George Harrison on How He Wanted to Give His Money Away
George Harrison didn’t become a musician for the money. He hoped to make a living doing what he loved. Eventually, George wasn’t in it for the fame either. When he embarked on his spiritual journey, George realized there was more to life than fame and money. He had a plan to give it all away.
George Harrison didn’t become a musician for the money
When George first got his guitar as a kid, it was all he could think about. He spent his nights practicing until he was good. George cared a lot about his guitar and playing but never fathomed he’d survive as a musician.
Despite his father’s trepidation, George went ahead and saw what being a musician had to offer. Initially, it was hard being in The Beatles. The group got paid very little. However, they honed their skills and performance chops and eventually attracted the attention of Brian Epstein, a local record store owner. It was only up from there.
However, George never did any of it for the money.
In 1979, he told Rolling Stone, “It’s not for the money that I do what I do; it was never for the money really. We hoped we’d make a living out of it when we [the Beatles] were teenagers; we hoped we’d get by [smiling], but we weren’t doing it for the money.
“In fact, the moment we realized we were doing it for money was just before we stopped touring, because we were getting no pleasure out of it. Then we found out we weren’t even getting the money. The Americans were keeping it all, and we were paying so much tax—ninety-five percent or more.
“So it’s never been for the money really, although it can be nice to have some money. I mean, there’s nothing worse than standing at a bus stop in the pouring rain, wishing you had a car.”
George planned to give all his money away
As George told Rolling Stone, The Beatles didn’t always get everything that was due to them. During a 1970 interview with Howard Smith, George explained that they were none the wiser.
“We’d earned a lot of money but we didn’t actually have the money that we’d earned. It was floating around…. Right back, that’s really the history since 1962; the way everything was structured, none of us knew anything about it.
“We’d just spend money when we wanted to spend money, but we didn’t know where we were spending it from or if we paid taxes on it. We were really in bad shape as far as that was concerned, because none of us could really be bothered.
“We just felt as though we were rich, because really we were rich by what we sold and what we did. But it was so run together, the business side of it … But now it’s very together and we know exactly where everything is and there’s daily reports on where it is and what it is and how much it is.”
The Beatles might not have known where all their money was going, but as George said, none of them were in it for the money. In fact, George had a plan to give his money away.
“I just want to live as comfortably as I can or as I need, which is really very comfortable, I can tell you,” George said. “Money is to be used. I try and help different things that I believe in. But I don’t believe in just givin’ my money away…. I’d rather keep my money and make it into more money until I’ve got so much money and then give it all away.
“But that’s not for a few years. I’d much rather buy something with the money, like buy a house and fill it full of people doing something good and then give that away, rather than just give people dollars.”
The former Beatle was generous with his money
George did what he said he’d do. He was generous with his money. George’s intentions were always honorable, just as his decision to become a musician was when he was a teenager. He didn’t show others kindness to make himself feel good. George didn’t become a musician for the money.
Once the money started coming in, George repaid his parents for all they’d done for him. George liked the money and lived very much like any other rock star, but halfway through the 1960s, he realized there was something better than fame and wealth.
He met Ravi Shankar, who became his musical and spiritual guru. Suddenly, all George wanted was to connect with God. Everything he did, from making music to being kind to people, reflected his love for God.
In Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual And Musical Journey Of George Harrison, Joshua M. Greene wrote that George loaned rent money to rock journalist Al Aronowitz and his wife, who was battling cancer.
“Al was uncertain whether George gave the money because his own mother had died of cancer earlier that year or because he was grateful that Aronowitz had introduced him to his hero, Bob Dylan. Whatever George’s reason, Al said the house money was ‘an exhibition of saintliness unequaled by any rock superstar I knew,'” Greene wrote.
“Part of George’s charm is that he always feels so inadequate to repay the world for what the world has given him,” Aronowitz said. “Acts of kindness have become an art with him.”
George’s sister added, “An art, yes, that’s how it was with him. He would pay people’s hospital bills and do other random acts of kindness—not so that people would think well of him but simply because he believed kindness should be done in the world.
“Okay, he was on a spiritual search, but he was a good human being. Our mum always taught us to be careful about judging good or bad. Her criterion was, ‘Does this harm anyone?’ If so, then it was wrong, and George lived by that.”
George never stopped giving his money away for causes he thought deserved it. By signing the lease, he ensured devotees in the Hare Krishna Temple had a temple in London. Before that, he let them stay at his home, Friar Park. To help bring their cause to the world, George produced the devotees’ album, The Radha Krishna Temple, and published their guru, Bhaktivedanta Swami, a.k.a. Prabhupada‘s book, KRSHNA Book.
When Shankar came to him about a humanitarian crisis happening in Bangladesh, George immediately organized the Concert for Bangladesh. In the late 1970s, George mortgaged his home to help his friends in Monty Python after their producers backed out of making Life of Brian.
George didn’t care about money. He cared more about God and his relationship with Him.
