Why George Harrison Was Confused About His Son Dhani’s Knowledge of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Bulldog’
George Harrison didn’t teach his son, Dhani, about his famous band, The Beatles. So George found it weird when Dhani came to him, asking about The Beatles’ song, “Hey Bulldog.” The former Beatle didn’t know where his son could have heard it.
George Harrison didn’t push The Beatles on his son Dhani
Dhani grew up around a lot of great music. However, George didn’t sit him down and show him The Beatles. Dhani was nine years old when he saw his father perform for the first time at the Prince’s Trust Concert in 1987.
George told Rolling Stone that Dhani got into Chuck Berry first before George ever taught him about The Beatles. Dhani was upset that George didn’t play more of Berry during his performance at the Prince’s Trust Concert.
George explained, “He’s got to know a bit about the Beatles, but I’ve never pushed that on him, or tried to say, ‘Look who I used to be.’ I did my two cute songs: ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps.’
“He came back after the show, and I said, ‘What did you think?’ He said, ‘You were good, Dad, you were good [slight pause]. Why didn’t you do ‘Roll Over Beethoven, ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and ‘Rock & Roll Music’?’ I said, ‘Dhani, that’s Chuck Berry’s show you’re talking about!'”
George was confused when his son asked him about The Beatles’ ‘Hey Bulldog’
Although George never taught his son about The Beatles, Dhani still managed to find out about them. During a 1987 interview with Anthony DeCurtis (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George explained that Dhani had come up to him, asking about The Beatles’ song, “Hey Bulldog.” George had no idea where Dhani had heard the song.
“I’ve never consciously sat him down and said, ‘Listen, here’s the old Beatle records,’ but he’s picked up on them because when he was about four or five, Yellow Submarine—there’s an age group that like Yellow Submarine.
“The kids watch, and they watch it every night for like three months, and then they forget about it. And so he knows, then, songs like ‘Hey Bulldog,’ and all those things to do with that. But Chuck Berry…”
During his 1987 interview on Aspel & Co., George explained that Dhani asked him, “Hey dad, how do you play the piano lick from ‘Hey Bulldog’?” George continued, “I thought, ‘That’s strange, how does he know a song like that?’ But it’s in Yellow Submarine.”
Dhani became a musician like his dad
Eventually, Dhani went into the family business. Although, he resisted for a couple of years. Initially, after college, he got a job as an aerodynamicist for the British sports car company McLaren.
“I did everything I could to not be a musician,” Dhani told Billboard. “I went to university (Brown), I worked as a designer, I competed in Olympic sport (rowing)… and I ended up being a musician. It’s in the DNA, I guess.”
Barely a year into working at McLaren, though, Dhani started helping his father finish his last album, Brainwashed. His father dying and then Sept. 11 happening gave Dhani a little perspective.
“It was then I thought, ‘Well now I’m going to do what I want to do – music, something positive and strong. And it won’t be like a band; it will be like an organisation, a family, and it will carry on and on.'”
Dhani has kept his father’s legacy alive. He might not have known about The Beatles until later in his childhood, but he got to know his father’s work well years later.
