people, but the Fab Four had outgrown the massive crowds they played for every night. While it looked like their star might drop for a few months, everything changed when John Lennon brought in ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.

Framed as a psychedelic look at Lennon’s childhood, the turning point in this song is the magic Harrison brings to the table on the track. Being comprised of two takes with both a rock band and an orchestra, Harrison’s guitar lick paints Lennon’s picture with a handful of notes and a dash of distortion. As Lennon talks about taking you down to this old wonderland he used to frequent as a child, Harrison’s guitar lick is the musical cue that drops you into Lennon’s internal daydream.

‘Within You Without You’

Post-Rubber Soul, almost every George Harrison song contained a dash of Indian influence. ‘If I Needed Someone’ had the drone-like sound of a sitar, and ‘Love You To’ opened up possibilities for what could be done when the band adopted Indian instrumentation. As the band no longer had to worry about reproducing any material in a live setting, Harrison made his ultimate love letter to Eastern philosophy on ‘Within You Without You’.

Amid Paul McCartney’s story-driven songs and John Lennon’s Alice in Wonderland scenarios, Harrison’s contribution to Sgt. Peppers features no other Beatles, instead being made up of Indian musicians playing their instruments alongside classical musicians. Although Harrison keeps the song rooted in Western song structure, the most intriguing parts of the song are where the Indian musicians play off each other before the final verse. As much as the group operated as a single entity at times, this was the first time on a Beatles album that it felt like you were hearing two people communicate through their instruments.

Meeting with the Maharishi

Somewhere in between tours, The Beatles seemingly lost their spiritual path. In between the recording of Sgt. Pepper, Harrison had mentioned the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the teachings he had to offer lost souls like his group. While the plan was to go on a spiritual retreat, each member of the band walked away with a completely different experience.

Since Maharishi’s retreat was meant for people well-versed in spiritual meditation, the rest of the band took the opportunity to write new songs, which would blossom into The White Album. The songs may have been mindblowing, but Harrison was unhappy to see the band focusing on music instead of meditation, remarking they were there to find themselves instead of making the next album. In The Beatles: Get Back, Harrison was still bitter about the whole experience and said the mission was to discover their spiritual identities.

‘It’s Only a Northern Song’

The end of The Beatles came primarily due to business endeavours which drove them apart. In truth, the minute the band formed Apple Records, the gears were set in motion for the band to fall apart, with the four-piece going with different management that led to their financial downfall. Their relationship was on steady ground during the Sgt. Pepper era, but George Harrison expressed his resentment for the record company on ‘Only a Northern Song’.

Rejected initially from Sgt. Pepper, this entire song is about the publishing rights to The Beatles catalogue and how Harrison felt they were being treated like meat. Although the track might seem a bit strange at the outset, Harrison spends most of it trolling both the audience and his publishing company, saying that it doesn’t matter what he says when all the money is going to the same grubby hands at the publisher’s office. Harrison may have wanted to vent his frustration, but this thrashing of his higher-ups wasn’t suiting the Sgt. Pepper, leading to it staying on the shelf until the Yellow Submarine soundtrack needed songs.

‘The Inner Light’

Around the time of the White Album, George Harrison was beginning to fully immerse himself in Indian culture. Studying sitar with Ravi Shankar and delving deeper into Eastern philosophy, Harrison turned this mild fascination into a core piece of his identity. Since most of his spiritual identity led back to India, it made sense that his next song was also recorded in the Asian country.

While appearing in a documentary by Shankar, Harrison built ‘The Inner Light’ from different philosophical teachings he had recently absorbed. For all of the spiritual teachings he had touched on in earlier pieces, Harrison sounds like a swami chanting from a mountaintop, waxing poetic about knowing all things on Earth without needing to leave his house. Given the subject matter of experience, the song also can be interpreted as a bitter reflection on The Beatles’ touring days.

Assisting in making ‘Revolution 9’

When The Beatles settled down after the Maharishi retreat, they had more songs than they knew what to do with. With that many songs also comes rising egos, and the initial vision for a concise White Album ballooned into a 30 song set with every song sounding like it was from a different solo artist. While John Lennon gets the credit (or blame) for his bizarre ‘Revolution 9’, George Harrison was the first one to suggest it.

Being the first album that Yoko Ono began showing up to the studio with Lennon, Harrison felt it best to work on Lennon’s avant-garde piece with Ono’s involvement. Harrison had already delved into the world of avant-garde with his Electronic Sound piece, and the end result was one of the most chaotic songs to ever grace a Beatles album. While ‘Revolution 9’ is usually an immediate skip for anyone listening to The White Album, Harrison should be commended for helping Lennon embrace his sound collage depiction of revolution.

Bringing in Eric Clapton for ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’

There was never a great sense of camaraderie between the Beatles when making The White Album. Though they may have guested on each other’s tracks and made nice with each other, the tension between John Lennon and Paul McCartney led to some of George Harrison’s songs falling by the wayside. Harrison saw something bigger in ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, and it took a fellow rock legend to get the Fab Four on their best behaviour.

When going into the studio one day, Harrison had the idea of getting Eric Clapton to come down to lay down a solo on ‘Weeps’. Though Clapton was hesitant to work in the studio with the rest of the band, the other band members became a lot more accepting of Harrison’s songs, with McCartney adding harmonies and Lennon adding a growling bass part underneath everything. Harrison might have had the initial idea of a guitar crying, but only someone like ‘Slowhand’ can make the guitar actually sound like it’s screaming out in pain.

Fighting with Paul McCartney in ‘Get Back’

When The Beatles regrouped after the White Album came out, everyone was on a different creative spectrum. Though Paul McCartney had the idea of creating an album that would get the band back to their roots, the disastrous Get Back resulted in the album being shelved for years. And if you look at the Get Back documentary, it’s easy to understand how it ended up bitter between Harrison and McCartney.

