George Harrison...
...today would have been his 64th birthday...
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An old Beatles song wondered, 'will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64', but George Harrison never got the chance to live that long. Like all of us, George was a sinner and a saint, sometimes a bad guy, but mostly a good guy, and along the way, with and without The Beatles, he put some Fine Work out there. So he's remembered on the day he would've turned 64. From everything I've read, George's existence within the Beatles wasn't really pleasant a lot of the time, because he was pretty-much dominated by Lennon and McCartney, and in my opinion, equaled and rose above them in the late '60's. George hated touring with a passion, and after the end of the Fabs' tour days in 1966, was the time that George really began to grow as a musician. The Beatles' 'Revolver' album, released in 1966, features three of his tunes, for example, instead of his relegated One Song Per Album as before.
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For me, George Harrison always struck a mood of melancholy with his Beatles' material. On the 'Meet The Beatles' album, for example, while Lennon and McCartney were writing not-so-silly love songs, George's One and Only tune on that album said, "oh go away, leave me alone, Don't Bother Me", which indicated that George was definitely His Own Person, even though Lennon and McCartney thot of him as a "junior member" and treated him accordingly. As time went on, though, his music got noticed...one of his songs, "Taxman", was so good, that it was positioned as the Very First Song on the 'Revolver' album. His ultra-sombre "Within You Without You" added a somberness of Conscience to the 'Sgt. Pepper' album. And while the Beatles were fighting amongst themselves in that 'White Album" year of 1968, George rose to the occasion with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", a song which basically asks, 'why are people the way they are?' In 1969, George's "Something" was a big hit single. George Martin, the Beatles' longtime producer has expressed regret that he didn't help fully develop Harrison's talents, because "Something" was such an Obviously Great Song.
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George's solo career went through a protracted dry spell in the late 1970's, but before and after that, he released some Really Great Music. "All Things Must Pass" stands as one of the Finest-Ever Record Albums ever made. "Living In The Material World", his 1973 album, features some nice stuff too, highlighted with his tongue-in-cheek History Of The Beatles..."Met them all here in the Material World, John and Paul here in the Material World, though we started out quite poor, we got Ritchie (Ringo) on a tour"...he recorded some fair-to-good music in the late '70s to the mid-'80s, having the occasional hit along the way ("Dark Horse", "Blow Away", "This Song", "Crackerbox Palace" and the really lovely "Blow Away"), but ol' George really Caught My Ear when "Cloud Nine", released in the late '80s, graced my eardrums. All of a sudden, there was life, excitement and enthusiasm; that's an album I'd Take To the proverbial Desert Island. It's a pop-rock masterpiece.
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George's next studio album would not be released in his lifetime. "Brainwashed", his final recorded document, consisted of songs he had been working on between 1990-2000, and although he recorded several tracks for each of the songs, he left it up to producer Jeff Lynne and son Dhani, to finish it up. I daresay "Brainwashed" contains some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard; "Rising Sun" and "Pisces Fish" are downright inspirational. He deals with his soon-to-be Terminal Cancer with songs such as "Stuck Inside A Cloud" and "Looking For My Life", and powerful rock and roll tunes such as "Brainwashed" and "Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night". Although George did quite well in his solo career, he seemed more comfortable in a group role, and the playful relationship between the members of the Traveling Wilburys was warm, humorous, and fun. Can you imagine a group that featured Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Harrison himself? A music listener's "dream team"!
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The first George Harrison song I became Really Familiar With was "If I Needed Someone", from "Yesterday And Today", the First Beatles Album I ever owned, waay back in the sixties. The song added another dimension and a unique melodic structure to the album. There was a certain minor-key element of resigned acceptance...the line "had you come some other day then, it might not have beeen like this, but you see now I'm too much in love" was as deep and meaningful as any line Lennon-McCartney ever wrote. I've always been on the side of the 'Underdog', and have always felt that George's contributions to the Beatles have always been vastly underrated. But, George, a whole lotta people out there remember ya. Count me among them.
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Another George Harrison song which meant so much to me was 'Isn't It A Pity' (from the 'All Things Must Pass' album)..."Isn't it a pity, Isn't it a shame? How we break each others' hearts, And cause each other pain? How we take each other's love, Without Thinking Anymore, Forgetting to give back, Isn't It A Pity. I think that verse is the definitive statement of the human condition. You can't say it much better than that...