The 1970 album George Harrison refused to revisit: “I don’t like it”
While it sometimes might be hard to understand why artists refuse to revisit their past work, the creation of Let It Be, the final album by The Beatles, was such a gruelling experience for the four members that it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that some of them found it tough to engage with it for many years after.
Tensions within the band were at an all-time high, and while from the outside looking in, things may not have seemed any different to the complex dynamics of other rock groups, the mood from within the band’s camp was one of turmoil, knowing that their time together was rapidly reaching its end. For fans of the band, this was undoubtedly a hard pill to swallow, but the four members had pretty much already come to terms with their own demise.
However, because the band were still at the peak of their popularity at the time, the hubbub surrounding the album was still of an extraordinarily high level. The album’s creation ended up being heavily documented, with the plan to release a television documentary series that concluded with a concert broadcast, and people were keeping close tabs on every move from within the studio.
While the concert was scrapped, the unannounced rooftop performance from atop the Apple Corps headquarters ended up serving as the closing segment of the film that was made documenting the creation of Let It Be, but it’s the rest of the film that ends up being more revealing to viewers.
You can see all of the cracks forming and relationships being strained to their limits, and for George Harrison, who famously quit the band temporarily during the sessions for the album before being coaxed back in, it would make for especially unpleasant viewing, not that he’d ever put himself through that.
In a televised 1987 interview for Entertainment Tonight, the guitarist said that he’s still unable to go back and listen to the album as a result of the stress it caused him at the time. “[Let It Be] was really supposed to be us rehearsing to make a record, and they were just filming the rehearsals, and that turned into the movie,” he said, before jokingly referring to it as Let It Rot, referencing the parodic title from The Rutles.
“There’s scenes in it, like on the roof, that was quite good, and there were bits and pieces that’s okay, but most of it just makes me so aggravated that I can’t watch it,” he continued, clearly upset by the fact that this parting offering from the band underlined such a sour period of their existence.
He concluded, arguing that the constant presence of the film crew didn’t help his mental state. “It’s bad enough when you’re having it, let alone having it filmed and recorded so that you’ve got to watch it for the rest of your life,” he protested. “I don’t like it.”
You can hardly blame Harrison for wanting to block it from his memory, and while he may have warmed to it over time if he were still alive today, he’s probably grateful for the fact that he wasn’t dragged along to see the extended restoration of the film, Peter Jackson’s nine-hour Get Back docuseries, in all of its gory detail.
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