George Martin names the best song George Harrison made for The Beatles
‘Underappreciated’ is not a word that attaches itself naturally to the biggest band the world has ever seen. For George Harrison, however, it was often easy to become overshadowed by his bandmates. After all, it was the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney that established The Beatles on the global stage. The guitarist’s songwriting efforts, on the other hand, were rarely given the credit they so richly deserved by the rest of the band, but producer George Martin was all too aware of Harrison’s prolific talents.
The Beatles lead the charge in terms of songwriting during the 1960s. Prior to the advent of the Fab Four, the vast majority of pop and rock groups had their songs written for them by somebody else, usually somebody at the record label. So, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney started to pen their own tracks, the compositions had a unique quality to them which resonated with youth audiences. Before too long, groups everywhere started to focus on writing their own material, though few could compare to the groundbreaking songs of Lennon-McCartney.
Every member of the group contributed to songwriting over the course of The Beatles’ discography, but the works of Harrison went grossly underrated by the rest of the group. His first composition, ‘Don’t Bother Me’, arrived on the tracklisting of With The Beatles and, while it is certainly not one of the standout tracks on that album, it did provide some motivation to the songwriter to continue honing his craft.
On subsequent records, tracks like ‘Taxman’, ‘I Me Mine’, ‘Something’, and, of course, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ established Harrison as a gifted songwriter, but the band still centred around the works of Lennon and McCartney. Speaking to the fact that his contributions were often ignored within the band, Harrison became the first Beatle to record a solo project in the form of 1968’s Wonderwall Music.
If anybody was well positioned enough to cut through the ego and chaos at the heart of The Beatles, it was George Martin. The band’s dedicated producer, Martin’s work was as essential to the sound and success of the Fab Four as the songwriters themselves, and he regularly spoke out against problems he saw within the camp. For instance, he was one of the only people to recognise Apple Corps’ chief ‘inventor,’ Magic Alex, for the charlatan he so obviously was.
In addition to denouncing some of the band’s more misguided affairs, Martin also recognised the underappreciated brilliance of George Harrison as a songwriter. Asked by Rock Cellar in 2013 about his favourite Harrison tracks, the producer began singing ‘I Need You’, calling it a “nice little song” before delving into the rest of the guitarist’s efforts. “‘Taxman’ wasn’t bad, typical George bitching about the world,” he shared.
“Really, the one that I thought was better than any of those was ‘Here Comes The Sun,’” Martin revealed. Explaining the genius of the 1969 track, the producer said, “I mean, that was the first time he showed real cleverness in a song. From ‘Here Comes The Sun’ onward everything he did was pretty good.”
Arguably Harrison’s defining work with The Beatles, the song featured on Abbey Road, and stands out as a definite highlight on the album. However, given that the album was the last the band ever recorded together, it did not give Harrison much opportunity to expand upon the work within The Beatles.
Thankfully, Harrison chose to continue honing his songwriting craft after The Beatles imploded, embarking upon a solo career which was unparalleled by the rest of the group in terms of sonic diversity. In hindsight, the songs Harrison wrote for the Fab Four were deserving of much more praise than they received during the band’s heyday.
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