George Harrison Press Conference 1979

 

George Harrison 1979 press conference in Los Angeles, California 

Transcribed and printed in Beatlefan magazine Volume 1 Issue 3

George:  First of all, let me say 'I'm sorry about that' to all of you who were supposed to be here on Monday. I ran over my foot on Saturday in a tractor and had to go and X-ray it to make sure I hadn't broken anything. I was a bit dizzy, you see, hopping about trying to pack, and I just couldn't make it.

     I was driving a tractor along the road in the garden, down a path, and couldn't find the accelerator to go faster, so I knocked it out of gear, and the thing just started rolling down this hill. I put my foot on the brake, and the brakes weren't working, so I drove up a little bank to try and slow down a bit and put my foot on the road, because it was only a small one of those things, and I ran over my foot with the back wheel and just--- crash! It was just a bad sprain. I just couldn't put my weight on it at all. I had to have a wheelchair for a few days, but I got a bit of sympathy.

 On the new album.

George:  If I feel good about it, I feel happy about it, it seems, you know, the response to it is really nice. I mean, sometimes it's like you can do something, and it's like swimming against the tide. You know, no matter what you do, it just doesn't have that natural flavor with it, whereas with this one, it just feels like, I don't particularly know the reason, the timing, everything, the songs, whatever, but it's all as if it's just being supported by positive reaction, which is very nice.

 On changes since 33 1/3,

George: I think what happened between this album and the last one is that everything has been going nicely for me. My life is getting better all the time, and I'm happy, and I think that's reflected in the music. Also, on this one, I decided that the last couple of albums, it became really difficult making these records, because if you're writing the tunes, you're singing on them, you produce them, and mix them. You know, you go crazy, or I do. I don't know if everyone else does. 

But usually, like in a group situation, you have a few people who all pull together and bounce off, like in my situation, I have musicians who come in to do the basic tracks, then they all split, and so all the decisions would be for me, and there's a point where you can get at a loss. So I decided out front I would work with somebody else. So I prayed to the Lord that He would send me a co-producer. And I got a co-producer, and that helped a lot. You know, just having somebody else out front, even before the record was started, it helps to have some other opinions, so that at least when you know your crackers, you got somebody to tell you.

On  how he allowed himself to go hoarse during Dark Horse sessions

George:   Actually on the album, there was only the one cut called "Dark Horse", and I was singing with a hoarse voice, and that was because, at the time, I was rehearsing to go on the road, and I was losing my voice very quickly, and I hadn't completed the studio version of "Dark Horse". I had almost finished, so I decided, well, as I'm going to do this live with the band, I'll rehearse the band, and also then we'll just do it like a live take of the song and use that as the album cut.

 But actually, I just listened to it the other day, and I think it's great. I love it. I wish I could sing like that more often, like Louis Armstrong.

On his involvement with the new Monty Python film. 

George: They set up the movie. They were going to make this movie, and I read the script, and some friends of mine gave me the script, but the producer, who is EMI film in England, suddenly backed out of that after they had already gotten into itbut before they were shooting it. They got into production, and they were just left with no backing. So a friend of mine just suggested. He said to me, 'Can't you think of a way of helping them raise the money?' So I said to my business manager, 'Can we think of a way of raising the money?' And he said to me, 'Oh, let me think for a minute, son, I think it could be easily done, send a man to Highway 61,' so he thought of a way of getting the money. 

And so really, that's my only involvement. Is that we, you know, because I'm a fan of Monty Python and I would like to go to the movies and see this film. So we figured out a way of getting them the money to make the film. And really, that's it. Really, I've just dropped in the film for like, 10 seconds.

On rumors he's inviting three old friends to be in the film

George:  In the Python film?  Well, they're already finished making it. In fact, they're almost finished with the complete edit. Maybe within the next couple of weeks they'll have the final edit. So it's a bit late for that.

 On the alleged lack of humor in his last work.

George:  Well, it depends on what side of your face you smile, really. That's been a problem for a while, is that people always felt I was the serious one. But people don't get concepts about people, or they put a tag on somebody. And no matter what you do, they seem to think that's what you are. But if you go back through all those albums, or even with the Beatles, it's more like tongue-in-cheek.

 If you say a joke and you don't smile, it doesn't mean to say it's not a joke. But this album, for example, 'Not Guilty'. The whole lyric of that is kind of comedy.

On whether it's about Paul McCartney

George: No, it's just about that period in 1968. It's a complete joke, the lyrics. In fact, if you go back on all the records, there's a lot of comedy in it. You just have to look for it.

