George says / Writings on the wall

This new topic is about interviews or comments made from George or about George.

Can be taken from books or anything else.

We can give comments on how we feel these days about them, whereas it can come from anywhere in his life.

Darkhorse and I suggest that we do refer to the origin when possible.

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Little things that will change you forever
May appear from way out of the blue
Making fools of ev'rybody who don't understand
This is love, this is la la la-la love
George Harrison

February 1968; going to the Maharishi in Rishikesh, India.

Quote from Cynthia Lennon, taken from Keith Badman's 'The Beatles, Off the record'

John and George found themselves at One when it came to discovering the mysteries of life. They were very song-like in their absorbancy of new and fascinating dogmas.
Unquote.

Now, this again highlights the close relation that John and George had regarding these things. I believe they also did the 'dentist' period mainly together.

Same week, same source;

Quote;
George ; just days after arriving - I believe that I have already extended my life by 20 years. I believe there are bods up here in the Himalayas who have lived for centuries. There is one somewhere who was born before JC and is still living now.

John ; The way George is going, he will be flying on a magic carpet by the time he is 40.
Unquote.

Smashing, the beginning of the different George, which would lead to so much for George, but also for the rest of the world. Would we ever have gone into these spritual things hadn't the Beatles introduced us?


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Little things that will change you forever
May appear from way out of the blue
Making fools of ev'rybody who don't understand
This is love, this is la la la-la love
George Harrison

It's amazing what George introduced to the west. Every time I hear about someone trying yoga, etc..., I feel like saying "You know, you should be grateful to..."

I think this closeness (John and George) was apparent even before India and the dentist. I read somewhere (don't have the exact quote - sorry) that they roomed together on tour because they had the same sense of humor.

This is one thing that utterly facinates me about the Beatles. Each pair had a different, unique and very strong relationship - be it George/John, George/Ringo, George/Paul, etc, etc. Some might not have been as positive as others, but they were strong nonetheless. So wonderful how they loved one another. I love the relationship stuff between them.


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O.K. - I'll start with a couple of quotes by Dr. Gil Lederman, who treated George at the end. The article is by Ana Figueroa in Newsweek.

"He was a very warm, spiritual, intelligent and sensitive man. He was fearless. He was attacked and nearly killed two years ago. He grabbed the knife at the sharp end from the attacker's hand."

"He was much more spiritual than most people. He was very special. This was a man adored by millions, and yet craved the solitude of a quiet day. He could be happy in a little apartment by himself with a guitar. He didn't need great toys to amuse himself. He was very happy within his skin."



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"I loved him from the first moment I met him and I shall miss his eyes, his laughter, his honesty and his wonderful guitar playing."

From an Interview found here:

Talking about "Something" being his first A-side, and one of the latest Beatles singles:

George: Well, it wasn't so much the "A" side of a single, but it was frustrating at times when we had to wade through millions of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer's" before we could get to one of mine, you know. Because I think now that when you look retrospectively, that there were a couple of my tunes that were good enough -- or better -- than ones that Paul or John had written occasionally. But you know, that's just how it was. It doesn't bother me, really. I was just on hold for a while.

I love this quote. It shows George's humble personality. John and Paul were amazing songwriters, but sometimes they failed, and George was always there with his songs, waiting for his opportunity. I guess he did find the definitive understanding from the world when ATMP came out. But it never really was a big deal to him. I like that attitude.



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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

About the Beatles years and the fact that they didn't play live anymore:

I was disappointed that we got so famous, because as musicians, we were a really good band in the early days. And the more fame that we got, the more the audience screamed and the more that we did just 20 or 30 minute shows of our latest singles. The musicianship kind of went out the window. And when I hang out with somebody like Eric Clapton, who, on the other hand never stopped touring and never got into that situation, he always just changed bands, he really became so fluent on his instrument. You know, we pigeonholed ourselves by the mania that was going on and the inability to perform for longer periods at a time, because of the way it was.

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

Beatles getting back together?

Q: George, do you ever see a reunion tour with you and Paul and Ringo?
George: Stranger things have happened.

From the Yahoo chat, Feb 2001.

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

About the Friar Park incident in 1999:

Q: Following the incident at your house on Dec. 1999 has your outlook on life changed at all?
George: Yes and no. Adi Shankara an Indian historical, spiritual, groovy-type person once said "life is fragile, like a raindrop on a lotus leaf.". And you better believe it!

Same Yahoo session.

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

[This Message Has Been Edited By darkhorse On March 28, 2002 08:10 AM]

'Scan Not A Friend...'

Q: Does Paul still piss you off (tell us the truth)

George: Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass -- You know his faults -- Then let his foibles pass. Old Victorian Proverb. I'm sure there's enough about me that pisses him off, but I think we have now grown old enough to realize that we're both pretty damn cute!


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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

Romantic love? Religious love?

Q: Mr. Harrison, I was wondering if you might tell us a bit about your ideas on love. Romantic love, that is. I recall you having written some of the Beatles' most beatiful love songs. It would be interesting to hear how your religious attitudes have impacted your beliefs concerning romanticism.

George: Well, the lover that we miss is actually God. The beauty that you see within each other is actually God. So, Krishna was the greatest romanticist. He had girlfriends on every corner! I can't seperate the two -- a beautiful girl is the divine mother, a beautiful man is the manifestation of potential.