Documenting the raw rehearsals, Harrison seems more uncomfortable, with none of ideas being taken seriously and being dictated what to play by McCartney. Though it remains professional, Harrison loses his temper to the point where he says, “whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it”. Given how little he gets to do, it’s no surprise why Harrison left the rehearsals and quit the band for a few days during these rehearsals. Harrison had come into his own as a phenomenal songwriter, but that wasn’t going to work against two of the best songwriters in rock history.

The ‘bass’ on ‘Two Of Us’

Out of all the tracks from Let It Be, ‘Two of Us’ is the most indicative of which direction Paul McCartney wanted the project to go. The whole concept of getting the band back to their roots was woven into the song, and having a simple acoustic guitar to drive the track was the way to go. Since McCartney and Lennon were both on acoustics though, Harrison found the next best thing when it came time to lay down a bass part.

Instead of playing a proper bass, Harrison stuck to the lowest strings of his electric guitar, tuning them down a touch and making a makeshift bass part. Although the final product sounds a bit ramshackle, Harrison’s line is reminiscent of what Paul McCartney did on a song like ‘Drive My Car’. The bass might seem like it’s a little busy in spots, but it’s really the engine that holds everything together.

Bringing in Billy Preston to the fold

After George Harrison left the band during the Get Back sessions, it was going to take a lot to get him to return. Since his songs weren’t being taken seriously, why would he go back knowing that the other Beatles appreciate what he was bringing to the table? There was a tension in the air, but everything was dashed once Billy Preston entered the room.

The band had been familiar with Preston through his work with Little Richard and his inclusion in the sessions led to some of the best moments on the album, like the electric organ on ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’. The vibe in the room ended up going so well that John Lennon even suggested that Preston join the band because of how much of a lift he was giving the rest of the group. It took a lot to bring Harrison back from the brink, but at the end of the sessions, the Beatles had better morale and the world gained another ‘Fifth Beatle’.

The guitar line on ‘Don’t Let Me Down’

After getting together with Yoko Ono, John Lennon was finally convinced he had found his soulmate. From accompanying him to recording sessions to hosting bed-ins for peace, there wasn’t anything that the pair didn’t do together before their eventual marriage in 1969. Lennon was bound to fit his new love into a song, but it was Harrison who did the heavy lifting on ‘Don’t Let Me Down’.

While most of the chorus is nothing but open chords, Harrison’s riff is the perfect ear candy to compliment Lennon’s intense. Since Lennon was insecure about singing a song like this, the riff behind him brings an added sense, having a roots rock feel to it inspired by Harrison’s interest in Bob Dylan and The Band. Although Let It Be would eventually get Phil Spector’s orchestral treatment, this is a lone snapshot of what the album may have sounded like had they stuck to their initial vision.

The epic guitar battle on ‘The End’

Once the plan for Get Back fell through, The Beatles had reached the end of the line. A breakup was on the horizon, but the Fab Four were determined to make one more amazing album to put a stamp on their discography. Though Abbey Road was a labour of love from every single band member, the crowning achievement came at the very last track.

While the flip side of the album involves a bunch of bite-sized songs that flow into each other, the grand finale ends with a guitar duel between all three stringed Beatles. Although Paul McCartney’s lines are a lot more precise and John Lennon’s phrases are scattered, Harrison is right in the pocket from beginning to end, taking a few cues from his buddy Eric Clapton with some of he phrases that he chooses. After a few months of animosity between every member of the band, this was the final curtain call to wrap up their career. Without lawyers or business executives, this was a couple of kids making the most of playing together.

The use of a synthesizer on Abbey Road

As eccentric as John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in the late ’60s, George Harrison wasn’t too far behind them. While Lennon was making art pieces with Yoko Ono and McCartney was trying to perfect his songs in the studio, Harrison was on the cutting edge of technology with Electronic Sound, trying out one of the first Moog synthesisers.

Loving the sounds that he got out of his experiment, Harrison recommended that the Beatles use the synthesiser on Abbey Road, which brought a space-age sound to some of their songs. The synthesiser can be heard throughout the middle section of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ as well as the bridge of ‘Because’ as the rest of The Beatles harmonise. The mission might have been to make one god album, but the Beatles never settled for anything good. Despite being on completely different pages, Harrison kept the band at the forefront of technology until the end of their days.

Helping write ‘Octopus Garden’ and bringing the best out of Ringo Starr

No Beatles fan would dare say that Ringo Starr is the best songwriter in the band. Despite having a great sense of rhythm, Starr was always looking to serve the song and do the occasional vocal when the time called for it. He did know how to carry a tune when he wanted to…he just needed a little help from his friends to get it right.

During the Get Back sessions, Starr had been fiddling with a fragment of a song that would become ‘Octopus Garden’, which he would play for the band as a joke. Before the rest of the band showed up, Harrison actually went over to the piano and helped Starr flesh out the rest of the idea, even giving him some pointers about going to certain chords so that the melody resolves itself. He may not have felt the need to share a writer’s credit with Starr, but Harrison makes the most of this song, bringing some of his most melodic lead guitar in the solo while keeping the lighthearted spirit of the song.

Stealing the show on Abbey Road with ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’

When working on Abbey Road, half of The Beatles were already thinking about what they were going to do once they went solo. Though the band were working hard trying to get their final album made, McCartney already had the basis of his first solo album, and Lennon was rushing out singles like ‘Give Peace a Chance’. On the final Beatles product, though, neither Lennon nor McCartney came through with the best material.

After years of being kept at bay, Harrison’s ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’ became two of the most celebrated Beatles songs. While the latter was written about the beauty of the sun in Eric Clapton’s garden, Harrison’s song of devotion to his wife became one of the band’s most covered tunes, with everyone from James Brown to Ray Charles trying their hand at it.