 On his reaction to Robert Stigwood's Sgt. Pepper film.

George:  Well, that got a bit out of hand.  On a TV interview in England, they said to me, 'what do you think of Sergeant Pepper, the Stigwood film?'  And I said, 'Well, I don't know. Everybody tells me it's awful, but I haven't seen it. And then they said,' Are they allowed to do all that?', referring to all the Beatles and side effects, you know, the people who do these stage productions?

 And I said, 'I don't think so'. You know, there are certain laws that protect individuals' rights or names and likenesses or whatever they call it in legal terms. And this is what I said on the TV show. The problem is that the Beatles were so spaced out, and over the last few years, nobody would ever get together again. Finally, it's all been unraveled, and we've all agreed that what we'll do is we'll have a company, somebody in America, and it would be their job to license people. If there's any merchandising or licensing to be done for these sorts of things. And it would be that company's job so they don't have to bother us all at the same time. If anybody is doing anything illegally, it'd be that company's job to also go out and get them.

 So that's what I said, but the Daily Mail turned it into, 'Oh, George is suing Robert Stigwood'. He's cool. I'm sure they made up the script. It's their own, and they paid their performance rights. So, you know, it's okay.

 On what he thought of the film

George:  I didn't see it.

On whether he will 

George: Not tonight. Well, I mean, sure, I'm going to have to see it. I'll probably catch it on an airplane somewhere. Everybody keeps telling me it's awful. So why do you want me to see it? I'd rather see the Fab Four.

On Alan Klein's New York tax trial.

Geoge: I didn't even know he was still up there in New York. I'm feel so sorry for the man, really. He looks miserable always. Maybe for him, he likes it. For me, it's miserable if you're always in court.

 On the degree to which Klein resembles John Belushi's take on him

George: Quite a lot, actually. I mean, that line was wonderful. 'You asked me where the money is. I don't know where the money is, but if you want some, I'll give it to you.' I mean, that sort of summed it up.

On how he selects his material. 

George:  Getting back to the music, that was what I was saying, that it was a great help to have somebody to work with as another objective point of view. A lot of different musicians say, Well, I like that. Generally, they play on whatever tunes you give them, and they don't have that much involvement. Whereas, if you're in a band, it's a livelihood, or you have a co-producer. That way, you get much more of an idea if you're going off the rails. So in that respect, I wanted a co-producer, somebody giving a hand for years. It's important in the selection of somebody, because I'm sure a lot of people would come and produce me, but you have to live with someone for a long time. It's important, not only that musically you see as personalities, you get along.

On why he doesn't collaborate more with people like Gary Wright. 

George: One of my problems as a songwriter has been that John and Paul were always the songwriters, and they started out writing together, or later, when they had their partnership as songwriters, when John wrote it, or Paul wrote it, it always said Lennon-McCartney. So basically, two people again. 

It's like in production, you can bounce off each other. I've always only written on my own, except in situations where I've been forced into writing with somebody else. Say, for example, I wrote some tunes with Ringo because he started the tunes and then got stuck, so I had to come and help him finish the tunes. Or like I did with somebody called Doris Troy, and that was because I was producing her album, and we got to the session and she didn't have any tunes, so we had to make them up on the spot. But generally, there have been very few cases where I've sat with somebody and tried to write. I'd love to do if I get over the initial problem. I'm sure if I sat down with somebody like it was suggested, suggested that I try writing some tunes with other people, if you don't already have a relationship with somebody, and just go into a room and sit with them and say, 'Hello, Jinga. Jinga. Jinga'. Not too nice.  I'm sure that will happen, maybe for an hour or three or a week or something. And then once you get into some sort of communication there, it might work out. You may end up with a load of rubbish, wishing that you'd just stayed on your own. I don't know, but I'd like to do that.

On whether he'll tour again

George: Come back on the road? I don't know. This continual question is always asked. The honest way of saying it, the answer to it, honestly at this moment, is "no." There's always a 50-50, chance. There's always a part of me that has enjoyed that once you get through all the barriers and all this and that you get a band, and there's always great moments when what want to do less of a thing. 

But basically, I'm not touring like Eric Clapton, say, a close friend of mine, and he's always on the road, and it's like it becomes a sacred thing. 'Hey, man, I'm on the road'. But on the road for a lot of musicians, is a way out. It's a way of escaping from the income tax and the bill collectors and the telephone or your mother-in-law, and it is, and in another way, it's good too. It's entertainment, and people need entertainment.

