The George Appreciation Thread

[ZombieJeebus]

Everyone knows about the cute one, the funny one and the smart one. How about a little something for the other guy?

George Harrison. So underappreciated.

"Something", "Here Comes the Sun", "Taxman" and "While my Guitar Gently weeps". All of that is top tier Beatles stuff, and all done by that other guy.

Ok, he wrote "Piggies" everyone gets at least one mulligan.

Who's with me? Who's got some love for George? The Best Beatle?

[fuselage321]

George Rocks dude!

[Daytripped]

I was never thinking about George, until I bought his greatest hits.

I was...amazed. I never thought he had such a creative mind.

Very underrated, he was.

And now everybody is seeing that after he died.

The world is so unfair, sometimes...

[drumminguru]

George has always been my favorite

[TheObscure]

I liked his solo stuff more. Infact I liked his solo stuff more than John/Paul/Ringo's.

[ZombieJeebus]

I was never thinking about George, until I bought his greatest hits.

I was...amazed. I never thought he had such a creative mind.

Very underrated, he was.

And now everybody is seeing that after he died.

The world is so unfair, sometimes...

Yeah he also did great solo stuff. Don't forget the Wilburys!

[TheObscure]

Yeah he also did great solo stuff. Don't forget the Wilburys!

Oh wow, I just downloaded The Traveling Wilbury's discography about two days ago.

[babaoriely]

Hey Piggies is good too, George has always been my favorite Beatle. He's (in my opinion) the most talented and has the best solo work. And (no offense) John and Paul were honestly kind of jerks. I look past that for the most part because I love them and the Beatles so much, but you can't deny it, it's true.

[Rockbandfan23467]

George isn't really underappreciated. Dead Beatles are always better.

That being said, he did deserve better treatment from John and Paul.

[SgtRubberRevolver]

Yes, it's shame that he got respect once the band was falling apart. George is awsome. As far back as Don't Bother Me. That's a great underrated song. Yes, I would say George is more underrated than Ringo. I think Ringo is the most made fun of. George is the least remembered

[RoofTopRookie]

Georges body of solo work is pretty damn good. If you get a chance to own his Boxed Set, i highly recommend it.

Also, his Capital Re-Issues are fantastic. Especially "Living In The Material World"

[HeadHunter67]

George was an amazing human being. He was peaceful, deeply spiritual, the best guitarist in the Beatles, and a damn good song writer. The world lost an exceptional artist when he died.

[AndywinXp]

Arthur.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

I don't think he was overrated or underrated. His contributions to The Beatles are, for the most part, fantastic but he created less than 6% of their catalogue. He simply is nowhere near the song-writing calibre of Lennon and McCartney, for the sheer amount of songs they could create if anything. When Lennon and McCartney were throwing out half a dozen songs each for an album, George would often struggle to pen a single worthy track. He has, of course, proved that he is a very competent song writer but come on... he is no Lennon or McCartney. People on here are actually close to overrating him.

This isn't an attack on George. I love him; he's my second favourite Beatle. It's an attempt to put people who are adamant he's underrated to the point that he should stand equally alongside L/M into their place.

[BlueJayGuy]

He was the most "human" of them.

Let it roll (2009) is, in my opinion, one of the best albums of the year. When I hear Isn't It A Pity, I feel.... strange. Like in another world.

My George's favourite songs:

Isn't It A Pity
Cheer Down
Rising Sun
Not Guilty
Here Comes The Moon
Crackerbox Palace
Give me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Cloud Nine
Marwa Blues
Blow Away
What Is Life


And, of course, when he was a Beatle;

Savoy Truffle
Something
I Need You
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Inner Light (UNDERRATED)
Long Long Long (" same ")
Only a Northern Song
It's All Too Much
Taxman


And much more...

He wasn't the BEST guitarist on the world, but an incredible song writer and composer, what he did in a beautiful way, no matter how simple is the song.

[.Remix]

I hate it when people say "Ok so thats Paul, that's John, that's Ringo, who's that?"

I mean, cmon!!

[Paperback-Writer]

George is realy cool he got better throught out time though

[Skeleshredder]

When Lennon and McCartney were throwing out half a dozen songs each for an album, George would often struggle to pen a single worthy track.

That was only in the early years. Admittedly, George was a late bloomer as a songwriter. By the time of "Revolver," however, he had hit his stride. He had to fight tooth and nail to get as many of his songs on the albums as he did. I wouldn't say he was better than Lennon and McCartney, but by the time the group had split up, he had proven himself their equal.

