George's criticisms of Macca
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luigiram:
I find it strange how George Harrison always went out of his way to knock Paul down in interviews for being "selfish" about recording his songs first and about the "ego" within the band.. But when you look at the last 2-3 of the Beatles recordings, you can see and hear Paul's contributions to George's songs and John hardly played on any of them!!! If you read Tony Bramwell's book Magical Mystery Tours, the big arguement between George and Paul was spurred on by Yoko irritating George and him taking it out on Paul.. If you read some of their interviews after like 1971, George, not John is the one who gave Paul the most crap.. John was usually quite complimentary towards Macca after 1971.. Even on the **** Cavett show he referred to Paul as his "best friend" and Yoko agreed... There's a video from like 1987 or 88 from MTV I think on You Tube where during an interview , George was asked about Paul saying he wanted to do some Lennon songs live, to which he responded.. "he's probably run out of good ones of his own"... This from a guy who did a 12 song set on tour in 1974 and included a cover of "In My Life" and a Dylan cover of "If Not For You", that was crap, Paul would have done anything for George.
There is some truth to what you say, but I believe you are making it appear somewhat out of context. I mean we have perhaps 10-20 remarks and jibes by George about Paul in the press over a 30 year span, maybe 15 minutes out of Harrison's life over a 30 year period. What about all the nice things Harrison said about McCartney, what about his kind remarks about the song "I'm Carrying" from the Rolling Stone interview in 79 to promote the George Harrison 79 album. Harrison was possibly the most sarcastic of the Beatles, going back as far the I don't Like Your Tie remark to George Martin in 1962. A lot of the things Harrison said, were done sarcastically rather tongue in cheek. Harrison made the same type of caustic or sarcastic remarks about Lennon and others. He said of Lennon's and the Beatles Free As A Bird, in Australia shortly after the Beatles reunion " I hope somebody does that with all my crap demo's and turns them into hit songs" Having said all that, Harrison certainly did seem to harbor some resentment about Paul, probably some jealousy, but I think much of it comes from The lawsuit where McCartney sued the other three Beatles in open court, airing all their dirty laundry. I think it comes from his releasing the McCartney album in direct competiton to the Let It Be album. I also think Harrison has stated quite clearly in Anthology he said "There was a lot of ego in that band, some of those songs should have just been elbowed aside" Harrison was talking about, in the context of, some of his songs never made later Beatles albums, but granny songs like Maxwells Silver Hammer or Honey Pie did, and I think Harrison resented getting a few more of his songs recorded in the Beatles. At least in the last few years, say from Revolver or Pepper onward. But I think they did love each other, I think Harrison loved McCartney very much, but I think he also did harbor some resentments about what he once called " Economy class Beatle" he said that he and Ringo were treated like the second class Beatles. I think there is some truth to that. You may not like it, but some of Harrisons emotional scars may have been justified. Having said all that, in later years, they played, they recorded, they had dinner together, with and without Ringo, they wrote at least one song together, they jammed, they hung out. A lot of it was just Harrison being sarcastic, I think it's all blown out of Proportion. You know a lot of people were thrilled to play and record with George Harrison, without feeling the need to call him a "Little" brother. McCartney has a pretty big ego, maybe he hurt Harrisons feelings, maybe Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, maybe they treated him more like an equal and less like a little brother, who needed to be minded
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Haven't read this entire thread, so my apologies if someone has already mentioned this. You have to remember that Paul knew George first of all the Beatles - even before he met John - so that friendship goes back a long way. Whatever George may have said in the press, when it came down to it he and Paul were friends.
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whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
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graystoke:
whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
And rightly so, no? He's perhaps the greatest musician/composer of the last 150 years! I think of all the Beatles he comes across as the most down to Earth and likeable in interviews. He never criticices the other Beatles, is always rather happy and upbeat, no ascerbic or sarcastic tendencies when he speaks, and is he is also quite modest in interviews. I'll take a Paul interview over any of the other Beatles any day.
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whobeatle:
Harrison was talking about, in the context of, some of his songs never made later Beatles albums, but granny songs like Maxwells Silver Hammer or Honey Pie did, and I think Harrison resented [not] getting a few more of his songs recorded in the Beatles. At least in the last few years, say from Revolver or Pepper onward.
