George Harrison Wanted His Record Label to Use Recycled Paper Like Olivia Newton-John’s
George Harrison stood for change in the world and was ready to start revamping the big corporations supporting him as a musician, including his record label. The former Beatle wanted his label to begin helping the environment by recycling paper like Olivia Newton-John’s.
The Beatle’s song, ‘Piggies’ is a social comment
One of George’s first social comments came from his song, “Piggies.” It’s about men in “starched white shirts” who rule the world with their own selfish intentions.
George told Mark Rowland in 1989 (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), “I don’t know where that came from. I remember writing it; I don’t remember where the whole idea of ‘Piggies’ … because it was before this sort of … what would you call it when the police started beating everybody up in the …?
“It was a much sort of gentler thing, and it was before that kind of consciousness. It was just an awareness that the big guys up there, they’re the ones who are in the stuffed white shirts–‘starched white shirts.’ [Laughter] It was a social comment because it’s still the same.
“Like Phil Collins has that song [‘Another Day in Paradise‘] about people sleeping in the streets, but still everybody else is all tucked away cozy in their big government offices. It’s just a portion of the money that’s being just squandered on ridiculous things like the military…
“See, we should have like a big international, I suppose it would be the United Nations Army, who would go around and instead of bullying innocent people, they go around and bully guilty people, you know—like the people who are damaging the environment.”
George wanted to save the environment, somewhere that had an impact.
George wanted his record label to start recycling like Olivia Newton-John’s
George was most concerned about the environment.
“The basic problem there is the agrochemical industries have got a stranglehold on the government, and they’re all in cahoots, and they’re probably all Freemasons as well. And that’s it,” George explained.
“Dow Jones, and all that sort of money business, and Nikkei Dow, and the FTSE Index. They’re the people that’s ruining this planet, you know— buying, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. You know? Really.
“And this madness that like Reagan and Thatcher together created, where they say, ‘Everybody is much better off now.’ Everybody’s more in debt, everybody’s got two cars, there’s more concrete…. You know, we’re having to sacrifice the planet for the motorcar. Madness. That’s why I can’t practice the guitar anymore. I’m so crazy with what they’ve done to our planet.”
Although George remained mostly private, he tried to use his star power to make a difference and promote environmentalism.
“Well, it’s true, it does help; if you’ve got a platform to speak from then you should speak and I think … just this morning I saw a program on TV with Olivia Newton-John and somebody else, I didn’t catch the name, somebody Bagley…
“Yeah, and that’s great because now they’ve got the network TV doing a show trying to make people aware about recycling, and, you know, all that stuff.”
Mo Ostin, Warner Brothers’ president, entered the room where Rowland and George were speaking. George added, “Mo is great. He’s a really … real person. Like I’m trying to get him at it with, you know, when they send you records or information, in the mailing room there’s like ten tons of paper and packages and cardboard.
“And I think he could do some good just as far as the record business goes. I know, one thing I learned from this Olivia Newton-John on the telly today, that her new album has got recycled paper.”
George wanted his record label to start recycling because it was a start
George thought if his record label recycled, it’d be an excellent start to helping the environment.
He said, “Now it all sounds like little stuff, but once you get the whole planet doing that… I mean, just these newspapers! I’ve been in a hotel for like four days, and I’ve got a stack of newspapers this high. You know they say something like the number of trees for one print of the New York Times, probably the Sunday edition, is as big as the United Kingdom. It’s madness what’s going on.
“It’s a hell of a problem, but … without the government [helping]. That’s what annoys me, it’s always the people who start these organizations who raise people’s awareness, and the people with the power and the ability to change enormous things very quickly don’t want to do it, they want to drag their feet.”
George would be shocked by the current state of the world. However, he made a small impact by making his record label recycle.
