In honour of George, post your fave Harrison song

Cafe Society
61

I Want to Tell You. I actually didn’t know it was written by Harrison until today. Part of the reason Revolver is such a great album is that there’s not really a weak song on it, but “I Want to Tell You” has always stood out for me as being a little darker and “deeper” than the rest.

My second vote would be for Here Comes the Sun. Can you imagine a band today releasing such a relentlessly positive song? Even the teen pop groups would get blasted for not having the proper depth or requisite irony.

62

{nitpick}I’ve got my Mind Set on You was not a Traveling Wilbury song, it’s from his Cloud Nine album. It was released around the same time as the first Wilbury album, so I can see how one can get confused. {/nitpick}

Currently my favorite Harrison song is When we was Fab, also from Cloud Nine.

Its nostalgic take on the Beatles era seems especially poignant now. It gets very little radio airplay, so I’m really hoping that we’ll be hearing it more in the coming days…

63

For some unknown reason, I threw on the first Traveling Wilburys album yesterday afternoon, too.

It WAS really nice just to hear his voice.

I’ll be the third to chime in with Crackerbox Palace. And the first to add the OTHER song from that album (33 1/3) that I aleways liked a heckuva lot for some reason…**This Song.

64

Long, Long, Long.

65

Ukulele Ike beat me to this one: I liked the 33 1/3 album a lot, and I loved both “Crackerbox Palace” and “This Song.”

“This Song,” incidentally, was a comic commentary on the lawsuit he’d been hit with over “He’s So Fine”/“My Sweet Lord.”

You may recall that, several years before the dawn of MTV, Harrison made two very funny videos for those songs, directed by his pal, Eric Idle, of Monty Python.

66

I love Cloud Nine, and my favorite George song has always and will always be Breath Away From Heaven:

I also love All Things Must Pass and What is Life. And Something.

God, this is sad. George was always my favorite beatle. My best friend loved John and George was all mine.

Yup, this got me all choked up too. :frowning:

67

The acoustic version of **While My Guitar Gently Weeps ** from the Anthology…actually some of George’s best Beatles work surfaced on those CDs.

Solo George, I’d Have you Anytime.

68

Love Comes to Everyone is a very under-rated song from the very under-rated George Harrison album.

However, when I think of Harrison it is to All Things Must Pass that I return time and time again. What an astonishing, sublime, incredible body of work it is, especially considering the era and circumstances in which he produced it. At precisely the time people were wondering if he had anything to offer he delivered the greatest album (okay, triple) that any solo Beatle ever produced. When you hear material like Behind That Locked Door and Awaiting On You All you begin to see just how frustrating it must have been, throughout the Fab Four years, to be told he was the ‘lesser’ songwriting talent.

Finally, it has been said many times but let it be said again: in the majority of the most-cherished Lennon McCartney songs there is a guitar riff or lick or solo that it was George’s job, as lead guitarist, to create and contribute. Many accomplished guitar greats have re-visited those songs and tried to find a better guitar part or middle eight… and every single one of them has agreed, with admiration in their voice, that it’s impossible to come up with anything better than the lines and riffs that George found.

Perhaps the greatest irony is that George, as much as anyone in popular music, has shown us that all things must not pass, for his music never will.

69

His guitar playing on all the songs, especially the early stuff, where he was so judicious, against that rocking-jangling sound the Beatles had then.
And reprise said:

“It’s interesting that people are saying “My Sweet Lord”. Does no-one remember the law suit? “He’s so Fine” was waaaay before the Beatles came along?”

Well, I never could understand that lawsuit; two ENTIRELY different songs, no matter the identicaliy of the first three notes; sheeshk, give me a break. I do admit that He’s So Fine is a better song, but it sure ain’t the SAME song.

70

“Here Comes the Sun” is playing in my head right now and I don’t want it to stop.

Good-bye, George.

71

I was sort of sad about this-- I haven’t listened to the Beatles since high school-- but this morning NPR played most of a particularly sensitive acoustical version of “my guitar gently weeps”, which is a song that has always sort of had a hold on me, and I almost cried. I thought “My god, NPR producers are TRYING to turn hundreds of people into blubbering hulks this morning.”

72

Goodbye…

I was starting my car today and your voice was on the radio, I knew then that you had left us for another place.

