Right then, after two chapters of slow burns, we now get to the music side of things that I suspect that many of you have been waiting for and this is where the fun begins in which here George gets his moment to shine earlier than OTL!
George's Coming Of Age Moment
Extract from 'In My Own Words' by Brian Epstein
There was the feeling at the start of the year that 1968 was said to be the year of the guru due to the big Hare Krishna craze at the time and how everyone would find peace of mind, something that with hindsight is horribly naïve to look back on when you consider that year was filled with much discourse with riots, protests and all sorts in which the world felt like it was going to break at any point and this was actually something felt within the band itself. I had done my part to help promote Apple to the American market in which despite my best efforts, there were still many who were still left unimpressed or suspicious so that whole promotion of Apple was in many ways a mixed bag though I had other problems with the band. Yes, they would all say that they all came back with many great songs yet any hopes of them to have peace among each other from the Indian trip looked like it had all been for nothing as I'm sorry to say that many egos starting to clash here in which John and Paul in particular were now instead of working together were now taking shots at each other over such as John saying that Paul's songs were "cloyingly sweet and bland", while Paul would reply about Lennon's songs as "harsh, unmelodious and deliberately provocative".
I'm sorry to say that even though I didn't pop down to the
White Album recording sessions as much, it was likely a good thing I didn't as if tension in the band wasn't bad enough then so too was was many of the staff at Abbey Road were getting dragged into too in which Geoff Emerick walked out one day after saying he'd had it with all the tension and bickering that was taking place and even though I managed to convince him back, I knew that had I been around during these recording session, I likely would have been getting it in the neck too just for the mere fact that I was in the vicinity and had done nothing at that point. When Ringo walked out I knew then I had to act in which given how much anger and possible split was looming if this got any worse, I had to act to bring him back and thankfully after some time he did though if I was to talk about all the negative stuff that seemed to come out from recording that album and of what was going on in the band's personal lives I'd feel I'd be repeating myself in which many publications since then have all talk about what all went down during those times.
Regarding the album itself in terms of diversity, it has it all if you are in for all that though if you like something more consistent you weren't going to find it here and some will say that it would have been better if it wasn't a double album though by this point they had all had made such a major stockpile of songs that by this point looked liked they all weren't going to come within the next decade so on paper a double album seemed like the way to go though given all the squabbling that happened at that time and how long it took to make that album, I have to wonder if maybe for their sake that making just a typical album would have saved many of us a lot of grief? That all said the one shining light that came out from all that madness in which, if I'm allowed to blow my own trumpet given how I feel I helped in this manner, is that this was when George Harrison finally came of age in the band and as songwriter.
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Extract from 'I Me Mine' by George Harrison
Some people think that with Brian coming over to where me and Patti stayed at the time that we were getting pissed off of him constantly popping in catch up with us though in truth I really hadn't a problem as we had gotten close following the the trip in India and was wanting to me more spiritual, probably more so than what the others in the band had gone through so with that me and Brian had developed a close friendship in which he was always interested to hear all the songs I had written at the time in which the only other person who had heard any of them was Patti. Speaking of which, she had grown fond of Brian too in which before India they hadn't really talked much but I think after his near death experience she had gained something of a motherly role wanting to make sure he was alright which is quite funny when you realise what ages they were. Still it was on one day on one of his visits at Kinfauns that honestly is really the moment in which Brian kept his promise in sticking up for me.
It was in the garden on what was I remember sometime in August, really can't recall when, but me and Brian were out in the garden while Patti was inside making us tea in which we both talked about what was going wrong with the band at the time and Brian was quite flustered himself not knowing what to do himself. We both chatted about what the future held for the band and what we were going to all do next. Brain was scared that the band would split in which given all the squabbles we were all having and that he was still upset over what was going on with John and Yoko, it did feel like it all would. I had my guitar with me and it was here where I played
While My Guitar Gently Weeps for Brian for the first time - a song that seemed to reflect the disharmony in the band at that point.
