The lyrics that formed George Harrison’s most touching tribute to John Lennon
There is a particular kind of silence that follows a gunshot. Not just shocked quietness, but a vacuum where sound once lived. On December 8th, 1980, that silence settled over the world, thick and immovable, as John Lennon was killed outside the Dakota Building.
George Harrison’s partner Olivia answered the phone to the news in England in the early hours of the morning. As Harrison later told Michael Aspel in a 1988 interview, disbelief came before grief: “I thought, ‘Oh, how bad is it?’ I just thought maybe a flesh wound or something like that, but she said, ‘No, that’s it, he’s dead’ […] I just went back to sleep, actually. Maybe it was just a way of getting away from it. I just went to sleep and waited to see what it said the next morning, and he was still dead the next morning, unfortunately.”
As teenagers, John Lennon and George Harrison first crossed paths when Harrison auditioned for The Quarrymen. Despite Lennon being three years older, the two formed an immediate bond – personal and musical – that would shape both of their lives. Harrison looked up to Lennon as an older brother figure and was the quietest member of The Beatles, while Lennon often thrust himself into the spotlight, absorbing the brunt of the press’s hostility on behalf of the band.
Five months after Lennon’s passing, in May 1981 Harrison released the song All Those Years Ago as a single from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England. On it, Lennon is framed as both guiding force and emotional centre: “Living with good and bad, I always looked up to you, now we’re left cold and sad, you had control of our smiles and our tears, all those years ago”, sings Harrison.
The opening lyrics of the track indicte the world that hounded Lennon: “I’m shouting all about love, while they treated you like a dog” he sings, a sad ode to the dichotomy of Lennon’s public life, which saw him preach peace, unity, and love whilst being relentlessly attacked and vilified by politicians, the press, and sometimes even his own fans.
On verse 3, Harrison continues his cross examination of the press, singing “And you, were the one they backed up to the wall, all those years ago” – presumably a reference to the infamous 1966 interview where John Lennon claimed the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus”, which he was ultimately forced to apologise for. The quote has first appeared on the 4th March 1966 in the London Evening Standard, as part of journalist Maureen Cleave’s intimate profile series on each Beatle. Cleave knew Lennon well, and her interview captured him in a reflective, slightly melancholy mood. Speaking about Christianity’s fading influence in Britain, Lennon said: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink […] We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ’n’ roll or Christianity.”
In the UK, the article passed almost unnoticed. The media frenzy began in July 1966, when American teen magazine Datebook republished the quote on its front page under the instruction of is editor Danny Fields, who (in a slightly more rock and roll turn of hand) also happened to be managing The Ramones at the time.
Yet while All Those Years Ago is pockmarked by pointed remarks about the way John was treated, it ultimately focususes less on attributing blame, and more on John’s legacy and message for peace. “But you point the way, to the truth when you say All You Need is Love”, sings Harrison, “You were the one, who imagined it all, all those years ago” – two thinly velied referenced to Lennon’s own lyricism.
There’s also a story behind the song itself. Harrison had originally written it for Ringo Starr, who recorded it but found it vocally challenging and didn’t like the lyrics. After Lennon’s death, Harrison took it back, reworked it completely, and transformed it into a tribute. Paul and Linda McCartney provided backing vocals while Ringo played the drums, making it the closest the Beatles would ever come to recording together again.
In another interview after Lennon’s death, Harrison reflected simply on how they influenced each other: “He wanted to do something different, and so did I” – a modest summation of a relationship that changed the world.
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