Writing ‘Wah-Wah’ about Paul McCartney

After The Beatles finally went their separate ways, Harrison had a treasure trove of songs in the pipeline begging to be released. When he eventually went solo, Harrison likened his time with The Beatles to creative constipation and finally being able to let loose. Then again, a song that tore your old bandmate through the mud probably wasn’t going to make it onto a Beatles album.

The day Harrison “quit” the Beatles during the Get Back session, he wrote ‘Wah-Wah’ as a direct retort to Paul McCartney, who he thought was being overly demanding in the studio and not taking any of his ideas seriously. While Harrison never makes reference to Paul, you pick up on this person that’s never compromising and will only see things their way. ‘Isn’t It a Pity’ may have been the sad lament Harrison wrote later, but this is his chance to lash out in anger.

Quitting The Beatles

After Abbey Road wrapped up, the band had accomplished all they could together. Though the rooftop concert during the Get Back sessions gave the band one final show, it was clear that no more compromises were going to be made. And with a bunch of musicians who were dying to work with him, Harrison thought it best that the band split up.

While John Lennon was the one who officially called for a ‘divorce’ from The Beatles, Harrison was the one most hurt by the final business proceedings. Even though the original vision was for every band member to go off on their own and release solo material, Lennon and Harrison’s decision to go with Allen Klein started a fracture between them and Paul McCartney that would remain in effect until the mid-70s when everything was finalised. The band may have thrived on peace and love, but no amount of good intentions can get in the way of business contracts.

Gifting ‘Sour Milk Sea’ to Jackie Lomax

When The Beatles made their trip to India to study meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Harrison was the most devoted to the practice. Compared to his bandmates, Harrison wrote comparatively few songs during the retreat. Even fewer appeared on subsequent releases, with Harrison often looked over for songs.

One track that he wrote in India was ‘Sour Milk Sea’. Although it was demoed for inclusion on The White Album, Harrison decided to give the track to new Apple Records signee Jackie Lomax. To record the track, he also assembled a crack team of session players, including Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and Nicky Hopkins. ‘Sour Milk Sea’ failed to chart in Britain, but the song remains one of Harrison’s best from that period.

Helping write Cream’s ‘Badge’

The friendship that George Harrison formed with Eric Clapton was one of the most genuine in all of music. It was strong enough to overcome Clapton’s longing for Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd, and the pair even remained friends after Clapton and Boyd got together. If that doesn’t illustrate a rock-solid relationship, I don’t know what does.

After Harrison got Clapton to play the guitar solo on The Beatles’ ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ for The White Album, Clapton asked Harrison to assist him in his contribution to Cream’s final LP, Goodbye. Harrison’s messy handwriting caused Clapton to read the ‘Bridge’ section as ‘Badge’, and the name stuck. Due to record contract conflicts, Harrison’s contributions to ‘Badge’ was credited to L’Angelo Misterioso.

Producing Billy Preston’s ‘That’s the Way God Planned It’

Billy Preston shared a friendship with all Beatles dating back to their days in Hamburg. When he re-entered the band’s orbit in early 1969, he and Harrison hit it off instantly. With a shared sense of spirituality propelling both men, Harrison and Preston formed a strong relationship that would continue after Preston returned to his solo career.

To help him launch his own music, Harrison agreed to produce Preston’s album That’s the Way God Planned It. Released on Apple Records, the album featured Harrison contributing guitar, synthesiser, and sitar. It began a working relationship that would continue for more than a decade, with Preston returning the favour by appearing on All Things Must Pass.

Inviting the Hells Angels to stay at the Apple offices

During his time producing Jackie Lomax’s debut album in Los Angeles, Harrison came face to face with the Hells Angels, the notorious biker gang that had already become allies with San Francisco bands like the Grateful Dead. The Angels loved rock stars, and Harrison’s interactions with the group were friendly enough that he offered to host the club at Apple Records headquarters if they ever made it over to England.

Much to his surprise, on December 4th, 1968, the club took him up on the offer. “George had said, ‘Oh, if you ever come to England, look us up,’ or something,” Apple president Neil Aspinall later explained. “A couple of months later, the motorbikes were outside Savile Row with these guys saying, ‘Well, George said it was OK.’ They ended up living at Apple and terrifying everybody.”

It took some personal intervention on Harrison’s part to get the riders to leave after having caused major disruption. After attempting to appeal to their spiritual side, Harrison dropped the pretence and told the Angels to leave. Thankfully, no serious damage was caused, but Harrison had to eat humble pie after initially welcoming the Angels into the offices.

The 1969 UNICEF concert with John Lennon

By December of 1969, John Lennon had already informed his Beatle bandmates he intended to leave the band. With a renewed sense of freedom, Lennon became involved in a charity concert for UNICEF, for which he formed the first incarnation of The Plastic Ono Band. Lennon invited Harrison to perform with the band, which he happily accepted.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Lennon later claimed. “I was really into it. We were doing the show and George and Bonnie and Delaney, Billy Preston and all that crowd turned up. They’d just come back from Sweden and George had been playing invisible man in Bonnie and Delaney’s band, which Eric Clapton had been doing, to get the pressure off being the famous Eric and the famous George.”

Harrison was part of a massive supergroup that included Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman, Keith Moon, Bobby Keys and Jim Gordon. While his contributions mostly get lost within the wall of sound produced, the performance helped turn Harrison onto the idea of charity concerts. He would organise a massive show of his own less than two years later.

Touring with Delaney & Bonnie

As the pressures of being a Beatle continued to follow Harrison, he was desperate to find an outlet. He struck up a friendship with American married couple Delaney and Bonnie Bromlett, who fronted their own rock group. The pair’s mix of soul, rock, and blues appealed to Harrison, who soon attempted to sign the duo to Apple.

