The real tragedy of The Beatles was that they spent many of their finest years underestimating each other. Egos interrupted what should have been a communal creative experience and resulted in all four members constantly vying for songwriting spots across various albums.
Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney continually wrote most of The Beatles’ songs, but over the years, George Harrison really came into his own, flourishing as a songwriter, which he naturally wanted to reflect on the albums. While Harrison often managed this uphill battle with his laidback persona, when it came to recording them in the studio, the band never took his work as seriously as they should have.
Having written classic songs like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, and ‘Something’, Harrison should have been celebrated by the band as one of the world’s greats. But in the confines of the recording booth, they made it clear they wouldn’t treat his material with the same consideration they did with Lennon and McCartney’s efforts.
Audio engineer Geoff Emerick was quick to highlight this in Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, writing: “In general, sessions where we did George Harrison songs were approached differently. Everybody would relax, there was a definite sense that it really didn’t matter.”
Harrison wasn’t necessarily told this verbatim, but their attitude was made very clear when it came down to the practicalities of recording. “It was never said in so many words, but there was a feeling that his songs simply didn’t have the integrity of John’s or Paul’s, certainly they were never considered as singles,” continued Emerick. “So no one was prepared to expend very much time or effort on them.”
