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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Callum Crumlish & Aaron Curran

George Harrison never wanted a Beatles reunion 'because of fans'

After The Beatles broke up in 1970, things were very turbulent between the band members.

They had argued, disagreed about music, and endured legal battles. So, naturally, when they each started working on their own music separately, they got comfortable composing alone.

But that didn't stop fans from wanting the Fab Four to reunite. George Harrison, however, was dead against this idea.

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In 1986, Harrison appeared on an Australian TV news show, where he was quizzed about the possibility of a reunion between the three stars (John Lennon had been murdered six years prior).

He explained: "It’s best left as it was. With all those nice memories and the records are there. You know, you don’t want to see three old men hobbling around the stage pretending to be the Fab Four."

The Quiet Beatle expressed the same opinion back in 1974 when he was asked his thoughts on getting back together, just four years after the initial split.

And during this outburst, he placed the blame solely on The Beatles' fans: "I can understand that the Beatles did nice things and it’s appreciated that people still like them. The problem comes when they want to live in the past, when they want to hold on to something. People are afraid of change."

Harrison also pointed out that The Beatles' music is not going anywhere. Their extensive collection of albums continued to be available for everyone to listen to. Harrison said that fan demands for The Beatles to get back together was a disregard for their well-being: "They’ve got lots and lots of songs they can play forever. But what do they want? Blood? They want us all to die like Elvis Presley?"

He said every year the band were on the road "felt like 20 years". He continued: "So although it might only have been five or six years it seemed like eternity. That was enough for me, I don’t have any desire to do all that."

The singer added that fans used The Beatles as an "excuse". "People used us as an excuse to trip out," Harrison said. "And we were the victims of that. That’s why they want the Beatles to go on, so they can all get silly again. But they don’t have consideration for our well-being when they say, ‘Let’s have the Fab Four again.'”

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