At Harrison’s suggestion, Eric Clapton took Delaney and Bonnie on tour with Blind Faith, often stepping in to perform guitar during the duo’s set. Wishing to get away from the restrictive atmosphere of The Beatles, Harrison joined up with the band just before they were set to embark on their 1969 American tour.

The experience proved to be vital for Harrison’s emergence as a solo artist. He learned to play slide guitar from Delaney Bromlett and wrote the first draft of ‘My Sweet Lord’ while on tour. With a new sense of confidence instilled in him, Harrison began making the first steps toward his own solo career.

Taking Paul McCartney to task on ‘Run of the Mill’

Harrison didn’t hide his distaste for his previous band on his breakthrough album, All Things Must Pass. The most prominent example was the song that he wrote immediately after quitting the Get Back sessions, ‘Wah Wah’, but that wasn’t the only example of Harrison hitting back at his old band in song.

More of a swipe at the Apple business model than any of his bandmates, ‘Run of the Mill’ nonetheless contains lines that can be read as criticising Paul McCartney. “It was when Apple was getting crazy,” Harrison explained in 1979. “Paul was falling out with us all and going around Apple offices saying ‘You’re no good’ – everyone was just incompetent. It was that period – the problem of partnerships.”

Harrison would downplay the directness of the song, seemingly content with the aggressiveness contained in ‘Wah-Wah’. However, lyrics like “You’ve got me wondering how I lost your friendship / But I see it in your eyes” leave little to the imagination. McCartney and Harrison wouldn’t reunite personally or professionally until the ’80s.

Hitting number one with ‘My Sweet Lord’

The race to see who would be the most successful Beatle began immediately after the band broke up. It wasn’t enough for the general public to accept that all four members were acting as individuals: there had to be winners and losers. Even though he was ‘The Quiet Beatle’, Harrison made the most noise during his debut as a solo artist.

His first single, ‘My Sweet Lord’, had a lot riding on it. Lennon’s debut outside of the band, ‘Give Peace a Chance’, was a top 20 song in the US and a number two hit in the UK. McCartney’s self-titled debut was a critical failure but a financial success, and his debut solo single ‘Another Day’ hit number two in the UK. Even Starr’s first UK single, ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ hit number four in both the US and the UK. But Harrison had them all beat.

As a number-one song in both the US and the UK, ‘My Sweet Lord’ positioned Harrison as the most successful former Beatle. All of his former bandmates would eventually score number-one hits of their own, but Harrison’s ascent to the top of the charts was a clear sign that the public at large was initially most excited about the music that he was making.

Releasing All Things Must Pass

Less than a week after releasing ‘My Sweet Lord’ as a single in the US, Harrison dropped his full-length solo debut album, All Things Must Pass. A massive triple LP that represented the best songs that had flown under the radar or had been flat-out rejected during his stint with The Beatles, All Things Must Pass was bursting at the seams with creative energy and artistic freedom.

Filled out with all of Harrison’s best friends in the London music scene and beyond, All Things Must Pass was an explosion of musical independence. “That was the great thing about [the Beatles] splitting up: to be able to go off and make my own record,” Harrison said in 2000. “And also to be able to record with all these new people, which was like a breath of fresh air.”

A number-one album across the globe, All Things Must Pass established Harrison as the Beatle to beat in the early 1970s. Although none of his subsequent albums would recreate the critical and commercial success that was afforded to All Things Must Pass, Harrison’s debut became the quintessential document for artistic emancipation.

Creating one of the first charity singles with ‘Bangladesh’

After seeing what could be done with a charity concert at Lennon’s UNICEF benefit, Harrison began envisioning a special show of his own. Having been alerted to the millions of refugees fleeing from the country of Bangladesh by close friend Ravi Shankar, Harrison decided that it was up to him to help out the cause in any way he could.

Although his large-scale charity concert became the emblematic event, Harrison had actually presaged the concert with a charity single, ‘Bangla Desh’. Recorded in June of 1971 and rush-released to come out a week before The Concert for Bangladesh, ‘Bangla Desh’ featured many of the players that would be at the show, including Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and Jim Horn.

In the process, Harrison pioneered the concept of the charity single. The effect of the single went hand in hand with the effect of the concert. “Even now I still meet waiters in Bengali restaurants who say, “When we were in the jungle fighting, it was great to know somebody out there was thinking of us,” Harrison claimed in 1991.

Staging ‘The Concert for Bangladesh’

After bringing attention to the cause of Bangladesh with his charity single of the same name, Harrison had something bigger up his sleeve: a large-scale concert featuring some of the biggest artists of the time, all performing for a cause. The Concert for Bangladesh was the first charity concert of its kind, and it remained a high watermark for decades.

Although the concert was a major success, the actual donation funds were tied up for years at a time. “The money we raised was secondary,” Harrison claimed in 1992. “The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended … What we did show was that musicians and people are more humane than politicians.”

Eventually, sales and royalties of the concert were consolidated into a specific United Nations fund called the ‘George Harrison Fund for UNICEF’. “Now it’s all settled and the UN own the rights to it themselves, and I think there’s been about 45 million dollars made,” Harrison later claimed.

Helping John Lennon record Imagine

The Beatles might have split up, but they didn’t completely cut off correspondence with each other. Every member of the band continued to contribute to Ringo Starr’s solo records, and collaborations between former members (minus Paul McCartney) weren’t uncommon. John Lennon tapped Starr to help him record his debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and for his follow-up, he asked Harrison to assist him.

