The Quiet Beatles
George Harrison is often described as the ‘Quiet Beatle’. His role in The Beatles is now considered imperative to their long success and he is many fan’s favorite Beatle but that wasn’t the case in the early days – at least not in George’s mind. He was unsure of the significance of his role and his contributions outside of playing the guitar on Beatles songs were minimal. One might say George was overlooked when considering the magnitude of John and Paul’s songwriting credits. Put yourself in George’s shoes; you have two of the greatest songwriters writing hit after hit with immense pressure to continue the success while having your own growing list of songs. In the back of your mind, you’re thinking I want to bring my songs to the table but are they good enough? John and Paul are like George’s older brothers since school days. He has always looked up to them but he has something stirring within himself that he cannot deny. George’s uncertainty in himself in this situation is understandable and relatable.
Bringing Songs to the Table
So what happened when George started to bring his songs and what was the reaction by Lennon and McCartney? There is a song that he will write that encapsulates his feelings of isolation within The Beatles and their disharmony as he wades through the process for years. The song is initially dismissed but goes on to be one of their most iconic songs.
Honestly George could have easily just ridden the wave of success as The Beatles guitarist and sat back without sticking his neck out for more input. But he didn’t, he wanted to contribute more.
“People say I’m the Beatle who changed the most, but to me, that’s what life’s about.” – George Harrison
George Harrison Songs Included on Albums
Harrison got his first song included on a Beatles record; ‘Don’t Bother Me’ which appeared on With The Beatles, their second album released in 1963.
A Hard Day’s Night released in ’64 did not include any of George’s songs. Although he did bring some to record but were rejected by Lennon and McCartney.
Harrison was quietly amassing a library of his own songs and would routinely bring them to the band to see if he could get any on the albums. Often times the songs were brushed aside.
He finally got 2 songs included on Help in 1965 including ‘I Need You’ and ‘You Like Me Too Much’. Neither are his best work and he wasn’t up to par with Lennon and McCartney yet at this point.
The Breakdown of Why George’s Songs Were Dismissed
George had this to say about the ongoing push to write songs.
“They had a lot of practice, put it that way. They had been writing since we were in school. So they had written most of their bad songs before we had gotten into the recording studio,” Harrison had humbly observed.
“For me, I had to come from nowhere and start writing and to have something at least quality enough to be able to, you know, put it in the record with all the wondrous hits.”
John Lennon elaborates on that sentiment.
“George didn’t even used to sing when we brought him into the group, he was a guitarist. He wasn’t in the same league for a long time. That’s not putting him down, he just hadn’t had the practice at writing that we had,” – John Lennon
To make it even further laborious is the fact George was writing on his own with no one to bounce ideas off of or provide feedback or input on a lyric here or there like Paul and John had. The Lennon-McCartney writing teamwork was like a masterclass on collaboration.
“George’s songwriting was painful for him because he had no one to collaborate with and John and Paul was such a collaborative duo that they would throw out a word of advice to him and so on, but they didn’t really work with him,” -George Martin
Harrison continues to toil away and he is usually given 2 songs on each album, all the while he is writing songs that continuously get dismissed.
Stepping Up His Game
His songs are included on albums and you can see the quality of his work improving with each new record are:
‘Think For Yourself’ one of the Beatles first accusatory songs which was in step with the protest songs of the time and ‘If I Needed Someone’ , a love song about Pattie Boyd who he would marry several months later are his contributions on Rubber Soul in 1965. George’s sitar contribution to “Norwegian Wood’ completely transforms the song adding a richness to the song and the entire album. George’s musical depth undeniably flowering on Rubber Soul. The album is stands out by exploring new concepts and sounds. It is George’s overall contributions that are a big part of the richness of that album.
Harrison said that Rubber Soul was his favorite Beatles album: “We certainly knew we were making a good album. We did spend more time on it and tried new things. But the most important thing about it was that we were suddenly hearing sounds that we weren’t able to hear before.”
Then on Revolver in 1966 Harrison had 3 songs included on the album including ‘Taxman’ ‘Love You To’ and ‘I Want to Tell You’ which Harrison said he wrote about “the avalanche of thoughts” that he found hard to express in words..
Boyd and Clapton’s Point of View
Pattie Boyd recalled Harrison would come home after a recording session and be utterly furious. She said: “The Beatles made him unhappy, with the constant arguments. They were vicious to each other. That was really upsetting, and even more so for him because he had this new spiritual avenue. Like a little brother, he was pushed into the background. He would come home from recording and be full of anger. It was a very bad state that he was in.”
George is feeling a tremendous amount of frustration at having his songs dismissed and he begins to write a song that he initially gets the lyrics from the book ‘I Ching” or “The Book of Changes” when he opens it up and sees the words ‘gently weeps’ and that becomes the foundation for the song.
“[the book] seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental.” – Harrison
The song is a commentary on what George sees happening in the world around him. But it is more a commentary on his own feelings about his role relative to The Beatles and the tensions within the band overall.
The song goes through several transformations. A demo that Harrison recorded at his home in Esher includes an unused verse: “I look at the trouble and hate that is raging / While my guitar gently weeps / As I’m sitting here, doing nothing but aging.” the “The problems you sow are the troubles you’re reaping”. Both lines are eventually discarded.
Another version is “I look from the wings at the play you are staging / While my guitar gently weeps / As I’m sitting here, doing nothing but aging …”] This version was released on the 1996 Anthology 3.
The Beatles recorded “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” several times during the White album sessions which began in late May 1968. The recordings were characterized by a lack of cooperation among the four band members. Also during these sessions the band regarded the overly intrusive presence of John Lennon’s new romantic partner, Yoko Ono, as a distraction creating more tension.
When he takes the song to the Beatles initially they don’t show much enthusiasm for the song and have an indifferent effort to record it. After several recordings he gets an idea to bring his friend Eric Clapton to the recording studio the next day knowing that they would be on their best behavior and not reject him with Clapton there.
On a ride from Surrey into London, Harrison asked Clapton to play guitar on the track. Clapton was initially reluctant to participate; he later recalled that his initial response was: “I can’t do that. Nobody ever plays on Beatles records.”
Harrison eventually convinces Clapton. His lead guitar part, played on Harrison’s Gibson Les Paul electric guitar “Lucy” (a recent gift from Clapton), was overdubbed that evening. Recalling the session in his 2007 autobiography, Clapton says that, while Lennon and McCartney were “fairly non-committal”, he thought the track “sounded fantastic”, adding: “I knew George was happy, because he listened to it over and over in the control room.”
Harrison recalled that Clapton’s presence also ensured that his bandmates “tried a bit harder” and “were all on their best behavior”. The Beatles carried out the remaining overdubs, which included an ascending piano motif, played by McCartney, over the introduction.
That day something magical happens, The Beatles and Eric Clapton record George Harrison’s song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. It is clear that George is a formidable songwriter. The song stands out on the album in the recordings with it’s haunting opening and deeply introspective lyrics. Many now see George Harrison’s songs at par with Lennon and McCartneys.
Eric Clapton said that “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” conveyed Harrison’s spiritual isolation within the group.
