GH: M-A-Y, with a line over the A, M-A-Y-A, and Maya, when you translate it literally, 'that which is not.' Maya, you know, it's like, I'll just go back, I'll try and do it quickly, to go back into the thing of meditation, the thing that I learned, it's like to say this state of consciousness we're in is only the effect of some very subtle cause; so it's like to say, this is what the Maharishi used to demonstrate, he'd have a flower, and he'd say 'you see there's a stem, and then the leaves and the petals and all the pieces of the flower. The stem's made of sap, the leaf's made out of sap, and the petals are made out of sap. It's all sap. See, the cause is sap, but the effect is petals, left and stems, see.' So this is very, um, in some ways, quite deep, sort of philosophical thing.
Usually, what I would do is make it, write a song and the melody, and usually get the idea of the words. Sometimes, I even write them all at the same time. The words I usually have to think more about than the music, and sometimes I can write a whole song musically, with, say, one verse and chorus, and then I'll leave it and then come back and finish off the other verses.
INT: Yeah, I think your verses are getting more and more complicated. I mean in a good way, but...
GH: Yeah...
INT: more and more thought out. Y'know?
GH: I don't know.
INT: And that lots of, the circle around, you know?
GH: I like the things to mean a lot of different things at the same time.
INT: Yeah, that's what I was trying to say...right.
GH: Yeah, I like that but...
INT: Double meaning.
GH: Yeah
INT: What about 'Bye Bye Love'? Why did you do that one?
GH: I'll tell you what happened with that. One night, I was just at home playing the guitar with Tommy Scott. Tommy Scott's a sax player. He was playing the bass, and we were just sitting around the fire playing songs, and we started playing, and for some reason, I changed. I just started singing ' Bye Bye Love' but changed the melody into more like a sort of blues. You know how it goes (George sings Everly Bros. version): 'Bye-bye love, bye-bye happiness...' I changed it (George sings his version), 'Bye-bye love, bye-bye happiness...' It's more like it's making it mine and more like it's sort of a blues thing. We just played that for a while, and for some reason, it just stuck in my mind. Then I decided that would be funny to record it. And as I recorded it, I did it all alone. It was great for me, as you know, I've got a recording studio in the house, so I didn't have any engineers or anything. I just did it., I have a rhythm machine to keep the time, and then I just played it on the guitar, then I later added the drum and all the bass and the synthesizer. It was a good exercise for me in recording without any help. And then, I got more involved with it and started writing more about what was happening with my wife. And that was it.
INT: Does she mind?
GH: No, she loved it! (laughter) I sent Eric and Pattie a copy of it and they loved it!
INT: The papers all tried to make a big thing out of it.
GH: Well, you know....
INT: A revenge thing.
GH: No. Look, if you've split up with your wife, they automatically want you to hate each other so they can write about it.
INT: To make a better story.
GH: So that song spoiled it for them because they're always trying to catch you doing something. I learned from the past that if you have something to hide. I make everything so there's nothing to hide anymore. I've never had a private life for ten years, so I mean, I just got used to it. The thing the press doesn't understand, that they can't understand, is that I could be happy she is with Eric.
INT: No...
GH: 'Cause he is one of my best friends. Well, why not? That's fantastic! I was just with her yesterday and the day before. We're great friends, and I love Eric. The last time I was in Sweden was with Delaney and Bonnie.
INT: I saw that concert.
GH: Yeah? With Eric....
INT: They were in Stockholm, in concert...
GH: Yeah, we played Stockholm and Gothenburg
INT: It was great.
GH: Yeah, I enjoyed that. I enjoy being in a band. The only problem for me is if I am the leader of the band, it's hard because there is so much pressure put on you if you are in the front.
INT: Do you ever miss the old times of being in a band? Of being with the Beatles?
GH: I don't know. I think all of the Beatles miss playing in a band but not necessarily playing in the Beatles because that was a long time ago now, and the times have really changed. Four people in the band, it was hard. We'd be playing concerts to 20 thousand to 70 thousand people, and in those days they didn't know how to mic everything. Now, you can play with little amplifiers and put it through the sound system and get good sound, but in those days, we just had little amplifiers and had 20 thousand people shouting at us. You couldn't hear a thing, and it was frustrating. And now the audiences are better. They listen more, but the Beatles are very limited because our music, even the last Beatles tour, was a bit difficult trying to play things. I remember trying to do things like 'Paperback Writer,' which we'd got into 8 track recording, and it's hard to play four, just two guitars, bass, and drums to play things like 'A Day in the Life,' And 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' we couldn't do it, because it's a studio recording. So you get a better chance of doing it if you have a few more people in the band. So that's why I just love this band I was with. It was fantastic with the horn players. It's nice to feel a good band behind you.
INT: What sort of music do you listen to yourself? If you have time?
GH: Well, I like the Indian classical music. That's my main thing. But then I like some blues singers. I prefer the old blues from the '30s and not the modern and the today people. I just love Smokey Robinson. Do you know Smokey Robinson? There's a lot fo stuff like that I like. There's Tamla/Motown and I like Dylan and the Band. There's all kinds. There's so much really that I think I prefer Smokey Robinson and Bob Dylan and Indian classical music.
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