Harrison’s contributions to Imagine were numerous. His guitar playing can be heard all over the album, including adding parts to songs like ‘Crippled Inside’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier’, and ‘Gimme Some Truth’. Most infamously, Harrison was also game to add some stinging slide guitar to Lennon’s vicious attack on McCartney, ‘How Do You Sleep?’.

Hitting number one with ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)’

Harrison had already proved himself with All Things Must Pass. A chart-topping album and number-one single with the title track was enough to solidify Harrison’s place as an equal talent among his former bandmates. However, if one number one was sweet, a second number one was an even sweeter achievement.

By that point, his fellow Beatles had caught up to him on the American charts – with the notable exception of John Lennon, who had to wait for 1975’s ‘Whatever Gets You Thru Night’ to gain his one and only number-one single in America during his lifetime. Starr was on the verge of gaining his first chart-topper with ‘Photograph’ (a Harrison co-write), while McCartney had already made a comeback by landing two different singles at top spot in the US with ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ and ‘My Love’.

Incidentally, Harrison’s second number one, ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)’, knocked McCartney’s ‘My Love’ off the top of the charts, marking the only time that two Beatles replaced each other at number one. ‘Give Me Love’ would be Harrison’s second of three number one songs in the United States.

Releasing Living in the Material World

After the release of All Things Must Pass, Harrison began work on his follow-up almost immediately. Sessions for his second true solo album, Living in the Material World, began in February of 1971. However, Harrison’s dedication to the Concert for Bangladesh, plus his proclivity for giving songs to other artists, halted progress on his own album for a few years.

From October 1972 to March 1973, Harrison dedicated himself to finishing Living in the Material World. More overly spiritual than the catch-all sounds of All Things Must Pass, Material World had the possibility of alienating Harrison’s more casual audience. “They feel threatened when you talk about something that isn’t just ‘be-bop-a-lula’,” Harrison said in 1971. “And if you say the words’ God’ or ‘Lord’, it makes some people’s hair curl.”

However, Harrison had previously prepared his audience with songs like ‘My Sweet Lord’. Living in the Material World hit number one in America, his final number one album. Although it has fewer classic songs than its predecessor, the album remains a cornerstone of Harrison’s recording legacy.

Kicking back at his own lawsuit in ‘Sue Me, Sue You Blues’

In 1971, Paul McCartney attempted to end The Beatles for good. He wanted to dissolve all partnerships that tied the members together and resorted to suing his former Beatles in order to end their contracts. Initially, Harrison, Lennon, and Starr were united with their former manager, Allen Klein, in fighting against McCartney.

However, over time, Harrison found the lawsuits to be burdensome and decided to do what he always did when McCartney got in his way: respond with a song, ‘Sue You, Sue Me Blues’. “Around that time we had millions of suits flying here, flying there,” McCartney told Rolling Stone in 1973. “George wrote the ‘Sue Me, Sue You Blues’ about it. I’d kicked it all off originally, having to sue the other three Beatles in the High Court, and that opened Pandora’s box. After that everybody just seemed to be suing everybody.”

The song would be enduring for Harrison, but not always for the right reasons. After attempting a settlement, Harrison was sued for copyright infringement in 1976 over the similarities between ‘My Sweet Lord’ and The Chiffons’ ‘He’s So Fine’. When he and his fellow Beatles united against Klein in 1974, Harrison changed some of the songs lyrics to reflect his new attitude toward the lawsuits.

Marrying Olivia Harrison

Personal triumphs began to trump professional triumphs by the time Harrison had reached the end of the ’70s. After a turbulent decade that included low-selling albums and a public divorce from his wife Pattie Boyd, Harrison needed refuge from life in the public eye. He found it in Olivia Arias, an American marketing administrator who was brought aboard Harrison’s Dark Horse Records.

By 1978, Olivia had given birth to the pair’s only child, Dhani. A month later, Arias and Harrison married in a small private ceremony. The relationship would last all the way until Harrison’s death, providing a calm respite that made Harrison less worried about his artistic career.

Shouting ‘What Is Life’ with laryngitis on tour

One of the most infamous videos you’ll ever come across of George Harrison is from his 1974 Dark Horse tour. It speaks volumes about a person that their most “infamous” moment isn’t related to adultery, drugs or anything illegal: it’s about barely being able to sing.

Yes, towards the end of the Dark Horse tour, Harrison was waging a battle against laryngitis. He had a host of backup singers (and Billy Preston) there to fill in the gaps, but Harrison still needed to take the lead during most of the concert. When his voice was truly gone, Harrison had no choice but to power through and see if his vocals hold up.

The video of Harrison singing ‘What Is Life’ while shredding his larynx does prove something definitively: even George Harrison was human. The battle against laryngitis led some writers to dub the jaunt the “Dark Hoarse” tour, and after it was finished, Harrison wouldn’t tour again until 1991.

Re-watching The Beatles play ‘This Boy’

When Martin Scorsese announced that he would be producing and directing a George Harrison documentary, it was obvious that some new insights were sure to follow. What wasn’t was a full-on nostalgic look back at Harrison’s past courtesy of Harrison himself.

Watching Harrison watch himself and his Beatles bandmates sing ‘This Boy’ early in their career is heartwarming. Even more heartwarming is hearing Harrison make comments while viewing the clip, notably “I gave that guitar away”, “Good song”, and “John was blind as a bat” are some personal favourites.

Performing on SNL with Paul Simon

Nearly every artist who came after The Beatles dreamed of befriending the members. Some artists who made it in the industry got lucky enough to cross paths with them, and an even more select group actually became friends with the members.

One of those was Paul Simon, the legendary singer-songwriter who managed to become a close friend of Harrison’s in the 1970s. “He was an extraordinary guy; everybody knows that,” Simon told Conan O’Brien in 2014. “Amazing person, not just a musician but really brave, open, kind. Just a certain percentage of him Beatles but the rest, he was just regular. Just interested in life, interested in the world, interested in the mind. A pleasure to hang out with him.”

