Remembering Beatles legend George Harrison
“I’d rather be a musician than a rock star.”
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It was Nov. 29, 2001, when George Harrison passed away. It was news no one wanted to hear. Reports of his continuing illness had been sad to read.
He grew so much creatively during his time with the Beatles that Frank Sinatra called Harrison's song "Something" "the greatest love song ever written." He helped introduce the world to Indian music through his friendship with Ravi Shankar. His solo career included pioneering work for charity with the Concert for Bangladesh, the work of his HandMade Films company and gardening, his hobby.
Upon his passing, George’s family issued a statement:
“We are deeply touched by the outpouring of love and compassion from people around the world. The profound beauty of the moment of George’s passing - of his awakening from this dream - was no surprise to those of us who knew how he longed to be with God. In that pursuit, he was relentless.”
They also requested a minute's meditation in his memory. A service was held at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral.
See pictures from George's life during and after the Beatles and the memorials after his death in the slideshow at left. (Note: on the older pictures, we left the captions as they were given to us, as they were likely written that way when the pictures were originally published.)
Fellow Beatle Ringo Starr, at a friend’s home in Canada, released this statement:
“George was a best friend of mine. I loved him very much and I will miss him greatly. Both (wife) Barbara and I send our love and light to Olivia and Dhani. We will miss George for his sense of love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter.”
From Paul McCartney:
“He was a lovely, lovely man. We know he’s been ill for a while and we’ve just praying been for some kind of miracle. It wasn’t to be, but I understand from his wife that he went peacefully which is a great blessing and it was a very peaceful golden moment apparently. I will just miss him but rather than just dwell on the sadness, I’m tending to start remembering all the silly little stories of where we went, all the things we did, and the laughs we had together.”
McCartney also called him “a great man, a loving man.”
And the statements from his friends were equally as touching. This one, from Jeff Lynne, said a lot much more than its length:
“You always knew where you stood with George, he was totally honest. I feel blessed to have been so close to him. He was a great friend. He wrote brilliantly original songs, played the greatest slide guitar and had the most amazing sense of humor. He really had the ‘Inner Light,’ and always will. Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in the studio with George.”
At a candlelight vigil, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool paid tribute to George, saying,
“Tonight we are gathered here in memory of George Harrison, a true son of Liverpool, whose music reached out to the whole world and shaped a generation. George was a truly gifted musician. But he was much more than that. His ideals and his love of peace inspired countless thousands. His loss will be deeply felt but his vision will live on.”
And that it has, and will.
Your love and spirit will live on in your music. Rest in peace George Harrison.
We love you.
As the 10th anniversary of George’s death approaches, and Living In The Material World, the Martin Scorsese documentary about his life, is about to be aired, I have been looking back at the last 10 years of my own life. Like standing at the window of a moving train, I have watched each year as a fleeting reflection in a foreign landscape. I did not want to be on board but had no choice, nor was I sure if there was even a destination.
In 2001, when it became evident that George was not going to live, a friend said to him, “this will be the most exciting chapter of your life.” The usual dialogue surrounding a terminal illness is so grim that even the best platitudes fall flat; but at that moment, after all the negative medical certainties, those particular words were inspirational. After years of speculation about the moment of death, we knew the spectre of disembodiment was actually imminent.
“To die will be an awfully big adventure,” wrote JM Barrie. In fact, death is such a big adventure it profoundly alters the lives of all those attached to the departing soul. When the time for George came, that momentarily open door to the infinite caught my sleeve then slammed shut, leaving behind the fabric of my being in jagged shreds.
Tragedy is much more of an adventure than joy. I am not saying joy is over-rated. But happiness is fleeting; it exists in the present. Tragedy casts a long and persistent shadow with the power to dim even the most perfect moment. It also has the potential to follow us to the end. We don’t stop to analyze happiness but when grief and strife occur we recount the events leading up to it over and over. It wakes us from our sleep as we try to figure out how and where it all went wrong. Of course, with death, the question is more of a ‘why’? But for me, the question was, “what is it I am meant to do now?” The script was changed, as George said when John Lennon was killed: “That’s not how the script goes. It was like someone tore out that page and stuck a new one in.” My movie changed too.
