While many automatically think of the Lennon/McCartney partnership when considering the Beatles’ songwriting achievements, it’s also important to recognise the huge creative milestones that George Harrison expertly helmed. Particularly those songs he penned near the end of the group’s lifespan.
Harrison, who went on to be a prolific solo artist throughout the ensuing decades, first dipped his toe into the songwriting waters with 1963’s Don’t Bother Me (which appeared on the band’s second LP, With The Beatles), before going on to write some of the Fab Four’s most recognisable and beloved material.
His most beloved work ranges from the fractured, pained beauty of While My Guitar Gently Weeps on 1968's eponymous 'White' album, to his pair of 1969 masterworks - Here Comes the Sun and Something. Highlights of the Beatles' final LP, Abbey Road.
The former remains The Beatles’ biggest streamed song, and the latter was pointed to as the greatest love song of the last fifty years by one Frank Sinatra. Not bad for a songwriter who'd just turned 26.
A year on, and Harrison's 1970 studio album All Things Must Pass revealed that this was no fluke, and that the Beatles lead guitarist had grown into a considerable songwriting powerhouse, channeling his spiritual beliefs into his creative mindset.
Sadly, George passed away in November 2001, leaving behind a musical legacy that we're still poring over to this day.
Here we’ve collated some of George’s most insightful wisdom into his songwriting process over the years, and added our own perspective on how we can interpret words beneath.
1: “Everybody can write songs if they want to. If they have a desire to and if they have sort of some musical knowledge and background. And then it's by writing them the same as writing books or writing articles or painting - the more you do it, the better or the more you can understand how to do it.” BBC Radio ‘Scene and Heard’ Interview, 1969.
In this response to asking how he feels being a ‘late developer’ as a songwriter, Harrison explains that as far as he was concerned, writing songs to the standard of Something and Here Comes the Sun could really be accomplished by anybody who can play an instrument well enough. Though as he indicates - you’ll need to write and write and write before you hit upon the good stuff. Gaining a feeling for what works and what doesn’t as you go.
2: “Usually I write the melody first and get an idea for the words, but sometimes I write them all at the same time. The words I have to think more about than the music.” Henne Magazine, 1975.
First and foremost, George Harrison was a guitar player. It’s understandable then, that Harrison prioritised a music-first and lyrics-second approach when songwriting.
In fact, during his developmental songwriting period in the Beatles’ mid-period, Harrison regarded the entire lyric-side of songwriting as something of a 'joke'; “I’m not very poetic. My lyrics are poor, really, “ Harrison said in 1968’s The Beatles: The Authorised Biography. “But I don’t take any of it seriously. It’s just a joke. A personal joke. It’s great if someone else likes it, but I don’t take it too seriously myself.”
We think he’s being a little hard on himself.
3: “The song [I Want to Tell You] was about the frustration we all feel about trying to communicate certain things with just words. I realised the chords I knew at the time just didn't capture that feeling. So after I got the guitar riff, I experimented until I came up with this dissonant chord that really echoed that sense of frustration.” Guitar World, 1992
This was Harrison’s response to being asked about the odd, edgy guitar chord that consistently appears throughout each line of his 1966 Revolver cut, I Want to Tell You.
The chord ("E7th with an F on top") technically shouldn’t work, but - to match the feeling that the song in progress needed - Harrison landed on this dissonant combination.
“I'm really proud of that, because I literally invented that chord," George told Guitar World.
The lesson here - listen to what the song needs, even if it defies theoretical convention.
4: “If I haven't particularly got an idea for a song, then I believe in - a bit like I Ching - everything at that moment is relative to that situation. So with While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I just opened a book and the first thing I looked at became the song, and it was something about ‘gently weeps'.” Interview with Ritchie Yorke, 1969
This songwriting insight is a particularly useful one for those daunted by the huge ocean of possibilities that a blank page can trigger.
Look around at your immediate surroundings and find inspiration in the moment. It’s a strategy that Harrison - a follower of Hare Krishna and Hindu traditions - strongly believed in.
5: “There was a period when a lot of people started asking me to play slide guitar for them on their records, and I can do it, but I need time. I need to work out what I'm gonna do, and then I have to work out how to play it.” Guitar World, 1988
Here, George admits that while he was a technically gifted lead guitar player, his melodic soloing was often worked out and sketched prior to recording, as opposed to being laid down in a fit of spontaneity.
It's a sensible approach if you're writing the types of melody-supporting solos as he unfurled on Something and My Sweet Lord.
Though, Harrison did also tell Guitar World that “If I want to play, as long as I know where the notes are that I can use, I can improvise around those notes and I've got a good sense of rhythm.”
6: “I never felt that competitive, personally, and when I got into Eastern religion one of the first things I discovered was the meaninglessness of competition, especially among friends. I can honestly say I’m glad for the success of each of my colleagues, and I don’t feel any need to measure myself against their standards.” Men Only, 1978
Though brilliant in its own terms, George’s work is very often (and understandably) stacked up against his prolific band-mates.
It’s heartening then, to discover that George became at peace with any semblance of competitiveness and pressure with regard to his co-former Beatles in his later solo career.
It’s a healthy attitude, informed by his spiritual beliefs, that also serves up a beneficial lesson for any aspiring songwriters reading.
Measuring your creative achievements against others can lead to a painful, burdensome life. As George summed up, “primarily, I need to please myself.”
