George Harrison’s death in print
by 
gisrael on November 28th, 2007
Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of George’s death. Here are two exerpts of how the news of his demise was printed.
The Guardian (click here for full article)
George Harrison, 1943-2001
Former Beatle George Harrison dies from cancer aged 58
Dave Laing
Friday November 30, 2001
By 1962, the Beatles had signed their recording contract with EMI. When their urbane producer, George Martin, politely asked them whether there was "anything you’re not happy with?", Harrison quipped: "Yes, I don’t like your tie".
The next eight years saw the Beatles become the most famous entertainers in the world and then implode. George had his share of the adulation - on his 21st birthday he received 15,000 cards and a full-sized door plus key - but within the group he was relatively isolated, as John and Paul were locked into their volatile songwriting partnership.
Nevertheless, his contribution was considerable. He designed guitar breaks and riffs to suit the range of song genres used by Lennon and McCartney, although he had less opportunity than he would have liked to cut loose in the rockabilly style of his great hero Carl Perkins.
He also got to sing at least one number on each album, beginning with Do You Want To Know A Secret? on the debut album. Eventually, too, the Beatles agreed to record his compositions, of which Within You Without You (from Sgt Pepper) While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from the White Album) and Here Comes The Sun and Something (from Abbey Road) were among the most memorable.
But probably his most important influence on the group concerned the new sound textures he introduced. Chief among these was the sitar that he first heard in a scene from the film Help! George was intrigued and he contrived a meeting with the sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar at the home of the leader of the Asian Music Circle in London.
The New York Times (for full article click here)
George Harrison, ‘Quiet Beatle’ And Lead Guitarist, Dies at 58
George Harrison, the Beatles’ lead guitarist and the youngster of the group, who composed some of their most venerated songs, ranging from the intentionally prosaic to the hauntingly serene, died on Thursday at a friend’s home in Los Angeles. He was 58.
The cause was cancer, which he had been fighting since 1998.
News of his death saddened fans, who turned out by the hundreds in places of special significance, like Abbey Road in London, the site of the EMI recording studio, and Strawberry Fields in Central Park, planted in memory of John Lennon.
With a look and a wardrobe that seemed to zigzag along with the vicissitudes of the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, Mr. Harrison often took a back seat to the more flamboyant Lennon and Paul McCartney. He was known as the reclusive one, ”the quiet Beatle,” during the group’s manic touring years.
Yet he served as an anchor for the quartet, leading the others on a spiritual quest toward Eastern philosophy that influenced their music in the latter part of the 1960’s, epitomized for millions of fans by the sitar he played on ”Norwegian Wood.”
Some of his best compositions, like ”While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and ”Something,” stand alone in the Beatles’ canon for their introspective beauty.
Tags: Beatles, George, death, newspapers
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