The Beatles songs Tom Petty covered to pay tribute to his friend George Harrison
It’s never easy losing a dear friend, but when that person is also a close collaborator, hero, and musical inspiration to you, the effect of their passing can be horrific to deal with. For Tom Petty, he would undoubtedly have been shaken by the death of George Harrison, who he had described as all of the above during his life.
With Petty having been born in 1950, The Beatles would have been a significant part of his adolescence and musical upbringing, and you can certainly hear the influence that the band had on his own output over the years. He may well have put his own spin on the pop-rock sound that the Liverpudlian group established in the 1960s, making it more applicable to his American audience by writing songs that reflected life in the States, but there was always an underlying sense of adoration for what the Beatles did before.
However, it’s unlikely that Petty in his younger years would have ever dreamt that it would be possible for him to ever work alongside one of his idols from the group, but after befriending Harrison while he was releasing music with the Heartbreakers, an opportunity would arise for him to become part of a new supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys, which also featured greats in Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. Releasing two albums together in 1988 and 1990, the band were one of the first instances of a successful supergroup, and the bond that Petty and Harrison formed while working together was one that proved creatively fruitful.
Hence why it was such a tragedy when Harrison passed away after a battle with cancer in 2001, and Petty was understandably shaken by such a significant loss in his life. As a tribute to the legendary songwriter and guitarist, Petty would perform a number of Harrison’s greatest songs in concert, honouring the legacy of his close companion and former colleague.
In 2002, the year after Harrison passed away, a concert was held in his memory, where a plethora of famous names performed songs from his incredible catalogue of music. Among those performing at the ‘Concert For George’ were former Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Eric Clapton, but when Petty took to the stage, he performed two tracks that Harrison had penned in an emotional tribute to his friend.
The first of the two songs that he selected was the 1966 track, ‘Taxman’, which is often regarded as one of the first Beatles songs where Harrison was allowed to demonstrate his true prowess as a songwriter, having allowed John Lennon and McCartney to handle the majority of the songwriting duties for the group prior to that. However, the second song that Petty picked out was an earlier and more obscure album track from the Beatles’ catalogue, with the Help! song ‘I Need You’ being an unusual but meaningful selection for Petty to have chosen.
Two years later, Petty was invited to perform alongside an all-star lineup at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2004, where Harrison received a posthumous recognition and induction into the Hall. Performing alongside the likes of Prince, Lynne and Harrison’s son Dhani, the ensemble produced a memorable rendition of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ to celebrate Harrison’s incredible legacy, of which Petty said he felt “something really big’s going down”.
The performance’s producer, Joel Gallen, would also describe the performance as “one of the most satisfying musical moments in my history of watching and producing live music,” which is a testament to both the brilliance of Harrison’s songwriting and the way in which his friends recreated his masterpiece.
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