George Harrison Said Authors Wrote Books About The Beatles out of ‘Malice’
George Harrison said authors wrote books about The Beatles out of “malice.” He said they made things up about him and the band for their own gain. However, he couldn’t do much about it.
George Harrison said authors wrote books about The Beatles out of ‘malice’
In 1987, George told Charles Bermant (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters) that most authors wrote books about The Beatles out of malice. They only cared about money.
Bermant asked, “If I had read every Beatles book and seen every documentary, in a general sense, what would I have missed?”
“A lot of the stuff in the books are [sic] wrong,” George said. “A lot of them are written out of malice, or from people with axes to grind for one reason or another. And they’ve perverted certain things for their own gain.
“Not many are actually factual and honest. There is a saying in the old house that I have, it’s in Latin, translated it says, ‘Those who tell all they have to tell tell more than they know.’ So you probably know more about the Beatles from reading those books than there actually was.”
On what people miss, George said, “Well, there’s that expression, you don’t see the forest for the trees. Basically, the Beatles phenomenon was bigger than life. The reality was that we were just four people as much caught up in what was happening at that period of time as anybody else.”
George couldn’t stop what authors wrote in books about The Beatles
Unfortunately, George told Rockline’s Bob Coburn (per George Harrison on George Harrison) that he couldn’t control what authors wrote in books about The Beatles.
Coburn asked George, “Does it ever bother you to think that there’s so many people that know so much about you probably better than you know yourself?”
George replied, “That side of it doesn’t bother me, really. It’s a long time now that this has been going on, and so I got used to it back in the ’60s.
“The thing that does bother me is the information that they know, where what they think they know about me is correct, because a lot of the time you’re reading stuff which is absolutely wrong, and you get an impression, or a writer has given you the impression, that his concept of what I am. An that’s the only problem, that’s the thing that bothers me.”
However, George couldn’t do anything about it. Coburn asked, “What do you do in those cases? Sometimes just let it slide, and others you go, ‘Hey, I can’t put up with this…’?”
George replied, “I think, ninety-nine percent of the time I’ve let it slide. Because the moment you get uptight [and] I start saying, ‘Hey, that book stinks, it’s not true,’ all I do is give the book more publicity.”
George hated when people made money from his past
Eventually, George had to worry about bigger things than what authors wrote in books about The Beatles. Since The Beatles became famous, the press and other writers have written about him and the band. Fan magazine made false accusations, and the press held uninspiring interviews and stereotyped the band.
Fortunately, the band could discredit anything on print if they chose. However, outside of print was the real issue. Once the band split up, they had no control over their catalog. So, when someone wanted to make a horrible documentary on The Beatles, they very well could without the band’s permission. Playwrights used their names and likenesses in musicals. Even Ed Sullivan used The Beatles for his own gain.
In 1976, George told India Today, “I hate people making money out of my past. I’ve done other things since that period and want to be remembered for them. All these E.M.I, greatest hits packages are absolute s***, and I wouldn’t recommend these ‘Beatle Plays’ to anyone.”
Unfortunately, The Beatles’ financial affairs were in ruin when they broke up. Since they were all mad at each other, they allowed people to come in through the cracks and steal everything. Authors claiming they knew the band only made things worse.
