George Harrison Back on Upswing

This photo seems to match the description given in the article, so I believe it was taken on the same day.  

 

George Harrison Back on Upswing

By Lisa Robinson

Tuscon Citizen

December 21, 1976

    "I was thinking of how to tour next time," George Harrison told me.  "And a way I could do it with Indian musicians, because that was such a fantastic party, traveling with them last time. Perhaps on a Monday night, I could do the rock and roll concert at Madison Square Garden, while on the same night, the Indian musicians could do the classical concert at Carnegie Hall. Then the next night would have the Loony Jazz Rock and Roll Indian Band playing at Radio City Music Hall, and it would be all of us together.  That way, one bunch gets to hear "Here Comes the Sun", while the other hears "Rawanawa", and the next night, it's "Zum Zum Zum""

    . But George has probably learned his lesson attempting to turn his audience onto Indian musicians. For when he tours the US this summer, it won't be with the above and slightly tongue-in-cheek plan.

     What George does plan is a tour with a package that includes his friend, rock singer Gary Wright, as well as members of the hilarious British Monty Python troupe. The concerts will be multimedia events that will feature the music of Harrison and Wright and the skits, films, and songs of the Pythons.

     George's affection for the Monty Pythons is well known. He is particularly friendly with Python Eric Idle, who did a satirical Beatles film called The Rutles for Saturday Night Live. George also joined the Monty Python cast on stage at New York City Center last year and donned the appropriate Mounted Police costume for a rousing chorus of the "Lumberjack Song".

     "I think it's time I talk to people," said George Harrison. "I haven't really said much for a couple of years.,"

     And George hasn't had an easy time these past few years. He admits to being unhappy about recent "negative" albums, and George's 1974 US tour that included a troupe of classical Indian musicians, was met with a largely negative reaction. In addition, he was recovering from a bout with hepatitis this past summer, and finished his new album in London when he was successfully sued for his song, "My Sweet Lord," And it was claimed a rip-off of the 1963 Chiffons hit "He's So Fine."

     Then, when he returned to Los Angeles with the ready album under his arm, George was informed that A &M Records, which housed both George and Dark Horse Records label, had brought suit against him for ten million for nondelivery of the LP. That legal hassle was eventually settled out of court, and George switched labels for both himself and Dark Hourse to Warner Brothers, where he has been greeted with unlimited enthusiasm.

     Interviewed in his Los Angeles home atop Beverly Glen Canyon, George was in a very good mood indeed, smoking Gitanes, wearing jeans and a Dark Horse t-shirt, George Harrison was very up about his new album, 33 1/3.

 Are you getting used to lawsuits?

 George:  Yeah. The Beatles started out as musicians, you know, and we got sucked into it as if we were lawyers or accountants. It's unbelievable. It's a pain in the neck. Really. The Beatles' depositions were terrible, but the next worst thing was the "My Sweet Lord" lawsuit. 

You see a lot of people sue people like us because it's aggravation for us, and they think we'll settle. The guy who wrote that song they were complaining about, "He's So Fine", actually died in 1967 or 1968, so he never even heard "My Sweet Lord". And I'm sure if he was a musician, he wouldn't have flinched, but the guy who is his accountant took over the company. He was a real sneak. Just saw this as money pouring out of the sky into his lap.

 When you wrote it or first played it back, you never realized it sounded the same?

George: No. I went through all this in court. See, in 1968, the big song was "Oh, Happy Day". And that was the song for me. It was so up and positive. And I thought it was great to be able to do something both spiritual and commercial. What's the point of doing something that no one's going to hear? So I really wanted to come up with something like that. That, incidentally, the chord changes on "My Sweet Lord" are the same as on, "Oh Happy Day"

 Anyway, I was playing "Hallelujah" on the guitar over and over one day, and I put in "Hare Krishna", and it fit both in syllables and in rhythm and in the meaning of the glorification of God, I thought it was a good way of getting Hare Krishna into the song. So then I did some scat singing to tie all the parts together.

And what had been just a big chorus eventually got refined into a sequence for recording. The entire lawsuit was hinging on the first three notes of the song, as well as the four notes of the chorus, but the sheet music for the song was just what happened to come out on that recording date. For all I know, those same notes could have been arranged differently on another date.

 Don't you think the two songs sound the same?

George: Well, I finally realized it by the time the song came out on the radio in 1970, and a few disc jockeys got off on the idea. But you can listen to a number of records and hear other songs in them. In my mind, I don't consider it a lift because I was trying to do "Oh Happy Day" and I was trying, in some subtle way, to unite the eastern and western things of hallelujah and Hare Krishna. 

How has it affected you?

George:  Well, it was a heavy, emotional thing to have to go into court and play the guitar and all these records. All the secretaries from the other courts came. It was like, "Oh, let's go see George give a concert in court."

 My new single, "This Song," is all about it, and I've tried to sneak in some bits like "This tune there's nothing bright about it." That was the name of the company, Bright Tunes vs Harrisongs. 

It has put me through a real bad period of paranoia, though, because every time I pick up a guitar. I think, 'oh, no, this sounds like...' I can't help it. I do it all the time now.

 Is it difficult being an ex Beatle"

 George:  Yes. As Derek Taylor (former Beatles press officer, now head of Warner Brothers Records in England) would say, being born in Liverpool carries with it certain responsibilities.

 How do you react to a $5 million offer to reunite the Beatles, like the one made by the promoter Bill Sargent?

George: Well, since that man also was to have promoted that match with the shark, my suggestion about that was that  Sargent would fight the shark in the tank. The winner could promote the Beatles concert.

 You have said that you would never want to play with Paul McCartney again.

 George:  I couldn't see it. Obviously, if we did, it would be a  compromise. But you know, I went to school with Paul. He was a year older than me. I met him when I was 13, and we were together for 17 years till we split. People in America think we got together around 1964 and split up in 1968, but from 1956, I was hanging out with Paul, and a little bit after that with John. When you're so close, you tend to lock each other up in pigeon holes. And for me, it was difficult, because musically, with Ringo and John, I had no problem, but with Paul, well, it reached a point where he wouldn't allow me to play on the sessions.

 I saw these things because it was part of us splitting up, but at the same time, I have a tendency to defend Paul, John, and Ringo, too. If anyone else said anything without qualification about them. After going through all that together, there must be something good about it. It was all part of a solid experience. It was just around 1968 that everybody's ego started going crazy. 

How could that not have happened?

 George:  I don't know. Maybe it was just a lack of tact or discretion, but a lot of feelings got hurt. And probably the biggest problem of all was there was no way Yoko Ono and Linda McCartney were going to be in the Beatles. They really helped put the nail in the coffin, and that said, without any bitterness against Yoko or Linda, because I can really enjoy them as people. But let's face it, the Beatles were not with Yoko and Linda. The only thing that would get us together again is if we really wanted to be in each other's company so badly and to make music together.