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TL;DR:

  • David Crosby wasn’t fully onboard with one of George Harrison’s most important relationships.
  • David Crosby said he was close friends with George Harrison.
  • Afterward, David Crosby wrote a song about George Harrison.
George Harrison wears a jacket and sits outside. A black and white picture of David Crosby against a white background.
George Harrison and David Crosby | David Redfern/Redferns; Robert Altman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

David Crosby didn’t get along with many people, but he found a friend in George Harrison. Though Crosby didn’t agree with everything Harrison did — he even wrote a song about this — he valued his relationship with him. Crosby said that of all of The Beatles, Harrison was his favorite. 

David Crosby was cautious of a close relationship George Harrison made

Crosby and Harrison got along, and the former Byrds artist was slightly concerned about a significant relationship in his life. When Harrison met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and had his spiritual awakening, Crosby was happy for him, but, not being religious himself, he wasn’t wholeheartedly accepting of the relationship.

“He called me up one day and said, ‘I have met this guru,’” Crosby told Goldmine in 2022. “I talked with him about it and was happy for him. What I really wanted to say was, ‘That’s nice but take it with a grain of salt.’ I don’t believe in religion. There is a borderline between religion and philosophy. It is not something I like externally imposed. I didn’t say that out of respect for him.”

David Crosby said he was a close friends with George Harrison

Though Crosby wasn’t entirely sold on Harrison’s beliefs, he considered him a good friend. 

“I was friends with George Harrison. He was the Beatle who I was closest to,” Crosby said. “I was friends with all of them and I am still friends with Paul and Ringo, but I was closest with George.”

He explained that he frequently visited Harrison to have dinner and to play music.

“I would go to his house for dinner,” Crosby said. “We hung out. We talked a lot. He was very friendly. We played a bunch of music together. We had a long and fruitful relationship. I liked him a lot.”

He wrote a song about their relationship

Rather than sharing his thoughts with Harrison on his relationship with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Crosby wrote a song about it.

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“I had a tremendous respect for George Harrison with the way he lived his life, but I didn’t want this to overwhelm him with my opinions, so I wrote the song ‘Laughing’ instead because the wisest person I think I have ever seen is a child laughing in the sun,” he said. “I think that is the real truth instead of one of these people out selling their version of religion and God. That is how that song came about and ‘Laughing’ is a very significant song for me.”

“I thought I met a man/Who said he knew a man/Who knew what was going on/I was mistaken/Only another stranger/That I knew,” Crosby wrote.

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