The four Beatles songs that George Harrison hated
When it comes to appraisals of The Beatles, George Harrison was true to his nickname: The Quiet One. “The Beatles saved the world from boredom” was among the loftiest praise he afforded his band, revealing the affection he had for his early art, but aside from that, he let the music do the talking. Besides, he often felt his voice was buried beneath the noise of Paul McCartney and John Lennon anyhow.
This was evidenced when he decided to amplify his own output by recruiting his pal Eric Clapton to play on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. He did so “because the others would have to control themselves a bit more. John and Paul mainly because they had to, you know, act more handsomely”. And they’d have to listen to what he was serving up, which, on this occasion, was a defining masterpiece.
However, other times, he had to sit back and go along with the forceful songwriting duo. And he didn’t always like what they were doing. Ringo Starr said that in the early days, Harrison was “dominated“. As he later emerged as a songwriter in his own right, he began to voice his concerns over some of the material that the band members were presenting.
With that in mind, we’ve sifted through the Quiet One’s views and collated a list of the songs that he took a decided dislike to. From his scathing take ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ to his mind-numbing experience tackling ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, these are the Beatles tracks that Harrison thought were far less than fab.
The Beatles songs that George Harrison hated:
‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
Harrison hit out at this divisive White Album track ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ in the most cutting way possible by immortalising his own criticism in song. Three months after a frustrating recording session of this obscure song, he wrote the following lyrics for the track ‘Savoy Truffle’: “But what is sweet now, turns so sour / We all know Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da / But can you show me, where you are?” hinting at what he what was a vapid track that turned the band against each other.
Harrison later vocally vetoed McCartney’s push to have the track released as a single, reportedly supporting Lennon in the view that the song was meaningless. Macca later admitted, “It’s a very me song,” in a seeming admission of the fact that it wasn’t in strong favour among his peers.
‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’
In truth, this track was one that every Beatle except McCartney hated. Ringo boldly said: “The worst session ever was ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’. It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for fucking weeks. I thought it was mad.” Lennon likewise “hated it“. And while Harrison was rather more diplomatic in his derision, he certainly wasn’t fond of it, nevertheless.
“Sometimes Paul would make us do these really fruity songs,” recalled Harrison. “I mean, my God, ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ was so fruity. After a while we did a good job on it, but when Paul got an idea or an arrangement in his head…” Sometimes, a trail off can speak a thousand words. Even McCartney himself recalls Harrison getting cross and commenting, ”You’ve taken three days; it’s only a song.”
‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’
Lennon and McCartney crafted this 1963 ditty with the express intent of giving it to Harrison to sing in order to coax him out of his shell in that capacity. It was in his key and designed to be simplistic, but Harrison wasn’t best pleased with this act of charity. “‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’ was ‘my song’ on the album,” he later said, “I didn’t like my vocal on it. I didn’t know how to sing; nobody told me how to.”
In truth, he was almost set up to fail. With Lennon commenting: “I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because it only had three notes and he wasn’t the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then.” So, it is little wonder that Harrison never looked back too fondly on the song.
‘Don’t Bother Me’
In the Anthology, Harrison explains: “‘Don’t Bother Me’ I wrote in a hotel in Bournemouth, where we were playing a summer season in 1963, as an exercise to see if I could write a song. I was sick in bed.” It was his tentative pitch to break into the songwriting ranks of the band. At this stage, Lennon and McCartney didn’t make much of his work but welcomed its inclusion all the same.
In a twist of fate, Harrison would live to regret this early charity, stating: “I don’t think it’s a particularly good song; it mightn’t be a song at all. But at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and maybe eventually I would write something good. I still feel now: I wish I could write something good. It’s relativity. It did, however, provide me with an occupation.”
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