Beatles News
Keith Richards and George Harrison got along well. They were the only two people in the 1960s who had experienced what it was like to play lead guitar in hugely popular rock bands. Even though The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were rival bands, George and Keith Richards had a mutual admiration society.
They stayed in touch even after their careers diverged years later.
George Harrison and Keith Richards had a bond
Richards claimed that he and George had a “bond” in the special “Remembering George” edition of Rolling Stone.
Richards said, “George and I kind of formed a bond in that we felt we were kind of fulfilling the same role within our respective bands, without really talking about it, although we did have a laugh here and there. “It was a wink and a nod to imply that they wouldn’t be anywhere without us.
Source: Micheal Kurt/technotrenz.com
After jamming together in 1968 and 1970, George Harrison took the stage to perform with Bob Dylan for the first time at the Concert for Bangladesh. They didn’t perform together until 1987 when Dylan invited George to play with him and the blues musician Taj Mahal. Then, in early 1988, George and Dylan played together during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions, where they were both honorees.
However, George didn’t think he’d be able to perform with Dylan during his 1988 tour.
After a motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan went into semi-retirement. Rolling Stone wrote that by the summer of 1971, he’d become “something of an apparition.”
By the time George planned the Concert for Bangladesh, Dylan had played only a hand full of shows since 1966 and none in the previous two years. George struggled to get Dylan to sign on to the benefit concert.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Of course I wanted to talk with Michael Lindsay-Hogg about the Beatles. Everyone wants to talk with him about the Beatles, especially since his star turn in “Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s epic documentary, which debuted last fall on Disney+.
In January 1969, Lindsay-Hogg was the brash young film director who tried to charm and cajole John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr through warring agendas as they hashed out new songs and gave their last concert on a London rooftop. Soon after that, he started shaping his nearly 60 hours of footage into the documentary “Let It Be,” a film largely unavailable since its initial theatrical run in 1970.
Lindsay-Hogg’s footage, as well as more than 100 hours of audio that he recorded with his crew, some of it with hidden microphones, got new life when Jackson cleaned it up and reassembled it for his nearly eight-hour series. McCartney and Starr, along with most critics, hailed “Get Back” as an upbeat corrective to Lindsay-Hogg’s more somber take.
Source: Alex Williams/forbesindia.com
John Lennon said one of The Beatles’ songs was “like an old-time ballad.” In addition, he felt the song was similar to The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” John didn’t like the way the press reacted to the track.
According to the book Lennon on Lennon: Interviews and Encounters with John Lennon, John discussed “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in a 1969 interview. “It’s something I wrote, and it’s like an old-time ballad,” he said. “It’s the story of us going along, getting married, going to Paris, going to Amsterdam, all that. It’s ‘Johnny B. Paperback Writer.'”
John criticized the way the press reacted to “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” “The story came out that only Paul and I were on the record, but I wouldn’t have bothered publicizing that,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison wrote one of his most famous songs, “Something,” about the one thing he loved most, Krishna. Many people thought the Beatle was singing about his wife, Pattie. However, George liked when people couldn’t figure out if he singing about God or a woman. They were interchangeable to him.
Although, George really was singing about Krishna this time. He just didn’t want to sing, “Something in the way he moves me” because he didn’t want fans to think he was gay.
George Harrison wearing black with members of the Hare Krishna temple in 1969.
Source: cheatsheet.com
During a dualistic time in his life, George Harrison recorded his first post-Beatles record, All Things Must Pass. After enduring years of Paul McCartney and John Lennon pushing him aside, George unleashed his mammoth triple album. It’s full of the songs he’d stockpiled. George had had the album mapped out before he even set foot in a recording studio. He even knew which track he wanted fans to hear first.
In a 2001 interview with Billboard, George talked about All Things Must Pass. The publication asked if it was a big decision to make “I’d Have You Anytime” the first track.
“It probably was, because it goes, ‘Let me in here…’ [laughs],” George said. “It just seemed like a good thing to do; it was a nice track, I liked that. And maybe subconsciously I needed a bit of support. I had Eric [Clapton] playing the solo, and Bob had helped write it, so it could have been something to do with that.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
The ”Lord of the Rings“ director spun a meeting with The Beatles’ business managers into a documentary pitch
The Beatles: Get Back” director Peter Jackson’s gargantuan feat of compiling 60 hours of never-before-seen footage of the Fab Four’s “Let It Be” recording sessions — as well as new interviews with Paul McCartney and others who were at the scene 52 years ago — actually began as a different project altogether.
In an interview with The Guardian last week, Jackson said he was sought out by Apple Corps – the company which has handled The Beatles’ business affairs since 1968 – because of his interest in virtual and augmented reality technology. There may have been a plan to create an interactive museum experience at some point.
Source: Harper Lambert/thewrap.com
George Harrison visited San Francisco’s famous neighborhood, Haight-Asbury, the hippie capital of the world, in 1967. It wasn’t what he expected. Then, a mob of hippies swarmed him like he was God who just descended on his people.
In Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual And Musical Journey Of George Harrison, Joshua M. Greene wrote, “According to astrological calculation, by 1967 Earth was supposed to be emerging from a thousand years of confusion under the sign of Pisces—two fish swimming in opposite directions—and entering a golden age under the sign of Aquarius.
“Writers and poets prophesied that this new age would be one of harmony and understanding, and underground newspapers depicted San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district as its epicenter, the home of LSD consciousness, filled with beautiful people in colorful costumes, dancing to psychedelic music and living the dream of the Aquarian Age.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison was hanging out with The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards the night of their notorious 1967 drug bust. Although, George left the place right before police raided Richards’ home, Redlands. That didn’t stop the newspapers from adding him to their story. The Rolling Stones had many run-ins with the law. However, their 1967 drug bust is the most infamous incident. Mick Jagger sued the English publication The News of the World for libel. He didn’t like that the newspaper published sensational stories and him and his then-girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull. However, the publication didn’t want to be sued.
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison was not a fan of the 1974 musical John, Paul, George, Ringo, and Bert. He hated when people ripped The Beatles off. However, sometimes, Beatles musicals and films only happened because the band didn’t look after their interests following their split.
In a 1987 interview, Creem Magazine asked George what he thought of the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo, and Bert, which debuted in Liverpool in 1974 and then made its way to London. George didn’t have anything nice to say about the musical based on The Beatles.
“I saw it up until the intermission and then–I saw it with my friend Derek Taylor, who’s a writer who used to work for Warner Bros. and Apple–I said to him we either have to leave now or I’m gonna jump on that stage and throttle those people,” George said.
Source: cheatsheet.com