At that point I remember his expression changed the more I played the song and after I finished, there was this long silence in and expression on his face in which I don't know what it was but he looked stunned and when he finally spoke to me again, he told me to play it all again. Despite being somewhat curious why he wanted me to do that, I did what he requested but this time round he had his eyes closed and was slowly nodding his head which I didn't realise at first why he was doing that though only later I found out that he was putting a vision of the song in his head of what he was thinking it would sound like. By the time I had finished playing it again, Brian's face lit up.
"This is the song," Brian announced to me proudly.
"What'd you mean?" I asked him but he looked like as if he had found an answer to a question he had been looking for a long while.
"What I mean to say this is song that is surely the main track from the album," Brian replied, "this is surely going to be the A-Side track for sure!"
It was a bold statement for him to make, actually I don't think he ever dictated on what we should or should not put on a Beatles album yet here he was saying that a rough acoustic demo I made was something more bigger than what either John or Paul were doing for the album. Yes, there was Hey Jude in which seemed to be 'the one' for us that year but now it seemed that I had thrown the cat among the pigeons there.
I then stated, "even if it is, John and Paul won't put much effort into it. I did think about bringing Eric Clapton in to try and finish it off."
"I was meaning have none of the band on it to help you at all," Brian said. "If we can get George Martin to write out an orchestral backing track to it, then it would be perfect as your own answer to Yesterday. Let's face it, neither of you are recoding together for the most part on this album and if they aren't treating you seriously, just cut the middlemen out and do it yourself."
I was taking aback by this, I was expecting him for me to stay with the band but yet in some strange ironic twist here he was wanting me to go solo with this song and it was almost like he was hinting at me to eventually go it alone? At the same time, he was right that I wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the rest of the band and he was right that we were all recording at different times so what was stopping me from doing the same? Little did I know then that after accepting Brian's suggestion that things were going to change for me going forward.
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Extract from 'Harmony And Strife: The Early Years Of Apple 1968 - 1972' by Jordon Monroe
After much reluctance from George Harrison's part, he would agree to go into the studio during a day in which neither of his band members would have any part of it other than just himself in which he would record the vocals and acoustic part for
While My Guitar Gently Weeps while shortly afterwards George Martin would record a orchestral backing track for the song (something that he had been doing for other songs on the White Album in which most of which were not a group effort with the band by this point and this new score for this song was no different). All of this combined made the more tender version with just Harrison and his guitar into something much more special in which as Brian Epstein had suspected it would Harrison's own answer to to Yesterday but it would be a test to see if the band wanted it included in which if they didn't then it might as well been a crossroads point for the quiet Beatle for his future with the band.
It was on one day day in the recording booth at Abbey Road that the band, along with George Martin, Brian Epstein, Mal Evans and now Yoko Ono who was quite literally sitting in with the band at this point invading their personal space in the studio that that would be the source of several frictions during that time, would all be the first to hear the completed song. Harrison would recall that, "we played it in which I did feel was good enough to be included and when it was finished, I turned to look at everyone else in the room and many of them were just silent and I wasn't sure what to think if my song was going to be included on the album or not. Then it was Paul who spoke up first and said, 'This is the main song from the album! It's the A-side surely!' And that took me a moment to realise what he meant; he would rather have mine instead of one of his or John's songs to promote the album and I couldn't believe that he wanted to go down that path."
It's unclear as what was Paul McCartney's thinking of using that version for the song in which some speculate that McCartney did hear the similar sound to that of his own song Yesterday and did think that if it worked with him before then surely it would work fine for George. Another and perhaps more negative view is that neither of his fellow band mates wanted to record it as given how much they were starting to get tetchy with each other, having this song already competed without having needed their help meant that they wouldn't have to put much effort into it and focus on something else, this was quite ironic from McCartney's part given how he had nearly driven many round the bend by wanting to record the song
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in which how sone would have rather recorded a full band version of Harrison's song [1].
