Far Out Facts: Everything you need to know about George Harrison
No one changed popular music quite like The Beatles. After forming in 1960, the band found their first taste of success with the single ‘Love Me Do’ just two years later and didn’t look back. The Fab Four attracted so much attention and adoration from fans that the term ‘Beatlemania’ was coined to explain the never-before-seen phenomenon.
Though the band’s career only lasted a decade, they completely transformed contemporary music through their innovative approach to music-making, incorporating sounds and instruments into their work rarely used in popular music. The Beatles pioneered new recording techniques, cementing themselves as musical geniuses.
The Beatles began as The Quarrymen, which was formed by John Lennon, who later recruited Paul McCartney. However, after the latter invited his slightly younger friend George Harrison to watch the band, he was asked to join as a guitarist. The rest was history; The Quarrymen soon became The Beatles, and Harrison was dubbed the ‘Quiet One’.
After The Beatles broke up in 1970, Harrison continued to pursue solo music, finding great success with the triple album All Things Must Pass. He remained an important musical figure throughout the rest of his life before passing away in 2001.
Below, you can find detailed answers to the most searched Google questions about George Harrison.
Everything you need to know about George Harrison:
What is the meaning of life according to George Harrison?
Harrison was a very spiritual man known for his interest in Eastern philosophy and teachings. He spent much of the late-1960s onwards searching for enlightenment and experimenting with different modes of thought, including Hinduism, becoming a dedicated follower of Hare Krishna.
He once told Ravi Shankar: “Nobody is trying to figure out what’s the cause of death and what happens when you die. That, to me, is the only thing of any importance, and the rest is all secondary.”
Harrison continued: “I believe in the thing that I read years ago in the Bible that said, ‘Knock and the door will be opened.'”
Eventually, the guitarist declared: “Fame is not the goal and money, although it’s nice to have it, it can buy you a bit of freedom, and you can go to the Bahamas when you want, it’s not the answer. The answer is how to get peace of mind and how to be happy; that’s really what we’re supposed to be here for.”
What songs did George Harrison write for The Beatles?
While Lennon and McCartney were responsible for writing the bulk of The Beatles’ songs, Harrison wrote some of the band’s most excellent and recognisable cuts, from ‘Here Comes The Sun’ to ‘Something’. Unfortunately, Harrison’s bandmates often overlooked his incredible writing talents.
George Martin once said: “George’s songwriting was painful for him because he had no one to collaborate with, and John and Paul was such a collaborative duo that they would throw out a word of advice to him and so on, but they didn’t really work with him.”
Harrison proved his skills as a songwriter through his solo work, particularly the album All Things Must Pass, which contained beautiful songs like ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ‘Isn’t It A Pity’. However, while in The Beatles, he contributed 25 songs, with 22 credited solely to Harrison.
Every song Harrison penned for The Beatles:
- ‘Don’t Bother Me’ – With The Beatles
- ‘I Need You’ – Help!
- ‘You Like Me Too Much’ – Help!
- ‘Think For Yourself’ – Rubber Soul
- ‘If I Needed Someone’ – Rubber Soul
- ‘Taxman’ – Revolver
- ‘Love You To’ – Revolver
- ‘I Want To Tell You’ – Revolver
- ‘Within You Without You’ – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club
- ‘Blue Jay Way’ – The Magical Mystery Tour
- ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ – The White Album
- ‘Piggies’ – The White Album
- ‘Long, Long, Long’ – The White Album
- ‘Savoy Truffle’ – The White Album
- ‘It’s All Too Much’ – The Yellow Submarine
- ‘Only A Northern Song’ – The Yellow Submarine
- ‘Something’ – Abbey Road
- ‘Here Comes The Sun’ – Abbey Road
- ‘I, Me, Mine’ – Let it Be
- ‘Dig It’ – Let It Be
- ‘For You Blue’ – Let it Be
- ‘The Inner-Light’ – (B-side to ‘Lady Madonna’)
Could George Harrison read music?