Some say “Beatles” and think of John or Paul but you were always the first to come to my mind.

When they list the great songwriters of the past century your name should be at the top of that list with your mates from that pop group you belonged to all those years ago. You once said, “If you’re going to be in a band it might as well be the Beatles” but had you never joined those other three guys in Liverpool you still would have been a legend.

You wrote so many great songs I cannot even name one that stands out above the rest. I just heard “All Things Must Pass” for the first time in many years and it remains great.

Not only were you a great writer of song but a great performer of those songs. Many other artists owe you for the conributions you made to them and the world owes you for trying to make this world a better place.

Today, the world is an emptier place than it was yesterday because you’re not in it. I heard that your final wish was that we simply love one another.

I can do that.

73

It’s hard to pick one favorite song. Taxman, Piggies, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Old Brown Shoe, Something, Savory Truffel, Blue Jay Way when he was with The Beatles.

For his solo works, The Art Of Dying, Bangaladesh, My Sweet Lord, Apple Scruffs, Hear Me Lord, Give Me Love, Give Me Peace On Earth, Cloud Nine, and many more to mention.

:frowning:

74

Just for review - and a fine review it is, too, of George’s work and life, check out
This site
Have to say, **All These Years Ago **was a favorite, and I may have been one of the few who loved his work on Free As a Bird. After all the leadup publicity, I was nervous about the first airing. But when those first exquisite George Harrison guitar notes came on, I relaxed in pure enjoyment.

Goodbye, George, and thanks for all the music,

75

If George had created the songs he did without the Beatles ever existing, he still would have been remembered as one of the great songwriters of all time. That he could be overshadowed by Lennon and McCartney just shows you how incredible the Beatles really were.

I think that Harrison’s death, coupled with the amazing success of ‘1’, the new Beatles greatest hits collection, is causing people to re-evaluate the Beatles again, and realize that they were even more important than their already lofty reputation suggests.

It’s not just boomers who love the Beatles. They are hugely popular with today’s youngest generations, in a way that even the other greats of 20th century music (Sinatra, Elvis, The Stones, etc) aren’t. My daughter is four and a half years old, and demands that I play ‘1’ every time we get in the car. She loves every song, and knows most of the lyrics. And I sing “Golden Slumbers” to her as a lullaby most nights, at her request. Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” is one of her favorites.

I read an editorial today on, of all places, National Review Online, which claimed that the Beatles are not just the best rock band ever, but the greatest entertainers the world has ever seen. The writer made the prediction that the best selling album in 2050 will be a Beatles album, and 200 years from now kids will still grow up knowing the Beatles’ songs just like we still know and love Mozart and Beethoven.

I’m a huge Beatles fan, but six months ago I would have said that that’s ridiculous. Great rock band, but world changing? Nah.

Now, I’m not sure. George Harrison was maybe the least known of the Beatles, and yet his death has caused a greater outpouring of grief and reminiscence than any other public figure I can think of since Diana died. And this is 30 years after he made his biggest mark. And a Beatles album is still sitting on top of the charts, 30-40 years after those songs were written. Amazing.

As a sidenote, I think “Something” has been covered by other artists more than any other song in history (with “Yesterday” second).

Rest in Peace, George. Thanks for making the world a better place.

76

And another. Here Comes the Sun and Taxman (Damn, I never realised that was his!) are also up there.

I’m also fond of Within You Without You…

Frankly, George was my favourite, so this is gonna be hard to narrow down…

77

Taxman, My Sweet Lord, Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Taxman, a mean cover of Roll Over Beethoven, and finally Taxman.

So long, George

78

When I was 4 years old, I got one of those kids drumsets with mickey mouse on it. I looked for a record to put on my parents stereo and found “All Things Must Pass”. “What is Life?” is the first song I ever played drums to, so it holds a very very special place in my heart as I sit 30 years later as a profssional drummer. I knew then what I wanted life to be for me.

Thanks George, you helped make my dreams come true.

Condolences to his family and friends

79

As a kid, I was entranced by the guitar riff fading into “I Want To Tell You.” It had such a happy, exultant sound that to me sums up the Beatles, and sums up George.

80

Another “Here Comes the Sun.” One of the best George Harrison, Beatles, and Pop/Rock songs of all time. Cloud 9 is a very good album and worth a listen if you haven’t heard it.