Nonetheless the song itself would go out a single to promote the new album in September 1968 (with the hated
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da incidentally becoming the B-Side of the single in which Lennon reportedly said that it was even worth going on B-Side or any album given how much he hated it) and much like how Epstein held faith with Harrison to make the song into his own
Yesterday,
While My Guitar Gently Weeps would indeed prove to be not only Harrison's first ever A-side for anything he had done with The Beatles at this point but actually his first ever number one record which some will point out that the band getting any number one for a single or album no matter what they sounded like was pretty much always a foregone conclusion as what
Hey Jude during the summer had been. However, the fact that it was actually George Harrison stepping out of the shadow of Lennon and McCartney to prove himself as a songwriter himself and that he could be finally recognised on his own merits.
The song itself would be praised for his hauntingly mature arrangement, words and tone in which led to some early whispers of trouble in the band and that the song was actually hinting of what was going on behind the scenes though this was never really confirmed. Nonetheless that moment would be a watershed moment not just for the band but for George Harrison himself with the moment being best described in the
Daily Mirror newspaper at the time saying that, "This is the moment in which George Harrison came out of the shadows and came of age." Epstein's faith in Harrison had been rewarded in which had given the quiet Beatle the attention he was deserving and it was a moment in which cemented the close bond between the two men far more than it had been before and while the
White Album recording session might have been a rough time for all, Harrison's coming of age moment was the one shining light during those times.
Over the years, many music historians all claim that the song itself was the first time that Harrison never needed any of his bandmates on a song he wrote, this is not true - he had already done this on
Sergeant Pepper with the Indian inspired piece
Within You, Without Your in which never needed the likes of the other three Beatles though it is fair to say that
While My Guitar Gently Weeps is the better known one by a landslide when comparing the two with the former being nearly forgotten by most sadly. Nonetheless, it would gain Harrison the the respect he had felt he and long deserved by the rest of the band and following the success of the single being released, Harrison couldn't believe in which Lennon and McCartney then asked him if he'd want another song for the album (Lennon likely more interested if it meant, according to some, that they won't have to put up with more of Paul's 'Granny shit music') and sure enough from Harrison's own musical stockpile, he had one in mind.
The song would be
Art Of Dying, a song that Harrison had written up in 1966 in which then seemed rather too radical for the band at that point, now it's title seemed weirdly fitting given the possible fear that the band was dying at this point. That being said, John Lennon liked the song though there was one addition George insisted and that was the inclusion of his friend Eric Clapton (who had nearly been brought in for
While My Guitar Gently Weeps) to help give the song an extra edge and the first time that someone outside of The Beatles would be recording alongside them [2] though this doesn't include the likes of other musicians who gave backing music to songs prior. He'd even score yet another spot on the album in which he would get
For You Blue on it too in which once again, Epstein had stood up for him.
As it was looking, George Harrison possibly couldn't believe his luck that he was getting more songs on a Beatles album than he had in years though even that wouldn't be last Harrison song to be added to the album in which the final song he would contribute would come about in rather bizarre circumstances.
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Extract from 'Epstein: The Secondary Years 1968 - 1978' by Debbie Geller
1968 had proven to be a stressful and angry time in the relationship between Brian and John in which had all come about between two woman that were Cynthia and Yoko Ono. Despite the circumstances of how John and Cynthia had gotten married following the latter becoming unexpectedly pregnant in those pre-Beatlemania days, over time and mostly after Brian's near death, he had gotten close to Cynthia mostly after the Indian trip in which their experience and the 'escape' from India had been all something that neither of them would forget and he would feel comforting in talking about his secret homosexually to Cynthia in which while she had no trouble with it and even tempted Brian to try and come out but alas in those days it was just impossible in which would've likely have destroyed Epstein's career going forward and she would feel sorry for him that despite all that he had done for The Beatles, he could never really enjoy life himself.
