George Harrison Said ‘When We Was Fab’ Uses Chords From 2 of His Beatles Songs
George Harrison said you can hear traces of two of his Beatles songs in his 1987 tune, “When We Was Fab.” The former Beatle wrote it with Jeff Lynne (who George once called a Beatle copycat) after he found he wanted to write a Beatlesque tune. That itself was surprising.
George Harrison wanted to ‘evoke a Fabs song’ on ‘When We Was Fab’
Being a Beatle was often hard for George. He realized being in one of the most famous bands in the world came with a price. The whole experience aged him. It wrecked his nerves and made him paranoid. Everyone wanted a piece of him, and he wasn’t willing to give it to them.
Meanwhile, The Beatles were making uninspiring music. In the mid-1960s, George craved change and wanted answers to who he was and what he was doing on Earth.
Thankfully, legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar sucked him out of his hole and gave him important lessons. He taught the rock star that “God is sound.” Suddenly George embarked on his spiritual journey, and it briefly took the strain out of being a Beatle.
However, George couldn’t shake The Beatles off. Even after the band split in 1970, George couldn’t live in peace. Any time he performed, George hated that fans expected him to play his Beatles songs, which he often called “OK.”
According to Rolling Stone, George once said, “The Beatles exist apart from myself. I am not really Beatle George. Beatle George is like a suit or shirt that I once wore on occasion, and until the end of my life people may see that shirt and mistake it for me. I play a little guitar, write a few tunes, make a few movies, but none of that’s really me. The real me is something else.”
Eventually (and surprisingly), in the 1980s, George came to terms with being a Beatle. Suddenly, everything had settled, and fans didn’t want a piece of him anymore. They were grown up and respected him.
Coming to terms with being a Beatle must have made George want to write a song that evoked the spirit of his old band.
During a 1987 interview with Timothy White for Musician Magazine, George explained how he wrote “When We Was Fab.”
“I got this idea for a few chords, and I started the tune while Jeff and I were messing around in Australia last November at the Australian Grand Prix,” George said. “I began the song on a little guitar someone loaned me, and I got three or four chords into it when the string broke.
“We had to go to dinner but luckily there was a piano at the person’s house where we went, so with people frying stuff in the background, we got on the piano and pursued three chords. They turned into the verse part of ‘When We Was Fab.’
“The first thing I constructed was a tempo announcement, with Ringo going, ‘One, two, da-da-dum, da-da-dum.’ Next we laid the guitar, piano and drum framework, and I wasn’t too sure what it was gonna turn into. But the idea was that it would evoke a Fabs song. It was always intended to be lots of fun.”
George revealed he used chords from two of his Beatles songs on ‘When We Was Fab’
George evoked the spirit of his former band on “When We Was Fab” further. He used chords from a couple of his Beatles songs.
White pointed out, “Maybe it’s this California setting, but the first bygone Beatles track it made me think of was one you wrote for ‘Magical mystery Tour’ based on your temporary 1967 L.A. address between Beverly Hills and Laurel Canyon.”
George knew the song he spoke of; “Blue Jay Way.” He continued to say, “It’s in there. And also this funny chord, an E and an F at the same time, like one I had on the old Beatle record, ‘I Want To Tell You.’ It also has that chord in John’s ‘She’s So Heavy.'”
The former Beatle did something he never did in the songwriting process during the making of the tune
George also told White that while he worked on “When We Was Fab,” he did something he never did.
“Anyway, every so often we took the tape of ‘Fab’ out and overdubbed more, and it developed and took shape to where we wrote words,” George explained. “This was an odd experience for me; I’ve normally finished all of the songs I’ve done–with the exception of maybe a few words here and there-before I ever recorded them. But Jeff doesn’t do that at all. He’s making them up as he goes along.
“That to me is a bit like, ‘Ohh nooo, that’s too mystical. I wanna know where we’re heading.’ But in another way it’s good because you don’t have to finalize your idea ’till the last minute.”
George learned a lot about himself while making “When We Was Fab.” He discovered he could and even wanted to make a song that evoked the spirit of The Beatles. He could also change up his songwriting process. There’s a problem with the tune’s name, though. George was always fab.
