All of the Projects George Harrison Worked on in His Last Months
Despite receiving all kinds of treatment for various cancers worldwide, George Harrison still made time to work on music in his last months. He worked on his final album, Brainwashed, and contributed to some of his friends’ albums.
The former Beatle started ‘Brainwashed’ in 1999
In 1997, doctors diagnosed George with throat cancer. They successfully removed the lump, and George underwent two radiation treatments at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
George downplayed his illness by saying, “I am very lucky. I’m not going to die on you folks just yet.” Shortly after becoming cancer-free, George almost died in a home invasion in 1999. The former Beatle also downplayed the injuries he sustained during the attack. However, George’s son, Dhani, later said they likely took years off George’s life.
Still, George continued making music. The former Beatle’s friend and co-producer, Jeff Lynne, said he and George started work on Brainwashed in 1999. George had written most of the songs years earlier.
“George would come round my house and he’d always have a new song with him,” Lynne said (per Beatles Bible). “He would strum them on a guitar or ukulele. The songs just knocked me out. George talked about how he wanted the album to sound.”
George also asked Dhani to help him with the album. “He told Dhani a lot of things he would like to have done to the songs and left us little clues,” Lynne added. “There was always that spiritual energy that went into the lyrics as well as the music.”
According to Dhani, Brainwashed is a very personal record. In a video for the making of Brainwashed, Dhani said, “The reason this turned out to be so good, in terms of the way that the songs are really true to him is that he wrote these songs just primarily for himself and what he wanted to hear and he had a song in his head he’d write it down.”
Lynne added (per Beatles Bible), “His life was in those final songs, the things he got up to each day, like riding down the River Thames. Lots of very personal stuff.”
Around the time George was writing the songs for Brainwashed, his cancer was steadily getting worse. So, it’s no wonder he wrote the songs that made him happy. He wasn’t making music for anyone but himself and God.
George Harrison worked on his friends’ albums in his last months
In March 2001, doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota diagnosed George with lung cancer. That May, he underwent successful surgery to remove a growth. However, by the summer, George received news his cancer had spread to his brain.
When George and his wife, Olivia, started a worldwide search for treatment, they kept everything private. It was reported that George was recovering from his lung surgery in a villa in Luino, Italy, but he was actually receiving “grueling” cobalt treatments for a brain tumor at the San Giovanni hospital in Bellinzona, Switzerland.
However, George was enthusiastic as ever and worked on various projects with his friends. After bathing in the Ganges River, George returned to Europe to work on “Horse to the Water,” a song he wrote with Dhani, for Jools Holland’s album, Small World Big Band.
Holland’s album wasn’t the only musical project George undertook in his last months. In August, he played slide guitar on “Love Letters” for former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. George also added guitar to “Anna Julia” for Traffic’s former drummer, Jim Capaldi’s album Living on the Outside.
“I asked him if he would play on it, because it had a very Beatle-y vibe,” Capaldi told Rolling Stone, “and he was only too pleased to do it for me. I was honored and grateful.”
Capaldi was also in the recording studio with George as he tried assembling tracks for a new album rumored to be called Portrait of a Leg End.
When George landed in Staten Island, New York, for more treatment, he continued work on Brainwashed.
George failed to finish ‘Brainwashed’ in his last months
Unfortunately, George didn’t get to finish Brainwashed. However, the album was in safe hands. Dhani and Lynne took over, although it was a daunting task at first.
“To make an album, to make all those songs finished and mixed, it started out really daunting because I was so used to working with George so closely until I realized that Dhani was going to be there all the time,” Lynne said.
For the album’s 20th anniversary, Dhani wrote on his Instagram that finishing Brainwashed was the most challenging project he’s ever worked on, throwing him into “the deep end.” If he’d waited, it would’ve been difficult to complete.
Thankfully, George made a “blueprint” for his son and co-producer. Dhani said he left tons of notepads full of notes “in his language.” Thankfully, Lynne knew how to speak George. Everything was there; it was just a matter of understanding what George was saying in his notes and figuring out what he would’ve wanted.
“It was almost as if my dad had the whole thing mapped out, and we were just these lab rats trying to find out way through the maze that hadn’t quite been finished yet,” Dhani said. “Trying not to leave any footprints of us or any trace of Jeff or me. That was the most conscious thing that we did was to try and not impose on the album in any way and make a kind of, as Jeff calls it, a cradle for the voice and the guitar.”
“You just had to go with your gut feeling,” Lynne continued. “I felt so bad for Dhani having to do that, after his dad had just passed on, but he really wanted to do it. He’s a good lad, Dhani. It was joyful when it sounded great – ‘Well done, George, nice one!’ – but such a shame he wasn’t there to hear it with us.”
Finishing his father’s final album was challenging, but it was a rewarding project. It was also the happiest and saddest thing Dhani has ever done. Finishing each track brought happy tears. Dhani believes George knew leaving him the album to complete would be good for him. However, Dhani didn’t realize it at the time.