When Cynthia went on a holiday to Greece in May 1968, no one thought none the wiser yet Epstein had always felt something suspect that it was John who had suggested she should go over there yet he didn't want to pry into the personal relationships of the band. As it turned out, Epstein would have good reason for this and what everyone all knows what happens next in which during Cynthia's absence, John had invited Yoko to stay and the two would end up having an affair in which much what happened next regarding the two and how a heartbroken Cynthia has all been well documented in which divorce proceedings would take place in August which pretty much all but ended their relationship. Brian Epstein was utterly furious about what had happened; he had done so much for the couple in those early years and though he might have been naïve to think the two would have a happy life overlooking some cliff in Cornwall, instead he along with the rest of The Beatles circle could only watch the smouldering remains of a doomed marriage.
Brian was angry of what had happened and his relationship with John was damaged greatly though he was far from the only one angry with him. Pretty much after what had happened in wake of that infamous day in May, John Lennon came pretty much under fire from all angles from what he had done and the timing of just so happened to come about when recording of the While Album would begin which in some ways is partial responsible for the tense time recording was. However it was during that time that tensions started to boil over between John and Brian when the former would bring in a song that he and Yoko had recorded called
Revolution 9. The song itself, if one could call it that, was more akin to being that of a sound collage which had began its life as extended ending to the album version of Revolution in which Lennon would work with his new love by taking the discarded coda, buried it underneath overdubbed vocals and speech, tape loops and random sound effects.
It must be said that this was not the first time the Beatles had done experimental sounds in which Paul McCartney a year earlier had already dipped his toe into this field with recording called
Carnival Of Light though this made for his own amusement as just an experiment that was quickly thrown into the EMI vaults that was never made for public consumption. Lennon himself felt that there was no problem in which he was adamant that
Revolution 9 should be on the next Beatles album. A prospect that horrified many working at Apple - mainly the likes of George Martin, Paul McCartney and Brian Epstein who felt that the song in question should be nowhere near a Beatles album. George Harrison and Ringo Starr also felt that song should not be on the album too yet neither of them wanted to confront John Lennon on the matter yet it would be not Paul but Brian of all people that would be the one to confront Lennon on the matter.
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Extract from 'Harmony And Strife: The Early Years Of Apple 1968 - 1972' by Jordon Monroe
When the song
Revolution 9 was played by John and Yoko for the rest of the band along with George Martin, Brian Epstein and a handful of other 'lucky' Apple employees such as Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, Lennon might have thought the song would get a welcoming reaction to what
While My Guitar Gently Weeps had been for George Harrison. Instead, the reaction was of a stunned silence and not of the good type. Everyone in the room were either baffled at what they had just heard or looked utterly disgusted though perhaps the most negative reaction to it was undoubtedly from Brian Epstein himself in which his reaction was, according to Mal Evans, would be akin to, "as if Brian had seen someone slapped his mother across the face upon hearing that song".
Brian would order the song to stop halfway during the listening process and it is here that all hell broke loose in which the anger and frustration that had been inside of Brian following John's split from Cynthia finally boiled over in which the two would lock horns into a shouting match over why the song should or should not be included in the next album. It was a startling picture of seeing the well mannered and soft spoken Epstein arguing like that was totally out of character in a moment that Ringo Starr has since described as being "probably the most remarkable scene ever pictured at Abbey Road in seeing Brian act like that". While much has been said about the now infamous 'battle of Abbey Road' between Brian and John though it is said by those who were there that the two entered a long shouting match that nearly did come to blows in which the frustration and anger in both men nearly came to the surface until it was Mal Evans who would be the hero of the day to step in-between the two men in which in the end, that song would play a part on album though not the next Beatles album.
It had been unlike Brian Epstein to take leadership like that yet here in the wake of much happening in that year, Epstein would act and put a stunned Lennon in his place. Instead it was after much debating that the song would be so-called 'banished' to John and Yoko's sole album
Unfished Music No.1: Two Virgins - an album that featured many bizarre songs that would have no place on any Beatles album but yet
Revolution 9 would fit in there. To the relief or many except for perhaps John, a possible disaster for the album had been avoided though Lennon would raise a good point to Epstein as what was going to fill that final spot on the album. As it would turn out, the Beatles manager had indeed somewhat anticipate this question in which he would look over towards his secret weapon in the room.
