Please consider registering
Guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
sp_Feed sp_TopicIcon
Best George Harrison Biography?
16 December 2012
4.10am
EDSLocklear
Hunting Ghosts
Decca
Members
Forum Posts: 92
Member Since:
14 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

So I picked up guitar a few months ago as part of a personal project I have to do for school (Which is going very well, by the way), and I decided George Harrison would drive my project. Anyways, I want to find out more about him than what is on wikipedia, and I want to know what everyone thinks is the best biography about him. It needs to talk about how he learned guitar and about personal things (I need to make personal connections). Thanks in advance!

"I'd tell her I love her, but she'd only reject me in the end and I'd be frustrated. That's why I play guitar; it's my active compensatory factor" -Ringo said something like this once, I changed it up a bit.

16 December 2012
4.20am
Avatar
Egroeg Evoli
Across the universe
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 1807
Member Since:
6 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Well, I haven’t read it, but George wrote an autobiography called I Me Mine . This is probably your best bet for personal things.

EDIT: I read a review, but it was written by some random person, so I don’t know if it’s 100% correct. According to the review, most of the written part is about George’s childhood, hardly any of it is about his time as a Beatle, and most of the book is pictures and song lyrics. I don’t know if this is true; again, I didn’t read the book. 

Also known as Egg-Rock, Egg-Roll, E-George, Eggy, Ravioli, Eggroll Eggrolli...

~witty quote~

16 December 2012
4.29am
EDSLocklear
Hunting Ghosts
Decca
Members
Forum Posts: 92
Member Since:
14 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Thanks, I was looking at it. Looks like I’ll pick it up, seeing as that it has all the personal stuff I need a-hard-days-night-george-10

"I'd tell her I love her, but she'd only reject me in the end and I'd be frustrated. That's why I play guitar; it's my active compensatory factor" -Ringo said something like this once, I changed it up a bit.

16 December 2012
1.28pm
Avatar
fabfouremily
Sitting in an English garden
Rishikesh
Members
Forum Posts: 2929
Member Since:
3 May 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I’ve read the book. If what you’re looking for is info about the Beatle days then it’s not the right one for you. He talks mostly about his other hobbies (gardening, F1 etc.).  Have you watched Living In The Material World ? There’s a lot of info on there, very well-constructed documentary, oh and there’s a book to go with it too tho I haven’t read it.

Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.

(Passover - I. Curtis)

16 December 2012
11.51pm
thewordislove94
London Palladium
Members
Forum Posts: 181
Member Since:
12 November 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I read the Living in the Material World book, and there isn’t much of a difference from the movie. I like the book because of the pictures, and my favorite part of the movie is when George is watching the Beatles sing “This Boy ” many years later. If you’re still looking for books, I would suggest Harrison by the editors of Rolling Stone (It was released in 2002).

"The world is a very serious and, at times, very sad place - but at other times it is all such a joke."-George Harrison

17 December 2012
3.46am
Avatar
Little Piggy Dragonguy
Nowhere Land
Rishikesh
Members
Forum Posts: 4141
Member Since:
5 November 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I have never read a George Harrison biography. the Living In The Material World book isn’t much of a biography, it’s more the kind of book you get just to look at the pictures and maybe occasionally read a few pages. I think The Beatles Anthology is the way to go. It has a few pages (it’s a big book) of George’s childhood, and the book is all quotes, which is pretty cool. When I do something on The Beatles in school, I always use The Beatles Anthology for quotes because it’s so easy to find them.

All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit 

17 December 2012
11.50am
Avatar
minime
Carnegie Hall
Members
Forum Posts: 510
Member Since:
16 February 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Yeah well anyway whichever book is the best, it’s not the one he wrote. Really, most of the book just consists of his handwritten lyrics and a few words to say about them; almost nothing personal is mentioned in the book. And why Dhani isn’t even mentioned in the book, I have no idea. But John shouldn’t have felt bad about not really being mentioned in the book; George doesn’t really single anyone out except for Ravi Shankar ( which comes as no surprise to anyone)

17 December 2012
1.34pm
Avatar
Joe
Pepperland
Admin
Forum Posts: 5713
Member Since:
31 March 2008
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I didn’t realise that about Dhani. I had to check his DOB (1978) to see if he was actually older than the book. He is. How odd.

Can buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs

Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!

18 April 2021
6.02am
cotonboy
A Beginning
Members
Forum Posts: 2
Member Since:
18 April 2021
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

It’s always irked me that there hasn’t been a good quality indepth biography of George as there has with John and Paul. George was integral to The Beatles success, and his solo career is very new worthy. 

