Crackerbox Palace

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown.

[harrisonarchive]

Photo by Reed Saxon.

“George was the kind of guy who wasn’t going to leave until he hugged you for five minutes and told you how much he loved you. We knew where we stood with each other.” - Tom Petty, Rolling Stone (January 17, 2002)

[harrisonarchive]

Photo 1 courtesy of The Beatles Monthly; photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images.

“I’ve always loved a lot of old blues artists, people like Robert Johnson and Memphis Minnie.” - George Harrison, Chicago Tribune, November 1976

“[H]ow fantastic they were — some of those old Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson things. And I began to realize that, though a lot of those blues were 12-bar things, some of them don’t change at all — they’re all on one chord and there’s a natural connection there with the Indian thing. So I’d really like to try mixing Indian drones with blues guitar just to see what comes out. I know it could work out.” - George Harrison, Record Mirror, January 1, 1972

Tom Petty: “I got George playing the blues last night. We were jamming. He’s a really good blues guitarist. In all the time I’ve known him, he’s never broken into that.” Ringo Starr: “Thank god he’s playing the blues and not that bloody ukulele that he loves so much.” TP: “Well, we went through a few years of that. I’ve got four ukuleles at my house just for emergencies, you know.” RS: “In case George gets withdrawal.” - Interview Magazine, June 1992

Q: “What kind of records did [George] play around the house?” Olivia Harrison: “We played everything. A lot of ethnic music… I mean, when I first came to Friar Park there was a jukebox there, there were two jukeboxes. And there was everything from Christmas carols on the sitar to the Singing Postman to Hank Williams to Leadbelly, the Platters, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, the Goons […], the Ink Spots… Big Bill Broonzy.” - NPR, 2004 (x)

[harrisonstories]

“George Harrison was recording music for the Wonderwall movie and he asked me if I would play the 5-string banjo. I don’t remember why I didn’t have one at the time, but Paul had one, and George borrowed Paul’s. My girlfriend was there with a camera. He said, ‘Turn up the lights so she can shoot.’ He was very thoughtful and considerate. The English are different.”

— Peter Tork

[harrisonarchive]

Scan - George Harrison and others at Dovedale School, ca. 1953… If you haven’t already spotted him, he’s the second from the left in the bottom row. ;)

[harrisonstories]

“One of the favourite places Mick and I liked to hang out was George and Pattie Boyd’s house in Weybridge. Mick loved George and I thought Pattie one of the most beautiful people ever. I loved the way she dressed, her fantastic sense of style. Psychedelic dresses in beautiful colours or little skirts that showed off her wonderful legs. During those magical afternoons George would be the perfect host, serving up exotic teas, fat joints, and his new songs like exquisite delicacies offered for our consumption. A little bungalow (by rock star standards) brightly painted in sparkly psychedelic ice-cream colours, very warm and cosy and friendly, like the people who lived there, with a garden full of sunflowers and cushions outside. Just a very soft, gentle vibe, as if this fairy-tale cottage were conjured out of his sweet melancholy songs. […] So being with George and Pattie was very relaxing. Mick and I were able to lie back on Moroccan cushions, get high and float away listening to George’s new songs. When he wasn’t playing his own stuff, he would be playing Ravi Shankar on those beautiful green discs we all used to have. I do think he very much brought all that into our world.”

— Marianne Faithfull, Memories, Dreams and Reflections. (2007)

[harrisonstories]

“The best moment for me was when we were going into the theatre and I saw six girls who used to come and sit on the front row when we appeared at the Cavern, it was wonderful to see them there.”

— George Harrison after the Liverpool civic reception for The Beatles, 10 July 1964 (via thateventuality)

[jamielennon-mccartney]

[electricdumpling]

jamielennon-mccartney:

I love you, George. :)

[harrisonarchive]

George and Olivia Harrison (plus, in one photo, Ronnie Barker) in London for Michael Caine’s birthday party, on March 14, 1990; photos by Tom Wargacki and Phil Loftus.

“George Harrison! And I got a chance to tell him years later. We met at a party at Ron Dennis’ house — the McLaren Formula One guy — and I told him he was my Beatle ‘crush’ way back! He was such a charming guy. You wouldn’t be able to say that to just anybody! We played that game where you have a celebrity’s name on your head and you have to guess who it is. He actually was George Harrison, although he didn’t know it! And his wife Olivia asked him: 'Are you good looking?’ and he said: 'Well, I think so!’ Which was very sweet… I found them very charming people.” - Kiki Dee in response to the question, “Who was your first musical crush?” for the Exeter Express & Echo (July 11, 2013)

[valend]

Relax bro ain’t nobody takin it from you 😭

[harrisonarchive]

Photo courtesy of Steel City Records.

“[At a dinner hosted by Al Aronowitz] David Bromberg picked it up and started playing a vaguely Hispanic chord pattern that became 'The Hold Up.' As Bromberg recalls, Harrison couldn't resist getting involved and 'the song came out of us in about thirty minutes. We weren't trying to do anything — least of all to write a song. It just came out.' The finished product appeared on the David Bromberg album, and is redolent of the two men's celebrated sense of humor. The track was a quirky, jokey version of 'Taxman,' the 'holdup' in question being one perpetrated by the IRS. The writing was agreed, but vernacular abounds, and it's not hard to pinpoint who wrote which lines. The witty piece still tickles Bromberg: 'Some of the best lines are his — the phrase "getting the nose wet," that's very English. Also, it was also in his head to say, "I'll put a bullet right through your best liver." That's very funny.' Harrison was true to form when a session was held to overdub his slide guitar onto Bromberg's live recording of the song. The multi-skilled Bromberg appreciated his thorough approach: 'He was a very thoughtful player; I never saw him do any improvisation at all. In our interactions, with me, he worked in a way I'd never seen anyone else work. He worked on the solo in the studio, he sat in the control booth, plugged the guitar into the board, and had the tape played over and over. He worked out exactly what he was going to play, and laid it down.' The outcome was a classic Harrison guitar vignette, displaying a skill admired by other musicians rather than critics, as David Bromberg explains: 'He could develop an instrumental hook, and that is much harder than playing a hot solo. He could develop a simple little melodic idea that would be repeated in the course of a song, so that you would never be able to hear the song without hearing this hook. He was really good at that. That's not something that people often discuss.’” - While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison

[motherlennon]

Male speaker: There was a rumor carried in the New York press and on radio this past week that you're all wearing wigs because you were trying to join a London club which is very exclusive. Is it true or false? Are you wearing wigs? PAUL: Oh. Do you believe that? Do you? PAUL: No, it's not true. Male speaker: Your hair looks much more uniform than it did two years ago. PAUL: Thanks, honey. PAUL: No, that's not true, you know. But thanks all the same. New York press conference, August 22, 1966

[chicafinal]

the hours and times (1991)

[jeanritchie]

😐😐😐😐

[wonderwalltobehere]

great show! at one point some guy in the audience yelled "we love you ringo!" and he said "you know it used to be all we love you ringo!!! (girl voice) and now its WE LOVE YOU RINGO!!! (big man voice) and you know what. love is love. choose love" <333

[irisasis]

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr in White Album recording session (1968) Photographer: Linda McCartney

[irisasis]

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr in recording session for Abbey Road (1969) Photographer: Linda Eastman Source: The Beatles Recording

[beatleswings]

RINGO STARR and BARBARA BACH. 1981. Photos taken by Tony Korody.