When Simon hosted the Thanksgiving episode of Saturday Night Live during its second season, he brought Harrison along as a co-musical guest. The pair played Simon’s ‘Homeward Bound’ and Harrison’s ‘Here Comes the Sun’, and Harrison even got to say the legendary opening call of “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!

Financing the green magazine Vole

Harrison was a keen environmental activist before the movement became a hot topic for celebrities. When journalist Richard Boston was looking to start up a magazine with a specific focus on environmental issues, he turned to the same famous friends in order to find funding.

Boston had a connection to the members of Monty Python and got Terry Jones to help fund the project. Jones then got Harrison to contribute some money of his own. Although Vole didn’t last very long, Harrison got in on the ground floor when it came to celebrity advocacy for the environment.

Funding The Life of Brian

Monty Python had an effect on the world of comedy that often gets compared to the effect that The Beatles had on music. Flippant, surreal, and very silly, Monty Python wasn’t just comparative to The Beatles: they were actual friends with the former members of the band.

After the success of their feature film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the comedy troupe began facetiously claiming that their next project would be titled Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory. Once the team actually began seriously developing the project, traditional funding became an issue. Most thought that funding a religious satire would be too financially risky. As they did with Holy Grail, Python turned to rock stars for funding.

Specifically, Eric Idle called up his friend, George Harrison. Eager to see the final version of what became Life of Brian, Harrison put up £3million of his own money and formed HandMade Films with his business manager, Denis O’Brien. For his trouble, Harrison got to cameo in the film and, as Terry Jones put it, “the world’s most expensive cinema ticket”.

Cameoing in The Rutles: All You Need is Cash

In late 1977, after Monty Python had completed Life of Brian, Eric Idle set about writing and directing his next project: a mockumentary lampooning The Beatles. The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash was a complete and loving takedown of the world’s biggest band, compiled by a man who had personal connections with the band themselves.

Along with Python contributor Neil Innes, Idle rounded out the film with 14 parodies of The Beatles from across the band’s career. Idle even got Harrison to cameo in the film, playing a reporter oblivious to the looting going on at The Rutles’ headquarters.

Snubbing John Lennon in I, Me, Mine

In 1980, Harrison published his autobiographic memoir I, Me, Mine, recounting most of his career highlights up to that point. The book makes mention of most of Harrison’s experiences – featuring quite a few included on this list – but the book barely mentions a seemingly important figure in his life: John Lennon.

Harrison did actually mention Lennon on occasion, but shortly before his death, Lennon shared his displeasure at his lack of presence in the book. “I was hurt by George’s book, ‘I, Me, Mine’…so this message will go to him. He put a book out privately on his life that, by glaring omission, says that my influence on his life is absolutely zilch and nil. In his book, which is purportedly this clarity of vision of his influence on each song he wrote, he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I’m not in the book.”

Harrison responded to the supposed snub years later on the American television programme West 57th Street. “[Lennon] was annoyed ’cause I didn’t say that he’d written one line of this song ‘Taxman’. But I also didn’t say how I wrote two lines of ‘Come Together’ or three lines of ‘Eleanor Rigby’, you know? I wasn’t getting into any of that. I think, in the balance, I would have had more things to be niggled with him about than he would have had with me.”

Honouring John Lennon with ‘All Those Years Ago‘

Lennon’s final words on Harrison were expressing his displeasure with I, Me, Mine and calling Harrison a “disciple” of his. The words were a sad final statement from Lennon, who was murdered by an assassin just two weeks after the scathing interview.

Harrison certainly didn’t harbour any ill will, especially in light of Lennon’s tragic demise. Prior to Lennon’s death, the guitarist had recorded a song with the intent of giving it to Ringo Starr. Starr wasn’t particularly fond of ‘All Those Years Ago’, but he agreed to play the drums on it if Harrison himself sang it. In order to turn the song into a tribute to his fallen bandmate, Harrison reworked some of the lyrics and invited McCartney to sing backing vocals on the track, making it the pair’s first collaboration since The Beatles.

Making bank with Time Bandits

Although he originally formed HandMade Films to produce Life of Brian, Harrison soon got into the serious business of film production. As his musical career slowed down, Harrison began producing films on a more consistent basis. Soon, HandMade Films was an established film production company, distributing the 1980 gangster film The Long Good Friday as their first official project as a full-time production company.

Reuniting with his Monty Python friends Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, Harrison and HandMade Films took their first stab at producing a feature-length film with Gilliam’s Time Bandits. The film went on to be a major success for the company, making $35million off of a $5million budget. A series of box office bombs followed, but for a short period, Harrison was a serious player in Hollywood production.

A surprise appearance at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert

Harrison was finished with live performing by the mid-80s. Having last toured in 1974, Harrison had little interest in returning to the stage. However, as an active philanthropist, he was willing to soften his stance for the right cause.

One of those causes was the 1986 Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert. Organised by Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan, Harrison was a major coup for the benefit concert. Although he didn’t play any of his own material, Harrison did take the stage for a rousing rendition of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ for the concert’s finale.

The Taj Mahal and sharing the stage with Bob Dylan and John Fogerty

After being coaxed on stage for the Heart Beat concert, Harrison was once again invited to perform, this time with some major powerhouses around him. Bob Dylan, who had become a close friend of Harrison’s after sharing some casual time together in the ’60s, invited Harrison to attend a Taj Mahal concert along with Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty.

“Bob rang me up and asked if I wanted to come out for the evening and see Taj Mahal,” Harrison later remembered. “So we went there and had a few of these Mexican beers – and had a few more … Bob says, ‘Hey, why don’t we all get up and play, and you can sing?’ But every time I got near the microphone, Dylan comes up and just starts singing this rubbish in my ear, trying to throw me.”

