George Harrison Shot Down Paul McCartney’s Idea For The Beatles’ ‘Something’
TL;DR:
- Paul McCartney told George Harrison he wanted to make a big change to The Beatles’ “Something.”
- George did not entertain Paul’s idea.
- An engineer said George taking the reins from Paul in would have previously been unthinkable.
George Harrison wrote The Beatles‘ “Something.” Paul McCartney wanted to change the track considerably. Despite this, George shot down Paul’s idea — a development that would previously have been unfathomable.
A sound engineer said George Harrison looked smug when he played The Beatles’ ‘Something’ to Paul McCartney
Geoff Emerick worked as a sound engineer on The Beatles’ Abbey Road. In a 2022 interview with Music Radar, he discussed the recording of “Something.” “George had a smugness on his face when he came in with this one, and rightly so — he knew it was absolutely brilliant,” Emerick said. And for the first time, John and Paul knew that George had risen to their level.”
Emerick praised the quiet Beatle’s musicianship. “George really hit a personal best as a guitarist, as well,” he opined. “He played a guitar solo, but a few days later he decided he wanted to redo it. By that point, we only had one track left, and that was for orchestral overdubs. George cut a new solo live with the orchestra.” Emerick felt the live version of the song was a gamble that paid off.
George Harrison refused to let the other Beatles change the song’s bass line
Emerick revealed how George shot down one of Paul’s suggestions. “Paul started playing a bass line that was a little elaborate, and George told him, ‘No, I want it simple.,'” he added. “Paul complied. There wasn’t any disagreement about it, but I did think that such a thing would never happened in years past.
“George telling Paul how to play the bass?” he continued. “Unthinkable! But this was George’s baby, and everybody knew it was an instant classic.”
John Lennon revealed what he thought about ‘Something’ compared to George Harrison’s earlier songs
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features a 1980 interview. In it, John recalls that George’s songs only became B-sides to singles such as “The Ballad of John and Yoko” because John worked to give him that exposure.
John noted “Something” was George’s first song to become an A-side single. He said there was no conspiracy trying to keep George down before he wrote “Something.” Rather, John didn’t think any of George’s previous songs were good enough to be A-sides. John’s words align with Emerick’s memory that John and Paul were more impressed with “Something” than George’s earlier work.
John revealed he didn’t receive any royalties from “Something” or any of George’s other songs, including songs he helped George write such as “Taxman.” This made John resent when George would speak critically of him. Despite this issue, John said he loved George and the other members of the Fab Four.
“Something” is good and it was so good that other members of the band wouldn’t mess with it.
