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Young World
When the guitar gently weeps
JOHN DANIEL
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He was the spiritual Beatle. George Harrison, who died recently, had introduced lyricism and mysticism to their music, "changing the tune of the 60s". In the resounding success of the Beatles and his own later albums, the legend lives on.
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P.S. I love you...Wowing audiences in the U.S.
To his legion of fans worldwide, Beatle George Harrison - like the other Beatles - was a larger than life icon; indeed a legend. Appropriately, Harrison's swan-song — his final album — secretly recorded just months before he died of cancer at the age 58, was titled "Portrait of a Legend." Harrison who was known as the most famous lead guitarist in the world during the height of the Beatles fame, played tracks from this final album to his family at a Los Angeles hospital four days before he died on November 29.
Significantly, Harrison's somewhat philosophical triple solo album "All Things Must Pass" could have been his own epitaph. Harrison was the first member of the band, after the Beatles broke up in 1970, to score a major recording success with this album, which included the controversial hit single "My Sweet Lord" with its rich lyrical quality. And, this is something he achieved as he devoted himself after the band broke up not only to songwriting but also to developing his voice. The emerging songwriter in Harrison saw an array of exquisitely arranged compositions, such as "Within You, Without You; Love You Too; Blue Jay Way", which had a heady mix of melody, harmony and message, with an increasing blend of interest in Hinduism, culture and music.
If the Beatles record of 20 No.1 singles in America still stands, then Harrison's right to the title of being the sultan of classic rock must stand, as he was undoubtedly the innovative guiding spirit of the 60s. Harrison's contribution has left a lasting impression on the Beatles, which indisputably remains the world's most extraordinary rock-n-roll band ever.
He was the Beatles lead guitarist, the quiet Beatle, the youngest and calmest of the band, the spiritual explorer who added that touch of the mysticism of the East by introducing the sitar to the ears of thousands of pop fans worldwide — on "Norwegian Wood" (This Bird Has Flown), a song written by Lennon in 1965. But it was "Rubber Soul" acclaimed as one of the finest albums of the band that introduced the group as a path-breaker in the musical realm. Harrison composed "Love You Too" entirely on the sitar for their next album "Revolver."
Hey Jude, I need some help
The sitar, which he learnt as a student of Pandit Ravi Shankar, was a window to the world for Harrison's spiritual explorations. He travelled to India and delved into Eastern philosophies as a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. His conversion to Hinduism took the group's music to a different level and added a whole new definition to pop. Harrison's spiritual education revealed the band's new direction both musically and spiritually in "Within You, Without You" on the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." A variety of instruments such as the tabla, tambura, dilruba, drone and cello was used in the song, while the lyrics called on egos to be set aside in the name of unity and love.
Harrison, who travelled regularly to India, began to lend his hand to bringing the Indian sounds to western pop audiences. He became the first in the band to release a solo album heavily accented by the sitar on an instrumental disc "Wonderwall Music", as a film soundtrack.
Born on February 25, 1943, the youngest of three sons, Harrison, like the other Beatles, came from a working-class family in Liverpool in northwest England. His parents were dance teachers. When he was 14, he became interested in music and learned a few chords on a second-hand guitar he bought from a classmate, and teamed up with schoolmates Paul McCartney and John Lennon in a group known as "The Quarrymen." The next year he, along with McCartney, Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe, joined a band called the Silver Beatles.
The scene at Central Park on November 30
The band, renamed the Beatles, went to Germany in August 1960, and soon became a popular local group. It was producer George Martin of Parlophone, an EMI subsidiary, who opened their door to fame when he signed on the Beatles' first record contract on May 9, 1962. Five months later the Beatles first single, "Love Me Do" became a top-20 hit in Britain. From then onwards there was no looking back. "Please Please Me" became the Beatles first chart- topping song in Britain in February 1963. On December 23, 1963, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the band's first U.S. release, and weeks later it was their first song to top the Billboard charts.
By then Beatlemania had become a worldwide phenomenon and millions of teenage girls went into a frenzy as they saw the Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964, and teenage boys began to avoid haircuts. The Beatles had not only arrived, but had become the biggest band in America. In July 1964, the first Beatles film, "A Hard Day's Night" was released.
In 1967, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", considered to be their magnum opus, was released. About a year after Harrison's song "Something" (in 1969) became a No. 1 hit in the U.S. for the Beatles, McCartney's announcement that he was leaving the Beatles prompted the band to split up. Harrison became the first Beatle to stage a solo world tour in November 1974.
Harrison's marriage to Patti Boyd ended in divorce in June 1977 even as a son, Dhani, was born. In September 1978, he married Dhani's mother, Olivia Arias.
The Fab Four...unbeatable
Fittingly, Harrison's final journey was to his resting place in India, where his wife and son scattered his ashes in the Ganges near Varanasi and in Allahabad, where the Ganges and the Yamuna river meet.
Harrison will be greatly missed for his contribution to music and his eclectic skill as a musician. The two remaining Beatles paid apt tributes. Ringo Starr commented: ``We will miss George for his sense of love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter.'' Paul McCartney said, "I love him as a baby brother. His music will live forever.'' Indeed it will. For many of us who have felt its brilliance.
JOHN DANIEL
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