George Harrison's Based 'Cheer Down' on Something His Wife Used to Say to Him When ...
George Harrison wrote his 1989 song “Cheer Down” with Tom Petty. It appeared at the end of Lethal Weapon 2 after the chaos finally finishes, and Riggs and Murtaugh can… cheer down. It’s a perfect song for that moment because its origins were similar. “Cheer Down” comes from the moments in George’s life when he was told to calm down.
In a special edition of Rolling Stone, “Remembering George,” Tom Petty looked back at his relationship with George. Speaking about writing “Cheer Down” together, Petty revealed that the song’s origin came from something George’s wife, Olivia, used to say to him when he got overexcited.
“Olivia would say that to George when he got a little too happy,” Petty explained. “He would get a burst of enthusiasm, and she’d say, ‘OK, cheer down, big fellow.'”
Source: cheatsheet.com