The Beatles icons Paul McCartney and George Harrison were good friends when Harrison tragically died 18 years ago, but tensions were running high in the later years of The Beatles. McCartney recently revealed what song made him cry in a club.
George Harrison stated in the past that his issues with Paul hit a breaking point around Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“Paul wasn’t open to anyone else’s suggestions,” George said in The Beatles Anthology. “It was taken to the most ridiculous situations, where I’d open my guitar case and go to get my guitar out and he’d say, ‘No, no we’re not doing that yet. We’re gonna do a piano track with Ringo, and then we’ll do that later.’”
Harrison said things were much better in the early years, “There used to be situation where we’d go in, pick up our guitars, all learn the tune and chords and start talking about arrangements. [But] the freedom to be able to play as a musician was … curtailed, mainly by Paul.”
The Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick recalled tension with McCartney and Harrison in Here, There and Everywhere. He said when the band were recording Abbey Road, Harrison was writing his best songs yet, but McCartney still tried to rule over his material with suggestions.
“No, I think the song is fine as it is,” George answered Paul’s suggestion for “Here Comes the Sun.” After that didn’t end it, George broke it down for his longtime bandmate: “Look, I don’t have to listen to you,” he said. Paul McCartney discussed a big name confronting him years ago about an alleged ripoff.
