The Concert for George

Like many people, I went into a state of shock when John Lennon was killed in 1980 (see my recollections in the Double Fantasy review). Johnny Moondog, just out of self-imposed exile, was dead! Twenty one years later, when it was announced to the world press that George Harrison had passed away, I wadn't shocked, as such, I just became terribly, terribly depressed.

Why would that be?

It wasn't as if I was still connected to his work, that had been severed some time during the mid-1970s...and while I was always interested...and sometimes entertained, by his artistic output...I can't say it impacted much on my life.

You see, George's Bhakti-Yoga, an emotionally based, euphoric relationship with er...God (kind of like a Born-again Hindu), which dominated so much of his artistic output, just wasn't my cup of tea. Further, George's religious excesses as a young man had been somewhat mocked for me in later years with gossip about:

his numerous infidelities during the late 60s & early 70s &
over-indulgences with cocaine during the 1980s

...And I didn't think his death particularly depressed me over my own mortality (I was then a sprightly 43!)

No, it took me a few months...but I finally worked it out. You see, when Lennon died, I, the world, had lost an artist, a man who could make words and music come alive. That was the tragedy but when George died...and note, I write George, not Harrison, I lost somebody...I liked. I didn't know him personally... but:

I liked his mordant humor
I liked his modesty
I even liked his wife* (hot babe when she was young, dignified stunner in middle age)

...but most of all, I liked George not because he was wise, not because he was a man to follow...but because he was, apparently, what is increasingly rare, a good man. And making no attempt to qualify that over-used term, I repeat, he seemed to be...a good man.

Here's what fellow-Beatle and frequent antagonist Paul McCartney had to say about George's passing:

Paul McCartney's statement to the press

on George Harrison's death, November 2001

And so to The Concert For George, held one year to the day that he died, November 1, 2002. Organised by his wife Olivia, with musical direction by Eric Clapton, the concert is, above all, friends gathering to say goodbye. Some of the performers are well known, some not...but they united to say farewell to him...and their strong feelings for George are frequently evident. The well-known ones included:

Paul McCartney
Ringo Starr
Eric Clapton
Jeff Lynne (Travelling Wilburys, producer for Harrison & The Beatles reunion of three etc) &
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Billy Preston &
Monty Python

...and the George Harrison songs chosen, cover the full range of his career.

I'm not going to delve into the emotion of the night, like any wake or funeral, what is one person's grief is excessive carrying on to another...but The Concert For George was a special night for the players and the audience.

And for those who lived through those times, I dare you not to tear up during these concert snippets:

"Everytime I see your face

I'm reminded of the places we used to go

But all I've got is a photograph

and I feel like you're not coming back anymore..."

Ringo Starr

Photograph

George co-wrote this #1 global smash with Ringo, for the 1973 album Ringo, the biggest hit of Ringo's SOLO career. He'd also co-written Ringo's other hit single It Don't Come Easy in 1971...but hadn't claimed any royalties.

N.B.: With egos getting seriously out of control in 1969, The Beatles could find no room for All Things Must Pass on the Abbey Road album, much to George's frustration and anger. Through much of the early 1970s it was George, not John Lennon, who most vehemently denied the possibility of reforming the moptops and working with Paul McCartney again.

McCartney's performance, then, of All Things Must Pass, together with, pointedly, For You Blue & Something, both also from 1969, relay his genuine sorrow and public apology to the spirit of the man he now refers to as "his baby brother", whom he had treated so callously...all those years ago. I would like to think that Paul's apology was finally accepted.

Joe Brown

I'll See You In My Dreams

Joe Brown was a lightweight English pop star from the 1960s who remained a good friend of George's for almost 40 years...and was the best man at his marriage to second wife, Olivia Trinidad Arias.

As Paul McCartney recounts before he performs Something, in his later years, George had become fond of playing songs on a ukelele instead of his guitar...and Joe performs the old standard I'll See You In My Dreams (by Isham Jones & Gus Khan), a favorite of George's, on the ukelele to close the concert.

During I'll See You In My Dreams, you'll notice Eric Clapton standing behind Joe... and next to him is George's son Dhani (pronounced Danny) Harrison and later, Olivia Harrison.

Goodby George, you're missed.

*Olivia Harrison interviewed by Katie Couric

Monty Python ex-member Eric Idle

talking about their involvement in The Concert For George