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HMVNipper
Jul 16, 2001, 04:02 AM
From www.mirror.co.uk (http://www.mirror.co.uk)

16th July, 2001

TONY PARSONS' COLUMN: COMMENT ON GEORGE HARRISON

GEORGE Harrison must be surprised at the emotion generated by his fight
against cancer.

George, 58, is recuperating in Hawaii after being treated for a brain tumour
in a Swiss clinic.

After two months of radiotherapy to try to shrink the tumour, he has not been
cured. This is his third fight against cancer.

And perhaps for the very first time in George Harrison's career, the public
are waking up to how much we like the quiet Beatle.

He has always been undervalued. In any other group in history, George
Harrison would have been the leader. Something, Here Comes The Sun, Taxman,
While My Guitar Gently Weeps, If I Needed Someone - the songs of George
Harrison were good enough to make him top dog of any group apart from the
greatest group of all.

In the Beatles, Harrison was inevitably overshadowed by Lennon and McCartney.

By far the youngest of the Beatles, still only in his early 20s when they
made Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, he was also the most shy and
reticent.

George wasn't just overwhelmed by the egos and enormous talents of Lennon and
McCartney. Their personalities seemed far bigger than anything George could
offer.

How could the quiet kid on guitar compete with pretty, charming Paul or
sharp, snarling John? Even Ringo's clownish personality and gigantic hooter
put George Harrison in the shadow. And yet they would have been so different
without him. Something is the Beatles' greatest love song. That ringing
guitar sound on all the early hit singles is George Harrison. The move from
mop tops to cultural icons was largely down to George.

George was an integral part of the Beatles, which means an important part of
all our pasts.

We have an intimate relationship with the Beatles. They represent more than
just good tunes and funny haircuts.

For millions of us they recall our childhoods, our adolescence, all the days
that will never come again. To see one of them fighting a losing battle
against cancer is moving beyond belief. So get well soon, George. We realise
now, almost too late, how much we would miss you.


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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. July 2001 Issue up now! About.com BEST OF THE NET, April 2001! www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)

Rellevart
Jul 16, 2001, 05:01 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By HMVNipper:
By far the youngest of the Beatles<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That was a nice article. But "by far"? How about "by 8 months"? http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif


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Hey, don't you know that I'm....always going back in time....

HMVNipper
Jul 16, 2001, 05:05 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By Rellevart:
That was a nice article. But "by far"? How about "by 8 months"? http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, Rell, I know...but I just posted the article, I didn't write it!! http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/wink.gif Thought it was nice, though, and I'm glad you agreed!


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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. July 2001 Issue up now! About.com BEST OF THE NET, April 2001! www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)

beatlebangs1964
Jul 16, 2001, 08:09 AM
George has always been his own unique, individual personality and it is these four unique, distinct persoalities that made the Beatles the world's number one band! Each Beatle was important, unique and distinct in his own way. George was the only person in the world who could have written the songs that he did and offered the input and influence that he did.

Again, each Beatle is and will always be significant, unique and distinct in his own form.

For me personally, the Beatles represented milestones "In My Life" and they were and remain spokesmen for me. The music is nonpareil; the fashion and cultural influence they have left is now an indelible stamp upon the world.

The Beatles changed the world for the better. HMVNipper, thank you again for this article.

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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

BB1964

mindgames
Jul 16, 2001, 01:04 PM
Great article. Thanks, HMVNipper. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

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This week, the Beatles greatest hits album, 1, is at number seventy-five on the USA album charts. Wingspan: Hits and History by Paul McCartney is at number seventy-six.

beatlemethisbeatlemethat
Jul 16, 2001, 04:12 PM
I just read this article, someone sent it to me thru e-mail. I totally agree. I love George and respect him even more now. He worried about his fans! How awesome for a person to worry about Fans and not worrying about himself.

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Peace, http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/heart.gif and Beatles,
Stefanie

Beatle Me This, Beatle Me That (http://www.beatlemethisbeatlemethat.com/)

//0-0\\//0-0\\//0-0\\
"After all is said and done, you can't go pleasing everyone, so screw it"
--John Lennon

bearkat77
Jul 16, 2001, 07:03 PM
A very nice article, Nipper. Thanks for posting it for us all to see. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/thumbsup.gif

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bearkat77
Jul 16, 2001, 07:05 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By beatlebangs1964:
George has always been his own unique, individual personality and it is these four unique, distinct persoalities that made the Beatles the world's number one band! Each Beatle was important, unique and distinct in his own way. George was the only person in the world who could have written the songs that he did and offered the input and influence that he did.

Again, each Beatle is and will always be significant, unique and distinct in his own form.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I couldn't have said it better myself. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/grin.gif

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HMVNipper
Jul 17, 2001, 03:13 AM
I'm glad people have enjoyed reading this column! I thought it was very nice -- and as people here have said, George is and always will be a unique and important part of a group of people who made so many others happy, and who changed the world in so many ways, and that's why we love him!

http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/rocknroll.gif

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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. July 2001 Issue up now! About.com BEST OF THE NET, April 2001! www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)

Tim
Jul 17, 2001, 09:51 AM
HMV--thanks again for posting it.

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Tim
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Tim
Jul 17, 2001, 09:54 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By HMVNipper:


After two months of radiotherapy to try to shrink the tumour, he has not been
cured. This is his third fight against cancer.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/afraid5.gifhttp://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gifhttp://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry4.gif

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Tim
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HeyBeatle
Jul 17, 2001, 10:48 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By HMVNipper:
I'm glad people have enjoyed reading this column! I thought it was very nice -- and as people here have said, George is and always will be a unique and important part of a group of people who made so many others happy, and who changed the world in so many ways, and that's why we love him!

http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/rocknroll.gif

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ahh, now you're gonna make me cry!!! http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry1.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry2.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry4.gif

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" Are you a mod or a rocker?"
" No I'm a mocker."