[Robondacob]

I don't think he was overrated or underrated. His contributions to The Beatles are, for the most part, fantastic but he created less than 6% of their catalogue. He simply is nowhere near the song-writing calibre of Lennon and McCartney, for the sheer amount of songs they could create if anything. When Lennon and McCartney were throwing out half a dozen songs each for an album, George would often struggle to pen a single worthy track. He has, of course, proved that he is a very competent song writer but come on... he is no Lennon or McCartney. People on here are actually close to overrating him.

This isn't an attack on George. I love him; he's my second favourite Beatle. It's an attempt to put people who are adamant he's underrated to the point that he should stand equally alongside L/M into their place.

George was by far the most talented musician in The Beatles, he was a great songwriter, and he had the best solo career out of all The Beatles. How was he not the best?

[Rockbandfan23467]

That was only in the early years. Admittedly, George was a late bloomer as a songwriter. By the time of "Revolver," however, he had hit his stride. He had to fight tooth and nail to get as many of his songs on the albums as he did. I wouldn't say he was better than Lennon and McCartney, but by the time the group had split up, he had proven himself their equal.

George's emergance as a songwriter is one of the many reasons they broke up?

[babaoriely]

I don't think he was overrated or underrated. His contributions to The Beatles are, for the most part, fantastic but he created less than 6% of their catalogue. He simply is nowhere near the song-writing calibre of Lennon and McCartney, for the sheer amount of songs they could create if anything. When Lennon and McCartney were throwing out half a dozen songs each for an album, George would often struggle to pen a single worthy track. He has, of course, proved that he is a very competent song writer but come on... he is no Lennon or McCartney. People on here are actually close to overrating him.

This isn't an attack on George. I love him; he's my second favourite Beatle. It's an attempt to put people who are adamant he's underrated to the point that he should stand equally alongside L/M into their place.

The reason George only had one to two songs per album was because that was all John and Paul would let him put on an album. All Things Must Pass was a large album because it contains many songs he wrote while the Beatles were together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaRi2TO3xZ0&NR=1

[beatleschick24]

george is my fave beatle <3

[Inaudible-Whisper]

George was by far the most talented musician in The Beatles, he was a great songwriter, and he had the best solo career out of all The Beatles. How was he not the best?

He was the best guitarist. That is the only thing he was the best at in the band. If you honestly think he was a better songwriter than John or Paul you're a fool. Best Beatle I'm fine with, if you like him as a person and musician. But no matter what you say, no matter how many times you might say "He wasn't given the chance towards to end" or "All Things Must Pass is a great solo record" the fact still remains that he wrote less than 6% of their catalogue. His list of Beatles songs is TINY. Could he have had more songs on the latter albums? Probably. Would they have all been up to scratch? Maybe. Would he be anywhere near to catching up to Lennon and McCartney in terms of sheer number of hits? Not even close. I just can't begin to put him equally alongside them based on nothing but potential. The reason he wasn't given the chance before 'Something' was simple. As Lennon said -- "There was an embarrassing period when George's songs weren't that good and nobody wanted to say anything". Lennon then went on to say that Something is actually the best track on the album. But it still doesn't really begin to make up for the 300+ songs Paul and John wrote. Nor do any of his other solid tracks.

[HeadHunter67]

he created less than 6% of their catalogue. He simply is nowhere near the song-writing calibre of Lennon and McCartney, for the sheer amount of songs they could create if anything. When Lennon and McCartney were throwing out half a dozen songs each for an album, George would often struggle to pen a single worthy track.
That's incorrect. He was only allowed to contribute one or two songs to each album, despite allegedly being an equal partner. He built up enough of a backlog of songs to release a triple album the year the Beatles broke up, so it's obvious he wasn't "struggling" to write worthy songs.

His only "struggle" was to gain the equal recognition and contribution he deserved. You're basically trying to justify your position by defending his exclusion and then using it to show why you think he didn't put in enough. That's like your boss locking you out of your workplace, and then firing you because you didn't do any work.

[QwertyMcUiop1963]

While My Guitar Gently Weeps is my favorite Beatles song, as hard as it is to pick one.

I got a lot of Beatles CDs from the library to listen to since I haven't heard most of their albums and I just finished listening to Within You Without You now.

[moose39]

Without a doubt, George is my favorite Beatle. His solo stuff is amazing, not to mention all of his awesome tracks he wrote with The Beatles.