After George died, I was certain the usual tower of mail on the kitchen chair would dwindle, the house would be tidy and the sofas would seat people rather than guitars. None of that happened. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Maybe it was the momentum of his hectic life, in addition to my need to keep busy, but my own life began to pick up speed. Thankfully George and I didn’t spend much time looking back. I mean, we weren’t making scrapbooks. We were steaming ahead. Thirty years of stuffing letters, tapes and film in drawers turned the house into one enormous discombobulated archive. Having an over-developed sense of duty, and the recent deep awareness of my own mortality, I began to organize the remnants and treasures of the life George lived. It seemed so unfair to leave this task to my son and it was important to me that things be in order. It was also an obvious way of staying close to life as I knew it, not being ready to ‘move on’ — as they say, a term I have come to detest.
Half way through the treasure hunt it became even more obvious how rich a life George led. From the bin bag of reel-to-reel tapes I listened to George working out his first song, “Don’t Bother Me” and Ravi Shankar giving George his first sitar lesson in 1966.
There were traces of him everywhere; chord sequences and tablatures written out, notes and silly drawings but also deeper reminders, one written on a scrap from the Bel-Air Hotel, “When you strip it all away, there is only God.”
And I have been stripping it away, from the past, as well as streamlining the present. Isn’t it what we of a certain age all desire now? To simplify our lives, to get rid of some of the ‘stuff’ we worked so hard to accumulate so we don’t spend the rest of our lives as slaves to our material world? Through work and the process of producing this film I have discovered new skills, broader perspectives, new interests and above all, I cemented old friendships while nurturing new ones. I worked hard at it all and the results pulled me out from under the cool shadow of sadness. I admit I have had a pretty amazing 10 years. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that not in a million years would I have made that trade. I have to thank George for my life with him and oddly enough, for with my life without him.
—Olivia Harrison, Huffington Post Oct 2011
I can’t even begin to describe how I miss him. He always supported me in everything I did. He was a very wise man and I realised at an early age I could learn a lot from him. He always gave me the right answer. But above all he was a very easy-going guy and all he wanted was to be my best friend. I’m an only child and so he shared everything with me. Of course he was very young to die and I was very young to lose a father. But there was nothing left unsaid between us.
- Dhani Harrison
“I’ve been the same all along. I talk when I feel like it and I shut up when I don’t feel like talking.”
- George Harrison
“I had a dream that I saw him and that was what I said to him in the dream, so I guess that’s what would be the question. “Where’ve you been since I last saw you?” And he answered, so I can tell you the answer as well which was “Here the whole time.” Which doesn’t really help me in any way but you know.”
-Dhani Harrison
“I remember we had a little walk in his park, and I was so full of love and joy to be with him that I cried. He said, ‘You must not cry, I will always look after you’. He had no fear. No fear whatsoever. I miss his presence, but I’ve got the feeling he’s still around me.”
- Astrid Kirchherr
“India was the first foreign country I ever went to. I never felt Denmark or Holland or France were foreign, just the language was different, but when you got to India it was very hard to know what the hell was going on. Over the years, I got to love the music myself and now I’m a Christian Hindu with Buddhist tendencies. Thanks to George, who opened my eyes as much as anyone else’s.”
- Ringo Starr.
“After recording sessions, at two or three in the morning, we’d be careering through the villages on the way to Weybridge, shouting ‘wey-hey’ and driving much too fast. George would perhaps be in his ferrari - he was quite a fast driver- and John and I would be following in his big Rolls Royce. John had a mike in the Rolls with a loudspeaker outside and he’d be shouting to George in front: ‘It is foolish to resist, it is foolish to resist! Pull Over!’ It was insane. All the lights would go on in the houses as we went past - it must have freaked everybody out.”
- Paul McCartney
”This is a very sad day for myself and everyone who knew and loved George. He was part of my teenage years, he was part of my marriage to John, in fact, a very important and unforgetable part of my life. He was part of my family. George may have departed from this world that we all know, but his generosity of talent and spirit he bequeathed to all he left behind. A spirit that searched for the truth and I’m sure has finally found peace. My love and condolences to Olivia and Dhani. I know his memory will give them immense strength and courage, the memory of a very special human being” -
-Cynthia Lennon
“Thank you. There’s a tribute coming, I guess it’s next week or the week after, it’s over in England, for George Harrison and there’s gonna be lot’s of people but I’m not sure who. But we can’t make it. I just want to do this song for George because well, we were such good buddies.”
— Bob Dylan before launching into a surprise cover of Something, in 2002.
