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George Harrison Filmography
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George Harrison: Role in The Beatles
Harrison was a fluent, inventive and highly accomplished rhythm and lead guitarist, whose influences included
Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and
Chet Atkins. Although he was a highly creative soloist, several of his famous Beatles guitar solos were recorded under specific directions from
Paul McCartney, who on occasion demanded that Harrison play what he envisioned virtually note-for-note.
A turning point in Harrison's career came during an American tour in 1965, when his friend
David Crosby of The Byrds introduced him to Indian classical music and the work of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Harrison quickly became fascinated with the sitar, immersed himself in Indian music and was instrumental in popularising the sitar in particular and Indian music in general in the West. He travelled to India to take lessons from Shankar, bought a sitar himself, and became the first western popular musician to use one on a recording (
Norwegian Wood). He championed Shankar with western audiences and was largely responsible for having him included on the bill at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967.
Harrison and Lennon were the first two of the Beatles to try LSD in 1965, when they were unwittingly 'dosed' by their dentist at a party in London. For a short time Harrison used the drug regularly and became an enthusiastic advocate, although he later renounced the use of drugs.
Harrison formed a close friendship with
Eric Clapton in the late 1960s and they co-wrote the song "Badge", which was released on Cream's farewell album in 1969. This song was the basis for Harrison's composition for The Beatles' Abbey Road album, "Here Comes The Sun", which was written in Clapton's back garden. Harrison married model Pattie Boyd in 1966, but in the late 1960s Clapton fell in love with her. Clapton famously poured out his unrequited passion on the landmark Derek & the Dominoes album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1971), but soon after its release Boyd left her husband and she and Clapton subsequently married. Despite this, the two men remained close friends.
Friction between Harrison and McCartney increased markedly during the recording of The White Album
, with Harrison threatening to leave the group on several occasions. The tension between Harrison and McCartney can be clearly seen in several scenes in the Let It Be documentary film and relations became so strained during the making of the film that Harrison briefly quit the band.
While not the primary composer in the group (Lennon and McCartney wrote the vast bulk of the Beatles' material), as time went on Harrison's songwriting improved greatly and his material gradually earned respect from both his fellow Beatles and the public. By the mid-Sixties Lennon and McCartney had become somewhat more accepting of his contributions, although he later said that he always had difficulty getting his songs recorded and only managed to get one or two included on each LP.
Notable Harrison compositions from the Beatles' oeuvre include: the intricate "If I Needed Someone"; "I Want To Tell You"; the Indian-influenced "Love You To"; the acerbic "Taxman" (later referenced in The Jam's "Start"); the much-maligned "Within You, Without You", which is arguably a foundation stone of the world music genre; "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which was strongly influenced by the music of his friend Roy Orbison and featured a guitar solo by his close friend
Eric Clapton; "Piggies", which later featured inadvertently in the notorious Charles Manson murder case.
"Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" are probably his two best-known Beatles songs. "Something" is considered one of his very best works, and was even covered by
Frank Sinatra. His increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material.
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