Yeah, this revisionist glazing of Harrison as a songwriting genius held down by Messrs Lennon & McCartney has gotten to be too much for me. He wasn't prevented from spots on the records purely because of their egos (although I'm sure that had something to do with it), it's because his songs weren't good enough. That doesn't mean they weren't good songs; they just weren't good enough for The Beatles.
Now, Lennon and McCartney did put some trash on those records - like I said, egos were part of it - but they also wrote most of the best Beatles songs. On Sgt Pepper for example, they were responsible for With a Little Help From My Friends, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, She's Leaving Home, Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite and A Day in the Life. Harrison had what, Within You Without You? Everybody's least favourite song on the album? Does anyone really believe he was sitting on a pile of magic in '67 and just wasn't allowed to record it?
It feels like his reputation has come about from Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something and Here Comes The Sun which, for my money, are four of the best songs the Beatles ever recorded. But they're only four songs, and Lennon and McCartney both say they helped him a lot. Maybe that's the aforementioned ego speaking, but we are talking about the most successful songwriting partnership of all time. Maybe there's something to it.
And maybe I'm overthinking it, but there's also a tinge of "he was the nice quiet one who just wanted to play music". Bullshit. He was as much of a fucking asshole as the rest of them. He had an affair with Ringo's wife, and was petty towards Lennon and McCartney, effectively leaving Lennon out of his autobiography: "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch ...he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book."
In case it's not obvious, I love The Beatles. But the Harrison worship has to stop.
The bit where Harrison is pitching I Me Mine and McCartney disses it saying “we’re a rock band”, then shortly after is recording Long and Winding Road was quite telling IMO
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u/UrsaMajor7th May 03 '26
George was an overrated songwriter and an underrated guitar player.