{"id":540540,"date":"2026-07-14T07:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/540540\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T07:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:05:20","slug":"george-harrison-would-have-formed-a-group-with-just-one-beatle-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/540540\/","title":{"rendered":"George Harrison would have formed a group with just one Beatle"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Harrison never had any interest in reuniting the Beatles after the band\u2019s breakup in 1970. While several members collaborated during their solo years \u2014 David Bowie even claimed he, John Lennon and Paul McCartney once discussed forming a group<\/a> \u2014 the Fab Four never returned to the studio or stage together.<\/p>\n

But Harrison hadn\u2019t completely soured on his former bandmates. As he revealed in a 1974 press conference, he was open to forming a new band with one Beatle in particular.<\/p>\n

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The Beatles\u2019 breakup came at an unfortunate time for Harrison. After years of being overshadowed by the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership<\/a>, he was flourishing as both a writer and guitarist. Songs like \u201cSomething,\u201d \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d and \u201cOld Brown Shoe\u201d proved he could match his bandmates as a songwriter, while his increasingly distinctive guitar work established him as one of rock\u2019s most original stylists.<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

The Beatles in 1969. (clockwise from left) Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Harrison and John Lennon. (Image credit: Alamy)<\/p>\n

The release of All Things Must Pass<\/a>, his ambitious 1970 solo debut, vindicated years of frustration. Powered by the hits \u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d and \u201cWhat Is Life,\u201d it became the most commercially successful solo album by any former Beatle in the immediate aftermath of the split.<\/p>\n

By 1974, Harrison was preparing to launch the tour behind Dark Horse with a band that included organist Billy Preston, bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Andy Newmark and a young Robben Ford<\/a>. During a press conference promoting the tour, he made it clear that a Beatles reunion held little appeal \u2014 but revealed there was one former bandmate he\u2019d happily work with again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s all a fantasy, the idea of putting the Beatles back together again,\u201d he said, as recounted in the book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. \u201cIf we ever do that, the reason will be that we are all broke. I\u2019d rather have Willie Weeks on bass<\/a> than Paul McCartney. That\u2019s the truth, with all respect to Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul is a fine bass player,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut he\u2019s a bit overpowering at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere in the press conference, Harrison expressed his fondness for drummer Ringo Starr, calling him a player with \u201cthe best backbeat I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"George\n<\/p>\n

Harrison made his comments at a press conference for his 1974 tour. He\u2019s seen here performing at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, November 7, 1974. (Image credit: Larry Hulst\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But in the end, it was Lennon whom he held in the highest regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn\u2019s gone through all of his scene, but he\u2019s like me, he\u2019s come back around,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cTo tell the truth, I\u2019d join a band with John Lennon any day, but I couldn\u2019t join a band with Paul McCartney. But it\u2019s nothing personal. It\u2019s from a musical point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison may also have been remembering Lennon\u2019s generosity during a September 1969 meeting, when he suggested future Beatles albums<\/a> should feature a more equal distribution of songs among the four members. Lennon also said he regretted not giving Harrison and Starr the lucrative B-sides to Beatles singles so they could gain greater exposure \u2014 and make more money. Two weeks later, Lennon privately announced he was leaving the band, rendering the proposal moot.<\/p>\n

Harrison had already worked with Lennon on the latter\u2019s 1971 solo album, Imagine, contributing lead and slide guitar<\/a> to several tracks. He also played Dobro on \u201cCrippled Inside,\u201d demonstrating the musical chemistry the two still shared.<\/p>\n

Aside from his work with the Traveling Wilburys, Harrison continued recording and performing as a solo artist until his death in 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Harrison never had any interest in reuniting the Beatles after the band\u2019s breakup in 1970. While several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-540540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}