 But at the same time, it becomes like becoming an alcoholic, being on the road. It's like a workaholic. It has its problems too. So, I'm not a great fan of touring, although at the same time, I try to think of a way to do it in a controlled and sane manner, because you find the madness overpowers you until it sucks you into it. You become like a demon on this rolling mad tour, while everybody else is sitting around crackers. You get pulled into it like in '74 I was ready for the broom after that.

On whether he's entered a new phase in his musical evolution

George:  I don't know. I'm always entering new phases each day. As far as trying to enjoy the moment now, just to experience it more deeply, that's the main thing: to remember that we're all here now and that we're all happy, and if not, to try to be happier. And that's the most important thing. No matter what you're doing.

 I don't think you get happy by going on tour or by coming off tour. I don't see it as this phase or that phase. The phase is to try to manifest love in your life, and that's all, that's really all I can try and do.

On deeper meanings of his music. 

George: I think there's always been that element. Music has not been just a beat to it, but it's the same with art. There are paintings for you to sit and enjoy, as well as go into deep understanding the meaning and all that. And I think it's the same with all types of situations.

 And I think there's a time when you do this and a time when you don't do it. In the early '70s or '60s, The Beatles had a lot to say, and so did everybody else, and I, too, as a solo artist in the early '70s, and now it's a recurring thing. 

But what I'm trying to say is that try to be happier. That's all you know, and that's the only thing I'm trying to say. If you push "My Sweet Lord" down people's throats too much, they jump back and try to bite you. And in a way, that message has become a bit more subtle. "Your Love is Forever" on the new album is just really saying the same old story. It's "My Sweet Lord", really, it's just done in a way that's maybe less offensive to people, or through me getting a bit older and, you know, just being a bit more laid-back. 

Whether he's heard of "Comeback Beatles" by the People on Zebra

George: Nope, I haven't.  The last thing I heard was some guy in San Francisco who had this project to reunite John, Paul, George, and Ringo. As I wrote to him, I don't know what the others did, because he said, 'If I don't hear from any of you, by such and such a date, I'll take it as free to go ahead with.'  And they had all the stationery and the letterhead and all that.

 And all I could say to it was, 'Look, that was then.' There is this thing that says one of the main problems in life comes from everybody encroaching upon other people's lives. And it's true, you see one country suddenly jump into another country's territory, and you have a big war. And I think that's the problem. It's when somebody starts out, 'Hey, you're coming into your life. Now, tell you what you should do.'

 Well, the answer to that is, you know, he's on a trip. This guy is on a trip about the Beatles. He's built up this big fantasy about how the Beatles are the thing that can save the world. And that is complete rubbish. You know, the Beatles can't save the world. We'll be lucky if we can save ourselves.

On the possibility of a big new group escaping the tag of 'the new Beatles'.

George:  Somebody who is the new Beatles, or the new Bob Dylan, or the new Elvis Presley will be whoever he is. That's all the people who don't quite fulfill the public demands or desires, or are quite fulfilled, or have hopes. They're the ones getting tagged with, 'they're not the new Beatles or the new Bob Dylan.'

 Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan, and the Beatles are the Beatles. And when the new ones come along, they'll be whoever they are, and you'll never have to ask the question, 'When are they coming?' Because the Beatles came when they came. You knew it.  The same with Bob Dylan. They'll answer the question just by being there.

On whether he thinks music has become stagnant, sparking interest in the return to the '60s. 

George: Yeah, although I hope that the '80s will at least have the spirit that the '60s created, because it was that desire musically, to have more intrigue, deeper meaning, generate more love. And we went out of our way, that whole generation, that period, I was very disappointed when it got to like 1969 and suddenly everybody starts kicking each other and stabbing each other in the back again. After the whole love generation, where did they go? Where are you? Suddenly it becomes hate and deceit and all that sort of thing. I hope it happens in the '80s, because the 70s were a bit stagnant and a bit lost their direction. It was this and that, and it was chopping and changing. And I don't know what's in store, but I hope, as your question indicates, there's possibly that desire again, to have some positive music.

Whether the Beatles  influenced  the media in the '60s

George: Well, I think the media, of course, you are the media, and you all know how much you will value, you'll decide, and go into certain things, it's a new value. And also, to the extent to which you make a thing a new value that happens with the Beatles, and it's happening with anything.

There's a point where they think, 'Good, that's a new tip for the paper', or 'That's something new and different to write about', and they go after it, and it gets to the point where, okay, now what can they do? We said everything about the only thing we can do is knock it, and that's what the Beatles are too. Because, although everybody talks about the Beatles, we were loved for one minute, then they hated our guts, and then they loved us again, then they hated us. And what was probably one reason why we all went into meditation.   As Maharishi Mahesh Yogi said, 'it's like you're being little cork', like being a ship in the ocean at the mercy of whatever chopping and changing occurs, unless you're anchored to the bottom. 