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace), My Sweet Lord, and What Is Life are all INCREDIBLE.

[HeadHunter67]

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace), My Sweet Lord, and What Is Life are all INCREDIBLE.
That bears repeating!

[beatlemaniac247]

george is my fav beatle at the moment (i always seem to change my mind). I think he was a great songwriter towards the end of the beatles and no one has mentioned how good of a singer he is.....i mean paul and john obviously are some of the best singers of all time, in any genre of music, but george has almost like an odd quality to his voice that i think makes it great. Definitely underrated and deserves more credit.

I do have to point out that yeah george has great solo work but i dont think you could say the best for sure......and you have to keep in mind that lennon only had a ten year period after to beatles to get out a solo catalogue....if lennon would have lived till say 2001 like george there is no telling how many more great songs he could have came out wtih

[Jayrod1137]

How come everybody forgot "Think for Yourself"?

[Robondacob]

He was the best guitarist. That is the only thing he was the best at in the band. If you honestly think he was a better songwriter than John or Paul you're a fool.

Two things wrong with that.

First, I never said he was a better songwriter than John or Paul (but he is better than Paul).

Second, he was definitely the most proficient in music in composing songs (do not confuse this with making rock songs).

[Lt Pepper]

How come everybody forgot "Think for Yourself"?

my favourite song on rubber soul, behind drive my car

[Whiplash]

TBRB inspired me to finally go out and check out some of the Beatles' solo projects. I checked out All Things Must Pass, first. It's now in my top 10 albums of all time, it's that good. Fantastic songwriter. It's amazing that he was like, the guy coming off the bench to write songs for them. The amount of talent in the band was sick.

[Skeleshredder]

George's emergance as a songwriter is one of the many reasons they broke up?

Nah, I wasn't trying to say that. I just meant that by the time the band split, George had become the equal of John and Paul. Several of his songs, such as "It's All Too Much" and "Something," are so wonderful that John and Paul have only a few that can match them. I didn't mean to imply that I thought that contributed to the split (although, it has been said that he was increasingly unhappy with the limited a mount of album space he was being given, so it may well have been a factor).

[Inaudible-Whisper]

That's incorrect. He was only allowed to contribute one or two songs to each album, despite allegedly being an equal partner. He built up enough of a backlog of songs to release a triple album the year the Beatles broke up, so it's obvious he wasn't "struggling" to write worthy songs.

He was struggling up until The White Album/Abbey Road/Let It Be. As my Lennon quote showed, both him and McCartney felt that his songs simply weren't good enough up until that point and it's their word against yours. If you think that he had a secret stash of unbelievable songs hidden away throughout most of his time in The Beatles you'd be wrong. Most of 'All Things Must Pass' was written during the Get Back sessions; very few songs dated back to earlier years (the earliest song being from '66 I believe). Most of his good songs from earlier were the ones found on the albums. By the point of the Get Back sessions, George had finally grown to prove himself as an equal besides Lennon and McCartney and they both recognised that, Lennon by saying the best songs on Abbey Road were Harrisons and McCartney by saying that at that point Harrisons songs were "just as good as ours". Fair enough, they may have still shared the bulk of the albums, but even if you put a few more Harrison tracks on each of those latter albums it wouldn't change or prove anything; just that by that point Harrison had truly grown and developed as a song writer.


His only "struggle" was to gain the equal recognition and contribution he deserved. You're basically trying to justify your position by defending his exclusion and then using it to show why you think he didn't put in enough. That's like your boss locking you out of your workplace, and then firing you because you didn't do any work.

No, I'm justifying my position by saying that George, throughout The Beatles, has NEVER proved himself capable of producing such a vast amount of top-quality songs in such a short period of time. 'All Things Must Pass' proves nothing other than the fact that he did have a lot of solid songs in him. We already know this. I'm not disputing that. I'm disputing the fact that that somehow makes him as equal a member of the Beatles as Lennon and McCartney. Had The Beatles went on for another 10 years then sure, things could have been different. But as it stands, he was no Lennon/McCartney in The Beatles. To use a poor analogy, it's like having 2 movie directors one of which has made 10 movies, all of which have been masterpieces since his debut and another who has been growing over 8 movies and has created 2 masterpieces. Some would then proclaim, "See, I told you he was just as good" to which I would say "Come back and say that when he has created 10 in a row".

