George Harrison Said It Was Funny That People Thought He Did the Backflip in the Music Video for ‘Got My Mind Set on You’
George Harrison said it was funny that people thought he did the backflip in his music video for “Got My Mind Set On You.” The former Beatle liked adding the backflip because it was something he’d never do.
George Harrison had two music videos for ‘Got My Mind Set On You’
Gary Weiss made two music videos for “Got My Mind Set On You.” The first version follows a teenage girl in an arcade as she watches hand-cranked black-and-white footage of George playing the song. Meanwhile, a pre-fame Alexis Denisof (Wesley on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Alyson Hannigan’s husband) tries to get the girl’s attention.
Weiss’ second version is the most famous of the two. It features George playing the song while sitting in a comfy armchair by a fire while household objects rock to the music. According to George’s Twitter, Weiss based the music video on the horror comedy Evil Dead II. However, it’s “slapstick as a musical number, not slapstick as splatter-horror,” Stereogum wrote.
At one point, George jumps on his armchair and does a graceful backflip and carefully choreographed dance. Although, it’s not him.
George said it was funny that people thought he did the backflip in ‘Got My Mind Set On You’
During a 1988 interview, George said it was funny that people thought he did the backflip in the music video for “Got My Mind Set On You.”
“I don’t do dance steps or somersaults of anything like that, you know,” he said. “All I do is stand there and sing. There was the video for ‘Got My Mind Set On You,’ which has the backflip, the famous backflip. Now to me, that is hysterical because if anybody knows me, they know the last I’m going to do is a backflip and then dance like Michael Jackson or whatever.
“But to put that in there, in that context, and do it in a way where, you know. Most people think it’s actually me, and it cracks me up.”
George’s final hit
James Ray originally recorded the Rudy Clark composition, “If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody,” in 1962. In 1963 Freddie and the Dreamers covered it as their first UK hit. However, George’s version is by far the most famous.
Whether or not its music video was funny, “Got My Mind Set on You” became George’s final No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for 22 weeks. Meanwhile, its album, Cloud Nine, peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for 31 weeks.
“Got My Set On You” was very important for George, not only because of its charting success. It reintroduced him to fans and showed him to a new audience through MTV.