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Extract from 'I Me Mine' by George Harrison
The so called 'Battle of Abbey Road' everyone likes to hype up as this big fist fight between Brian and John wasn't really that, it was just a shouting match that was like a playground argument that was no different than what we were all feeling at the time though I was quite stunned at how different a man Brian looked in that moment in pointing out to John why we shouldn't use that song which in many ways he was correct as to why it had no place on the album. Then it was John who would asked the question of what do we do to fill that spot on the album, Brian just looked at me and said "let's use one of George's songs for it."
I was taken aback by this as I was wanting nothing to do with argument that was taking place. I then asked, "what song are you talking about?"
Brian replied with, "that song you played some time ago, what was it again...?
Isn't it a pity, right?"
I had written it a few years ago and it had been passed on so many times since we did Revolver and I really didn't think it would have any luck here. To my amazement though, Paul and Ringo actually wanted to do it which was the first I'd heard of them ever say it though. John would reluctantly, after some persuading from Brian agree to it though he wasn't all too happy that he had to lose
Revolution 9 for it. As it turns out however, it seems that the only reason why Paul and John were only ever interested in putting some of my songs was not that they were willing to give me a fair crack of the whip which on the face of it they did, yet it was pretty much those two playing 'tit-for-tat' in which if one thought one or the other was crap and couldn't agree on it like with
Revolution 9 then they'd use one of my songs as middle ground to record.
All these years later, I'm glad I finally got to put a good few of my songs out on it and get the recognition I was wanting yet it all had to happen in rather dubious circumstances which has left me conflicted on how I feel about it though Brian Epstein deserves a lot of credit for pushing the boat for me to get that chance.
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Extract from 'Revolution: The Making of "The Beatles - White Album"' by David Quantick
As it would turn out,
Isn't It A Pity would be one of the final songs to be record for the album and in some strange sense it's title would actually be more fitting to the general feeling around at that time and when all laid out in full this was for good reason. With the state of the world had been through such as riots, the Prague Spring, anti-war and nuclear protests that had dominated the headlines and of course the discontent in the band with how much they had all been at each other's throats all year long which would include John and Cynthia's divorce and a miscarriage from Yoko later on the year all contributed for
Isn't It A Pity to become something of an unlikely anthem that summed up the year as a whole in a way that probably George Harrison never really anticipated nor predicated it would be used in such a way, it was just something that just happened in the right place at the right time. In some ways how
While My Guitar Gently Weeps could be said to be his answer to Yesterday then
Isn't It A Pity would be his answer to
Hey Jude with the fact that the band would add the 'Na Na' chants during it.
So it would be on November 22nd 1968 (the fifth anniversary of President Kenney's assassination)
The White Album - then just know as
The Beatles at that time, would be released with its song list as follows:
Side 1
1) Back in the U.S.S.R.
2) Dear Prudence
3) Glass Onion
4) Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
5) Wild Honey Pie
6) The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
7) Happiness Is a Warm Gun
8) While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Side 2
9) Martha My Dear
10) Art Of Dying
11) Blackbird
12) Piggies
13) Rocky Raccoon
14) Don’t Pass Me By
15) Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
16) I Will
17) Julia
Side 3
1) Birthday
2) For You Blue
3) Mother Nature’s Son
4) Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
5) Sexy Sadie
6) Helter Skelter
7) Long, Long, Long
Side 4
8) Revolution 1
9) Honey Pie
10) Savoy Truffle
11) Cry Baby Cry
12) Isn't It A Pity
13) Good Night
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Extract from 'Harmony And Strife: The Early Years Of Apple 1968 - 1972' by Jordon Monroe
Despite the price due to its double album nature, it would be a instant hit with fans and critics alike and no one seemed to bother with how expensive it was, every fan had to own it. That said though, there was some who weren't overall fussed about it in which some claimed that the long length and how there was no consistent theme with it as demonstrated of how many of the songs all sounded so different from the likes of McCartney's more 'music hall' type tunes compared to the more raw Lennon tunes which clashed greatly with them with some saying it all sounding like the sum of their parts that it was a sad harbinger of a looming breakup. Despite this all, the album would be praised mostly for the rise of George Harrison finally making a name for himself in which in contrast to
Sergeant Pepper when he had only one song on that album and was lucky enough to get two on the two albums before that, Harrison couldn't have believed his luck this time round in all the chaos around the album...he had managed to score
six songs of his own the album.
