George Harrison’s Work With Other Musicians ‘Drove a Wedge’ Between The Beatles
In the late 1960s, the once-tight relationship between John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr became strained, and the four Beatles began working with other musicians. This was a surprising change for the band, who had previously only really worked with each other. Harrison, who had started to feel increasingly stifled by The Beatles, found this thrilling. According to those who knew the band, Harrison’s eagerness to work with other musicians drove The Beatles further apart.
George Harrison began working with other musicians while in The Beatles
In the first half of the 1960s, The Beatles spent practically all their time together. They stayed in cramped quarters in Hamburg, went on increasingly chaotic world tours, and recorded for long hours. Even when they weren’t touring or working on an album, they spent much of their time together.
As the decade wore on, though, this changed. The bandmates began to grow apart, both in their music and personal lives. Harrison, in particular, wanted more involvement in the songwriting process, but Lennon and McCartney wouldn’t let him. As a result, he turned to other artists, like Bob Dylan and The Band. Harrison visited them in Woodstock, New York.
“He came to visit with me and met a couple of the other guys,” The Band’s Robbie Robertson said, per the book George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door by Graeme Thomson. “He wanted to see what was real. Like, ‘What do they do up in those mountains?’ He wanted to hang out and have some of this rub off on him.”
He liked what he heard and what he saw. It made a world beyond The Beatles seem both possible and appealing. He started working with other artists, much to the shock of people who knew The Beatles.
“It all came as a shock, with the freedom Apple brought, when the Beatles started playing with other musicians and finding out what other people did,” Apple Corps director Tony Bramwell said in the book The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz. “They had never played with anyone [outside of the other Beatles], they’d never jammed. When George prepared his Jackie Lomax record, he suddenly found himself playing with other musicians — and loved it. He discovered there was another world outside of the Beatles, and it eventually drove a wedge between the boys.”
George Harrison found it liberating to work with other musicians
Harrison had grown accustomed to the rigor of The Beatles’ schedule. In his time with The Band, he discovered that work as a musician could be different.
“It was kind of an escape from Beatledom for him, and he was really drawn to what Bob and The Band were doing,” The Band’s road manager Jonathan Taplin said. “It was quite different from what was happening in London or San Francisco. In Woodstock it was much more grounded, very family-orientated, kids all around.”
The visit also inspired Harrison to begin working on “All Things Must Pass” after hearing The Band’s song “The Weight.” It also helped that he got a chance to play with Dylan, who he’d long admired.
“George loved it. He loved that he was with Dylan because he adored his music and so he was very jolly,” his wife Pattie Boyd said. “He was totally free from the people he thought were holding him back. Writing and playing with Bob definitely gave him an extra sense of validation.”
The Beatles began arguing more frequently
While Harrison experienced a sense of freedom in New York, things back at Apple Corps were only growing more tense.
“They could never agree on anything,” Bramwell said. “Ego started becoming more important than success. John automatically blackballed any of Paul’s suggestions, Paul killed George’s, George rejected John’s. I can’t remember one decision that was unanimous or even near-unanimous.”
Unsurprisingly, this dynamic wasn’t sustainable. The Beatles announced their breakup to the world in 1970.
