George Harrison’s opinion on Paul McCartney’s solo career

The Beatles were the most successful and influential band of all time, with only 13 studio albums they influenced countless generations of artists and have sold an estimated amount of more than 600 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling band in history. But after 10 years on the road, the band came to an end after John Lennon decided to leave in 1970. So Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were also forced to only focus on their solo careers and other projects.

Since their relationship was not always good, they didn’t see each other often after the band broke-up and there was a lot of animosity between them when they were asked about each other in the press in the 70s. Harrison. for example, recalled a few times how difficult it was to make McCartney accept one of his compositions for The Beatles, because he would always make tracks with Lennon a priority.

As the years passed those wounds were healed and they started to talk about each other with less hate and more love. Harrison even shared a few times his opinion on McCartney’s solo career.

What was the opinon of George Harrison on Paul McCartney’s solo career

Harrison almost left The Beatles for good before they officially broke-up after a few fights with the other members but he curiously was the first one who released solo studio albums before the band was over. His first one was “Wonderwall Music” (1968) – which had a title that inspired Oasis‘ 90s hit “Wonderwall – and “Electronic Sound” (1969).

McCartney only released his solo debut in 1970, which was entirely recorded and written by him. Like he did more times during his career, he wrote the songs and recorded himself the vocals, guitar, bass, piano, drums and more.

Although that first record had hits like “Maybe I’m Amazed”, it was George Harrison who became the first Beatle to have a number 1 solo hit. In that same year Harrison released his classic album “All Things Must Pass” (1970) and the track “My Sweet Lord” occupied the first position in many countries.

In 1979, Harrison was interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine to talk about his self-titled album which was released that year. He was asked if he liked the kind of music that Paul was making at that moment.

He said: “I think it’s inoffensive. I’ve always preferred Paul’s good melodies to his screaming rock & roll tunes. The tune I thought was sensational on the London Town album was “I’m Carrying,”. But all the noisy, beaty things I’m not into at all. But then that’s not only with Paul’s music, that goes right across the board. I’m not a fan of that sort of punky, heavy, tinny stuff. I like a nice melody,” George Harrison said.

Harrison wasn’t happy that took 30 years for Paul McCartney ask him to write songs together

In an interview in the 80s (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) he was asked about his opinion on McCartney’s new versions for Beatles songs. They were made for the musical “Give My Regards to Broad Street” (1984). He joked about not noticing that they were new versions. Also even said that maybe the Beatle probably ran out of good original songs.

“We are long past all the squabbles now. I think they were ok (The new versions of Beatles songs), I didn’t notice that they were new versions (laughs). I only watched it once but I liked it. (But) I remember about ‘dancing’, ‘ballroom dancing’, all that stuff. I don’t remember the old ones.”

The interviewer then said that McCartney wanted to “tackle some of the old songs. Possibly some of the John Lennon songs, including Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy’ and ‘Imagine'”. When asked if that surprised him, Harrison replied, saying: “Paul? Maybe because he ran out of good ones of his own (laughs)”. The interviewer laughed and said “Now we’ve got that on record” and Harrison laughed and said: “Well, it’s true”.

He also said in another interview that it was a mistake that Paul made the movie. Also joked about only 30 years after they knew each other that Paul decided that he wanted to write something with him. “For the last few years, I’ve said my mind to him, whenever I felt something. Like ‘Broad Street’, I thought was a big mistake. Not to make the film because I’ve quite enjoyed it myself.”

George Harrison continued:

“But the idea of trying to write and do everything yourself, that’s the mistake. Paul had asked, you know, had suggested, maybe, the chance of me and him writing together something. (Laugh) It’s pretty funny, really. Because, I mean, I’ve only been there for about 30 years in Paul’s life. It’s like, now he wants to write with me. I think it may be quite interesting sometime to do it,” George Harrison said.

Although the track “All Those Years Ago”, released in 1981 on George’s album “Somewhere In England” was written by him and Ray Cooper, Paul was part of the track playing bass and providing backing vocals. The song served as a tribute to John Lennon, who was killed one year before at the age of 40. Ringo Starr also played the drums in the track. George and Ringo worked with each other multiple times during their solo careers, often contributing to each other’s albums.

Although there was a lot of animosity over the decades between George and Paul, they continued to be friends. For example, they worked together for example in the track “Free as a Bird”. Released in 1995, the song was an unfinished Lennon composition. McCartney continues to pay tribute to George on his solo career shows. He often performing the track “Something” while photos of George are shown.