George Harrison’s opinion on Neil Young

Like almost every musician from his generation, Neil Young was heavily influenced by the Beatles’ music. The first song he played to an audience, at his school, was by the British band and their songwriting was an important inspiration for him over the decades.

He had the chance to become really good friends with Paul McCartney in particular, who is a big fan of his work. But what about George Harrison? The late Beatles guitarist gave his opinion on many artists during his career, including the Canadian musician, with whom he once had the chance to share the stage.

What was George Harrison’s opinion on Neil Young

“I’m not a Neil Young fan personally. I hate it (his lead playing). Yeah, I can’t stand it, I mean, he’s at one string. I mean, it’s good for a laugh but the thing is, he’s serious (about it). We did this show with him (Dylan concert). I couldn’t believe, I could just hear it coming from the other side of the stage and I don’t know, I looked at Eric (Clapton) like ‘Is that… What’s going on with this?’ Like he did the solo in the middle and then he just kind of looked at me like ‘Don’t look at me. It’s not me’.”

“(But Neil) is a really nice boy, the bottom line of it it is you will like him. He’s nice but I never liked (him) musically. Well, it is mainly his voice (that I don’t like). I like some of his songs but I hated the sound of his voice (imitates Neil). I mean, he’s the one person I always thought even sings worse than me,” George Harrison said in a video recorded in 1992, during an informal conversation with Dave Stewart and Bob Geldof (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Neil said that George was nice when they met

Neil Young frequently answers fan questions on his website, and in 2021, after a fan asked if he had the chance to meet Harrison and what he was like, he said: “I only met George in passing. He was cool”. In another question, a fan said Neil’s song ‘Rainbow of Colors’ resembled Harrison’s ‘Behind That Locked Door.’ Neil commented, saying: ‘“Rainbow of Colors” must resemble George’s song strongly. Others have mentioned that too. I don’t remember the song specifically, though. That’s OK. It’s the folk process.”

The first song Neil ever sang live was “Give Me Money (That’s What I Want)” at his school. “We’re listening to the last note of (the song), listening to Paul’s vocals, John’s vocals and the great things that George did to the record. So it was like a marriage of all this talent coming together and creating this incredible thing which none of us could really fathom at the time. We were just trying to do our thing in the shadow of this great thing that happened between The Beatles, the Stones and The Who,” Neil Young said during his speech when he inducted McCartney into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Crosby, Stills & Nash didn’t convince George Harrison enough musically for him to sign them to The Beatles’ label

Although Harrison went to see a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert at Wembley Stadium in 1974 and there are photos of him at the side of the stage taking pictures of them, their music didn’t convince him at first. When they were still a trio in the late 1960s, they went to London trying to get their first record deal with Apple, The Beatles’ label.

They played the entire album to George and Peter Asher (Producer) but they didn’t agreed to sign the band. “(We) Did not record for them. (it was a) live audition, (we) sang the whole first record in London to George and Peter Asher. Apple passed on a number one record there. Ah well, everybody makes mistakes. Bet they regretted it later,” David Crosby said on his social media in 2022.

According to Graham Nash, the trio performed the songs to Harrison and Asher at an apartment in Moscow Road. “Yes (they auditioned us). We had an apartment on Moscow Road in London, we were rehearsing the first record, and we had our shit down. To hear Suite: Judy Blue Eyes in our living room was pretty fucking impressive. And they turned us down. So did Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel,” Graham Nash told The Guardian in 2015.

The trio ended up being signed by Atlantic Records and their self-titled debut album was extremely successful. They had two Top 40 singles: “Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”. It also had tracks like “Guinnevere”, “Wooden Ships” and “Helplessly Hoping”, having sold an estimated amount of more than 4 million copies.

Neil Young is one of the four songwriters Paul McCartney said he admired

The opinions of The Beatles’ members about Neil Young diverge, since Paul McCartney is a big fan of his work and also a close friend. When asked by James Daunt in 2021 which songwriters he admired, he mentioned Neil Young. “Oh, there are a lot. I think Paul Simon has written some amazing songs. I wouldn’t want to just say one of them but he’s certainly written some great stuff. Bob Dylan has written some great stuff.”

“I think there’s a lot of great songs that weren’t written by me or us. Those two people I have mentioned, Paul Simon, particularly, Dylan, I think Neil Young has come up with some classics. Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows,’ I think that’s a great classic. In a way, I could say I wish I’d written them, but I’ve written enough. I’ve got enough to go on with. But yeah, there are some great writers and artists out there. I love to feel that when I’m writing something here, they’re writing something there. You get a little bit of rivalry going,” he said.

Besides being the one who inducted Paul into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Neil was also who gave a speech when the Beatle received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.