The Quiet Beatle
Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison by Seth Rogovoy (Oxford University Press, 2024)
Reviewed by Michael Jimenez
Actor and musician Finn Wolfhard, of Stranger Things fame, recently helped produced a stop-motion music video of George Harrison’s 1973 song “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth).” Harrison was oftentimes overshadowed by his fellow Beatles, so the attention is a welcome change. The song is not as famous as Harrison’s hit “My Sweet Lord” but it also displays the religious side of the so-called spiritual Beatle. Wolfhard, who collaborated with Harrison’s son Dhani, found it a privilege to work on this project, declaring that Harrison’s work would live on forever. For others who are interested in George Harrison, or should be, a place to start might be Seth Rogovoy’s new book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison.
Rogovoy’s Within You Without You attempts to correct putting Harrison on the sideline regarding his contribution to Beatles music. He makes the point that the Beatles worked because they were “coequals,” and Harrison’s main contribution was through his guitar (5, 10, 36). In short, the Beatles don’t work without the imagination and skill of Harrison’s guitar solos. Imagine Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood” without Harrison’s sitar.
Scanning the entirety of Harrison’s music, from the Beatles catalog to Harrison’s solo career, Rogovoy provides an apologetic for Harrison’s music. Harrison is most recognized, at first, for his guitar. His first singing assignment was a Lennon song “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” By the time he collaborates with guitarist Eric Clapton on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the maturity in his voice and song composition is evident.
About half the book is refreshingly dedicated to Harrison’s lesser-known solo career. Rogovoy makes the case that Harrison may have had the most successful solo career, including a member’s first post-Beatles era number one hit, and the last Beatle to have a number one hit (177). This is an important point since he often worked in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney, often unappreciated by the duo, leaving him “underestimated” and “held back and suppressed” (142, 184). Harrison would often have to fight to have a composition included in an album. He is somewhat vindicated in history since two of Harrison’s Beatles’s songs, “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something,” are often the most streamed (103).
Harrison clearly struggled with fame. In fact, Rogovoy closes the book with a whole chapter making the case that his so-called “moody” attitude was a sign of lifelong depression (197). Since this is a listening book, the proof is in the music. Many of Harrison’s compositions feature statements that he wants to be left alone (Chapter Four is titled “Leave Me Alone,” featuring the song “Don’t Bother Me”). Rogovoy writes that “Harrison’s ambivalence about the Beatles and fame could well be his defining characteristic” (15). From being the first Beatle to advocate for stopping touring (they could hardly hear each other on stage anyway) to being the member that did not want to perform “Get Back” on the roof, Harrison more than any of the Fab Four wanted to simply make music. This makes him closer to Bob Dylan’s temperament (who he would later join in the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys in the 80s). Rogovoy spends a good portion of the book debunking the rumor that Harrison was the first to officially leave the Beatles. Even though he was unhappy, he stuck it out though the others would eventually end the Beatles (85-6).
This book includes a focus on Harrison’s spirituality. For Harrison spirituality was often tied to love of God and to love for his romantic partner (174). He was a key figure in introducing Indian music, with the influence of his friend Ravi Shankar, to the rock music scene. He really is one of the first to bring a global sense of music to popular music (159). The title of Rogovoy’s book is from Harrison’s raga rock song from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Among the Beatles, his belief in Hinduism and seeking enlightenment seems the most genuine (111). At times, his music could be a little preachy about the errors of Western materialism or the lack of depth of the sixties’ counterculture (59). Still, he was incredibly generous with both his time and his work, by helping other musicians and donating to charity. One example of his global consciousness and camaraderie with fellow musicians was the famous Concert for Bangladesh. Shankar and Clapton make an appearance, but Rogovoy points out the biggest takeaway of the concert: “Beatles reunion be damned; no one had ever seen or expected to see anything like Dylan and half the Beatles [George and Ringo] playing onstage together” (126).
Rogovoy’s book has thirty-four chapters, most only a couple of pages long. The subject of each chapter focuses on a song or concert that Harrison had a unique and direct contribution in creating. Rogovoy makes the music appealing and helps the reader (and then the listener) to hear new things from classic Beatles’s songs. For example, I now hear Harrison’s “opening hook,” in so many songs (119). The author clearly enjoys his subject and knows much about the composition behind these works. Even though this book is not technically a biography, Rogovoy cannot help but delve into some of the drama behind Harrison’s relationships. However, in most cases, Harrison comes across as likeable, and on the right side of music history. This book will be a welcome addition to any rock or Beatles fan’s bookshelf.
One of the reasons I selected this book was because my fifteen-year-old son, Lucas, is becoming a fan of Beatles music. In fact, George and Ringo are his favorites. It has been a treat to share new things I have learned about Harrison’s music with him, followed up with conversations about Clapton’s and Dylan’s work. Perhaps more books about talented musicians are ways to make history fun for the next generation. If Wolfhard’s work is any indication, it seems that a new generation of young artists are attuned to how special the quiet Beatle’s music really is.
Michael Jimenez is an Associate Professor of history at Vanguard University. He is the author of Remembering Lived Lives: A Historiography from the Underside of Modernity and Karl Barth and the Study of the Religious Enlightenment: Encountering the Task of History.
