George Harrison revealed Paul McCartney ‘ruined’ him during his time in The Beatles.
The late guitarist, who died in 2001 at the age of 58, shared he had “no confidence” in himself during an unearthed interview. During a chat with DJ Alan Freeman on his 1970s show Rock Around The World, George said he felt inferior in some ways to lead singer Paul, now 80.
He said: “I had no confidence in myself as a guitar player having spent so many years with Paul McCartney, he ruined me as a guitar player.”
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Although The Beatles are widely credited with writing some of the best songs of all time, George admitted he thought “80 per cent were overrated”. He also shared that he and drummer Ringo Starr often felt overshadowed, as being in The Beatles became like the ‘John and Paul’ show.
He added: “In a way, I always like a bit of an observer of The Beatles, even though I was with them. Whereas I think John and Paul were the stars of The Beatles."
George himself penned big hits, including Here Comes The Sun, Something, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps - but despite his talent, he was dubbed the ‘Quiet Beatle’ by the press at the time. As Paul and John Lennon’s personalities came to the fore, it is claimed George had to fight to get his songs heard on albums.
The pair even started the official Lennon-McCartney song writing partnership to copyright their songs alone. George’s close friend and musical confidant Bob Dylan publicly commented on what was really going on behind the scenes when he was in the band.
The 81-year-old Blowin’ In The Wind singer said previously: “George got stuck with being the Beatle that had to fight to get songs on records because of Lennon and McCartney. Well, who wouldn’t get stuck? If George had had his own group and was writing his own songs back then, he’d have been probably as big as anybody."
Model and photographer Pattie Boyd, who was married to George from 1966 to 1977, also spoke out on the "feud". Quoted in Graeme Thomson’s book George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door, now 78-year-old Pattie said being in The Beatles made her husband unhappy.
She said: "They were vicious to each other. That was really upsetting, and even more so for him because he had this new spiritual adventure. Like a little brother, he was pushed into the background.
“He would come home from recording and be full of anger. It was a very bad state that he was in.”
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