{"id":690935,"date":"2026-06-08T03:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T03:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/690935\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T03:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T03:37:14","slug":"the-iconic-beatles-album-george-harrison-once-admitted-was-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/690935\/","title":{"rendered":"The Iconic Beatles Album George Harrison Once Admitted Was a \u201cMistake\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Beatles\u2019 eponymous \u201cWhite Album\u201d<\/a> is a beloved favorite among fans, thanks to tracks like \u201cBlackbird\u201d, \u201cHelter Skelter\u201d, and \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d. In hindsight, however, George Harrison once admitted to thinking the album was a mistake. History would show it was hardly the kind of gaff that could topple musical giants like The Beatles in 1968.<\/p>\n

Still, the \u201cQuiet Beatle\u201d might have gone about things a little differently if he had the chance to give it another go.<\/p>\n

George Harrison Thought This Crucial Element Was a Mistake<\/p>\n

Throughout their short time together as a band, The Beatles produced some truly incredible albums. The \u201cWhite Album\u201d is certainly among them, although it differs from the rest of the Fab Four\u2019s discography in one notable way: its sheer size. The Beatles was the band\u2019s only double album, featuring four sides of music that swung widely from radio-friendly hits, like \u201cBack In The U.S.S.R.\u201d and \u201cOb-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\u201d, to experimental, highly divisive tracks like \u201cRevolution 9\u201d and \u201cWhy Don\u2019t We Do It In The Road?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an impressive feat, but according to George Harrison, not necessarily an effective one. \u201cI think, in a way, it was a mistake doing four sides,\u201d he later admitted<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s too big for people to really get into it. For reviewers and the public. Maybe now people who have bought it, and if they\u2019ve really listened to it for years or since it was out, then they\u2019ll have their own favorites.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mused that it might have been a better decision to make the album compact, around fourteen songs. In his usual way, Harrison was too humble to list the specific tracks he found worthy of saving. But one could assume some shoe-ins would be \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d, \u201cHelter Skelter\u201d, \u201cDear Prudence\u201d, \u201cBack In The U.S.S.R.\u201d, \u201cBlackbird\u201d, \u201cOb-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\u201d, \u201cHappiness Is A Warm Gun\u201d, \u201cBirthday\u201d, and \u201cYer Blues\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even With the Album\u2019s Upsides, It Wasn\u2019t on Regular Rotation for George<\/p>\n

In the same interview, George Harrison said that the album\u2019s variety was a notable silver lining to an otherwise too-long album. Referencing \u201cRevolution 9\u201d<\/a>, he said that it wasn\u2019t exactly in The Beatles\u2019 typical style, but that it \u201cworked very well in the context of all those different songs. That was the great thing about it. That if people spent enough time listening to it, then there were all different types of music and types of songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison, however, didn\u2019t have this album on regular rotation. \u201cIt was a bit heavy, you know,\u201d he said. \u201cI find it heavy to listen to myself. In fact, I don\u2019t listen to it myself. I listen to mainly side one, which I like very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Mirrorpix via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Beatles\u2019 eponymous \u201cWhite Album\u201d is a beloved favorite among fans, thanks to tracks like \u201cBlackbird\u201d, \u201cHelter Skelter\u201d,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,10330,216,2156,13979],"class_list":["post-690935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-george-harrison","tag-music","tag-rock-music","tag-the-beatles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}