Returning to number one with ‘I Got My Mind Set on You’ and clowning on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The week of January 16th, 1988, was positive for Harrison. After releasing his first album in half a decade, Cloud Nine, back in 1987, Harrison had an unexpected hit single with his cover of the Rudy Clark-penned James Ray song ‘I Got My Mind Set On You’.

That same year, Harrison got another bit of good news: he was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Beatles. As it just so happened, Harrison’s induction fell in the week after ‘I Got My Mind Set On You’ went to number one. Harrison had a lot to celebrate.

With some signature acerbic wit, Harrison proclaimed that he didn’t have to say much during his induction speech because he was ‘The Quiet Beatle’. He also settled the debate of who actually qualified as a Fifth Beatle – to Harrison, it was PR manager Derek Taylor and road manager/Apple president Neil Aspinall. All in all, Harrison got his kicks in during his Hall of Fame induction.

Staging a comeback with Cloud Nine

After 1982’s Gone Troppo, Harrison expressed little interest in recording new music. He was confused by the ’80s music scene and did little to promote the album, causing it to be the biggest chart failure of his career. For the next five years, Harrison barely wrote or recorded any music, preferring to work in the realm of movies.

That came to an end in 1986 when Harrison teamed up with Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne to compose his first new material in half a decade. Although he wasn’t interested in being a contemporary hitmaker, Lynne’s production style pushed Harrison into what was then a more modern sound. The result was Cloud Nine, one of many comebacks that Harrison had over the years.

Despite being out of the public eye for years, Harrison managed to score a top ten album in both the US and UK with Cloud Nine. The album’s first single, ‘I Got My Mind Set On You’, was a number one hit, and Harrison returned to the spotlight as a major commercial force once again.

Revisiting The Beatles on ‘When We Was Fab’

The Beatles endured a messy split, and Harrison was initially bitter about the way it ended. However, as time passed, he became more appreciative of what they created together, and in 1987, he reminisced upon his time in the band on ‘When We Was Fab’. Fittingly, Ringo Starr played the drums on the Cloud Nine track, which fondly looks back on Beatlemania.

“Until I finalised the lyric on it, it was always called ‘Aussie Fab’. That was it’s working title,” Harrison once said of the track (via Universal). “I hadn’t figured out what the song was going to say…what the lyrics would be about, but I knew it was definitely a Fab song. It was based on the Fabs, and as it was done up in Australia there, up in Queensland, then that’s what we called it. As we developed the lyrics, it became ‘When We Was Fab’. It’s a difficult one to do live because of all the all the little overdubs and all the cellos and the weird noises and the backing voices.”

Talking Jeff Lynne out of retirement

In 1986, Jeff Lynne had given up on the world of music after recording a dozen albums with the Electric Light Orchestra. However, when George Harrison called six months later, Lynne couldn’t resist his offer to produce the Beatle’s forthcoming album Cloud Nine, and the ELO founder put his retirement plans on ice. Following the pair’s triumphant work on the album, they formed The Travelling Wilburys and continued combining to create brilliance.

“I decided to pack it in in 1986,” Lynne explained to Rolling Stone during a discussion about his favourite songs he’s been involved in, which included Harrison’s ‘When We Was Fab’. “About six months later, George Harrison got in touch with me to ask me to work on his new album. A few days after he met me, he said, ‘Let’s go on holiday. I’m going to Australia for a while’. He took me to the Grand Prix in Adelaide, which was amazing.”

He continued: “It felt like an adventure, since I used to just bang out tunes in my little studio. It was now on an international scale. George came up with the words for ‘When I Was Fab.’ It was magical for me, since it was supposed to sound like a Beatles song, even though we didn’t exactly use Beatles sounds. The album was a tremendous success and sold about five million copies. I was just so touched he wanted to work with me.”

Forming The Travelling Wilburys

As much as George Harrison enjoyed the creative freedom of being a solo artist, he also missed the camaraderie of being in a band. Although he didn’t deliberately try to form a supergroup, the birth of The Travelling Wilburys happened naturally and injected life into Harrison’s career.

Harrison had brought Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison together to play on his song, ‘Handle With Care’. The creation was initially intended to be a bonus track, but they collectively realised they’d stumbled on a magical formula. The foursome decided to make an album as The Travelling Wilburys, released in 1988. Following the death of Orbison, the band continued and released their sophomore effort in 1990 before moving to the following stages of their respective careers.

“George absolutely adored the Wilburys,” Petty recalled to Rolling Stone after Harrison’s death in 2002. “That was his baby from the beginning, and he went at it with such great enthusiasm. The rest of his life, he considered himself a Wilbury… His enthusiasm was very contagious in a recording session, in a writing session. He just had unbridled enthusiasm.”

Appearing in the video for Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’

Harrison grew close to his bandmates during their time in The Travelling Wilburys, especially Tom Petty. The pair’s relationship graduated to the next step when he played on, ‘I Won’t Back Down’. Petty wrote the deeply personal track after an arsonist burned down his family home while they ate breakfast. Thankfully, only material possessions were lost, but it had a lasting effect on the musician.

“We were shaken for years by it,” Petty said in the book Conversations With Tom Petty. “It’s sort of like being raped, I would imagine. It really took a long time. And it was ten times as bad, because you knew that somebody just went and did it. Somebody tried to off you.”

‘I Won’t Back Down’ was Petty’s response to the frightful incident, and Harrison stood by his side as he showed his resilience. He also appears in the video for the track alongside Ringo Starr, although his former Beatles bandmate doesn’t feature on the recording, and was solely offering moral support.

