#george and paul

[no-reply95]

Do you think George Harrison’s behaviour during the Anthology project was justified? All the stories I’ve heard indicate he wasn’t in the best of spirits during it, largely because he was only in it for monetary reasons over financial troubles, and overall seemed cynical to the very idea of looking back at Beatles history and “Beatles historians” (it’s why he pushed Lewisohn out of the Apple Corp circle). Obviously this wasn’t unprecedented for him (we saw in the Get Back doc how grounded and snarky he could be) but his post-breakup souring with Paul seemed to really cloud him, sadly. What do you think?

Hi anon, thanks for the ask! :)

I think I’ve seen most of Anthology. George didn’t come across overly bitter, or anything like that, according to what I remember of the TV series. However, as far as George not wanting to continue working on Now and Then (it was meant to be the third new single released on Anthology along with Real Love and Free as a Bird but George vetoed it) and some of the awkwardness between George and Paul in the scenes where they were jamming together, I can only speculate on exactly what was behind it.

As you mention, George was in financial difficulties as a result of the mismanagement of HandMade films by his manager/former manager Denis O'Brien. This was the second time (after Allen Klein) that a management relationship had ended in the courts, and with George financially worse off, so I think it's natural he felt jaded and that perhaps coloured some of his reactions in Anthology. To make matters worse, I'm sure it wouldn't have been a great feeling for George to have to go back to the Beatles, almost cap in hand, because of his personal financial issues. Being as financially aware as he was, it wouldn't have escaped his knowledge that, due in large part to the management of the Eastmans (who George, along with John and Ringo, had rejected in 1969) Paul was incredibly wealthy so the difference in their financial circumstances and their relative need for the project/for the project to be a success, may have added a negative undertone to George's interactions with Paul. I don't really think he would have missed Anthology, even if his financial circumstances were better, because then he would cede too much control of the Beatles' narrative to Paul, but it can't have been fun for him to feel that, in terms of his participation, his hand had been forced.

There's also the issue of just what Anthology entailed. 25 years had passed since the break-up and, although there were plenty of good memories associated with the band and their career together, they had to relieve the trauma of the breakdown of the band and the intra-band relationships. I've heard discussions about George being the reason why Let It Be was never re-released, I think he found it particularly hard to go over the more traumatic parts of the band and 1969, especially, was a tough year for him, quitting the band, marital troubles with Pattie, the chaos at Apple and the arguments between Klein and the Eastmans... The bad always tends to outweigh the good so I can see how having to rehash a part of his life, that he would rather forget, would have been hard and, understandably, brought out some negativity from George.

There's also, as you mention, the tension between George and Paul. I believe the only time George and Paul worked on a recording together, pre-Anthology, was on All Those Years Ago in 1981. I think there was also a plan to have George contribute to Wanderlust, on Paul's Tug of War album, but for whatever reason that fell through. Unlike George and Ringo, who had played together with no issues both during and after the Beatles, George and Paul did have a much more difficult time and, as a result, didn't really collaborate at all after the Beatles break-up in 1970. The fact that Anthology was only the second time, in 25 years, that George and Paul were collaborating musically again, to me at least, suggests that there would have been a lot of awkwardness and it would have been hard for both George and Paul not to think back to the Beatle days, which would have dredged up negative memories for them both, but particularly for George who felt overshadowed by Lennon-McCartney and never felt that he was a good enough guitarist for Paul's exacting standards. That's why George insisted that Jeff Lynne serve as the producer for Anthology, he wanted someone in his corner in the studio and, after years of complaining about George Martin's favouritism of Lennon-McCartney (a charge George Martin accepted and admitted), he wasn't about to agree to any dynamic where Paul's opinions would, again, be favoured over his. I don't think the Anthology sessions were a shitshow (Paul liked Jeff Lynne as a producer enough to ask him to work on Flaming Pie) but I do think it's notable that after recording two songs, George was done. I think too much time had passed and he did want to maintain a friendship with Paul, if that meant putting a stop to their musical collaboration, so be it.

As far as George's cynicism to Beatle biographers, I do think that was part of the reason why he was wary of Mark Lewisohn but it isn't all of it. The story goes that Lewisohn was one of a select group of people to have special access to Abbey Road. I believe he conducted an interview with another Beatle biographer, Mark Hertsgaard, at Abbey Road and granted access to certain recordings as part of this interview. Lewisohn hadn't asked the Beatles/Apple for permission to do this so when they found out, apparently, Yoko and George were livid and wanted him immediately kicked off the project but Paul stuck up for him and he was able to remain. I think Lewisohn relates that story in one of his podcast interviews but not sure which one -sorry! Generally, like all the Beatles, I think George was really wary of outsiders exploiting them, and that extended to their history. As much as we talk about Phillip Norman hating Paul, his hatred for George in Shout is just as pronounced, if not more so, so I can see why the thought of having people like Mark Lewisohn (who assisted on Shout) around would have put George on edge.

Finally, there's also the nature of the Anthology as a TV series that, I think, would have been off-putting for George. The last time the Beatles had tried to create a TV series was for Get Back in 1969 and George's abiding memory of that time was arguments, culminating in him quitting the band. Anthology wasn't a fly-on-the-wall documentary, so the cameras wouldn't have been as intrusive, but for the less scripted sequences, like when Paul, George and Ringo are jamming together, I can see George getting flashbacks to Twickenham in January 1969 and that causing him to seize up and look anything but relaxed in Paul and Ringo's company.

