Signs that George indeed worked on fine-tuning were evident on the late 1965 Rubber Soul album. Once again, George had two moments in the sun. Though "Think For Yourself" was standard fare made more interesting by the great harmonies and Paul's fuzz bass, the Byrds-ish "If I Needed Someone" was a big leap forward, and truly one of the highlights of that classic album, so much so that The Hollies saw fit to try their hand at it for a single. (Unfortunately, their loose but faithful cover had its chartlife hampered when the song's author publicly voiced his dislike of it.)

By 1966, George the songwriter was not only more developed but also more prolific, and John, Paul and George Martin could not help but notice. He was rewarded with three allocations on the August 1966 Revolver album, the most he'd ever have on a one-record Beatles album. The album opened with his classic "Taxman," a rocking commentary on the British taxing system. "Love You To" was George's first self-penned blend of his new fascination with Eastern music and rock. "I Want To Tell You" showed his growing knack for melody as well as lyrics, and could just as easily have been a Lennon-McCartney song sung by George.

The following year summer brought Sgt. Pepper, which only brought one Harrison composition, the full-blown Indian "Within You Without You." Though many cite this track as a lowpoint on the groundbreaking album, in truth, there is a valid message in the lyrics. By the year's end, the Beatles were off on their Magical Mystery Tour, featuring George's eerie psychedelic "Blue Jay Way." Though never straying from one chord, tempo changes and harmonies keep it from getting redundant.

Not until 1968 did George find one of his songs on a Beatles 45. Another one of his Indian forays, "The Inner Light," served as the flip for the March 1968 "Lady Madonna" single. As with "Within You Without You," some were put off by the Eastern backdrop, but the charming melody and more upbeat feel did win it a few fans.

1968 was also the year of The White Album, and the November release had one Harrisong on each of its four sides. Side One had what many consider his finest Beatle-era song, and one of the best on the album, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." This slow rocker scored for its catchy melody and its superb guitar playing, for which George received much praise (most notably from Jann Wenner in Rolling Stone who found the guitar solo so impressive he wrote of it "I'd be willing to bet something substantial it's Eric Clapton playing it." Jann would have won that bet.). Side Two saw George, in the style of "Taxman," trying social commentary on for size once more with the harpsichord-dominated metaphoric "Piggies," which finds George, like another famous George before him, using the porkane farm creatures to symbolize white collared capitalists. The alternately quiet and loud but almost always spooky "Long Long Long" closes the third side. If this wasn't his best song, it was certainly his most interesting in a while
His fourth and final White tune was "Savoy Truffle," a mediocre rocker about the dangers of eating too many candies. The song had some Clapton influence, but only in the sense that it was Clapton's dental dilemmas that inspired the song.

Recorded for the album but left off the final lineup was his "Not Guilty," an impressive "message" to John and Paul during a time when intergroup squabbling was becoming a bit more common than ever before. The bouncy piano-driven slightly-psych recording remained unissued until Anthology 3 in 1996, but the song itself was dusted off and given a lighter arrangement for George's 1979 solo album, George Harrison. Likewise, George demoed a song called "Circles" for The White Album, but this was never recorded by The Beatles at all, and once again George reached back for this during his solo career, this time for 1982's Gone Troppo.

Another notable Harrison song from about this time wasn't recorded by The Beatles at all, at least not as The Beatles. George oversaw production of the first album by Jackie Lomax, a Liverpool singer (formerly of The Undertakers, who the Beatles knew in their Cavern days) signed to the Beatles' Apple label, and one song Lomax recorded was a rocking Harrisong entitled "Sour Milk Sea." This excellent ode to dealing with gloom rather than wallowing in it, featured George on guitar, Paul on bass, and Ringo on drums (along with additional guitar from Eric Clapton and keyboards from Nicky Hopkins), and was issued as a single in August 1968 as part of Apple Records' four-single launch. The song also turned up on Jackie's full length album Is This What You Want in early 1969.

Not long after The White Album came the soundtrack to the movie Yellow Submarine. The January 1969 release featured only four new Beatle songs (new to the public, that is, as some were already a year and a half old), but two of them were written by George. "Only A Northern Song," a light hearted jab at John and Paul's song publishing company, was a decent midtempo organ based psychedelic number, while "It's All Too Much" was a six minute explosion of organ, feedback, brass, heavy bass, all supporting a busy melody and inviting chorus.

George's second opportunity for a single side came in May 1969 when his bouncy and non-sensical but still enjoyable "Old Brown Shoe" found its way onto the backside of "The Ballad Of John And Yoko."

It was the Autumn 1969 release of Abbey Road that for many served as the best showcase for George's songwriting. George's two songs instantly became two of the most praised of the album. The beautiful slow love song "Something" became his most successful song ever, placing as second behind Paul's "Yesterday" as the most covered Beatle song of all time (with Frank Sinatra's version the most popular, with Ol' Blue Eyes especially vocal in his praise of the song). George scored an additional accomplishment with this song...It was his first (and only) Beatle A-side. His other *Abbey Road* submission, the uplifting, catchy, memorable acoustic-driven "Here Comes The Sun," also became a classic in little time, and remains one of his best known compositions.

The last Beatles album released was Let It Be in 1970. Though George again had two songs included, neither garnered the acclaim of his two Abbey Road tracks. "I Me Mine," the last song ever recorded by The Beatles (and only three of them, as John was out of the country) was rather dark in tone, but featured some interesting heavy electric guitar playing. "For You Blue" was a much more positive song, but not a very interesting one, save for John's pedal steel playing. It was little more than an uptempo 12 bar blues number with very basic lyrics applied to it.

Click here for George Harrison, The Man

Click here for George Harrison, The Solo Recordings

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