George Harrison Wanted to Cover a Hoagy Carmichael Song With Eric Clapton When They Got Older
George Harrison said he wanted to cover a Hoagy Carmichael song with his long-time friend, Eric Clapton, once they got older. The former Beatle loved jamming with all of his friends.
George Harrison said he and Eric Clapton ‘preserved and protected’ their friendship
Clapton was with The Yardbirds and George with The Beatles when they first met in the early 1960s. However, George told Mitchell Glazer (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters) that he didn’t officially get to know Clapton until they bumped into one another at a Lovin’ Spoonful concert. George thought the guitarist looked lonely.
George said, “We were going down to their hotel, I can remember just seeing Eric: ‘I know him, I’m sure I know this guy and he seems like, you know, really lonely.’ I remember we went out and got in the car and went off to Sebastian’s hotel and I remembered thinking, ‘We should’ve invited that guy ’cause I’m sure we know him from somewhere and he just seemed, like, lonely.'”
George and Clapton kept running into each other and eventually became friends. The Beatle asked Clapton to play on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” wrote “Here Comes The Sun” in Clapton’s garden, and dedicated “Savoy Truffle” to his friend.
George envied Clapton’s freedom. However, in the early 1970s, Clapton began to envy George. He fell in love with George’s wife, Pattie Boyd. In the end, Boyd left George for Clapton, but it didn’t destroy the musician’s relationship.
In 1987, George told Timothy White at Musician Magazine, “Eric’s such a sweet cat. I caught one of his own shows in the Los Angeles Forum just before Easter of this year. I stood at the side of the stage, holding up my cigarette lighter for the encore.
“Really! I love him that much! Through the thick and the thin, Eric and I have always preserved and protected our friendship.”
George wanted to cover a Hoagy Carmichael song with Clapton when they got older
In his interview with White, George explained that he loved Hoagy Carmichael and hoped to cover his work with Clapton.
“It’s sad to see the greats go, and I’m a big fan of so many kinds of rock and popular music, from Bob Marley to Cole Porter to Smokey Robinson to Hoagy Carmichael,” George said.
“…As for Hoagy Carmichael, I’ve been nuts for him since I was a kid. I cut his ‘Hong Kong Blues’ on ‘Somewhere in England,’ and there’s still a few more of his I wouldn’t mind doing, like ‘Old Rocking Chair.’ Maybe one day–not just yet, but one day when I get a bit older–me and Eric can sing ‘Old rocking chair has got me…'”
The Beatle said Clapton did things on the guitar that took him ages to do
Although George and Clapton never got to cover Hoagy Carmichael, the guitarists continued to work together. They collaborated on George’s first solo album, Wonderwall Music, Jackie Lomax’s “Sour Milk Sea,” Cream’s “Badge,” Billy Preston’s “That’s the Way God Planned It,” John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey,” and many more throughout the years.
Letting Clapton take all these guitar parts didn’t hurt George’s ego. He told Guitar Player that the things Clapton did on the guitar took him ages to do.
“Yeah, I love Eric,” George said. “I love the touch he has on his guitar. When he comes over to play on my songs, he doesn’t bring an amplifier or a guitar; he says, ‘Oh, you’ve got a good Stratocaster.’ He knows I’ve got one because he gave it to me. [Laughs] He plugs in, and just his vibrato and everything… he makes that guitar sound like Eric.
“That’s the beauty of all the different players that there are. There are players who are better than each other, or not as good, but everybody’s got their own thing. It’s like a 12-bar blues. You can’t do a 12-bar the same way twice, so they say. There’s things that Eric can do where it would take me all night to get it right – he can knock it off in one take. Because he plays all the time.”
George loved Clapton so much that he was willing to take a step back and let the guitarist shine on his songs. That says a lot. No doubt their cover of Hoagy Carmichael would’ve been just as good as all their other collaborations.
