George – Finding the Truth
Disc and Music Echo / 23 November 1968
Well, I don’t think anyone could call this ‘journalism’, as it’s written by the Beatles’ press officer of the time, but it’s certainly very interesting, pointing to George Harrison thinking beyond The Beatles and clearly trying to build an image of himself as a deep thinker and musician in his own right. It is, however, an article that goes way beyond anything that we might expect from a press officer nowadays, but then again, there have been few press officers as close to a group as Derek Taylor was to The Beatles. His close friendship with George is obvious, to the point where he lapses into the pseudo-religious prose that George became famous (and ridiculed) for at the end of the article.
Most Beatles fans will of course know that 1968 was the beginning of the end, and there does seem to be confirmation of that from George in this article, with the “a bit of my life, just a little bit” quote. Ringo had already temporarily quit the group, and there does appear to be an acceptance here that the band are all looking in opposite directions at this point. However, this has all been covered many times by better writers than me. I’m just here to bring this rather charming historical curiosity to you, and I’m only sad that I haven’t got the other parts.
Tags: Beatles, george harrison, pop
