George Harrison Said John Lennon and Paul McCartney Refused to Take 1 of His Best
George Harrison was excited about a song he brought to John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They barely paid attention to it, though.
In The Beatles, one of George Harrison’s biggest problems was the way John Lennon and Paul McCartney treated his songwriting. They had been the primary songwriters for the first half of the 1960s. When Harrison started contributing more songs, they seemed to view it as more of an intrusion than an opportunity for growth. According to Harrison, they hardly paid any attention to what would become one of his best-known songs. George Harrison said John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t take 1 song seriously
While Harrison was at his parents’ home, he began using books to write a song.
“I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book — as it would be relative to that moment, at that time,” Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. “I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw ‘gently weeps’, then laid the book down again and started the song.”
The resulting song was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” It would go on to become one of his best-known songs, but Lennon and McCartney hardly paid it any mind at the time.
“We tried to record it, but Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine,” Harrison said. “It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, ‘Well, that’s a shame,’ because I knew the song was pretty good.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
