I'm watching my copy of 'A Hard Day's Night' as I type. The scene where George is the subject of a creepy focus-group researcher into teen trends just gets sharper and more prescient with each passing year.

It's funny, I once quipped in Nadine that George had grown into a rather cantankerous old man -- that the "quiet Beatle" now wouldn't shut up. He was given to snide interviews in which he slagged current pop phenoms like George Michael and, later, Oasis. (Not that George Michael and Oasis didn't deserve some measure of puncturing at the time.) But despite his weary-of-it-all facade, which only grew crustier as he left the Beatles behind, it's important to recall that George, possibly even more than John, was the least cynical Beatle when it came to his approach to his own life: the transcendentalism was never just a trend or a pose for him; his friend Bob Dylan could take a few pointers from George in his steadfast devotion to one approach to faith and man's place in the universe.

For me, though, George will forever be encapsulated in a song that most casual fans consider a drag, "Within You Without You," which comes smack-dab in the middle of 'Sgt. Pepper' and is often considered the filler track by critics. It's actually the most melodically beautiful and fully realized of the trilogy of Indian-flavored tracks George recorded with the Beatles (the others being "The Inner Light" and "Love You To"), and I think it nicely summarizes his approach to life and his understanding that whatever his fame, human life was meant for greater things. "When you've seen beyond yourself/Then you may find peace of mind/Is waiting there/And the time will come when you see/We're all one, and life flows on within you and without you."

Peace and love,
CMM

CMM posted this on November 30, 2001
It is filed under Featured Posts, Sounds

It is also indexed with the following tags: Beatles | George Harrison |