George Harrison believed recording music after John Lennon’s death would be ‘therapeutic’, according to Cheatsheet.
Lennon was fatally shot outside his New York City apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. The news stunned the world as many networks and broadcasts stopped what they were doing to announce his death. Harrison was set to record music for his upcoming album, Somewhere in England.
When George heard the news, many believed he would postpone the session to another day. However, drummer Dave Mattacks said Harrison wanted to go through with the session as recording a song would be “therapeutic.”
Percussionist Ray Cooper called on the morning of the sessions and said, "‘I’m not sure whether it’s going to happen,’” Mattacks told Uncut magazine. “I asked why. ‘Have you not heard? John Lennon has been shot.’ There was a two- or three-hour gap when nothing happened, then Ray called back and the conversation was something along the lines of, ‘I’ve spoken to George, and he thinks that trying to make music would be more therapeutic than him sitting around and being besieged by press and God knows what else.’ So the session went ahead.”
“All Those Years Ago” was released in 1981 to honor John Lennon. The single was later included on Somewhere in England. Harrison initially wrote the song for Ringo Starr, but Starr declined it as he thought the vocals were out of his range. After Lennon’s death, the George changed the lyrics to be more about his former bandmate. Percussionist Ray Cooper told Uncut that Harrison had just finished the vocals for “All Those Years Ago” when Lennon died.
“George had just finished the vocals on ‘All Those Years Ago’, of all things, and I was on my way back home to London in the early hours of the morning,” Cooper said. “On the radio it was announced that John had been murdered. I turned the car around on the M4 and came straight back. George was devastated. He and John had a very special relationship. He loved him, and he had just written a song about him.”
Tom Petty strongly disagreed with George Harrison's 'Quiet Beatle' nickname
Harrison was not the only member of the Fab Four to have been given a characteristic tag: John Lennon was the supposed witty member of the group, Paul McCartney was the cute one, and Ringo was “just Ringo”. Interestingly though, according to Tom Petty, George Harrison’s ‘Quiet Beatle’ tag was all wrong.
Petty once told Rolling Stone that Harrison would “never shut up” in a very comical take. He added: “He was the best hang you could imagine”. (Faroutmagazine)
The reason that Harrison had been given the ‘Quiet Beatle’ label in the first place was that it was Lennon and McCartney who most often took on the responsibility of talking in interviews. It was the leading duo who wrote most of the Beatles’ songs, after all.
However, according to Petty’s comments, this did not mean that Harrison was quiet behind the scenes – it just meant that the journalists of the time were more interested in the relationship between Lennon and McCartney. Presumably, though, Harrison could not have cared less what they thought of him. Mick Jagger once said that Harrison could be quiet on occasion, but he could also be “funny and combative”.
Harrison’s wife Olivia also once noted that he would not be quiet at home either. Apparently, he would walk around the house shouting out words at random in order to see what kind of words would work in a song. “George would throw out words one after another,” she said, “He knew he’d find the word."