[JohnnyBGoode28]

Definitely my favorite Beatle. His songs always end up in my favorites list, and now I REALLY want to go and get his solo records (or at least that compilation they put out not too long ago). Very peaceful, nice guy. Maybe not underappreciated, especially if your a Beatles fan, but perhaps just overlooked...
Wow, that sounded a lot smarter in my head. Regardless, George is awesome. End of story

[thedoorsdk]

George is my favorite Beatle (in terms of personality, Beatle's catalog, and solo work). In fact, he's the only one I really like at all.
All Things Must Pass > any Beatles record (imo).

[bonethug0108]

(the earliest song being from '66 I believe)

Did you watch the interview posted? He said he had so many songs built up just by 1965.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

Did you watch the interview posted? He said he had so many songs built up just by 1965.

I never said he didn't write songs before '65. I said that at that period the reason many weren't featured on the albums was simply because John and Paul didn't think they were good enough, and that continued until later (the get back sessions and such). George himself didn't continue forward with these very early songs even during his solo career. As I said, the earliest song on All Things Must Pass was from '66 (Isn't It A Pity) but the vast majority were from from the Get Back sessions and later, some of which during various visits with Dylan. Until the later stages, Harrison never had a huge stash of hidden away album-worthy songs and when he eventually did, The Beatles were on the verge of a split anyway, dare I say it was probably a deciding factor (for George at least).

[bonethug0108]

And I don't give a jumpin' jack flash what paul and john thought.

[soup567]

I think George is a good song writer, guitarist, and underrated, but not the best song writer for The Beatles. I would have to say the best song writer for The Beatles and of all time is Paul. He and John were the main force behind most of The Beatles catalog and was the most successful solo artist of them(he is a billionaire after all); but that's beside the point. Anyway George is awesome and it's too bad he couldn't write more songs for The Beatles.

[PCTraitor]

George Martin was awesome very important to the Beatles sound and everything! He was definitely a genius producer and anyone else *coughphilspectorcough* would not have suited them as well.

(goes and reads the original post)

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH! George Harrison doesn't need an appreciation thread. That guy is clearly awesome and towards the end of the Beatles he was on equal footing with John and Paul. No person in their right mind would think that George wasn't extremely important to the group. Also, many people feel that he has the best solo album out of all of them in All Things Must Pass. I am one of those people.

If you take George's songs off of Revolver or the White Album you are left with albums that wouldn't even be half as good...no a quarter as good.

[Robondacob]

George was my favorite Beatle in terms of personality. He seemed most down to earth and didn't like fighting much. He seemed like a cool dude.

[CaptainKicker]

George needs some love.

[bridog7]

George Harrison is underrated i agree. White Album While My Guitar Gently Weeps its a key song on the album, Abbey Road Something and Here Comes the Sun best songs on the album. Revolver, Taxman and Love You Too. Sgt Pepper Within Without you. Rubber Soul If I needed someone and think for yourself but If i needed someone is better and one of the best songs on the album. But you can't have the beatles without any of them. You need John and Paul. Vocals plus Lennon/McCartney and Paul is the 'Bassman":p You need george he's the Guitar Hero:p though he doesn't play lead guitar on a couple of songs. He's underrated as a great guitarist Btw. and he has great songs. Ringo he's the drummer. Sure you can replace Ringo, but it wouldn't be the same Ringo is the perfect drummer for The Beatles. Ringoism don't forget that. There all perfect for each other.

[gamegyro56]

George Harrison is underrated i agree. White Album While My Guitar Gently Weeps its a key song on the album, Abbey Road Something and Here Comes the Sun best songs on the album. Revolver, Taxman and Love You Too. Sgt Pepper Within Without you. Rubber Soul If I needed someone and think for yourself but If i needed someone is better and one of the best songs on the album. But you can't have the beatles without any of them. You need John and Paul. Vocals plus Lennon/McCartney and Paul is the 'Bassman":p You need george he's the Guitar Hero:p though he doesn't play lead guitar on a couple of songs. He's underrated as a great guitarist Btw. and he has great songs. Ringo he's the drummer. Sure you can replace Ringo, but it wouldn't be the same Ringo is the perfect drummer for The Beatles. Ringoism don't forget that. There all perfect for each other.

I agree, and I like the way you mention songs, The Beatles: Rock Band Forums bridog.

[CaptainKicker]

I think Don't Bother Me is so underrated. Hes first real song, and its probably the best on the album. Also he did some good covers before Revolver.

But seems like people only remember him from the songs in TB:RB and mentions them. Maybe they don't know other songs?