George Harrison Said the ‘Saddest’ Part of Being in The Beatles Was the Impact on His Relationship With His Bandmates

George Harrison spent his adolescence and early adulthood with The Beatles. He saw his bandmates more than anyone else, and they experienced the highs and lows of fame together. They also, as time went on, grew increasingly frustrated with one another. The arguments eventually led to the band’s breakup. Harrison said that this was the saddest part of being in The Beatles for him.

George Harrison said it was a relief when The Beatles broke up

The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, after a final show in San Francisco. Harrison said that this was a significant relief to him. 

“There was a certain amount of relief after that Candlestick Park concert,” he told Rolling Stone in 1987. “Before one of the last numbers, we actually set up this camera — I think it had a fisheye, a very wide-angle lens. We set it up on the amplifier, and Ringo came off the drums, and we stood with our backs to the audience and posed for a photograph, because we knew that was the last show.”

After that, he said the band’s breakup began to feel inevitable.

“There was a sense of relief after that, getting home,” he said. “Then we spent what seemed like fifty years going in and out of each other’s houses, writing tunes and going into the studio for Sgt. Pepper and the White Album. But for me, I think for all of us, it was just too much. The novelty had worn off. Everybody was growing up. Everybody was getting married and leaving home, in effect. I think it was inevitable, really.”

George Harrison revealed what he found saddest about being in The Beatles

Leading up to the breakup, the bandmates grew increasingly frustrated with one another. This didn’t end when the band did; they aired their grievances in interviews and songs throughout the 1970s. Harrison was frustrated that Paul McCartney and John Lennon overlooked his contributions to the group. Still, he felt a sense of sadness when they broke up.

“Well, it was just mainly the sadness of, because we’ve been so close for so long,” he said in an interview with Joe Smith, per the Library of Congress. “I mean, as Mick Jagger said at the Hall of Fame, the Four-Headed Monster, we never went anywhere without each other. We shared all the miseries and the isolation of being in limos and hotels and planes and concert halls, which is all we ever saw for years.”

The saddest thing for Harrison was the toll the band took on their relationships.

“And that was the saddest thing, of us actually getting fed up with each other as, you know, not being able to … Although, at the same time, I would relate that to growing up in a family,” he said. “You know, when you hit a certain age, you all wanna go off and get your own girlfriends and your own houses and, you know, split up a bit.”

He said his life was easier after The Beatles

Though he did mourn some elements of his time with The Beatles, Harrison said that for the most part, he was happier after they broke up.

“It was very difficult once we got into the heavy period of the Beatles in the early ’60s and through the mania,” he explained. “That was very difficult. Then we went through all the drug period, which scrambled our brains up. And then after the Beatles split, and historically we know it was all the legal problems, but I’m glad to say I’ve come out of the other end of that tunnel and I feel really, really good about it.”

He said he felt like a happy person, which made life easier.

“And I’m a happy person myself,” he said. “All our problems are going away. So, it’s really quite easy now.”