8 Lessons For George Harrison’s 80th Birthday

George Harrison’s 80^th birthday was February 25 of this year, and in preparing for a live webinar with his first wife, Pattie Boyd, I have been struck by the following lessons that can be learned from his life and experience.

I will be discussing these points and other aspects of personal and professional achievement and challenges with Pattie Boyd and Jim Hartley in a free live webinar on Saturday, March 4 at 11:00 a.m. (EST), and welcome any comments, questions and/or participation in our webinar.

You can register for the webinar by emailing info@gassmanpa.com.

While I am sure there are many more than 8 important lessons for us all from George’s fascinating and well lived life, here is my take:

1. Find Your Passion Early.

George Harrison was very fortunate to know that he wanted to be a rock-n-roll writer and performer at an early age.

This is evidenced by the fact that he met Paul McCartney on a school bus at age 14, and had significant enthusiasm and engagement with this goal in mind.

2. Mastermind with Others for Synergism and Results.

As stated above, in 1957, George Harrison met Paul McCartney, who will probably go down as the most talented writer and musician since Beethoven, on a school bus, and engaged Paul and his friends to create music, in whatever form would follow.

George, himself, was clearly very talented, but he did not approach his goals and passions alone. He knew instinctively to find and work with others.

3. Employ the 10,000-Hour Rule.

Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book, Outliers, points out that it takes 10,000 hours of practice and experience to become accomplished, and to reach “genius level” at any given vocation or activity.

Gladwell points out in Chapter Two of his book that the Beatles got together as a band and went to Hamburg, Germany, where they played eight hours a day, using amphetamines and whatever else was available.

It is very unfortunate that we do not have videotapes and recordings of what they sounded like, but it was undoubtedly not nearly what the Beatles sounded like when they finally got recording contracts in 1962.

George was only 15-years-old when he first joined the Beatles (“The Quarrymen”).

George was only 17-years-old when the Beatles started to play in Hamburg, Germany in August of 1960, but he was deported back to England just a few months later when a disgruntled club owner reported George to the authorities for working under the legal age after the Beatles broke their contract and went to work for another club.

4. Partner with Individuals Who Are Even More Talented than You Are, as this Will Enhance Performance and Achievement for All Concerned.

It is obviously a very daunting task to spend thousands of hours in the shadow of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who may go down as being the most influential and successful songwriters and performance duo of all times.

In order to allow these two titans to lead the way for the Beatles to become the number one band and musical performance success, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had to remain relatively quiet, and allow the egos and very human tendencies of Lennon and McCartney to control and “steal the show.”

It is apparent to all concerned that George was the “quiet Beatle,” because if he had tried to be a significant voice or influence, the interaction and synergy of Lennon and McCartney may have been inhibited, or even made unsuccessful.

What if Keith Richards, Peter Townsend or Eric Clapton had been the “third Beatle” and lead guitar player and a writer for the Beatles? I certainly would not want to take the chance that Lennon and McCartney would not have been who they had been without quiet and patient support from George Harrison and Ringo Starr, which is clearly evidenced throughout the Get Back film that is available on Disney+.

5. Find Your Spiritual Self.

In 1967, George’s first wife and love, Pattie Boyd, had seen the Maharishi Yogi, a Hindu spiritual leader, who was becoming popular in London for teaching the wisdom of traditional Hindu Masters. Pattie brought George, Ringo, Paul and John to see the Maharishi Yogi in London, and later accompanied them and a number of other celebrities to the Maharishi’s retreat in India.

The time spent with the Maharishi, and away from the confusion and fanfare of England, brought the Beatles into the world of traditional meditation, conceptualizing perceptions of reality, exploring vegetarianism, and for George, a deeper dive into Indian music and the sitar. The Beatles started to realize “it’s all within yourself.”[1]

George found, wrote about, and lived a spiritual life that he had not found before. It turned out the material world paid well for spiritual songs, although I’m sure this wasn’t intentional. George’s greatest hits included “My Sweet Lord,” “Life Itself, “Within You Without You,” “Be Here Now,” and more.

6. Don’t Expect Success Immediately.

Lennon, McCartney and Harrison aspired to be great songwriters, and began working on this in the 1950’s.

Notwithstanding who they would become, George Martin, an English record producer, indicated that when he met with them in 1963 the only hit song that they had was “Love Me Do,” which reached Number 17 on the Record Retailer Top 50 charts in 1962.

By 1969, the Beatles had produced 18 number one hits, 1o platinum albums, and had sold 300 million records, all of which were almost entirely of their own making.[2]

Harrison’s own songwriting brilliance accelerated years after Lennon and McCartney had started their sprint. While the song “I Need You” was very deservedly well received as part of the “HELP!” album in 1965, George’s first significant hit, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” was not written until 1968, following retreats with the Maharishi Yogi.

From 1964 until 1972, Harrison wrote and performed over 10 Number One hits, and wrote and produced most of the music for what many fans and critics believe to be the best post-Beatles album by a Beatle – “All Things Must Pass.”

7. Seek Mentors and Learning Relationships.

From being the 14-year-old George Harrison who met Paul McCartney on a bus and sought to play with the even older John Lennon, to seeking out Ravi Shankar, who in 1966 was 46 years of age, when Harrison was 23 at their first meeting, and seeking to spend time and to learn musically from luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and even Tom Petty, who was 7 years younger than George, George was not one to “go it alone,” and sought to collaborate.

The triple album, “All Things Must Pass,” had over 12 contributing musicians, a great many of whom were significant achievers in their own right, including Peter Frampton, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Badfinger, Klaus Voormann, saxophonist Bobby Keys, and percussionists Phil Collins, Alan White, Ginger Baker, and Jim Gordon.

George valued the mentorships in his life so greatly, that he even brought Brian Epstein, the original Beatles manager, on his first date with Pattie Boyd. The three dined at the Garrick Club in Covent Garden. Epstein was very present in George and Boyd’s early relationship, and George asked for Epstein’s permission to marry Pattie.

8. Happy Wife, Happy Life.

Pattie Boyd’s 2006 book entitled “Pattie Boyd: My Life in Pictures,” made it clear that Harrison fell head over heels in love with Pattie on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night.” The two had a very good relationship at least until sometime after the death of Brian Epstein in 1967, and at the same time as the Beatles were having financial and associated issues,[3] George was unhappy at home and less than caring about Pattie’s welfare.

The eventual result was that Pattie left George, and shortly thereafter moved in with Eric Clapton, who promised to treat her well. The fact that Eric Clapton and Pattie’s marriage ended in divorce is a lesson for another time, and well discussed in her excellent book, Wonderful Tonight.[4] George later married Olivia Arias, and had what appears to have been an extremely close and loving relationship until his death in 2001.

No one will ever know whether sobriety and counseling could have saved the George and Pattie marriage, and what his productivity as a writer and artist would have been in the early 70’s without these challenges.

“The speech of flowers excels the flowers of speech

But what’s often in your heart is the hardest thing to reach,

And life is one long mystery my friend

So live on, live on, the answer’s at the end”