It sounds like on the average album that he had wrote a whole album for himself though in the bigger picture in terms that this was a double album, it was small as Lennon and McCartney still had the lion's share of songs on it but despite all that, Harrison had managed to pull off having more songs on an album than he had ever done before in the past few years. His only hope that this was all no fluke yet he feared that the only reason he might score more songs on a future Beatles album was only just being used as pawn to acting as middle ground between Lennon and McCartney. Surely there had to be a better way than this?
Of course, it wouldn't be the only Beatles work to come out that year, the animated movie Yellow Submarine would be a big hit at the box office and even had its own soundtrack to go along with it, though with every high there comes a low in which Harrison would become the first Beatle to release a solo album which for the soundtrack for the 1968 film
Wonderwall which were all mostly instrumental pieces that promoted Indian classical music. Lennon wouldn't be far behind in releasing a solo album of his own which would be of course be
Two Virgins which would his and Yoko's chance to explore more experimental music that they couldn't do with the Beatles which included the banished
Revolution 9 song to it. The latter album would be more remembered more than it's shocking front cover of a nude John and Yoko than any of the music on it.
Neither of the two albums sold many copies and actually left many Beatles fans baffled and even alienated them for what they had just heard and to add insult for injury, both albums would be crushed by the White Album which just went to so that many didn't really care what a solo Beatle had to offer as they just wanted to hear Beatles tunes.
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Extract from 'Epstein: The Secondary Years 1968 - 1978' by Debbie Geller
When it came round for Christmas 1968, many at Apple had hoped that after how tense the
White Album sessions had been along with the rocky formation of Apple in those early days, those who had hoped for that were all about to get a rude awakening in which would lead into one of the most craziest events in the early years of the company. While out on holiday in Woodstock, New York, George was in LA producing musician Jackie Lomax's debut record when members of the Hells Angels stopped by for a chat.
The Hells Angels were founded in 1948, but they had yet to earn the truly murderous reputation that came from the Angels-implicated murder at the 1969 Altamont Festival so at that time George likely was more friendly than he would have should've been in which he would make the grave mistake of inviting the Hell's Angels over at Apple for Christmas that year.
It is likely he didn't actually think that they would literally take up on his offer to travel all the way to England right at Apple's doorstep to spend Christmas there so many Apple staff members didn't even know they were arriving until they and perhaps many others around Savile Row heard the roar of the Hell's Angels motorbikes rocking up outside their door despite Harrison previously writing the following memo:
“Hells Angels will be in London within the next week, on the way to straighten out Czechoslovakia. There will be twelve in number, complete with black leather jackets and motorcycles. They will undoubtedly arrive at Apple, and I have heard they may try to make full use of Apple’s facilities. They may look as though they are going to do you in but are very straight and do good things, so don’t fear them or up-tight them. Try to assist them without neglecting your Apple business and without letting them take control of Savile Row."
What followed was utter chaos in which Apple came under attack from these notorious bikers. Paul McCartney and his then new girlfriend Linda Eastman and her daughter Heather were in the studio recording a Christmas song that year only to then be suddenly confronted with about sixteen stoned Californian bikers - all part of the 'Pleasure Crew' - barged in and had them cornered though they were not the only ones to get this. Soon enough the hallways of Apple were filled with bikers roaming the hallways either crashing on sofas and eating much of the food there all the way leaving the place reeking of that of oil, leather and marijuana and without George there, everyone working at Apple suddenly found themselves at the mercy of these men that were turning the place upside down [3].
