Why George Harrison Was Nervous to Pitch His Songs to the Other Beatles
George Harrison’s songwriting abilities were limited in his time with The Beatles. The primary reason was that John Lennon and Paul McCartney handled most songwriting duties. Due to this, Harrison became apprehensive about pitching his songs because he didn’t want to seem like he was competing for power.
George Harrison wrote his first song for The Beatles as an experiment
The Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo was responsible for a majority of The Beatles’ most successful and iconic hits. Their early hits include “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Harrison had an interest in songwriting but wasn’t confident in his ability. His first song for The Beatles, “Don’t Bother Me”, debuted on 1963’s Meet The Beatles.
In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison said he wrote “Don’t Bother Me” as an “exercise” to see if he could write a song. While he doesn’t look back fondly on the song, it did inspire him to keep writing until he could write something he liked.
“I don’t think it’s a particularly good song, it mightn’t even be a song at all but at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and then maybe eventually I would write something good,” Harrison said. “I still feel now ‘I wish I could write something good.’ It’s relativity. It did, however, provide me with an occupation.”
Harrison was nervous to pitch ‘rubbish’ to McCartney and Lennon
George Harrison did write more for The Beatles later, but it took him a while to build confidence in his songwriting. According to Rolling Stone, Harrison said in a 1969 interview that he didn’t want to compete with McCartney and Lennon, who wrote excellent songs. He didn’t want to pitch them something that was “rubbish.”
“I used to have a hang-up about telling John and Paul and Ringo I had a song for the albums because I felt at that time as if I was trying to compete,” Harrison shared. “I don’t want the Beatles to be recording rubbish for my sake just because I wrote it — and on the other hand, I don’t want to record rubbish just because they wrote it. The group comes first.”
Harrison proved he was a natural songwriter in his solo career
George Harrison did write a few hits for The Beatles, like “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”, but most of his hits emerged toward the end of the band on 1968’s The White Album and 1969’s Abbey Road. Many of his songs were either rejected or unreleased by The Beatles. However, once the band ended and he embarked on his solo career, he proved he was a musical force to be reckoned with.
His 1970 single, “My Sweet Lord,” reached No. 1 on the charts, making him the first Beatle to reach that milestone in their solo career. His debut album, All Things Must Pass, also lit up the charts, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and the U.K. charts. While The Beatles were the most successful together, Harrison still proved he was a gifted musician without help from his former bandmates.