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

To end, a classic. From The Beatles years.

Alan Freeman: George, is it true that you're a connoisseur of the classics?
George: No, it's just a rumour. A rumour.
Freeman: Just a rumour?
George: Hmm.
Freeman: Do you enjoy singing Beethoven?
George: No. Been singing it for twenty-eight years now, you know
Freeman: For how long?
George: Twenty-eight years
Freeman: That's incredible. Could you manage one more performance?
Geogre: Um... Possibly.
Freeman: Oh go on, say yes.
George: Yes. Thank you.

I know it didn't have anything to do with the previous ones, but I just love this bit.



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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

All the quotes I'm posting are from one of my dad's 70s music mags:

"Harrison is quick to point out that it is real love that he is talking about. 'So often we say "I love you if..." "I love you when..." "I love you but..." And that's not real love. Real love is "I love you even if you kick me in the head and stab me in the back, I love you." Or just "I love you unconditionally," and that just goes beyond everything.'"

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"Say you don't love him, my salamander"--
Paul McCartney, "Getting Closer"

The positive feeling of 33 & 1/3 reflects Harrison's recent positive mood, but actually some of the songs on the new LP were ideas from the past. Harrison recalls that "my engineer in England, who's Ravi Shankar's nephew remembered me singing the one that's called 'See Yourself.' Now I had completely forgotten about it and he was saying 'what about that song? You must do that song.'

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"Say you don't love him, my salamander"--
Paul McCartney, "Getting Closer"

'We Gotta Save The World'

"You can destroy our planet, but the souls are going to keep on going, they'll keep on getting new bodies and going on to other plantes. So in the end, it doesn't really matter."

From the aussie Rolling Stone special issue (much thanks to old_moon_shining), this is from an interview Goerge gave in 1987, for Rolling Stone's 20th Anniversary issue.

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

The Future

"In one way I feel pessimistic. When you see the rate that the world is being demolished - people polluting the oceans and chopping down all the forests - unless somebody puts the brakes on soon, there isn't going to be anything left. There's just going to be more and more people with less and less resources. In that respect, I feel very sad. But at the same time, I have to be optimistic. I think that even if the whole planet blew up, you'd have to think about what happens when you die. In the end, 'life goes on within you and without you'."

(same interview)

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"The action that I've started sometime I'll have to face,
My influence in motion rebounding back through space"
~ George, 1974

[This Message Has Been Edited By darkhorse On March 30, 2002 12:03 PM]

July 8, 1968 after the Yellow Submarine press screening;

Reporter ; how do you feel, you look so much younger,

George ; thank you, I feel great. If I cut my hair off some more, I'd look even younger still and maybe I could join The Small Faces.

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I could do
with an Old Brown Shoe

And one for Darkhorse;

November 1968, interview about the tracks from the White Album;

On Revolution #9;

- Ringo and I compiled that. Wewent into the tape library and looked through the entire room and pulled main selections and gave the tapes to John, and he cut them together

- The whole thing, 'number nine, number nine' is because I pulled the box number nine. It was some kind of educational programme. John sat there and decided which bits to cross-fade together, but if Ringo and I hadn't gone there in the first place, he wouldn't have had anything

- Revolution #9 is all right. It works very well in the context of all those different songs. That's the great thing about it, that if people spent more enough time listening to it, then there is all these different types of music in it, and types of songs

taken from Keith Badman's 'The Beatles, Off the record'


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I could do
with an Old Brown Shoe

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By darkhorse:
Romantic love? Religious love?

Q: Mr. Harrison, I was wondering if you might tell us a bit about your ideas on love. Romantic love, that is. I recall you having written some of the Beatles' most beatiful love songs. It would be interesting to hear how your religious attitudes have impacted your beliefs concerning romanticism.

George: Well, the lover that we miss is actually God. The beauty that you see within each other is actually God. So, Krishna was the greatest romanticist. He had girlfriends on every corner! I can't seperate the two -- a beautiful girl is the divine mother, a beautiful man is the manifestation of potential.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you so much for posting this. This is amazingly beautiful! One time I read an article where they asked George if his love songs were about God or Olivia....and he said similarly that he saw this as one in the same, that his love songs for Olivia were about the God he sees manifest within her. Beautiful.

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"Everything else can wait~ but the seach for God cannot wait." -Paramahansa Yogananda

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By FPSHOT:
July 8, 1968 after the Yellow Submarine press screening;

Reporter ; how do you feel, you look so much younger,

George ; thank you, I feel great. If I cut my hair off some more, I'd look even younger still and maybe I could join The Small Faces.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's great!

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"Everything else can wait~ but the seach for God cannot wait." -Paramahansa Yogananda

This quote is from a delegate from England, who was born in Liverpool. I don't remember his name, but he spoke at the memorial service that was held in LA at Griffith Park that first weekend in December. It was regarding the attack in 1999.

At the scene, after the attack, the police found it necessary to inquire from George any information which may lead them to derive a motive for this crime. "Can you give us any information on your attacker?", they inquired. George responded, "Yes, I've determined he definitely was not auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys!"

This got us all smiling~ maybe for the first time since...




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"Everything else can wait~ but the seach for God cannot wait." -Paramahansa Yogananda