[This Message Has Been Edited By HeyBeatle On July 17, 2001 11:49 AM]

FPSHOT
Jul 17, 2001, 01:45 PM
I need a nip.http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/beer.gif
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry1.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry2.gif
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry4.gif


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If your life's not right, doesn't satisfy you
Don't get the breaks like some of us do
Better work it out; find where you've gone wrong
Better do it soon as you don't have long
GH

bearkat77
Jul 17, 2001, 06:18 PM
Shall we all http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gif in our http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/beer.gif?

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http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cat.gif
Bearkat77's Beatlemaniac Page (http://bearkat77.www9.50megs.com)
Bearkat77's Tribute to John Lennon (http://bearkatjl.50megs.com)
Bearkat77's Tribute to Ringo Starr (http://bearkatrs.50megs.com)

darkhorse
Jul 17, 2001, 06:35 PM
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry.gif

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"My life's been so many ways
Too much darkness gets me crazed"

old_moon_shining
Jul 17, 2001, 10:28 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By FPSHOT:
I need a nip.http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/beer.gif
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry1.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry2.gif
http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gif http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry4.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

To be honest, I've been 'nipping' a little too frequently through all of this.
FPSHOT, I see you have your 'happy face' on again. Maybe we need the encouragement.
But on the cynical side - while this guy wrote an absolutely beautiful article does he have any more information on the subject than we do. I think not. 'Chin up' everyone. George told us not to worry.



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"All men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and continue on as if nothing had happened" - Winston Churchill.

Tim
Jul 18, 2001, 02:46 AM
but you can't help it...

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Tim
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darkhorse
Jul 18, 2001, 10:08 AM
No you can't. I keep him on my prayers. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/frown.gif

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"My life's been so many ways
Too much darkness gets me crazed"

beatlebangs1964
Jul 18, 2001, 04:24 PM
New York Times, July 12, 2001 p A27

GET WELL, GEORGE!

1964 was the year the 1960s really began. The earliest years of the decade were for the most pat an extension of the conventional, cold war, black-and-white 50s. Dwight Eisenhower was president through 1960, which was the year the U-2 reconnaissance pilot Francis Gary Poers was shot down over Soviet territory. When JFK was inaugurated in 1961, the men participating in the ceremony wore morning coats and top hats.

For a decade known for its excitement, the 1960s got off to a decidedly slow start. Doo-wop music was still around in the early 1960s. And dreamy songs of widely varying quality -- "Moon River" http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/cry3.gif, "Where the Boys Are" http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/thumbsdown.gif -- were among the biggest hits. It was a quiet time. The average annual salary was $4,700.00 and a favorite pastime was bowling.

There was no reason to think radical changes were brewing when 1964 debuted. The nation was still in mourning over the murder of Jack Kennedy the previous November. The tranquilizer Valium was catching on. Mary McCarthy had a best seller with "The Group." Herbert Hoover, Douglas MacArthur and Cole Porter were still alive. "Bonanza" and "Candid Camera" were big hits on television.

And then in February, suddenly and without warning the Beatles were upon us.

the word this week from overseas is that George Harrison, the so-called Quiet Beatle, has suffered another setback in his fight against cancer. Mr. Harrison is 58. He is said to be frail and fatigued from the disease and the treatment.

He is also, apparently indomitable. "I am feeling fine," he said in a prepared statement. And he apologized for any grief he may have caused his fans. "I am really sorry," he said, "for the unnecessary worry."

If you spend just a little time reflecting on the Beatles you come away astonished by the changes they wrought (or came to symbolize) in what seemed like a split second of real time. They blew in like a sudden storm and permanently altered the cultural landscape. One night they were singing to an audience of shrieking teeny-boppers on that quintessential 1950s television program, "The Ed Sullivan Show," and in the next instant, it seemed, the Sullivan era had been left behind and the 1960s had blossomed in brilliant, even blinding color.

It wasn't just the music. The Beatles were a perfectly placed, perfectly timed phenomenon. Their charm and spontaneity, insouciance and off-beat humor, and above all their easy acceptance of life's myriad pleasures, sliced right through the already fraying bonds of the uptight 1950s and early 1960s.

For better or for worse, they helpled get us to where we are now. They spread the word to a massive generation of largely inhibited young people that it was all right to have fun.

There was no need to take anything too seriously. When a reporter asked John Lennon what he would do when Beatlemania subsided, he replied, "Count the money."

Ringo, commenting on a trip to Florida, said, "Now, this was just the most brilliant place I'd ever been to. People were always lending us yachts, anything we wanted."

Within a year or two the 1960s that most people remember -- some with fondness and others with loating -- were well under way, and the most dominant cultural framing was provided by the Beatles. People dressed differently, wore their hair differently, and approached that treacherous triumvirate of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll with an openness that surely had been accelerated by John, Paul, George and Ringo.

The fun as people soon learned, was laced with madness and a fair amount of tragedy. (Among other things, drugs took their toll on the decade and played a significant role in the Beatles' lives). You get a sense of the breakneck pace of events when you consider that George was only 27 when the Beatles officially broke up in 1970.

More than three decades later it seems a miracle that so much should have happened in so short a time. The music remains remarkable, often beautiful, including George's "Something," "Here Comes the Sun," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

As for George's fans -- well, they are worried. But no one's looking for an apology. They just wish him well.

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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

BB1964

HMVNipper
Jul 18, 2001, 05:00 PM
Thanks for posting the NY Times column, BB -- I saw it in the paper the day it ran, and I enjoyed it then! Very nice column...

Thanks again!



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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. July 2001 Issue up now! About.com BEST OF THE NET, April 2001! www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)