It Do Come Easy
Alan Light has various comments on his night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This one amused me:
On the subject of Harrison, please note that although he was inducted for his solo work, they could only muster a Beatles song and a Traveling Wilburys song to play in tribute. I love Harrison, but the notion of his solo work representing a Hall of Fame career still doesn’t add up to me.
As I noted last November:
The Rock HOF is quickly becoming a joke. There’s no question that The Beatles should be in it. Lennon and McCartney also had impressive solo careers. But George Harrison?! Hell, Ringo Star has had a more important body of work.
May I be the first to respectfully disagree. Although I never much cared for Something, here’s a list of 10 Harrison contributions that I think justify his inclusion:
Piggies, I Me Mine, My Sweet Lord, Isn’t It A Pity, Give Me Love, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, You, Here Comes the Sun, Beware of Darkness, Any Road Will Take You There.
With the Concert for Bangladesh, Harrison was the first to initiate the use of pop music in the battle against global poverty. That’s enough to justify his inclusion all by itself.
He was arguably the most culturally significant of the Beatles outside the realm of popular music, introducing a generation to Indian music and Eastern religion.
Like Cat Stevens he was only at his best for a brief period of a few years, but in that time he made an impressive contribution.
Harrison is already in the Hall as a Beatle. As he should be.
Several of the songs you list were Beatles songs, not part of his solo career: Piggies, I Me Mine, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes the Sun. (Maybe some others; those I recognize)
He did the Indian music thing as a Beatle.
So, we’re left with the Concert for Bangladesh and three or four rather mediocre songs, none of which are in the top 100 of any “best of” lists I’ve seen.
You obviously haven’t listened to “What is Life” in a few years.
Harrison was a brilliant songwriter; he just had the misfortune to join a group that included Lennon and McCartney, in whose shadows he labored for years.
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