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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Fri 17 April 2026 13:00, UK <\/p>\n
At the beginning of the 1970s, George Harrison<\/a> was ready for the world to finally take him seriously. <\/p>\n He had broken out of the shadow cast by his two elder bandmates, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, who, for the large part of his career thus far, and was ready to strike out as a solo artist. But what did seriousness really mean within the realms of George Harrison?\u00a0<\/p>\n Did it mean pensively staring down the barrel of a camera, to provide a hardened looked album cover? Or perhaps abandoning The Beatles\u2019 playful songwriting sensibilities to lay down heartfelt ballads that announce himself as the premier love song writer of the decade? Well, neither of those options would have felt wholly right for Harrison, who, in the latter stages of The Beatles, proved he was at his most interesting when flirting with esoterica.\u00a0<\/p>\n His spiritualism, combined with the technical mastery of his chosen instrument, meant he existed somewhere on the line of silliness and seriousness. His debut solo album,\u00a0All Things Must Pass,\u00a0was a perfect showcase of that, with the sharp and joyous \u2018Wah-Wah\u2019 following in the slipstream of the achingly beautiful \u2018My Sweet Lord\u2019. This juxtaposition was perfectly translated to the album cover<\/a>, which offered something similar to said pensive pose, but offset it with the scattered remains of garden gnomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrison was free in the \u201970s, and so creatives were keen to welcome him into their surrealist world, as they pushed the boundaries of modern art. One such person was Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose \u201873 film The Holy Mountain was produced by Harrison\u2019s company Apple \u2013 it was a surrealist masterpiece about the quest to reach enlightenment, and so, given Harrison\u2019s\u00a0extra-curricular activities<\/a>, he was the perfect fit for Jodorowsky, who wanted to leverage his access and have Harrison star in the lead role. <\/p>\n Open to all new opportunities, Harrison was keen, until one rather intimate detail was raised. \u201cHe was staying in the Plaza Hotel [in New York], in a big suite. He was dressed all in white. Very, very spiritual,\u201d Jodorowsky remembered.<\/p>\n Adding, \u201cHe said, \u2018I like the script, I want to do the picture. But there is one little part I cannot do.\u2019 I said, \u2018What little part?\u2019 He said, \u2018In a swimming pool, with a hippopotamus, I must clean my asshole in front of the camera. I don\u2019t want to do that.\u2019 I said to him, \u2018I am very happy that you like my picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Jodorowsky concluded, \u201cBut this moment is very important for the picture, and you are the biggest star, and if you show your anus, it will be the most fantastic illustration of how humble your ego is.\u2019 And then he said, \u2018No, I can\u2019t do it.\u2019 So I said, \u2018Well, I can\u2019t work with you.\u2019 I lost millions of dollars! I lost another picture!\u201d<\/p>\n Harrison was, of course, on board with the idea of interconnectedness across the earth, amongst both animals and humans. But, there was a clear line to be drawn, and clearly full mooning the entire world while washing a hippo was over it. Can\u2019t say I blame him, and I can\u2019t say that tarnishes his legacy as music history\u2019s great liberal leader<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n