Credit: Far Out / Bradford Timeline
Wed 23 September 2026 16:30, UK
George Harrison often got the short end of the stick working with The Beatles.
Here you had one of the greatest songwriters that anyone had ever heard in a band, but when you’re standing next to someone like John Lennon or Paul McCartney, there’s normally more than a little bit of insecurity going on when you have to put your songs next to tunes like ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘Hey Jude’. But even if he felt like he had grown into being a great songwriter, it only took one song for him to start making his way out of the band after one too many ignored song ideas.
Then again, the idea of everyone getting back on the same page for the Fab Four’s next album did at least have some merit. Harrison wanted the chance to do whatever he could to make something that was a bit less experimental, and since everyone had been listening to more earnest songwriting coming out of groups like The Band, Get Back at least promised to be the kind of record that could remind them of why they loved performing.
Or at least that’s what it was supposed to be. Because while Harrison came into Twickenham Film Studios ready to record half the time, he wasn’t willing to be stepped on anymore. He had come in with tons of different tunes, and when the band first got down to business, hearing everyone get giddy about Lennon and McCartney being back together again didn’t do him any favours.
‘I Me Mine’ had the potential to be a great Beatles song, but since Lennon was already critiquing the tune and was waltzing around with Yoko Ono while Harrison was showing the rest of the band the song, it’s not like he was giving it his full attention. And it’s especially poetic looking back at the Get Back documentary and seeing the band reach an impasse when working on the song ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’.
The tune did start the lads off on the right track when they first got together to jam on new ideas, but Harrison wasn’t going to be stepped on anymore when Macca decided to stifle his guitar playing. He had already run into this problem when working on ‘Hey Jude’ and was told not to throw in any lead guitar licks, but with McCartney telling him to stop vamping and continually focus on what Lennon was doing, Harrison seems to be painted out of the room half the time.
It gets especially poignant when the ‘Nerk Twins’ start singing ‘Two of Us’ together. The whole tune already has a subtext centred around both of them getting back together and McCartney analysing their friendship, but if that wasn’t enough to make Harrison feel left out, having to have a brief spat with the former leading up to recording ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ became the final straw that led to him walking out midway through the sessions.
Further reading: From The Vault
And while he was convinced to come back, it’s not like he suddenly forgot about the kind of problems that he was having when they returned to the studio environment. He was still feeling stifled, and even at certain points during the documentary, Harrison mentions to Lennon that he would rather find time to go and make a solo album than have to stockpile countless songs to put on ice during The Beatles’ recording sessions.
He had the potential to do an album on his own, separate from the band, if he wanted to, and had McCartney known that conversation took place, we might have been in for a totally different outlook on history. Harrison was already getting fed up for years, but if he had the chance to go out on his own and come back to make a Beatles album, perhaps the Fab Four could have kept going and not succumbed to the business drama that ultimately broke them up.
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