Paul McCartney Called This Beatles Song George Harrison’s ‘Greatest Track’ and He’s Not Wrong
George Harrison didn’t write a majority of songs for The Beatles, but the ones he did write were either hits or underrated deep cuts. Harrison would have success in his solo career, but he did leave an irreplaceable impact on The Beatles. One of George Harrison’s songs became a massive hit for the band, and Paul McCartney called it the “greatest track” he wrote for the group.
George Harrison’s songwriting duties were limited in The Beatles
While Harrison can be heard rocking the guitar on almost every Beatles song, his songwriting duties were restricted. Many of his songs got rejected, and he rarely collaborated with McCartney or John Lennon. However, he did manage to write a few of the band’s classics, like “Here Comes the Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Lennon and McCartney handled most of the songwriting duties, and that may have been intentional. In an interview with The New Yorker, McCartney said he didn’t intentionally try to limit Harrison, but he wanted Lennon and he to write most of the songs.
“I remember walking through Woolton, the village where John was from, and saying to John, ‘Look, you know, it should just be you and me who are the writers,’” McCartney shared. “We never said, ‘Let’s keep George out of it,’ but it was implied.”
Paul McCartney said ‘Something’ is George Harrison’s greatest Beatles song
“Something” is a song Harrison wrote for Abbey Road. The song was released in 1969 as a double A-side with “Come Together”. “Something” is a beautiful love song that received acclaim from many critics and audiences. It was even covered by Frank Sinatra, who called it the “greatest love song ever written.” In Anthology, Paul McCartney called it George Harrison’s “greatest track.”
“I thought it was George’s greatest track – with ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. They were possibly his best three. Until then, he had only done one or two songs per album. I don’t think he thought of himself very much as a songwriter, and John and I obviously would dominate – again, not really meaning to, but we were ‘Lennon and McCartney’. So when an album comes up, Lennon and McCartney go and write some stuff – and maybe it wasn’t easy for him to get into that wedge. But he finally came up with ‘Something’ and a couple of other songs that were great, and I think everyone was very pleased for him.”
‘Something’ was Harrison’s only No. 1 hit for The Beatles
The Beatles had 20 No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts. However, “Something” was the only one written by George Harrison. Still, the track was an early indicator of Harrison’s songwriting prowess which was later proved in his solo career.
After The Beatles broke up, Harrison was the first Beatle to achieve a solo No. 1 with “My Sweet Lord.” He had two more No. 1 songs: “Got My Mind Set on You” and “Give Me Love.” Paul McCartney had the most success after The Beatles, but George Harrison proved he was more talented than many Beatles fans thought.
