George Harrison Said The Beatles Needed Space to Grow
George Harrison said The Beatles needed space to grow. That was one of the biggest reasons they separated in 1970. They all just wanted to fly the nest and experience other things.
George Harrison said The Beatles needed space from each other to grow
During a 1987 interview, Dutch TV pointed out to George that he was only 27 when The Beatles split, yet he’d experienced many unimaginable things. Dutch TV asked what kind of person he was and what he felt when The Beatles split.
George replied, “In no less than 25 words? I don’t know. At the time, when we split, we’d had too much input from everything, all that being closed together, mania, everything like that. We needed a rest from each other, and we needed space to grow.
“I think it’s important because we’re growing all the time and when you, like that situation, it’s just like a family. You’re so close together, and then you grow older, and you want to move, and you want to go into your own house and have your own friends, and that was necessary.
“I don’t have any regrets about The Beatles splitting up. I think they did a fantastic thing in that short time, but everybody wants them to go together again, and it’s impossible. I think it’s better left as it is.”
George said getting back together with The Beatles would be like going back to school
During a 1977 interview with Count Down, George said getting back together with The Beatles would be like returning to school. They’d all changed and grown. It would be like going backward.
Since The Beatles’ financial issues with their one-time manager, Allen Klein, were resolved, there seemed little in the band’s way to reunite.
“I mean, there’s little in the business side left in the way, but there’s a lot of other things,” George explained. “Just physically, we’re all in different places now, and we don’t spend time together anymore.
“That’s the problem; we’d have to get to know each other again because we haven’t sort of hung around together like we did in the past. So, I mean, everybody’s into their own lives. It seems very difficult, the idea of getting together, but it’s just a joke. I mean, it needs a joke when the last offer was for $50 million.
“It’s crazy, you know? It’s trying to put the responsibility of making the world a wonderful place again onto The Beatles. I think that’s unfair. I know a lot of people like The Beatles, but it’s like eight years ago we split up, and it’s like difficult.
“It’s like we all grew up and we left home; it’s like trying to get the family back again or trying to get us to go back to school again.”
George said the group would only get back together if they were all broke
During a press conference in 1974 (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said that The Beatles would only get back together if they were all broke. George couldn’t fathom being put back in the box he lived in while he was Beatle George. Plus, he had worked with musicians he thought were better than his bandmates.
“The point is, it’s all a fantasy, the idea of putting the Beatles back together again,” George said. “If we ever do that, the reason will be that we are all broke. There’s more chance that we’ll do it because we’re broke than because … and even then … to play with the Beatles … I mean, I’d rather have Willie Weeks on bass than Paul McCartney.
“That’s the truth, with all respect to Paul. The Beatles was like being in a box—we got to that point. It’s taken me years to be able to play with other musicians. Because we were so isolated it becomes very difficult playing the same tunes day in, day out. Since I made ‘All Things Must Pass,’ it’s just so nice for me to be able to play with other musicians.
“I don’t think the Beatles were that good. I think they’re fine, you know. Ringo’s got the best backbeat I’ve ever heard… Paul is a fine bass player … but he’s a bit overpowering at times. John’s gone through all of his scene, but he’s like me, he’s come back around.”
George said he’d join a band with John any day. However, he couldn’t say the same about Paul. The Beatles fulfilled their purpose. George didn’t enjoy it when people lingered on the past.
