When Paul McCartney stormed out of a Beatles session
Beatles history is full of stories about Paul McCartney’s dual life as a bassist and guitarist. After getting saddled with the instrument when Stuart Sutcliffe left the group in July 1961, McCartney didn’t play guitar with the Beatles again until 1965’s Help! album. In addition to performing acoustic guitar on the album cut “Yesterday,” he took electric guitar solos on the songs “Another Girl,” “The Night Before” and “Ticket to Ride.” It was quite a shift for McCartney, considering he’d originally been put off playing lead guitar after his first attempt to do so onstage became a disaster.
In fact, it was that very episode of stage fright that resulted in George Harrison joining the group, at McCartney’s suggestion, seeing as neither he nor John Lennon had any facility for playing lead. Paul’s inability is ultimately what got him stuck playing bass, as Lennon had no ability to play the instrument and Harrison was too vital as a lead guitarist.
Of course, once McCartney began to solo, it was hard to stop him. He took solo sports on Harrison’s Revolver cut “Taxman,” when Harrison was unable to come up with anything satisfactory, and he soloed again on tracks like Sgt. Pepper’s’ “Good Morning Good Morning” and the White Album’s “Helter Skelter.”
What’s less known is that Harrison had a similar fluidity when it came to his guitar skills. Just as McCartney moved between bass and guitar, Harrison filled in for McCartney on bass on several recordings when Paul was playing another instrument or — in the case of one song — when he walked out of the session in anger.
It’s like a lunatic playing. I’m doing exactly what I do on the guitar.”
— George Harrison
Harrison is credited with playing bass in 1969 on Abbey Road’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and the medley “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry That Weight,” while McCartney was tickling the ivories. As he recalled in a 1987 interview with Creem magazine, he also played bass on his song “Old Brown Shoe.”
“It’s like a lunatic playing,” Harrison said, to which the interviewer replied, “It sounds like McCartney was going nuts again.” George replied that he was playing bass. “I’m doing exactly what I do on the guitar.”
Old Brown Shoe (Remastered 2009) - YouTube Old Brown Shoe (Remastered 2009) - YouTube
Watch On Well before those recordings, Harrison was beginning to pick up the low end on the Revolver album. It’s widely thought he plays bass on McCartney’s “Good Day Sunshine.” Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn said the piano, bass and drums are all recorded on one track. If McCartney played piano, as is assumed, that leaves only Harrison to play bass.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Elizabeth Swann