I Me Mine is good and interesting for George’s insights.

Living In The Material World is also very good. 

Here Comes The Sun by Joshua M. Greene is patchy. It’s primarily about George’s spiritual quest, but is isn’t as indepth as it could have been and there are errors, mostly with dates of when things happened. 

The following people thank cotonboy for this post:

sir walter raleigh
18 April 2021
2.42pm
Avatar
sir walter raleigh
In our yellow (IN OUR YELLOW) submarine (SUBMARINE AHA!)
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5949
Member Since:
26 January 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I Me Mine and Material World are some of coolest books out there, particularly because of the photos of George and the Photos of George’s original manuscripts from I Me Mine . Neither are true biographies in the way the Norman Lennon book and the Miles McCartney are. George deserves one that’s for sure, as he’s mentioned in just about every rock bio out there, whether it be with Delaney and Bonnie, the London scene, or whatever, every Rock Legend wants to mention the time they hung out, jammed with, or even better dropped acid with George Harrison . I’m curious how his estate would handle approaching a full length George bio and what kind of personal details would be allowed to be revealed. 

"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"

-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues

"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"

-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl

18 April 2021
4.33pm
Avatar
Ron Nasty
Apple rooftop
Members

Reviewers
Forum Posts: 12534
Member Since:
17 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

There is Graeme Thomson’s 2013 George Harrison : Behind the Locked Door, a 450-ish-page proper biography of which Record Collector magazine said:

Thomson delves deep into the Harrison psyche as the musician explored spirituality, expanded his portfolio to include film production and, to all intents and purposes, invented the notion of the all-star charity fundraiser with his Concert For Bangladesh.

Harrison’s story is told in rich detail by an eloquent writer known for his dogged research (his biographies of Kate Bush, Johnny Cash and Elvis Costello are also highly recommended): from the shy “baby” of the Beatles to the driven figure of later years, still hampered by personal and professional insecurities. Few books about any of the individual Fabs have been as successful in painting such an intimate portrait of an artist riddled with contradictions as he followed his hunger and curiosity.

I greatly enjoyed it.

The following people thank Ron Nasty for this post:

sir walter raleigh

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

19 April 2021
3.43am
Avatar
Tony Japanese
Shea Stadium
Members
Forum Posts: 913
Member Since:
11 September 2018
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Ron Nasty said
There is Graeme Thomson’s 2013 George Harrison : Behind the Locked Door, a 450-ish-page proper biography of which Record Collector magazine said:

Thomson delves deep into the Harrison psyche as the musician explored spirituality, expanded his portfolio to include film production and, to all intents and purposes, invented the notion of the all-star charity fundraiser with his Concert For Bangladesh.

Harrison’s story is told in rich detail by an eloquent writer known for his dogged research (his biographies of Kate Bush, Johnny Cash and Elvis Costello are also highly recommended): from the shy “baby” of the Beatles to the driven figure of later years, still hampered by personal and professional insecurities. Few books about any of the individual Fabs have been as successful in painting such an intimate portrait of an artist riddled with contradictions as he followed his hunger and curiosity.

I greatly enjoyed it.

  

I didn’t not enjoy it, but I’m always a bit disappointed when the subject of a biography is twenty-one by page 15…

19 April 2021
4.24am
Avatar
Ron Nasty
Apple rooftop
Members

Reviewers
Forum Posts: 12534
Member Since:
17 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I’d agree that is the major flaw in the book, @Tony Japanese.

I would guess the author’s assumption was that people reading a GH biography would have read a Beatles biography and have a fair idea of George’s childhood, and that unlike the others George did have a relatively untroubled childhood with a stable family who encouraged his ambitions, which makes it a less interesting childhood to spend too much time on.

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

Forum Timezone: Europe/London
Most Users Ever Online: 2057
Currently Online: Timpetus
Guest(s) 293
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
Starr Shine?: 16105
Ron Nasty: 12534
Zig: 9827
50yearslate: 8759
Necko: 8050
AppleScruffJunior: 7585
parlance: 7111
mr. Sun king coming together: 6394
Mr. Kite: 6147
trcanberra: 6064
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 88
Members: 2920
Moderators: 5
Admins: 1
Forum Stats:
Groups: 3
Forums: 44
Topics: 5556
Posts: 383937
Newest Members:
daena, mickeylovesthebeatles, theelevan, karlieflood, megajacktwist
Moderators: Joe: 5713, meanmistermustard: 25158, Ahhh Girl: 22653, Beatlebug: 18228, The Hole Got Fixed: 8410
Administrators: Joe: 5713