George Harrison’s favourite songs of 1965 from his personal collection
An old Record Mirror interview with The Beatles guitarist George Harrison has resurfaced, which features a playlist of his favourite songs from 1965.
What makes the list so fascinating is how it captures Harrison in real time, rather than through the lens of hindsight. This wasn’t a Beatle reflecting on his influences years later; this was a young musician still in the thick of absorbing everything around him.
It also shows just how plugged in Harrison was to American music. While The Beatles were busy reshaping British pop, he was clearly keeping one ear trained on the soul and folk scenes developing across the Atlantic.
There’s also a sense of curiosity running through the selections. Harrison wasn’t just sticking to one lane, instead pulling from different genres in a way that hints at the more exploratory direction The Beatles would soon take.
Looking at it now, the playlist almost reads like a blueprint for where his tastes would evolve. The blend of heartfelt soul and introspective songwriting would become a cornerstone of his own material in the years that followed. More than anything, though, it’s a reminder that even at the height of Beatlemania, Harrison was still very much a fan first.
Beatles fan Andy Chiselhurst stumbled upon the vintage feature and turned it into a Spotify playlist which was first discovered by Clash. At the time of the article, The Beatles were at the forefront of pop culture, and one of the songs listed by the ‘Quiet Beatle’ was Bob Dylan’s ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’. Harrison remained a Dylan fan until his death, and the two of them later formed The Travelling Wilburys together.
The playlist also featured soul giant Otis Redding with his versions of ‘My Girl’ and ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’. According to Harrison, Redding’s work was incorporated into The Beatles album Rubber Soul, with the guitarist once admitting, “On ‘Drive My Car’ I just played the line, which is really like a lick off ‘Respect,’ you know, the Otis Redding version — duum-da-da-da-dada-da-dum”.
Additionally, Harrison’s favourites included the then-modern hits ‘Do You Believe In Magic’ by The Lovin’ Spoonful as well as ‘Turn Turn Turn’ by The Byrds. The common thread behind the playlist is Motown, and although The Beatles were being pulled in a million different directions in 1965, this was the one outlet that evidently made Harrison tick musically. In total, the playlist features a whopping 31 tracks.
It’s a powerhouse playlist.
George Harrison’s personal jukebox:
- Bob and Earl – ‘Harlem Shuffle
- Chuck Jackson – ‘Good Things Come to Those Who Wait’
- Booker T. and the M.G.’s – ‘Be My Lady’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’
- Little Jerry Williams – ‘Baby, You’re My Everything’
- Edwin Starr – ‘Back Street’
- Lee Dorsey -‘Work, Work, Work’
- The Beach Boys – ‘The Little Girl I Once Knew’
- The Miracles – ‘My Girl Has Gone’
- Little Richard – ‘I Don’t Know What You’ve Got (But It’s Got Me)’
- Otis Redding – ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’
- Otis Redding – ‘My Girl’
- Jackie Wilson – ‘I Believe I’ll Love On’
- Booker T. and The M.G.’s – ‘Plum Nellie’
- Willie Mitchell – ‘Everything Is Gonna Be Alright’
- Joe Tex – ‘A Sweet Woman Like You’
- The Four Tops – ‘Something About You’
- James Brown – ‘I Got You’
- Marvin Gaye – ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’
- The Byrds – ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’
- Don Covay – ‘See Saw’
- Sounds Incorporated – ‘I’m Comin’ Through’
- Wilson Pickett – ‘Don’t Fight It’
- Booker T. and the M.G.’s – ‘Bootleg’
- The Young Rascals – ‘I Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Out Any More’
- Otis Redding – ‘Respect’
- James Brown – ‘Try Me’
- Otis Redding – ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’
- Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles – ‘All or Nothing’
- Marvin Gaye – ‘Pretty Little Baby’
- Fred Hughes – ‘Oo Wee Baby, I Love You’
- The Miracles – ‘The Tracks of My Tears’
- Joe Tex – ‘Yum Yum’
- Edwin Starr – ‘Agent Double-O-Soul’
- Barrett Strong – ‘Money’
- Ritchie Barrett – ‘Some Other Guy’
- Chuck Berry – ‘It Wasn’t Me’
- Charlie Rich – ‘Mohair Sam’
- The Beach Boys – ‘Let Him Run Wild’
- The Lovin’ Spoonful – ‘Do You Believe in Magic’
