Harrison talks about himself as a songwriter in this one and also mentions a couple of songs of his that I personally find must be some of the most beautiful songs ever written. To write a song like “Something” almost counts as an act of God in itself. A talented musician and composer gone too early.
Read on!
Beatle single – by George!
Alan Smith`s NMExclusive with George Harrison
1969 will end up being George Harrison`s year. He`s waited a long time for real recognition, has George, but his composition “Something” is released as a Beatles` single this week and it is destined to become a landmark in his acceptance both as an individual and as a songwriter of increasing style. He was never the personal pusher, but as a well-wishing observer since around 1960 I am happy that the standing-in-the-shadows bit seems at last to be over. As he told me: “I KNOW I`m writing better.”
“The fact is, the more you do it — the better it becomes. And I’m doing it a lot. I just get the compulsion… like the other week, when I suddenly had the desire to write a country and western song, and I didn’t have any idea of its shape but I just had to do it.
“I just knew, somehow, that there was a song there inside my head. And the big thing was just to get it out.
“Like Donovan said ‘Songs are all around you. Just reach out and capture one.’
“You know, its nice to talk about music occasionally, and remind people of what we really are. That was one of the big bugs about our previous tours — especially towards the last couple of years — in that we became a political thing. People forgot everything else.
“We couldn’t go out on the road just like a pop band… like we were there just to sing a few tunes. It became all this bit about politics, and `what do you think of President de Gaulle’ and all that.
Remind people
“That’s why it’s nice to remind people that we are, basically, primarily musicians. And politicians, and anything else, secondly.
“Some people tell me this ‘Something` track is one of the best things I’ve ever written. I don’t know! Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. It’s very flattering.
“If there’s any reason, maybe it’s that now, I can get over more what I want to do. I like the exercise of songwriting. And I like being stimulated to composing something I hear, or think, or say, or read.
“There was a period — about two years back – when I started believing that the whole universe was one big song. Things people would say… I’d think ‘Hey, that’s a song,’ and I’d go off and write it.
“I feel it’s only a matter of me becoming more aware as a Beatle and as a person. Anybody can do anything if they set their mind to it. I did.
“I’ve said it before, but one of the real reasons I started getting into composing is that I thought: “Well, if John and Paul can write songs…
“When I first started at it, I used to forget to keep going and to finish things off. It’s like washing your teeth. If you’ve never washed your teeth before, it takes a bit of time to get into the habit. And then you just do it naturally.
“The hang-up of playing my songs to John and Paul always used to hold me back, as I’ve said, because I knew how it would sound finished, and I had to try and convince them in one play.
“For that reason, there are a lot of numbers of mine that I decided not to do anything about. It was a shyness — a withdrawal — and I always used to take the easy way out.
“Now? Well, maybe I’m cocky! Because now, I don’t care if nobody else likes it. It’s a matter of taste. And maybe I don’t like some of their songs, either.
“What I still do, though, is to bring out the numbers I think are the easiest to get across. The ones I think will take the shortest time to make an impact… the ones that’ll sound the nicest tunes.
Natural break!
“I remember when I came to do a song for the `Abbey Road’ LP, I did that one called `Here Comes The Sun’ because it didn’t need any real production. I must just go to the loo.”
Two minute break and a cup of tea.
“As I was saying… about the LP. In future we’re going to get an equal rights thing, so we all have as much on the album.
“I also thought of doing an album of my own mainly just to get rid of all the songs I’ve got stacked up. I’ve got such a backlog, and at the rate of doing two or three an album, I’m not even going to get the ones I’ve done out for three or four years.
“I suppose I’m waiting till I’ve got myself a proper studio at home. And then I can just knock ’em off when I feel like it.
“It’s a bit of a vicious circle, because I don’t want to get a studio fitted up until I move, and I’ve been trying to move for a long time. I’m still in Esher and I’ve been there for years… the house isn’t really big enough to have a proper studio. I’ve got all sorts of equipment together, but there’s hardly any room to move.
“I think at home would be the ideal place for me to record. I hate the hang-up of booking a studio. And I think it’s the same with many artists… I`ll bet they sing their songs much better at home, where they’re completely relaxed. “I know that if I were doing it like that I’d probably do it more like the Plastic Ono Band, where you just bash away! I know I’ve got demos of things that went on that Beatles’ white album that were much better. “It’s like `Revolution.’ Even though we did two versions of it, I still think the best version is the one I’ve got at home on tape, which we did just on an Ampex four-track machine with acoustic guitars, and Ringo just bashing on marraccas or something in a corner.
“Summing me up, I don’t mind admitting that I definitely USED TO BE self-conscious. But now I’ve got less hang-ups about everything, not just music.
“I wrote ‘Here Comes The Sun’ in Eric Clapton’s garden — name dropping! — and it was done just about the time we had all those business meetings and I had headaches. So one day I stayed off, didn`t come in, and went to Eric`s because it’s nice with trees and things. And in that setting, the song just came right out.
“`Something,’ I wrote towards the end of the double album, about a year ago now. I just got the bit about ‘Something in the way she moves,’ and then the chord progression seemed to follow naturally. I finished it early this year.
“The words are nothing, really. There are lots of sings like that in my head. I must get them down. Maybe even other people would like to sing them.”
If you have a large collection of the following magazines, don`t throw them out, but contact me as I would be very interested in these: Creem, Circus, Hit Parader and Metal Edge.
If you have a music-related web-page where this fits – please make a link to the article. With credits to the original writer of the article from all of us music fans!
My Things - Music history for those who are able to read. 
Nice to here George explain how things were at the time we now know was near the end of The Beatles. And all those amazing All Things Must Pass songs he’d collected over the years.
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