George Harrison would have been 83 today. Sadly, he died in November 2001 aged just 58, after a struggle with cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. At his funeral, his friend Eric Idle alluded to the subject in his eulogy: “I’d like to thank Marlboro, without whom we wouldn’t be here this morning“. Harrison was a Beatle and therefore a genius. I’ve been playing some of his music today, both the music he made with The Fab Four and his solo work.
For some reason, he was my favourite Beatle, particularly when I received A Hard Day’s Night for Christmas in 1964. Obviously, the LP is all killer, no filler, and I adored I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, a Lennon and McCartney song on which he sang lead.
His opportunities to play on Beatles albums were limited, although he showed his songwriting mettle with classics like Here Comes The Sun and Something (my mum’s favourite song, by the way). In 1970, he released his first solo album, a triple album no less, All Things Must Pass, arguably the best Beatles solo album of them all. I didn’t actually buy the album until 1974, soon after I started full-time work and I adored it. What was surprising to me was my dad loved it, too.
In 1975, I flew across the pond to stay with him in his home in Saint-John, New Brunswick. One afternoon, I joined him in the living room and he was listening to an LP. Yes, it was All Things Must Pass. In 2009, I visited him again to celebrate his 80th birthday, this time in Ottawa where he now lived. It turned out to be a poignant occasion because less than two years later he was dead. On the afternoon I flew back to the UK, I could hear he was playing an album. Yes, it was All Things Must Pass and the title track was the one which was playing when I joined him.
Harrison went on to make a number of solo records, some like Living In The Material World were better than others, but frankly I could forgive him anything. I was as heartbroken when he died as I was when I heard about the murder of John Lennon. Whether you like The Beatles or not – and frankly, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t – it is a simple fact that they were the most important band in the history of popular music. Today’s music scene would be very different if they had never existed.
Apart from being a great guitar player, he was a fine human being. He raised millions for good causes and without him The Life of Brian would never have been filmed and released.
I can’t help thinking about what might have been. These days, 58 is no age at all so what music might he have made? It was terrible enough that we lost John Lennon, who was all of 40, and now another Beatle was gone.
The song All Things Must Pass is about what you would think it is about. Nothing lasts forever. I wish a genius like George Harrison could have lasted at least a bit longer than he did because, I felt, he deserved to because of the body of work he gave to us.