Touring Japan with Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton was one of the few people allowed to enter the inner circle of The Beatles when he played lead guitar on ‘While My Guitar Gently Sleeps’. His relationship with Harrison was unconventional, with Clapton marrying his friend’s former wife, Pattie Boyd, but it lasted the test of time.

Decades after they first worked together when Harrison helped write ‘Badge’ for Cream, the pair joined forces in 1991 for a tour of Japan. Harrison rarely played live at this stage, and despite being a soloist for two decades, this run of dates marked only his second tour. Together, the pair played 12 shows on the co-headline run, and the performances later formed the basis for the live album, Live In Japan.

Harrison wanted to test his voice and knew he needed to stop smoking to sing. Therefore, he mainly used the shows as an excuse to give up cigarettes. While the run of dates helped him quit smoking, it didn’t lead to any other tours and marked the final time Harrison stepped onto the road.

Storming the ‘Bob Dylan Tribute Concert’

On October 16th, 1992, Harrison paid tribute to his Travelling Wilburys bandmate, Bob Dylan, at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The concert was a celebration of Dylan’s recording career turning 30. It also featured performances from Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Lou Reed, Eddie Vedder, and Willie Nelson.

Harrison took to the legendary New York venue during the performance’s second half for a spinetingling cover of ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’, which stole the show. The former Beatle returned to the MSG stage to join Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton for a rendition of ‘If Not For You’ and ‘My Back Pages’.

Tragically, the tribute concert for Dylan would mark one of the final times Harrison performed in front of the public. Although the musician lived for another decade following this show, the Beatle never again took to the road or even made a one-off appearance at a concert of this magnitude.

Hilariously berating Harry Nillson at his funeral

In January 1994, Harry Nilsson suddenly died from a heart attack aged 52. Due to his relatively young age, at the time of his death, news of the startling event sent shockwaves around the musical world. His funeral was a star-studded affair, and despite the ceremony being engulfed in sadness, Harrison provided light relief for everyone in attendance.

“There was the time at Harry Nilsson’s funeral,” producer Mark Hudson recalled. “Every songwriter was there – Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, Van Dyke Parks, George (Harrison), the list of people was scary, and it was the day [of] the last big L.A. earthquake. So, we are all sad and sullen and standing around the grave and George goes, ‘Fuck You.’ And we are all shocked, and we thought he was having some kind of angst. And then he says, ‘That was always my favourite song: You’re Breaking My Heart, Tearing it Apart, Well Fuck you,’ so then we all joined in and sang it.”

After making everyone laugh earlier in the ceremony, Harrison wowed mourners by singing his favourite Nilsson song, ‘You’re Breaking My Heart’ (aka ‘Fuck You’).

Participating in Anthology

The Beatles’ Anthology was crucial in cementing their legacy and finding a new generation of fans. The comprehensive documentary project witnessed the three surviving members of the group take part in a TV series that focused on their remarkable journey from the days of entertaining locals at The Cavern to becoming Britain’s most notable cultural export.

As well as revisiting the stories behind their biggest songs and exploring the most pivotal bands in the history of The Beatles, the trio also recorded a performance together at Harrison’s home, Friar Park. Famously, the late guitarist preferred to look forward rather than reminisce, but he felt enough time had passed to make the project worthwhile.

At the time, he told Newsnight: “It was good because enough time had gone between 1969 and now. The Beatles had kind of gone away, and we’d all had enough time to breathe, and I think it’s much easier to look at it now from a distance.”

A few years later, his health dramatically declined, but thankfully, the footage on Anthology demonstrates the history of The Beatles in his words.

Fighting off a would-be assassin

Harrowingly, in 1999, George Harrison nearly faced a similar fate as his former bandmate John Lennon. While asleep in his home, Friar Park, Harrison was attacked at 3:30am after a perpetrator named Michael Abram scaled the estate’s walls, broke in through a window, and attacked the musician with a statue.

Fortunately, Harrison’s wife, Olivia, stopped the attack before it became fatal. However, George was still stabbed multiple times and suffered a punctured lung. Olivia later recalled: “I hit the guy several times, and I could see the blood spreading down his blonde hair, and then he got up, and he chased me. He had me around the neck and, George got up and jumped on his back. And poor George, you know, he said later: ‘Just when he got off of me, I was thinking, ‘Oh good, now I have to go fight him'”.

After an investigation, the incident was confirmed to not be a burglary, but a planned attack, and Abram spent three years in a mental hospital. He was controversially cleared of attempted murder.

Giving Ringo Starr a farewell joke on his deathbed

Even when George Harrison was dying of lung cancer, he still found the energy to laugh with Ringo Starr on his deathbed. Harrison sadly knew his time was up, and he was unlikely to ever speak to his lifelong friend again, but that didn’t stop him from poking fun at his situation.

In the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Ringo explains: “The last weeks of George’s life, he was in Switzerland, and I went to see him, and he was very ill. You know, he could only lay down. And while he was being ill and I’d come to see him, I was going to Boston, cos my daughter had a brain tumour.”

He added: “And I said, ‘Well, you know, I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go to Boston’ and he was… phew, it’s the last words I heard him say. Actually… and he said, ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Oh, God. So, you know, that’s the incredible side of George…”

Making a post-mortem comeback with Brainwashed

After 1987’s Cloud Nine, Harrison didn’t make another solo studio album for nearly another 15 years. Although he recorded with the Traveling Wilburys and toured with Eric Clapton in 1991, most of the ’90s saw Harrison step away from music, barring his involvement in The Beatles Anthology project.

After Harrison’s untimely death in 2001, his son Dhani was determined to assemble his leftover studio material into a final album. With the help of Jeff Lynne, the pair completed what would become Harrison’s final album, Brainwashed. The album was a critical and commercial success, giving Harrison one final accomplishment after his passing.

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