Well they had an agreement that George would get two songs on an album and Ringo one (if he wanted it). Maxwell and Honey Pie were much superior songs to most of what Harrison had to offer. Harrison started writing all of those spiritual and existential songs and they just were not in step with was wanted on the Beatles albums. He and Ringo were in "Economy Class" in the Beatles because their song writing as "Economy Class" for all intents and purposes. "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" are always touted as such brilliant Harrison tunes, but Paul could write songs like this and better in his sleep! And it wasn't as if George was in the studio coming up with all these brilliant ideas to make John's and Paul's songs better the way Paul did. He and Ringo both did a pretty good job of basically doing what they had to on songs. I certainly think you see more creative Harrison guitar licks on earlier Beatles songs than the latter. It's almost as if Harrison regressed as a guitarist as the years went on. His voice got worse and he could never get himself away from that annoying slide guitar. Listen to how good his voice was in "If I Needed Someone" and "Don't Bother Me" and his tight guitar in songs like "I Feel Fine".
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Erik in NJ:
graystoke:
whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
And rightly so, no? He's perhaps the greatest musician/composer of the last 150 years! I think of all the Beatles he comes across as the most down to Earth and likeable in interviews. He never criticices the other Beatles, is always rather happy and upbeat, no ascerbic or sarcastic tendencies when he speaks, and is he is also quite modest in interviews. I'll take a Paul interview over any of the other Beatles any day.
Some have called McCartney manipulative and not so open because of that. I enjoy McCartney interviews, but always found John to be more sincere and down to earth. Really, none of them come across badly, they were all pretty down to earth people, and watching the Anthology, you get the idea they were more similar than different. He may be one of the greatest composers of the last 50 years, up there with John Lennon. The last 150 years is a stretch!
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RMartinez:
He may be one of the greatest composers of the last 50 years, up there with John Lennon. The last 150 years is a stretch!
Not really! Now if he'd said 200 years that would include Beethoven, but even then, I think Paul is right up there (with John Lennon of course)
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Some have called McCartney manipulative and not so open because of that.
I'm not quite sure how being positive translates into being manipulative. Some of the interviews John gave after the Beatles were downright nasty. He seemed to have mellowed out as the years wore on though.
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graystoke:
whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
How big? Ah hang on...how long's a piece of string?
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RMartinez:
Erik in NJ:
graystoke:
whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
And rightly so, no? He's perhaps the greatest musician/composer of the last 150 years! I think of all the Beatles he comes across as the most down to Earth and likeable in interviews. He never criticices the other Beatles, is always rather happy and upbeat, no ascerbic or sarcastic tendencies when he speaks, and is he is also quite modest in interviews. I'll take a Paul interview over any of the other Beatles any day.
Some have called McCartney manipulative and not so open because of that. I enjoy McCartney interviews, but always found John to be more sincere and down to earth. Really, none of them come across badly, they were all pretty down to earth people, and watching the Anthology, you get the idea they were more similar than different. He may be one of the greatest composers of the last 50 years, up there with John Lennon. The last 150 years is a stretch!
Only very very rarely in interviews have I seen Paul drop his guard... Here is real Paul at 1.11...everthing before that is Paul in his performance mode...
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If we were to list the top ten messengers of love in human history...george and paul would be there. Who would you say the top 20 are?
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Linda Lovelace? Marilyn Chambers?
(You sure you got the right forum Steven??)
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of course...the bobbit's sure didn't make it
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Erik in NJ:
Linda Lovelace? Marilyn Chambers?
(You sure you got the right forum Steven??)
of course...i do
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Erik in NJ:
graystoke:
whobeatle:
McCartney has a pretty big ego
Ya think?!!
And rightly so, no? He's perhaps the greatest musician/composer of the last 150 years! I think of all the Beatles he comes across as the most down to Earth and likeable in interviews. He never criticices the other Beatles, is always rather happy and upbeat, no ascerbic or sarcastic tendencies when he speaks, and is he is also quite modest in interviews. I'll take a Paul interview over any of the other Beatles any day.
And I'll take Ringo over the PR mad other guy any day.
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I didn't think John was that PR mad!
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Erik in NJ:
I didn't think John was that PR mad!
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George speaks rather kindly (for him) about Paul in this 1988 interview, and he even considers the idea of writing with Paul: (skip to 04:34):
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He must have gone back & forth quite a bit OR at times just did not want to seem so anti-Paul. I just finished watching a bunch of George dVDs (mostly 1991 & 1992) & the one thing I remember is George saying "oh Paul just says that (about then getting together) when his career needs a push".
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audi:
George speaks rather kindly (for him) about Paul in this 1988 interview, and he even considers the idea of writing with Paul: (skip to 04:34):
During that period from 87 through 88, Paul sure could have used George's help.
Seriously, I suspect George's midas touch during that period might have been a big reason for Paul's no show at The Beatles' induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I know I'm in the minority there, but there you go...I reckon Paul's ego and self confidence took a monumental hit in those years.