Believe it or not, none of The Beatles – the biggest band in the world – could read music. On a 1971 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, Harrison was asked what he did when he came up with a song. He replied: “Just keep it in your head, you know. Just work it out on the piano or on the guitar.”
Harrison continued: “Sometimes, sometimes put it on tape, but usually you can remember it in your head, if you don’t. I wrote the words down and remember the tune in my head.”
How many albums did George Harrison make?
Harrison was a prolific musician who released various records with different collaborators. As a solo artist, Harrison boasted 12 studio albums, four compilation albums and two live albums. The Beatles also released 12 studio albums alongside a wealth of compilation and live records.
Besides The Beatles, Harrison was a member of the supergroup The Travelling Wilburys, which contained artists such as Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. The band released two studio albums together. Moreover, Harrison contributed to songs from many albums by other artists, from Eric Clapton to Belinda Carlisle.
Did Eric Clapton steal George Harrison’s wife?
In 1964, Harrison met Pattie Boyd while filming A Hard Day’s Night. She appears at the beginning of the movie as a schoolgirl. Just two years later, the couple were married before moving to Surrey. However, when Eric Clapton struck up a friendship with Harrison in the late-1960s, he soon fell for Boyd, writing his iconic song ‘Layla’ about her.
Around the time of The Beatles’ breakup, Boyd and Harrison’s relationship weakened, partly due to the musician’s increasing devotion to spirituality. Although Boyd had helped to introduce her husband to new ways of thinking, his intense dedication took its toll. Moreover, the couple cheated on each other numerous times, with Boyd deciding to leave Harrison in 1974.
Clapton pursued Boyd, but she initially rejected him. Eventually, Clapton won her over, and the pair began a relationship, marrying in 1979. Unfortunately, Boyd was subjected to lots of physical, sexual and verbal abuse as Clapton experienced alcoholism.
Where did George Harrison live?
Harrison was born in Liverpool, moving to 25 Upton Green, Speke, in 1949 when he was just a few years old. He lived in the suburb until he was 18, when The Beatles started to gain traction. When he married Boyd, the pair lived at Kinfauns in Esher, Surrey.
However, fans quickly found the estate, often attempting to break in. In 1970, Harrison purchased Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, where he installed his own recording studio. He lived there until his death in 2001.
How many children did George Harrison have?
The musician had two major relationships in his life. The first was his marriage to Pattie Boyd, although the pair struggled to conceive children. However, when Harrison met Olivia Arias, she gave birth to their only son, Dhani Harrison, in 1978 before marrying a month later.
Dhani is also a musician, making his debut on his father’s last album, Brainwashed. He has released solo music, formed a band called Thenewno2, and collaborated with artists like Eric Clapton.
Was George Harrison stabbed?
The world was rocked when John Lennon was shot to death in 1980, just a decade after The Beatles split. However, just under 20 years later, Harrison was also the victim of an attack that he luckily survived. While sleeping in his home at Friar Park, a man named Michael Abram, who experienced paranoid schizophrenia, broke in.
Abram attacked Harrison, stabbing him 40 times and puncturing his lung. Harrison’s wife, Olivia, repeatedly prodded a hot poker into the attacker while Harrison found himself desperately trying to fight him off. The musician said in a statement: “I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me. I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed.”
At the time, Harrison had cancer and would die from the disease two years later. Many people believe that the attack led to the rapid deterioration of his health. Abram was placed in a psychiatric hospital and never served a day in jail for the crime.
How did George Harrison die?
Harrison died on November 29th, 2001, in Los Angeles at the age of 58. His cause of death was revealed to be lung cancer, which spread to his brain. Upon his death, Olivia released a statement which read: “He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends. He often said, ‘Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another.'”
She also shared that his last words were, “Olivia, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine”. Harrison was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetry.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.