George Harrison Used to Tell Paul McCartney There Was No Need to Feud With Yoko Ono
George Harrison and Paul McCartney never had a perfect relationship with John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono. However, they all needed to put the past firmly behind them, and George expedited the process.
George never forgot things, but he always moved on from them. He learned to do that through spirituality. This is the basis of All Things Must Pass, after all. George knew we were only on this earth for a short time, so he didn’t waste time on silly things.
He tried telling this to Paul. There was no point in fighting with Yoko.
John Lennon on George Harrison and Paul McCartney’s initial reaction toward Yoko Ono
There was a time when George and Paul initially had similar thoughts on Yoko Ono. Once John started bringing her to the recording studio, a place at that point where none of the Beatles’ women ever went, his bandmates began getting annoyed.
There was a situation concerning Yoko eating some digestive biscuits in the studio, which angered George. Then there was the time George insulted Yoko to her face.
John told that story to Rolling Stone in 1971. “You can quote Paul, it’s probably in the papers, he said it many times at first he hated Yoko and then he got to like her. But, it’s too late for me. I’m for Yoko.
“They were writing about her looking miserable in the Let It Be film, but you sit through 60 sessions with the most bigheaded, up-tight people on earth and see what its f***in’ like and be insulted – just because you love someone – and George, s***, insulted her right to her face in the Apple office at the beginning, just being ‘straight-forward,’ you know that game of ‘I’m going to be up front,’ because this is what we’ve heard and Dylan and a few people said she’d got a lousy name in New York, and you give off bad vibes. That’s what George said to her! And we both sat through it. I didn’t hit him, I don’t know why.”
John continued, “I was always hoping that they would come around. I couldn’t believe it, and they all sat there with their wives, like a f***ing jury and judged us…
“Ringo was all right, so was Maureen, but the other two really gave it to us. I’ll never forgive them, I don’t care what f***in’ s*** about Hare Krishna and God and Paul with his ‘Well, I’ve changed me mind.’ I can’t forgive ’em for that, really. Although I can’t help still loving them either.”
George told Paul to end his feud with Yoko
Following The Beatles’ split, George’s attitude toward Yoko changed. He said he had no hard feelings toward her on The Dick Cavett Show. He also said he didn’t think she caused the band’s breakup. Later, on Aspel & Co., George said he had a lovely time with Yoko during The Beatles’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1988.
George didn’t like living with grudges, not that he ever had one with Yoko. However, he put all the drama between him, John, and Yoko, behind him and suggested Paul do the same.
In 2013, Paul told Rolling Stone that time had healed all the wounds, and he had reconciled with Yoko. “She’s bada**,” Paul said. “Time, the great healer. I thought, ‘If John loved her, there’s got to be something. He’s not stupid.”
Rolling Stone called it a “big emotional step for the Beatle.” After The Beatles broke up, Paul said fans started liking John better. In 2001, he avoided John tribute events because it was “difficult” to see Yoko. “She’d refused to allow the credits on The Beatles’ “Anthology” album series to read ”Yesterday’ by Paul McCartney and John Lennon’ (instead of the other way around),” Rolling Stone added.
“It’s like, what are you going to do? Are you going to hold a grudge you never really had?” Paul added. George also encouraged him to forgive and forget. “George would say to me, ‘You don’t want stuff like that hanging around in your life.'”
How the visual artist feels
During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, Yoko said being constantly blamed for splitting up The Beatles was like getting acupuncture. Although, she said she took all the negativity and turned it into something positive and creative.
Yoko also said it was sweet of Paul to come forward and clear the air between them. She wondered if people had written to him afterward and threatened him for making up with her. They loved it when they hated each other, she pointed out.
So, thankfully Paul’s age-old feud with Yoko has been put to rest, just as George and John would’ve liked.
