@GeorgeHarrison tweeted the photo on the left with the following caption in 2017: “On This Day 19DEC1974 George holds a press conference at the United Nations to bring awareness to the famine in Africa and to announce that the proceeds from his two concerts at The Garden will go to UNICEF to benefit children in those areas. AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis”
Dr. Mike Jones: You say in the documentary Living in the Material World, [George] refused honours. He said to you one time, “You go and pick it up.” I mean, what was that about?
Olivia Harrison: Yeah. Oh, you know, there’s a saying, an Indian saying. It’s like, “Do a good deed and drop it in the well.”
Olivia: And so, yeah -- he just wasn’t in the mood to be congratulated for those sort of things. In fact, he went to the United Nations at the end of his 1974 tour because he’d given money to, all along the way, San Francisco free clinic, somewhere in the south, free clinics all over the United States, housing, self-realisation fellowship. He donated the benefits of the concerts to these charities, and they wanted to honour him, and he was furious that he had to go and somebody had made this appointment and agreed that he would go.
And he really, uh, wasn’t too willing, but he went because they were waiting for him, and they said, “How do you feel?” And he said, “I feel sad. I feel sad if just somebody like me has to help, how united are you nations?” And I thought, “Oh boy, they asked the wrong question there.” [laughs] You know. The President’s son was there, and they gave George an award, and afterwards Jack Ford said, “Wow that was amazing what you did.” He said, “What did I do?” He said, “You didn’t even open it. You just put it in your pocket.” He just went, “thanks” and put it in his pocket because he said, “Well I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it.”
And that was it. For a forest to be green each tree must be green. How united are your nations? That’s what he said, and I think it was as relevant then as it is now, you know, if not more so. I think he would -- I think that All Things Must Pass -- it’s really an appropriate anniversary. And those words that came from the Tao Te Ching, really, Lao Tzu, will resonate especially at this time. In the world, in our lives, everything will change. That’s the one guarantee. Hopefully for the better.
- George Harrison: Transcending The Beatles, University of Liverpool (30 Nov. 2020)
