I still miss George

It's been just about a year since I last talked about the Beatles. I mentioned that my teen years were all about John, my 20's belonged to Paul, and now in my 30's I'm all about the George. This is still true. I don't think George ever got half the attention he deserved (although I suspect he got twice the attention he really wanted).

Last week was a crummy week. I've been trying to come up with a suitably vague way of explaining it (since it's work-related, vagueness counts). Put it this way: see that Joss quote at the top of my blog? Well let's just say I had a run in with an inherent divider. It's all taken care of now, but I had a few days of feeling blue and musing on "why are people so mean?" (I'm sensitive. No really, I am).

The point being, the perfect cure for the "why are people so mean" blues is George Harrison, hands down. His music is optimistic, but it's not naively optimistic. It's world weary and optimistic at the same time. Quite a trick, but he did it. He could be quite caustic about things he didn't like (think "Taxman" or "Little Piggies") but he was a take the good with the bad kinda guy, and that always came across. He says to me, "Yes, some people suck, but isn't it great to be alive anyway?" Which is ironic, I suppose, him being dead and all.

I wish he had done more, but I get the sense he wasn't one to record crap. He held out for the good stuff, no "filler". I mean, there was 15 years between Cloud 9 and Brainwashed. Aside from the Traveling Wilburys (which I finally got on CD, at slightly inflated Ebay prices, but they're impossible to find new in stores), what was he doing?

I can see why Brainwashed took so long to record, though. He got lung cancer, then got stabbed by a crazed fan, then got lung cancer again. It's gotta be tough to be creative under those circumstances. And he raced to finish recording before he died (and didn't quite do it; it was finished by Jeff Lynne and his son Dhani Harrison, but the important stuff was done). It's still one of my all-time favorite CDs; it's a shame it never got radio play or any kind of promotion. If you're even remotely a Beatles fan I recommend checking it out. He faced death with humor and a love for everything (even the mean people, I suspect); the only remotely sad song is the instrumental "Marwa Blues". I'm not usually a fan of instrumentals, but this one has such an aching beauty (and I do mean ache). Well, you have to hear it to know. Find it. Check it out. You'll see why I love my George.