George Harrison’s 1st Beatles Song Was ‘Grumpy’
TL;DR:
- George Harrison wanted his Beatles songs to live up to songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
- He said it was hard for him to write tunes while living up to that standard.
- George’s first song was called “Don’t Bother Me.”
George Harrison wrote The Beatles‘ “Don’t Bother Me,” which he called a “grumpy song.” He discussed what he thought about it as a work of art. In addition, the track appeared on two separate Fab Four albums.
George Harrison wanted his Beatles songs to be as good as Lennon-McCartney songs
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1979. In it, George discussed the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership.
“During school, you know, when we were at school, they wrote a load of tunes, which were not really that good — well a couple of them … I think one of them we recorded on the Let It Be album, ‘One After 909,'” he said.
George discussed how Lennon-McCartney impacted his own songwriting. “Because they did write such good tunes and The Beatles took off, it made it more difficult for me as a songwriter because the starting point had to be a bit … I mean if there’s already so many good tunes, then I have to try and write better,” he said.
George Harrison revealed the song came to him while he was taking morphine
George discussed the beginning of his career as a songwriter. “So, I think the first tune I wrote was 1963, as an experiment to see if I could write a tune,” he recalled. “It was called ‘Don’t Bother Me,’ a grumpy song. It, actually, it was all right for the first tune, but then it was really a matter of practice. The more you do, the more easy it becomes, you know.”
During a 1992 interview, George said he was nervous to write “Don’t Bother Me,” but it didn’t take long for it to come together. He penned the song in 30 to 60 minutes. He said he remembered writing “Don’t Bother Me” because he was taking a type of medicine that had morphine in it at the time. He said that type of medicine probably got banned at some point after he took it.
How The Beatles’ ‘Don’t Bother Me’ performed on the charts internationally
“Don’t Bother Me” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United States, the tune appeared on the album Meet the Beatles! That record climbed to No. 1 for 11 weeks on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 74 weeks altogether.
“Don’t Bother Me” was not a single in the United Kingdom either. Therefore, The Official Charts Company reports “Don’t Bother Me” didn’t chart there either. In the U.K., “Don’t Bother Me” appeared on the album With the Beatles. That album peaked at No. 1 in the U.K. for a whopping 21 weeks.
“Don’t Bother Me” wasn’t a hit but it was a vital moment in George’s discography.
