I have been listening lately to One, interspersed with my holiday music. One was the CD George Martin produced a few years ago that mashed up different Beatles songs, enhanced others – really a pretty amazing work of art.
As I was listening to it in my car today, George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps came on. It made me think about his experience with the Beatles and the solo career that came afterwards.
For most of the reign of the Beatles, everything was Lennon/McCartney. George was thrown in with Ringo as “one of the other guys.” And, to be truthful, when he first started, he wasn’t on top of his craft. He was given a lot of covers to sing. You couldn’t really blame him. He had John AND Paul to compete with for space and attention. His songs were always kind of different from the regular Beatles fare, though, especially as he started getting into Indian music and culture.
Eventually, George Harrison forged his own sound, his own reputation, and I would argue that in some ways he outshines Paul in the recreation of his own persona beyond Beatle George.
The Social Media space is filled with a lot of figures that seem like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They’ve partnered up with each other and their talent, as a group and individually, is formidable. Are you going to let that stop you in your tracks? Or are you going to forge your own unique style and become your own person, your own brand, your own reputation?
Are you like George Harrison?
Love this post Margie!
With all the volleying between Lennon and McCartney during The Beatles and the fierce competition upon the break up of The Beatles – I agree, it freed up George to really spread his wings and do a lot of different stuff.
Harrison was the pioneer of the mega charity concert with a Concert for Bangladesh way back in 1971.
He collaborated with some of the greats – Clapton, Dylan. And I wonder if that was easier for him to do because he was never the star.
Thanks for a great Beatles-related post!
Love this Margie! George definitely began to shine and come into his own as a soloist. I suspect he was thought of as the “baby” by Lennon/McCartney. Sometimes we need to leave the comfort of our own “families” (such as a traditional job) to really come into our own as well. George always struck me as the soul of the Beatles. Thanks for posting.
Thanks. So glad you enjoyed 🙂