Just a short clip from the Beatles Anthology DVD.

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42 Replies to “George Harrison’s songwriting”

  1. George contributed so many great songs for The Beatles, his songs would come out of left field and would make those records even more eclectic. I love Blue Jay Way, Long Long Long, it’s all too much, they don’t get enough credit .

  2. I'll say this about George: he didn't have the facile natural talent that Paul and John had with melodicism or wordplay, but that's to his credit: he developed his songwriting through work, patience, observation and sheer force of will to equal his bandmates. That's a lesson for everyone, especially those who struggle in their chosen field at first.

  3. Frank may have said it once and like anything it gets repeated over and over. In the "Concert for the Americas," Sinatra is very clear and effusive in his praise for "Something" and Harrison.

  4. I love every Harrison song he did with the Beatles, but old brown shoe and think for yourself are my favorite. As far as solo goes, All Things Must Pass is the best solo Beatles album.

  5. Bless George. He really persevered and by the end of the band his contributions were as good as anything Lennon/McCartney were putting out, and they've become some of the most celebrated in the Beatles canon.

  6. George's song writing gradually developed while he was a member of the Beatles. I think he hit the nail on the head when he stated that Lennon/McCartney had already done their early and sometimes variable quality stuff before they became the Beatles, while he developed later. He had the early instrumental with John "Cry For A Shadow" which I love and then moved through the atmospheric "Don't Bother Me", another good song until later on when he wrote "Within You & Without You", "The Inner Light" & so on until we had the outstanding "Something". I always liked George's songs not because I thought they were better than the Len/Mac ones but because they were different and added to the Beatles overall quality of sound. So many singers/songwriters in one group. It made them great as did Ringo backing them up with that back beat and his own gentle and very genuine nature.

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  8. To all you silly ones arguing about Paul bass playing abilities please understand he is first a songwriter/singer, guitar, ukuele, piano player and drummer. Most of the fine bass players mentioned did NOT play and sing, Paul did.

  9. A good Harrison song is as good as a good Lennon/McCartney song. There may have been more of the latter than the former but you listen to only one song at a time, right?

  10. @inkey2 agreed. I always thought George's song were fine. Even those that John and Paul insinuated were bad sound just fine to me. By '69 though, George's songs were the equal of Lennon/McCartney (as Paul graciously admitted). Harrison was always growing and improving as a musician and human being.

  11. George was able to watch Lennon and Paul write all their songs (most of which were pretty lukewarm sugar, frankly) and then turn out his own, which were kind of cooler in my opinion.

  12. I like George, although not a fan of the Beatles, I have mad respect for their musicianship and excellent songwriting capabilites, but George is unique in what he did.

  13. @MrAngemystere You get me wrong. I have been a fan of the Beatles and Geo Harrison for as longer than many people seeing this post have probably been alive. I have heard all of Geo's 'released" material. Let's not be defensive. I base my information on George's bio, my knowledge of the output (again released), interview, etc. Chill out my friend.

  14. George wrote some great songs but to say that he consistently matched John and Paul as far as quality and quantity of great material is just silly. Even George admits this kinda when he says in this interview that he had not written his "bad songs" yet (meaning of course that he acknowledges that some of his Beatles materials was not up to snuff.)

  15. paul was the best player, john was the grittiest, george was the most soulful, ringo was ringo and george martin was the best musician in the beatles. (in my humble and slightly lazy opinion!)

  16. I love Harrison's songs. While My Guitar Gently Weeps has an unbelievable melody, to take just one example. Maybe he didn't have as many classics as Paul and John, but the songs of his they recorded could certainly hold their own.

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