Epstein and John Lennon who - still having a tense relationship following the events early in the year - would put their differences to one side to try and work out a solution to deal with the madness. They would after getting past the many Hell's Angels that were all over the place meet up with Paul who - after safely locking away Linda and Heather in the recording studio so no harm would come to them - all had to come up with a plan of what to with Paul famously saying, "Our kind-hearted George has fucked up good this time. We've got to get his friends out of here."
The other two men agreed but it would be hear that Epstein - not wanting Apple to suffer more embarrassment for a company that he had found himself as leader - would come up with an unlikely solution that the two Beatles would quickly agree with. The solution would appear two hours later in which the colourful bus from the
Magical Mystery Tour film - which had been in storage since filming - would roll up outside the front of Apple in which was to invite the Hell's Angels to take part in a mystery tour of their own on Apple's behave which was to take them around London and then on a four drive up to Liverpool to see the many places that the Beatles had made famous from Strawberry Fields to Penny Lane. It was ironic considering the fact how much Brian Epstein hated that film and how all he remembered from the shoot was getting stuck on a narrow bridge somewhere in Devon had now become the unlikely help they all needed to get these guys out of here.
Inside the bus would have Ringo and Maureen along John and Yoko acting as last minute tour guides and the band's long time helper Mal Evans acting as the bus driver to take the gang away from Savile Row on an actual mystery tour. The story of this event is quite legendary as instead some colourful characters as seen in the film, anyone looking at the passengers on the bus would have all been shocked to see what looked like demons spat out of hell taking on a ride on a bus that was the style of the summer of love in one of the most strangest crossovers in history in which two of the Beatles and their respective partners would take a bunch of stoned bikers on a real life magical mystery tour. One could not make it up and yet despite how the attention should have been on the release of The Beatles' new album, everyone's attention was now on the uninvited guests who had all been forced into a bus from a stupid film, yet despite how crazy it all sounded it all worked out in the end.
Epstein would prove himself as a true leader in which he had turned a near disaster for Apple into a strange victory in which the Hell's Angels would get to explore London and Liverpool in which ended with them arriving at the fabled Cavern Club in which they drunk themselves stupid and it was something that the press utterly ate up at how cheeky the way The Beatles had managed to dispose of a terrifying threat in a way that had made the world love the Beatles in the first place. In the end, the Hell's Angels would all go home though not before Epstein had quickly called the police to act as security to make sure that the Hell's Angels wouldn't get any funny ideas and when they did return, the whole bus was quickly literally smoking from the open windows in which a happy bunch of stoned up bikers had smuggled their marijuana with them for the trip in what was hotboxed in every sense of the world with the Beatles on board with Mal Evans having to act like troopers for that.
After that it would see Mal Evans - the unsung hero for taking on this mad trip - get his Christmas bonus of £1,000 while George Harrison upon realising what had happened would get utter stick for what had happened by nearly everyone at Apple and it was fair to say that this would be the last time that he would be the last time that George Harrison would hand out Christmas invites at Apple. But as 1968 ended, many had hoped that the following year would be an improvement but alas in those early days at Apple, life was never that simple...
[1] So yes, major butterfly here in which this version of the song is pretty much the same as the OTL
Love version in which here George makes his own version instead of needing help with the band that that version you all know and love from the OTL album version is gone and would be found on TTL's Anthology.
[2] So yeah, Eric Clapton still does get to play on a Beatles song here though not from OTL. The song here does sound roughly about the same as from OTL ATMP album.
[3] Yes, the arrival of the Hell's Angels did happen here though the difference is that Epstein pulls off a way to get rid of them instead of George just telling them just to go away.
So there we are, the next part in which we have a somewhat different White Album here and where things will start to change in which George starts to come out of the shadows earlier here which has some interesting butterflies for the band here. Hope you enjoyed this update and please comment on what you think will happen next. Please comment for more because writing this chapter was a pain, always give me motivation to let me know that you love it.