And that's what was happening to us. One minute they were patting us on the back, and the next minute they were stabbing us in the back. And so the point is that we learned you can't rely upon this external change that's happening just to realize that it is a change, and you have to find some real point. I just had to. 

So I don't know what the original question was, but the media, you know how much you create the interest. Maybe there's nothing interesting, so you go out and say, 'Oh, we'll talk to George Harrison. That'll fill the gap until something good comes along.' You know how much everybody gets sucked into something they can't help but write about.  You know to what extent you yourselves, day by day, write an article because it demands that you do, or because your editor demands that you do, or because society demands you. I really can't tell, but I think things have a snowballing effect. 

You know, once it gets to a certain point, you know, someone else kicks in. It's like what's happened to Pete Frampton in the early '70s, or Fleetwood Mac, or the Bee Gees. It's like the record business. You can struggle to sell maybe half a million records or a million. You get to a point where, if you can get over that normal sales thing, suddenly they're selling 6 million. I just wish the Beatles had been selling records in the '70s.

 Whether he was distraught when the Beatles broke up, like Paul says he was

George: No, I thought, 'Thank God', not completely. I understand what he means. It was the same, like say, when our business manager Brian Epstein died, we suddenly faced the realization that, 'hey, nobody thought that we'd have to have that side covered. What are we going to do?'

 The idea of the Beatles being like a job, getting off at five, and then the factory burns down. For me, I was sort of glad we burned it down. It became too stifling. If you can imagine, if any of you've gotten 10 brothers and sisters, and you've grown up, and you're all 40 years old, and you still have it was like is was. You need your space. We had to try to help break that Beatle madness in order to have space to breathe, to become sort of human. 

Why he makes it sound so gloomy, and if he ever would consider a reunion.

George: It's not gloomy. It's just that it wasn't as much fun for us in the end as it was for all of you. I've said 100 times what was happening was that we were relatively four sane people going on in the world, and everybody was going crackers. They were using us as an excuse to go mad. 'Here comes the Beatles --crash. Let's smash up windows, rip up limousines,  let's have fun.' And we were in the middle it of getting the blame. 

Whether he resents people expecting a Beatles reunion. 

George:  Well, I don't now. I did resent it for a while, but not anymore. Now I face it. I must admit it was a privilege to have had that experience, to have been one of the Fab Four. There were only four who had that experience. Now I don't resent it. I look at it like Laurel and Hardy or the Marx Brothers, or anything like that, and think it was funny.  It was that time, that period in history. It will always be there. You can always go back and look at the Marx brothers movies. You can get fed up with it, but at least now I can deal with it on a sort of happier level. There was a period of years when it drove me crackers. I would say, 'Why don't you shut up asking about this, about the Beatles', but now it's like, 'okay.'

Whether they'll get together in something less than a full reunion

George: Just a cup of tea together? To get the four, and just put them in a room and have tea and satellite it all over the world, and charge $20 each to watch it. We could make a fortune. What we could do is just sit there. 'Well, John, what have you been doing? Well, Ringo?'

 I think we could, but that would be just as difficult, because everybody's left home and they're living their own life.  

On whether they've grown past the bad feelings. 

George: Oh sure, Everybody's cool. Now, we could all hang out together and have a great time. But the only thing that would spoil it would be all of you with the cameras and the microphones.

 On whether it will happen:

 George?:  I doubt it, and if it does, we won't tell you.

 Whether a reunion LP would end up being a collection of songs by the individuals. 

George:  There's a good chance of that. It's all daydreams until it happens. If it did happen, and I'm telling you, it won't, then you'll never know what it would be like.  If it did happen, there's no way we would do a mediocre record. It would be very, very good.

 Maybe that's what people want. Maybe people all want them to get together and they all fall over and everyone says, 'Yeah, well, I told you they would'.

 Why is he  no longer interested in signing acts to Dark Horse? 

George: Now all I'm interested in is having peace, because all they ever do is ask for your money and phone you all night long. You know?

Oon the Beatle reunion question not bothering him now

George: There's a limit to how many times a day you ought to answer the question. It doesn't bother me once every blue moon, or once every time I put an album out, we go out all over again. That's not bad.  If it's every day, it would drive me crazy. 

What he's doing the rest of the year.

George:  I would like to ride motorcycles and make another album. Thank you for coming. It's been pleasant.