Why making ‘The White Album’ was George Harrison’s “most depressing” period in The Beatles
Even though 2021’s phenomenal Get Back documentary helped recontextualise some of the infamous ego battles seen in the original 1970’s Let It Be film, the long-running perception of George Harrison as the overlooked and frustrated kid brother in The Beatles certainly shows no signs of abating.
Was Harrison sometimes outwardly bitter and jealous about being the proverbial third wheel alongside the lionised songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney? Of course! Was he also a kid in his mid-20s just developing his own tastes and talent, and essentially trapped in a supporting role he’d fallen into as a teenager? Yup! And this might be the factor that gets lost in the shuffle too often, in the endless analysis of the Beatles’ gradual fracturing and ultimate demise between 1968 and 1969.
Regardless of who John Lennon was dating, or how many Vaudeville-style tunes Paul McCartney felt like writing, or how many vocal leads were set aside for Ringo at George’s expense, the fate of the band was always going to come down to four very young people naturally outgrowing one another—particularly when their collective identity as a live performing act came to an unfortunate end due to that pesky screaming girl problem.
“None of us really thought about leaving until ’67 or ’68, which was after we stopped touring,” Harrison told Crawdaddy in 1977. “I know the first time for me, which was the most depressing, was during The White Album. It was a problem making a double album because it takes such a long time.”
The long slog of The White Album, which featured 24 songs by Lennon/McCartney compared to just four by Harrison, had also inspired some of George’s more rebellious moves of his Beatle career, exemplified by his decision to rope his friend Eric Clapton into the session for ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ without asking John and Paul about it in advance.
Harrison recalled, “Eric was nervous” about that dynamic—walking into the sacred Beatle enclave as an outsider—but George eased his worries. “I was saying, ‘Fuck ’em, that’s my song’. You know, he was the first non-Beatle person who’d ever played on anything”.
Harrison and the rest of the band were ultimately pretty pleased with how The Beatles (AKA The White Album) turned out, but the fact that working with Clapton had stood out as a highlight was also something of a red flag for Harrison.
“Then I worked with Jackie Lomax on an Apple record, and I spent a long time in the States,” he said, “and I had such a good time working with all these different musicians and different people. Then I hung out at Woodstock for Thanksgiving and, you know, I felt really good at that time.”
The troubles resurfaced once Harrion was back in England for Yuletide celebrations and back to the studio on New Year’s Day to work on what would ultimately become Let It Be. “And straight away, again, it was just weird vibes. You know, I found I was starting to be able to enjoy being a musician, but the moment I got back with the Beatles, it was just too difficult.”
The Beatle was struggling with having to shed the feelings of freedom and lightness he had become privy to being away from the stifling dynamics of the Fab Four’s outgrowing each other in real time. “There were just too many limitations based upon our being together for so long. Everybody was sort of pigeon-holed. It was frustrating.”
If you’ve seen Get Back, you know how it played out from there, with Harrison briefly quitting the band, only to come back and take part in The Beatles’ last hurrah concert, of sorts, atop the Apple Corps building. By then, George was already developing many of the songs that would find their way onto his debut solo album, 1970’s All Things Must Pass. The “depressing” period was headed for the rearview.
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