brent johnson digs up a lost treasure from The Fab Four on the 10-year anniversary of George Harrison’s death …
What if George Harrison wasn’t a member of The Beatles?
What if he was the leader of his own British Invasion band? Would songs like ‘If I Needed Someone,’ ‘Taxman’ and ‘Within You Without You’ — mere album tracks on Fab Four records — have been hit singles instead?
Ten years have passed since the world lost Harrison to cancer. And to this day, he’s something of a conundrum. One of the most celebrated musicians of all time — and also one of the most undervalued.
Part of what made The Beatles so magical was their depth. When John Lennon wasn’t tripping psychedelic on ‘I Am The Walrus,’ Paul McCartney was making the masses sing with ‘Hey Jude.’ And where other bands padded their albums with filler, the Fabs had wonderful George Harrison songs to round things out.
But that often meant Harrison’s tracks were overlooked. He was the third member — the talented, imaginative guitarist who was allotted one or two compositions an album. It wasn’t until 1969 when one of his songs, ‘Something,’ was released as a single. Even then, it had to share the A-side with ‘Come Together.’
Hence, songs like ‘I Want To Tell You,’ ‘Love You To,’ ‘The Inner Light,’ ‘Within You, Without You,’ ‘Old Brown Shoe,’ ‘Savoy Truffle,’ ‘Long, Long, Long’ and ‘Only A Northern Song’ aren’t played on classic-rock radio. Even though they should be.
Take ‘Blue Jay Way,’ Harrison’s contribution to 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour. The title refers to the road where Harrison had rented a home in the Hollywood Hills. It was a foggy night, and he was waiting for a friend to arrive. But the friend was late, and Harrison sat at a Hammond organ. ‘I messed around on it and the song came,’ Harrison later explained, rather nonchalantly.
It’s perfect, though. The verse sounds like the fog — all woozy organ and chanting vocals. The chorus, meanwhile, sounds like a tripped-out remake of an old Vaudeville tune that sold a lot of sheet music in 1912.
Lesser songwriters would kill for a track like that.
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