George Harrison Said John Lennon and Paul McCartney Refused to Take 1 of His Best Songs Seriously
In The Beatles, one of George Harrison’s biggest problems was the way John Lennon and Paul McCartney treated his songwriting. They had been the primary songwriters for the first half of the 1960s. When Harrison started contributing more songs, they seemed to view it as more of an intrusion than an opportunity for growth. According to Harrison, they hardly paid any attention to what would become one of his best-known songs.
George Harrison said John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t take 1 song seriously
While Harrison was at his parents’ home, he began using books to write a song.
“I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book — as it would be relative to that moment, at that time,” Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw ‘gently weeps’, then laid the book down again and started the song.”
The resulting song was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” It would go on to become one of his best-known songs, but Lennon and McCartney hardly paid it any mind at the time.
“We tried to record it, but Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine,” Harrison said. “It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, ‘Well, that’s a shame,’ because I knew the song was pretty good.”
Eric Clapton’s involvement with the song changed their attitudes
Harrison was good friends with Eric Clapton and he invited him into the studio to play guitar on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Clapton was hesitant, but Harrison figured that if his bandmates weren’t playing on the song, he would find someone who would.
“The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, ‘What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?’” Harrison recalled. “He said, ‘Oh, no — I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles’ record and the others wouldn’t like it.’ I said ‘Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.’”
This ended up being the best thing Harrison could have done for the song.
“So he came in,” Harrison said. “I said, ‘Eric’s going to play on this one,’ and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.”
George Harrison said John Lennon and Paul McCartney struggled to look past each other
After The Beatles broke up, Lennon complained that Harrison hadn’t credited him enough in his memoir I Me Mine. Harrison said this was another instance of Lennon — and, by extension, McCartney — misreading him.
“He misread me,” he said, per the book George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door by Graeme Thomson. “He didn’t realize how I was, and this was one of the main faults with John and Paul. They were so busy being John and Paul they failed to realize who else was around at the time.”
As a result, Harrison felt relieved when The Beatles broke up.
