(Credits: Far Out / Bradford Timeline)
Fri 5 December 2025 16:30, UK
When we think of the greatest love songs by The Beatles, our attention often points towards Paul McCartney.
The melody maker was the sweetest voice of all of them, concerning himself less with the twisted darkness of modern life, the sort John Lennon was more creatively intrigued by. Instead, he embraced the happiness of life, penning melodies that felt as though they fell out of the sky and landed straight on our hearts.
But the thing is, when all was said and done, and The Beatles packed up their instruments at the very end of the 1960s, it wasn’t McCartney who wrote what many critics remembered as the band’s greatest love song. No, that crown was reserved for his fellow songwriter. No, not John Lennon, but George Harrison.
Harrison’s ‘Something’ was widely considered by music fans, critics and fellow musicians as the finest love song of all. Coming at their very last album, it showed the rest of the band what could have been during the earlier years had he been given more songwriting power. Instead, he took that form and put it into his solo career, with the triumphant All Things Must Pass in 1970 and songs like ‘If Not For You’.
By the time 1979 rolled around, he was in full flow. His self-titled album of that year left nothing behind, as Harrison dedicated much of the tracklisting to the idea of romance. But in doing so, Harrison penned some tracks that pushed the limit of sentimentality to a point where he almost embarrassed himself.
As he flicked through the album’s tracklisting, and the romantic songs in question, he said, “I like them all really, but the two I least like are ‘If You Believe’ – I like the sentiment of that, but it’s a bit obvious as a tune – and ‘Soft Touch’, which is just pleasant but there’s nothing special about it, I feel. All the others I like for various reasons. ‘Blow Away’ I like because it’s so catchy; in fact, I was a bit embarrassed about it at first, but it turned out good, and people seem to like it.”
He continued, “That was the first new tune I wrote. I was in the garden, and it was pouring down with rain, and I suddenly became aware that I was feeling depressed, being affected by the weather. And it’s important to remember that while everything else around you changes, the soul within remains the same; you have to constantly remember that and fight for the right to be happy.”
‘Blow Away’ went on to become the lead single of Harrison’s 1979 album, which was an apt choice given its catchiness. Because there is no denying it, the repeated vocal hook is certainly something you would hear on the radio.
But nevertheless, it’s equally something you would imagine hearing in a great Beatles session, for it blurs the line between pop and nuance. The verses are packed with the sort of guitar playing fans had come to expect from Harrison and continued to prove his supreme ability to write a guitar-led love song.
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