So the above is just my, more or less, off the cuff thoughts on why George maybe wasn't always a picture of sunshine and light during Anthology. The nature of his financial troubles cheapened his involvement from the get go (rather than a want it became a need), having the cameras intruding on what should be a private jamming session between old friends would have made things awkward and the lack of collaboration between him and Paul, in the intervening years since the break-up, probably meant that a lot of the issues they had around musical collaboration had been left unresolved for 25 years. Getting back into a musical relationship would have been an awkward, and maybe even painful, experience for both George and Paul, but particularly for George, who I think really respected Paul's musical ability so, for his guitar playing to have been criticised and undermined by Paul's direction and insistence on playing guitar solos himself, I think deeply hurt George and maybe, even with 25 years having passed, that hurt still remained.

[tyashj]

sobs violently my boysss 😭😭

[i-am-the-oyster]

George & Paul and their endlessly fascinating dynamic ☕️

Ooooh! <rubs hands together>

George and Paul loved one another like family do. No matter how much they pissed each other off, no matter how far apart they got, they each had a tendril in the other's heart that could never be cut out. They broke one another's hearts as only people who know and love one another can.

I get frustrated when fans take the side of one or the other. Yes, Paul could be arrogant and dismissive, but George could be whiny and mean. And they'd pick each other over you any day.

I adore the image of Paul and George bitching together in the early days, each knowing that they could just as easily become the other's target. Sniggering behind their hands at the fools who don't get it.

I'm fascinated by the effect on Paul, of George being accepted into the in-group in Hamburg where Paul was always at least a little on the outside (though not as much as Klaus claims, I suspect).

It's sad that they were so incompatible as songwriters. I don't think it's necessarily something fundamental about them, but the combination of their temperaments and their shared history made it impossible. But what could have been!

I wish Paul would have shut the fuck up about George's relationship with John in the eighties, and I wish George would have accepted Paul's approaches with more grace.

I think If You Wanna (from Flaming Pie) is about George

I think 'he' is John, and 'you' is George. Paul is acknowledging George's desire to be on a level with Paul, a step behind John, and saying "yes, it could be like that".

I like to think that they were closer in the 90s than most people assume, and that they had more fun on anthology.

I am endlessly fascinated by Paul's story about holding George's hand on his deathbed (in Paul's house, I assume). What really happened? What is Paul trying to convey in the way he tells it?

[maybeyourelocalbi]

Oh george harrison.........paul kinda fumbled-YEAH YEAH im back on my mcharrison bullshit so what what are yall gonna do huh exactly nothing shut up (id let him fuck me with a chainsaw ngl)

[harrisonarchive]

Onstage at the Odd Spot in Liverpool on March 29, 1962; photos by Alan Swerdlow.

“It was an option to include George in the songwriting team. John and I had really talked about it. I remember walking up past Woolton Church with John one morning and going over the question. ‘Without wanting to be too mean to George, should three of us write or would it be better to keep it simple?’ We decided we’d just keep to two of us.” - Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology (x)

[taeggukxiie]

this friendship is so dear to me. I need more pictures of them, my dear mcharrison (they were doomed from the start)

[sgtpepperland]

“We held hands. It’s funny, even at the height of our friendship, as guys, you’d never hold hands. I sat with him for a few hours when he was in treatment about 10 days from his death. We joked about things – just amusing, nutty stuff. It was good. It was like we were dreaming. He was my little baby brother, almost, because I’d known him that long”. - Paul McCartney talking about George’s death

[michonnegrimes]

Paul McCartney and George Harrison in Melbourne (June 1964)

[beatleshalloween]

McHarrison

[imagine-mokey]

[stargiirl27]

whatever it is that will please you, I'll do it

[thewalrusespublicist]

Thinking today about the shit show that would have been the George-John dynamic in Beatles anthology in an AU reverse 80’ scenario.

[longing4yesterday]

you never gave us a chance to be

during their second hamburg residency, there were 3 times george and paul found themselves entangled in one another.

(read on ao3)

[flytotheway]

Stealthy George

[harrisonarchive]

Photo (from July 1969) by Linda McCartney.

Happy birthday to Paul! George Harrison: “My parents both liked music; they used to go out dancing a lot. And when I first wanted a guitar, my mother bought me this very cheap guitar worth three pounds, ten shilling, or about six dollars. And she didn't mind that I used to stay up until two in the morning polishing my guitar and trying to learn how to play. Later, when I got to know John and Paul, she used to love having them around singing in the back room. She was very encouraging about that.” Q: “You met Paul first.” GH: “Yeah, Paul went to school with me. I met him when I was about twelve years old. So I had this guitar… and Paul had a trumpet for some reason. His father, in his earlier days, had been involved in a little dance band. He was a piano player. So there was a lot of music in Paul's house too. But when we started hanging out together, that's when Paul realized that he wasn’t going to be able to sing and play the trumpet at the same time. So he traded it in and got a guitar.” - WNEW-FM (1987) “‘The thing about Paul,’ George says, ‘is that apart from the personal problem of it all, he’s having a wonderful time. He’s going riding and he’s got horses and he’s got a farm in Scotland and he’s happier with his family. And I can dig that.’” - in conversation with Al Aronowitz early 1970s; The Blacklisted Journalist (2001) “But actually, I love Paul, he’s my mate, and it doesn’t matter what they say in the papers, they’re not gonna get much mileage out of that one.” - George Harrison, Aspel & Company (March 1988) “There’s always a place in my heart for Paul… and Linda.” - George Harrison, Musician (March 1990) “Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass — You know his faults — Then let his foibles pass. Old Victorian Proverb. I’m sure there’s enough about me that pisses him [Paul] off, but I think we have now grown old enough to realize that we’re both pretty damn cute!” - George Harrison, Yahoo web chat (February 15, 2001)

[eppysboys]

boys