George Harrison’s Estate Could Have Many Unreleased Songs
George Harrison‘s estate could have many more of his unreleased songs to give to fans. The spiritual Beatle gave clues to their existence many times, and his family has released some through remastered versions of his albums.
George Harrison’s unreleased songs were littered all over their house
The former Beatle didn’t release that many solo albums. However, that doesn’t mean George wasn’t constantly recording and writing music. There must be tons of unreleased tracks because George never stopped making music.
In Harrison, George’s widow, Olivia, wrote, “George left the world his uniquely beautiful melodies, and some of them were barely born, played once, maybe.
“Every Dictaphone or tape machine in the house was found with a cassette inside bearing the beginning of a new song, some on piano, ukulele or guitar, some with hysterically funny words, some with fiercely serious lyrics, but all crafted from creativity he knew to be a divine gift.”
George would also constantly scribble lyrics down on bits of paper that he’d squirrel away. Olivia, who often helped her husband in the songwriting process, told Billboard that George would be “walking around and take a piece of paper out of his pocket and it would end up somewhere. Maybe he would stick it in a book or in a drawer or somewhere.”
George’s home could be full of unreleased songs
While his lyrics are stashed all over his house, George’s demos of unreleased songs are lurking somewhere in the depths of FPSHOT (Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames).
During an interview on The Today Show, George said he didn’t make music daily, but he made demos frequently.
He said, “Maybe not every day, but yeah, I do. Although I haven’t been involved in making any records for a while, I still write tunes. I’ve got a studio in my house and I make demos. I leave, you know, there’s boxes of demos.
“Someday, somebody can overdub on them. Maybe I’ll make another album…”
The spiritual Beatle’s estate has slowly begun to release some unreleased songs
With how much George wrote and recorded over the years, it would be impossible that his estate didn’t have tons of unreleased songs to give fans. George wasn’t like Prince, who recorded and completed a song and put it in his purple vault with the purpose of it never seeing the light of day.
If he told The Today Show that someone could overdub his unreleased demos after he was gone, that probably means he wouldn’t have minded if someone released them. Over the years, George’s estate has begun to release some of his demos.
In 2012, after Martin Scorsese released his 2011 documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, George’s estate (Olivia and their son, Dhani) released a compilation of several of his demos.
In 2009, Jeff Lynne announced he was working on an album of George’s unreleased songs (per the Guardian). On the unreleased songs, Olivia said, “There are lots of tracks. Some are closer to completion than others and with those I’d ask for help.”
Recently, fans heard another of George’s demos, “Cosmic Empire,” on the 50th-anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass (per Ultimate Classic Rock). Hopefully, George’s estate will release many more of his unreleased songs. There had to be tons more.
