A Beatles Engineer Said He Was Most Afraid of John Lennon and George Harrison
When audio engineer Geoff Emerick learned he would be working with The Beatles, he was terrified to meet John Lennon and George Harrison. He was taking over for another engineer during the Revolver sessions. As he was an EMI employee, Emerick had met Beatles producer George Martin and seen the band around. What he knew of them made Lennon and Harrison seem very intimidating.
A Beatles engineer found John Lennon and George Harrison intimidating
Emerick’s first day of work was also the first day of sessions for Revolver. He knew that this was a life-changing opportunity for him. He would be working with the biggest band in the world, meaning that success on the album would fast-track his career. Still, he was nervous to greet them, particularly Lennon and Harrison.
“I assumed, naturally enough, that the four Beatles knew that Norman Smith was out and that I was to be their new engineer, and I wondered how they felt about the switch,” Emerick wrote in his book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. “Lennon and Harrison were the two that I feared the most; John because he could be caustic, even downright nasty, and George because of his sarcastic tongue and furtive nature.”
He didn’t find Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr nearly as intimidating. He even looked forward to working with the former.
“Ringo was generally bland, just one of the lads, really, even though he had a strange sense of humor and was actually the most cynical of the four,” Emerick wrote. “Paul, on the other hand, was usually friendly and amiable, though assertive when he needed to be. He and I had established the closest relationship since I’d first started working with the band back in 1962.”
He found the first meeting with The Beatles to be stressful
To add to his stress, when Emerick greeted The Beatles, he learned they didn’t know he was their new engineer. Harrison immediately commented on this.
“As the pleasantries were exchanged, I started to feel a sense of relief — at least everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Everyone, that is, except George Harrison,” Emerick wrote. “Peering sullenly over his guitar, he dispensed with the niceties and spat out two words that shot like an arrow through my heart. ‘Where’s Norman?’ he demanded.”
Martin swiftly informed them that Emerick was taking his place.
“That was it,” he wrote. “No further explanation, no words of encouragement, no praise for my abilities. Just the facts, plain and unadorned. I thought I could see George Harrison scowling. John and Ringo appeared clearly apprehensive. But Paul didn’t seem fazed at all. ‘Oh, well then,’ he said with a grin. ‘We’ll be alright with Geoff; he’s a good lad.'”
And with that, Emerick began his fruitful career with the band.
The Beatles engineer warmed more to John Lennon than he did to George Harrison
In his time with The Beatles, Emerick got to know each of the members well. He still got along best with McCartney, but he warmed to the others. Harrison, though, was never his favorite. While he empathized with Harrison’s struggle for recognition within the group, they never got along well.
“He struck me as a dour, humorless man who complained a lot, and he always seemed suspicious of everyone outside The Beatles’ inner circle,” Emerick wrote. “He didn’t interact or converse with me very much, even when we were working on one of his songs.”
