Why George Harrison Was Nervous to Pitch His Songs to the Other Beatles
George Harrison’s songwriting abilities were limited in his time with The Beatles. The primary reason was that John Lennon and Paul McCartney handled most songwriting duties. Due to this, Harrison became apprehensive about pitching his songs because he didn’t want to seem like he was competing for power.
The Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo was responsible for a majority of The Beatles’ most successful and iconic hits. Their early hits include “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Harrison had an interest in songwriting but wasn’t confident in his ability. His first song for The Beatles, “Don’t Bother Me”, debuted on 1963’s Meet The Beatles.
In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison said he wrote “Don’t Bother Me” as an “exercise” to see if he could write a song. While he doesn’t look back fondly on the song, it did inspire him to keep writing until he could write something he liked.
“I don’t think it’s a particularly good song, it mightn’t even be a song at all but at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and then maybe eventually I would write something good,” Harrison said. “I still feel now ‘I wish I could write something good.’ It’s relativity. It did, however, provide me with an occupation.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
