McCartney Times

George Harrison wrote some of The Beatles finest songs and undoubtedly came into his own as their career advanced, forcing himself in between the principle songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. As Abbey Road acted as his coming-of-age party, Harrison stole the show with a glorious pair of songs that he brought to the table which was, of course, the majestic ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’.

Writing Beatles songs didn’t come easy for George, a conflict which meant that his output was few and far between. While the personal power struggles continued to manifest, Harrison was being restricted and was not being anywhere near as prolific as Lennon or McCartney—but when he did write something, it was usually utterly magnificent.

Considering that only 22 songs written by Harrison would find their way onto records by The Fab Four, it’s not all that controversial to state that his success rate was arguably higher than Lennon or McCartney—even if he doesn’t get the deserved credit.

Harrison was never one who to chase stardom, nor did he want to make himself the centre of attention. The musician dubbed the ‘Quiet Beatle’ tended to go about his business in a nonchalant manner, a factor which meant that if he didn’t think a song was good enough then he was never going to force his bandmates to record it.

By 1969, Harrison had confirmed himself as a gifted songwriter and candidly revealed about why he sometimes struggled writing for The Beatles: “The most difficult thing for me is following Paul’s and John’s songs,” he commented. “Their earlier songs weren’t as good as they are now, and they obviously got better and better, and that’s what I have to do. I’ve got about 40 tunes which I haven’t recorded, and some of them I think are quite good. I wrote one called ‘The Art Of Dying’ three years ago, and at that time I thought it was too far out, but I’m still going to record it.”

He continued: “The most difficult thing for me is following Paul’s and John’s songs. Their earlier songs weren’t as good as they are now, and they obviously got better and better, and that’s what I have to do. I’ve got about 40 tunes which I haven’t recorded, and some of them I think are quite good. I wrote one called ‘The Art Of Dying’ three years ago, and at that time I thought it was too far out, but I’m still going to record it. I used to have a hang-up about telling John and Paul and Ringo I had a song for the albums, because I felt at that time as if I was trying to compete. I don’t want the Beatles to be recording rubbish for my sake just because I wrote it — and on the other hand, I don’t want to record rubbish just because they wrote it. The group comes first.”

Harrison then continued his honest self-assessment: “I used to have a hang-up about telling John and Paul and Ringo I had a song for the albums because I felt at that time as if I was trying to compete. I don’t want the Beatles to be recording rubbish for my sake just because I wrote it — and on the other hand, I don’t want to record rubbish just because they wrote it. The group comes first.”

It’s safe to say that Harrison’s high standards meant that when he did have an idea that he deemed worth sharing, his bandmates tended to agree and his unselfishness attitude played a pivotal role in The Beatles lasting as long at the top as they did.

(Source: Beatlesinterviews)

Source: Why George Harrison found writing for The Beatles difficult