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George Harrison said one of his songs could’ve had a good dance routine. Not many of George’s songs are danceable, but you could dance if you feel like it.

George Harrison singing his songs during his 1974 tour of America.
George Harrison | Steve Kagan/Getty Images

George Harrison said one of his songs could’ve had a good dance routine

Granted, George was known for writing love songs and some of the most spiritual tunes, but he did know how to write danceable songs too. In a 1992 interview with Timothy White (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said his song “Teardrops” could’ve had a good dance routine.

“That’s quite a nice song,” George said. “That could be done by some black group, because you could make a good dance routine to that one.”

“Teardrops” isn’t a typical George Harrison song, considering its heavy keyboards and pop tones. It’s a surprise the former Beatle even recorded it. George was not a fan of pop music by any means. The genre made him feel “uptight.” Regardless, it could’ve had a good dance routine.

George added that his song “Baby Don’t Run Away,” from his 1982 album, Gone Troppo, could’ve been a great R&B hit.

Many different genres inspired George and his songs

Lots of different genres inspired George and his songs. If pop lent its sound to “Teardrops,” it could have done to others.

Indian music lent its sounds to songs like “The Inner Light” and “Within You Without You.” George wanted to write a great modern rock ‘n’ roll song after seeing Eurymcs perform; he wrote “Devil’s Radio.” After hearing Bob Marley’s music, he tried making “Crackerbox Palace,” a reggae song.

Whatever genre inspired George, more often than not, his lyrics had a religious theme. If he wasn’t singing about his love of God, he sang of his love for a woman, which, in his eyes, was the same thing. George didn’t care about a song’s genre as long as it had a good message. Plus, he hated being pigeonholed into one anyway.

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The former Beatle said The Traveling Wilburys’ debut album was danceable

George has other danceable songs along with “Teardrops.”

In a 1988 interview with MTV, George explained The Traveling Wilburys’ debut, The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, was danceable if you like to dance.

“There’s tunes that Bob had the most influence on, it sounds like him, and there’s a song which we wrote specifically for Roy, which is very much like an old Roy Orbison song,” George explained. “It’s not like we tried to set out to do something that wasn’t like going out and buying an album of mine or ELO or Tom Petty, Bob Dylan or Roy Orbison.

“We tried to combine everything, and it’s worked very well. I think it’s basically very up music; it’s very up. That is to say; it’s danceable if you like to dance. But it’s fun; it’s really good fun music. It says some funny things. The sound of it, because we all basically tend to dislike computers, and so it’s very wooden.”

George’s songs became whatever he wanted them to be, whether they were rock or danceable R&B.

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