Wednesday, February 25, 2009

MusicBox : The Quiet One

Tons of Beatles news today. On this date in 1963, the Beatles released their 1st US single, "Please Please Me." On this same date in 1969, the band started recording what would become the Abbey Road album. Today in 1972, Paul McCartney released the strangely whimsical, strangely ponderous protest song, "Give Ireland back to the Irish." But the biggest Beatle anniversary today commemorates this date in 1943, when George Harrison was born.


This is Harrison and Bob Dylan performing a duet of Dylan's 1970 song "If Not For You," in an outtake from "The Concert for Bangladesh."


This is probably our favorite single from Harrison's post-Beatle career. (Yes, including the Traveling Wilburys stuff.) The yearning, driving "What Is Life" is the first track on Side Two of Harrison's solo album All Things Must Pass. It was released as a single on February 15, 1971, peaking at #10 on the Billboard charts and seeing pretty solid rotation on classic rock radio ever since.