The Beatles Boxed Set (41 page)

            George
was still in the institute when skiffle was revived by Lonnie Donegan. Skiffle
refers to a type of popular music that usually uses homemade or improvised
instruments. It became popular again in Britain in the 1950s. The British
skiffle craze began with the success of Donegan’s high-tempo version of
Leadbelly’s
Rock Island Line
, fuelled by the lack of a need for
expensive instruments.

            When
the skiffle craze hit Liverpool, George and his brother Peter, along with his
friend Arthur Kelly, formed their own skiffle band,
The Rebels.
But
because they were too young, they had to sneak out of their house to perform.

Arthur Kelly and George, two-thirds of
the skiffle band, The Rebels

            One
good thing that came out of George attending the institute was meeting Paul McCartney,
who was a year ahead of George at Liverpool Institute. It just so happened that
Paul rode Bus No. 86 with him. They met in 1956 on the upper deck of the
double-decker school bus where Paul sat so that he could smoke a pipe. Soon
they found out that they had things in common, such as interest in music and
guitars. And George even demonstrated for his new friend the many guitar chords
he had learned to play.

            Soon,
the two began practicing, sometimes at the Harrisons and at times at the McCartneys.
By then, Paul was with a skiffle band called The Quarrymen. Paul told John
Lennon about his new friend George who could play
Raunchy
on his guitar.
Eventually, Paul introduced George to the other members in 1956. As George was
only 14 at the time, he wasn’t allowed to join the band but he began to hang
around the group, coming to idolize John and doing everything to emulate him.

            At
times, George stood in the back of the room at all their shows with his beloved
guitar. And when the band’s guitarist didn’t show up, George would fill in.

            When
he was 15, George was finally treated as another member of the group. John was
initially reluctant to accept a juvenile into their band, but George’s
excellent skill in playing guitar and his persistence eventually won him over.
He became the band’s lead guitarist in 1958.

The Quarrymen, July 6, 1957

George finally became a member of the
Quarrymen in 1958

            Over
time, George lost his interest in school. He failed one class after another and
would often sneak out to go to the movies. After receiving too many miserable
report cards, George quit school.

            For
a while, George worked as an apprentice electrician at Blackler’s for one
pound, fifty pence a week. But even in his work, George lacked interest and
concentration. He would often spend time in the basement and play darts,
anticipating when it would be time to go home so that he could play his guitar.

With
John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison in the band, they would often
rehearse at John’s house where he lived with his aunt Mimi. His father left him
when he was only four and his mother, Julia, was unable to raise her son as she
pursued a social life that left little time to take care of a child.

Paul, John and George at the Harrisons’
house

            John’s
aunt Mimi took it upon herself to chastise her nephew and his musician friends.
She wasn’t particularly enamored with George. She told John, “You always seem
to like the lower-class types, don’t you, John.”

            Because
of Aunt Mimi’s sternness with the band, George looked for some place for the
band to rehearse and asked his parents to allow him and his band to practice at
their house. The Harrisons agreed, and Louise would sometimes cheer them on and
feed them cookies and a bit of whiskey.

            A
few months later, John’s mother died in a car accident. Although it didn’t
involve any of his family, George was shaken by the death. He was terrified
that his mother would die next. Louise recalled, “He’d watch me carefully all
the time. I told him not to be so silly. I wasn’t going to die.”

            In
the group, George was the only one who grew up without divorce or death in the
family, and his happy childhood compensated for him being the youngest in the
trio. As a band, they grew better and as friends, they became closer. Although
there was no mistaking the unique bond between John and Paul, the group was
committed to one another. There were times when they fought, but they made up
just as quickly. George said of their friendship, “That was one thing to be
said about us. We were really tight, as friends. We could argue a lot, but … in
the company of other people or other situations we’d always stick together.”

            Surprisingly,
the band suffered through some personal difficulties in 1959 that George
accepted an additional gig as guitarist for
The Les Stewart Quartet
. The
quartet split in August 1959, leading to a partial combination of both bands
under the Quarrymen name. The band lasted until October and performed as the
house band at The Casbah Club.

            George,
John and Paul performed under the name
Johnny and The Moondogs
before
they added bassist Stuart Sutcliffe in the lineup in 1960. Sutcliffe changed
their name to
The Beatals
, which would soon become
The Silver Beetles
.
The band’s name changed some more, for a while being
The Silver Beatles
and
The Silver Beats
. The band’s final name was decided upon one afternoon
in the Renshaw Hall bar when Sutcliffe, John and his then-girlfriend Cynthia
Powell were thinking of a name similar to the band
The Crickets
. They
came up with
The Beatals
. Later on, John changed the name because he
thought it sounded French.

George, Paul, Ken Brown and John became
the house band at The Casbah Club, circa 1959

            Meanwhile,
the boys’ friendship was growing stronger, reinforced by hard work. They never
stopped rehearsing. If one of them heard a new song, they would all go to NEMS,
the largest record shop in Liverpool where they could listen to records before
deciding to buy.

            In
1956, the biggest song was Bill Haley’s
Rock Around the Clock
, the soundtrack
music in the film
Blackboard Jungle.
But George couldn’t gain entrance
in Liverpool theaters because he was under sixteen. Paul remembered how they
helped the baby-faced George by grabbing soil from Louise’s garden and painting
a mustache on George’s upper lip. It worked, and they went to the movies.

            They
also played gigs whenever they could, whether it would be in a men’s club, pubs
and amateur competitions. They could clearly recall one such competition where
they were nearly the last to audition. By 11:00 pm, the judges were too drunk
that they couldn’t distinguish one group from another. In the end, they awarded
the prize to an old lady who played spoons.

            George
was already 17 when the group, then called the Silver Beatles, was offered to
play a gig for two weeks in Scotland. It was a big chance for the band to show
off their talent and to see how they’d fare on the road. But since the gig was
for two weeks, it meant that George had to give up his job. He asked his
brother Peter, “Would you pack in work and have a go at this if you were me?”

            Peter
said yes, saying, “You might as well. There’s nothing to lose.” And when George
returned his uniform at Blackler’s, one of the managers told him, “Mark my
words, George Harrison. One day you’ll crawl back on your knees pleading for
your job.”

            The
band was disappointed after seeing how the tour turned into a series of
one-night stands, scarce food, a near-fatal car accident and meager publicity.
It wasn’t exactly what they had in mind. They returned to Liverpool
disappointed but it made them even more determined.

            The
band members found themselves being offered to perform at Jacaranda, a club
owned by Allan Williams who also ran a coffee bar and managed several local bands.
Williams recalled, “The night they first played here, George came up to me
earlier in the day – he was only seventeen at the time – and said, ‘Hey, Al,
have you got a broom?’ I told him the floor was clean enough, but he said, ‘and
a mop as well?’ I found out why that evening. You see, they were so poor in
those days that they didn’t have microphone stands. Their girlfriends used to
tie the mikes on the broomsticks and they’d be sitting in the front row holding
up these brushes and things all night long.”