The siblings spent several happy nights camping at the Shawnee National Forest. In the States, he could come and go as he pleased, moving freely with total anonymity. The quiet town was a welcome respite for Harrison, who dreaded dealing with the hassles of “Beatlemania” raging back home in Britain. The pair stayed at their elder sister Louise “Lou” Caldwell’s home at 113 McCann Street in Benton, Illinois, where she had recently immigrated with her husband Gordon, an engineer at a nearby coal mine. So on September 16th, Harrison became the first Beatle to touch down on American soil, accompanied by his older brother, Peter. Ringo Starr had originally planned on joining Harrison on his trip across the pond, but ultimately decided to travel with McCartney instead. John Lennon took his then-wife Cynthia to Paris, while Paul McCartney opted for the sunny shores of Greece. Flush with their newfound success after years of toiling in obscurity, they decided it was time for some much needed R&R. The Beatles had exploded on the British scene by September 1963 thanks to a string of Number One hits and a chart-topping debut album, Please Please Me. Louis in 1963, to look around, and to the countryside in Illinois, where my sister was living at the time.” “I’d been to America before, being the experienced Beatle that I was,” Harrison recalled in 1995’s Beatles Anthology documentary. Kennedy International Airport on February 7th, 1964, as a seismic event in popular culture, but only a handful of citizens realized that one of the Fabs had already walked among them.
He visited the United States before any of his fellow Beatles, and played a show with another band.Īmericans regard the Beatles’ arrival at the newly renamed John F.
Beatle George is like a suit or shirt that I once wore on occasion, and until the end of my life people may see that shirt and mistake it for me.” It’s been 15 years since Harrison’s death, so today we honor the man with 10 tales that shine a light on his life outside the mop-topped artifice of the Fab Four.ġ. “The Beatles exist apart from myself,” he once said. While undoubtedly proud of the band that vaulted him into immortality, he was loath to measure himself by their success. The songs he wrote focused on both the glory of God and the petty annoyances of day-to-day life. His studious facade belayed a brilliant sense of humor, which led him to produce some of the greatest comedies of all time. He preached piety and simple pleasures, yet he lived in a 120-room mansion and collected ultra high-end cars.
He was one of the most famous men in the world, but he loathed superstardom. But he was right to point out that his true character remains elusive.
“The real me is something else.” Harrison was many things – including a master of understatement. Thus, they weren't a total dead end, and may actually be much more to the liking of the latter band's fans.“I play a little guitar, write a few tunes, make a few movies, but none of that’s really me,” George Harrison once said. Those same jams, however, played by Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, and Jim Gordon (all of whom had just come off of touring as part of Delaney & Bonnie's band), proved to be of immense musical importance, precipitating the formation of Derek & the Dominos. A very moving work, with a slight flaw: the jams that comprise the final third of the album are somewhat dispensable, and have probably only been played once or twice by most of the listeners who own this record. Enhanced by Phil Spector's lush orchestral production and Harrison's own superb slide guitar, nearly every song is excellent: "Awaiting on You All," "Beware of Darkness," the Dylan collaboration "I'd Have You Anytime," "Isn't It a Pity," and the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life" are just a few of the highlights. Drawing on his backlog of unused compositions from the late Beatles era, Harrison crafted material that managed the rare feat of conveying spiritual mysticism without sacrificing his gifts for melody and grand, sweeping arrangements. Without a doubt, George Harrison's first solo recording, originally issued as a triple album, is his best.
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