At Age 33, George Harrison Contemplated Retiring at 37
George Harrison considered retiring at a relatively young age. He was only 33 when he contemplated it during a 1976 interview. George guessed he’d throw in the towel around the age of 37. Thankfully, his prediction didn’t quite come true.
George Harrison considered retiring at 37
During a 1976 interview, the BBC pointed out that George’s newest album, Thirty Three & 1/3, was his current age. They asked the former Beatle, who was only 27 when the band broke up, if he ever thought of stopping.
“Yeah, I did,” George said. “I suppose back in the 60s I gave myself to about 36. So, still got a couple of years, but I think I’ll probably be around 37 or 38 at the moment that I feel and suppose I could stop.
“But I don’t know, it’s hard to-it’s like George Burns once said that the only thing to retire for, the only reason is to do something better and if you enjoy doing what you’re doing… If I hadn’t been a guitar player, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
In 1977, it looked like George was retiring
There was a moment in the 1970s when it seemed like George had seriously thought about retiring. During a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone, George revealed that he didn’t pick up a guitar once throughout 1977.
“I’ve found if I take a two-week holiday, by the end of those two weeks, I’m just about ready to enjoy the holiday and I have to get back to work,” he explained.
“If you retire or knock off the work, then there’s a while of feeling, ‘Wow, I should be doing something,’ until you slowly mellow out and think, ‘Wow, this is good. I don’t have to be mad all my life, I don’t have to live in the public eye.'”
Rolling Stone pointed out that “fans feel almost cheated when the performer stops performing.” George replied, “That’s their own concept. It’s a selfish concept to think, ‘Go out and kill yourself for me…’
“All of 1977 I never picked up a guitar, never even thought about it. And I didn’t miss it.” Granted, the state of the music industry at the time pushed George to give up. Making music wasn’t fun anymore.
By 1979, George had thankfully gone back to making music and had released George Harrison. However, Rolling Stone still needed to ensure he wasn’t going anywhere. They asked, “But you plan to continue making records?” George replied, “Oh, I’ll make another couple, I think, before I call it a day.”
Rolling Stone asked, “You can foresee a time when you will call it a day?” George said, “Oh yeah.” They questioned, “So you’re not going to die for rock & roll?” George responded, “Oh no. I’m not going to die for rock & roll. Not at all.”
What the guitarist planned to do after The Beatles broke up
George had less hope for The Beatles’ future than for his solo career. In 1963, George had no idea how much longer they’d last, but he didn’t expect it to be too much longer, certainly not past about 1965.
“Well, I suppose we’ll stay doing this sort of stuff for a couple of years,” he said. “Whether we’re … I mean, naturally we won’t be able to stay at this level. But, we should have another two years at least, I think.”
However, George had a plan for whenever the band broke up.
“I hope to have enough money to go into a business of my own by the time we, umm, do flop,” he said. “And we don’t know—it may be next week, it may be two or three years. But I think we’ll be in the business, either up there or down there, for at least another four years.
“I’d like to make records, you know, with other artists. I don’t mean perform. I mean as a producer.”
Thankfully, The Beatles lasted longer than anyone thought, and George continued to make music until he died in 2001.