“It is a sad day for all of us, I loved George very much. He was the kindest of men. Our time together, though little, was always memorable. He was a man to be inspired by and he certainly touched my heart and millions of others. He will be missed, but I believe that after all the pain he has endured, he is finally at peace. My heart goes out to Olivia and Dhani, but I know that George is still with them in spirit and will be guarding them every day of their lives until they meet again. George you are beautiful. Luv Ya Always,
Julian x”
— Julian Lennon (2001 after the passing of George Harrison)
January 21, 1966: George signing the marriage certificate following the ceremony.
“We were married on January 21, 1966. It was not the wedding I had dreamed of - I would have loved to be married in church, but Brian didn’t want a big fuss. They all trusted him so implicitly that when he said it should be a quiet register-office wedding George agreed. He also said it had to be secret - if the press found out, it would be chaotic. I had always thought I’d have a big white wedding, as all little girls do, then have children and live happily ever after.” -Pattie Boyd
“Every time George had a joint and a few beers he would start talking about touring. I think once or twice we even had serious talks about it, but nobody would really commit to it. We never thought we were gonna run out of time.”
-Tom Petty
George Harold Harrison,
one of the best musicians ever, one of the most wonderful persons that ever existed and a beautiful human being. Thanks for all the amazing things you’ve made and thanks for making our lifes better. You will never be forgotten, you will always live in all of our hearts!
I personally appreciate how you were so focused on the things you loved, no matter what other people say. I love the way you came to realize the true value of the Hare Krishna Mantra. God Bless you George.
We love you! 1943 - 2001
10 years today, we still remember you. We will never have the words to explain, thank and appreciate all you have done for us!
Dear Mum, Thanks for your letter last week, and if it’s any comfort to you, don’t worry about me and don’t think anything negative about Maharishi. Because he’s not phony, it’s only the bullshit that’s written about him that’s phony. He’s not taking any of our money, all he’s doing is teaching us how to contact God. And as God Isn’t divided into different sexes the religious leaders here make out by their prejudices, then it doesn’t affect my dedication to Sacred Heart in any way, it only straighten it. But we will help to spread this teaching so that everybody can attain this, and new generations will grow up to have this right from the start. Instead of going through the ignorance that seems to dominate everything and everyone at the moment, causing them to feel it’s mysticism or something strange or black magic. Don’t think I’ve gone off my rocker because I haven’t. But I now love you and everybody else much more than ever. So it’s not that bad is it? - George’s letter to his mom
Love one another.
Dear George,
It’s been ten years since we lost you. Ten years that went by too fast. I remember it like it was yesterday, not having you around anymore. Not hearing your voice, seeing your smile, making music…living. 10 years ago, you left us, and returned to John. By the way, how’s he doing? Well, I hope. And I hope you are, and Stu, and Brian, and Mo, and Linda, and Mal are too.
I miss you, George, and I love you. I am so thankful for all that you’ve done, not just for me, but for all of us. You introduced me into vegetarianism, and some religious beliefs that I am now starting to follow. You inspired me to play the guitar, and the ukulele. I remember playing Here Comes The Sun, and trying to make it just as perfect as you had it. It didn’t come out half as good as I thought it would be, but still, the thought counts.
Just, thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for showing me what love is, and the meaning of music, and that you should live your life to the fullest, and not be afraid for the afterlife. Who knows? Maybe you’re alive after all, but you just don’t know it. What if you actually admire yourself? That’s pretty funny if you think about it.
I like talking to you,George, even if I don’t hear an answer out loud, I can hear your voice in my mind, being a conscious to me. I like letting all my feelings out to you and John, because you’re always there to hear everything, and to comfort me when I’m depressed, or crying. I know you hear me,George. Both you and John hear me. You two make me happy.
You’re so beautiful, George. Your eyes are like melted pools of dark chocolate,swirled with caramel. Your once blond locks that darkened into a brown so close to ebony that it shines in the sun.
Trust me,George, even though your songs didn’t really get onto a lot of the Bealtes’ albums (though much more than Ringo), when it happened, each one was a masterpiece, and you write as good as John and Paul. I just wish people gave you the credit you deserved.
We all love and miss you, George. You’ve made such a big impact on my life, and everyone else’s. There’s not a day that I don’t think about you. Your soul, music, and legacy will live on forever in our hearts,minds, and around every living thing.
Sleep pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby….
Golden slumbers fill your eyes.
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby…
Rest in golden slumbers in the land of the diamonds, laying in Strawberry Fields forever.
George Harold Harrison
1943- ∞
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