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What do you think about people who say it was very awkward and tense between George and Paul during the anthology? I feel like people are just exaggerating, although I would really be shocked if there was tension. To me, George was kinda a hypocrite. He’d always drag Paul but then say “but we’re friends I love him” or say “it’s not the Beatles without John” but I really don’t think he cared that John wasn’t there(or that’s the vibe he gave off) he just seemed like a cold person towards them

Gosh, your ask seemed to be going one way and then did an unexpected U-turn right in the middle of the road!

That is not the definition of a hypocrite, that is the definition of a contradiction. George would agree he was often contradictory. He could often change his mind about things - sometimes mid sentence! Astrologers might put that down to George being a pieces fish, “One half’s going where the other half’s just been.”

I think what you’re referring to is when George might say something like:

“We don’t have a relationship. […] I think of [Paul] as a good friend, really, but a friend I don’t have that much in common with anymore. You know, you meet people in your life, or you’re remarried and then you’re divorced. You wish the other person well, but life has taken you to other places. To friendlier climes. […] I do wish him well. There’s always a place in my heart for Paul… and Linda…[…] But you know, don’t look back.”

I’ve edited this, it was over 2 questions in an interview in Musician magazine in March 1990.

My thought would be someone - an interviewer - would ask George about Paul. The interviewer is already looking for a tasty soundbite they can use as the interview focus (ie. “George said THIS about Paul!”) George was quite conscious of this so his answers are sometimes trite or contradictory or vague. And sometimes I think he would answer in the negative (”I hate Paul!”) but then he might think well, that’s a bit harsh, or I don’t really mean that and he’d qualify it with something positive (”But I still love him too!”)

And I think that George’s contradictory answers and the way he may answer a question in the negative one day and then in the positive the next is because he was conflicted over it himself. He didn’t know what his opinion was, or at least it was not black and white, it couldn’t be reduced down to a yes or no answer. I think he was probably back and forth over it. Have you ever had a relationship - romantic or not - where you were close to a person but something happened and you fell out and split up. You will remember that person from when you were close and had good times together, and you’ll love them for that, but you’ll also remember when it went a bit pear shaped and there were bad times and bad feelings, and maybe you’ll dislike or hate them for that then too, maybe at the same time.

The other factor which comes into this when we look at what George said about Paul is that 99% of these quotes come from interviews, and most of those are from the 70s and early 80s when feelings were still raw. George stopped releasing music for a number of years when he fell out with his record company so because he wasn’t promoting albums, he wasn’t doing very many interviews either. This coincides with the time that Paul and George started to repair their friendship, but it happened behind closed doors. George wouldn’t have told the public about this anyway, and probably Paul wouldn’t either. But my point is, we have more interviews and quotes from the more bitter and hurt times than from later on. I think George had mellowed a lot towards Paul. I read a interview with James McCartney a week or so ago where he said he remembered George coming round to their home quite often when he was a child. If things were as bad between Paul and George as it’s sometimes painted, George wouldn’t have paid social visits to Paul’s house.

I think too, if George hadn’t died when he did, if he’d lived longer and (I wish) he was still here now, we’d probably have a very different view of George and Paul’s relationship by now. I think it would be more widely acknowledged that they’d fallen out, they’d not been friends for a while, but now they are again and they love each other.

So, going back to the original question. The Anthology. Nope. Not even a little bit. I must have seen the anthology… hundreds of times. I’ve had it on video and DVD and I’ve got the bootleg version and not once did it occur to me that the scenes with the Threetles together were tense or awkward in the least.

Recently two people have said to me the bit where they’re talking about Elvis. So I’ve tried to find it online and rewatch it with this in mind but I still don’t find it awkward or tense. Apple’s pretty tight on booting the Anthology off YouTube, but this clip has survived:

It’s where George talks about the second time he met Elvis (and describes himself as a hippie! Would you have ever thought you’d see the day?!)

There’s this clip too, but only a small portion of it is them around the table.

The second clip is interesting because the film very deliberately contrasts how people remember the same event differently. Paul says Priscilla was wearing a gingham bow in her hair, Neil says she was wearing a tiara - this is something we have to remember when we’re examining things like this too!

What does strike me about the first clip is that the camera is hand held (here I can use my film degree, at last!) This was a super trendy thing to do around the time the Anthology was made - hand held camera in documentary was felt to be more ‘real’, more ‘there’, not a constructed film but a filming of actual events. But the downside of this technique is each time George or Ringo says something the camera operator swoops around the table to shove the camera in their face (they can’t reach Paul!) and you sort of see them falter and hesitate for a second when they do it.

I think they’ve been told to have a chat about stuff and behave as if the film crew aren’t there, but it’s hard to do that when they so obviously are there. I think any perception of tension or awkwardness stems from the fact they’re aware that they’re not just having a chat. They’re being filmed. Apart from that, the body language seems open and okay. I can’t see anyone being defensive or folding their arms. There’s lots of laughter too.

Whenever I answer one of these asks, it is, of course, just my opinion. Anyone is free to agree or disagree, and sometimes I know I have theories that I have very little evidence for! However this next part I’m going to state as fact. It’s not my opinion, I believe it’s fact - Of course George cared that John wasn’t there. Deeply. George felt a connection with John which could be - arguably - closer than maybe he felt with anyone else. Yes, they were at loggerheads when John died, but they were also not. I’m gonna quote this again:

“We saw beyond each other’s physical bodies, you know? That’s there permanently, whether [John’s] in a physical body or not.”

[George, 1987]

Deep in the darkest nightI send out a prayer to youNow in the world of lightWhere the spirit free of liesAnd all else that we despisedThey’ve forgotten all about GodHe’s the only reason we existYet you were the one that they said was so weirdAll those years agoYou said it all though not many had earsAll those years agoYou had control of our smiles and our tearsAll those years ago

[All Those Years Ago, George Harrison]

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Last time Threetles met.

In 2001 George Harrison's health a deteriorated significantly and was hospitalized in New York on November 12 Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr and Paul Mcartney were seen goofing around and making jokes although Mcartney and Starr would visit George on their own. Just wanted to share a Beatle fact.

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