Though The Beatles were generally referred to as the Fab Four, John Lennon and Paul McCartney possibly the most successful songwriting duos in music history are credited with creating the majority of the band’s songs. The Beatles became the largest band in the world despite only being active for ten years because of their prolific songwriting, which led to the creation of several timeless masterpieces.
Following the band’s 1970 dissolution due to several artistic and personal conflicts, each member focused on building a solo career. Though each member’s post-Beatles work is remarkable in its own right, George Harrison was the most successful now that he had more creative freedom. Wonderwall Music and Electric Sound, the two solo albums he had released while he was a member of The Beatles, were primarily instrumental and experimental works.
Harrison’s masterpiece, All Things Must Pass, which included some of his best songs including “My Sweet Lord,” “Wah-Wah,” and “What Is Life,” was published the same year that The Beatles came to an end. These songs demonstrated his exceptional songwriting talent, which he had only had a limited opportunity to showcase with The Beatles.
“Don’t Bother Me,” the musician’s debut song with The Beatles, was written in 1963. He was given a little more artistic freedom as the years went on, and he wrote songs like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Something,” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Lennon and McCartney were slow to acknowledge Harrison’s efforts. Harrison’s brief departure from the Beatles in 1969 was caused by McCartney’s creative authoritarianism and his lack of autonomy.
But even in their early years, the band wrote the song “And I Love Her,” which is now among their most well-known pieces and has been performed by a variety of musicians, including Kurt Cobain. For a few of the group, the song was a turning point, as McCartney told Mojo how much Harrison’s efforts impressed him. Harrison had contributed a riff for the first time, one that McCartney and the other members of the band felt was truly unique.
He clarified: “I would think immediately of my song ‘And I Love Her’, which I brought in pretty much as a finished song. But George put on do-do-do-do, which is very much a part of the song. Y’know, the opening riff. That, to me, made a stunning difference to the song, and whenever I play the song now, I remember the moment George came up with it. That song would not be the same without it.”
The song was featured on their third album, A Hard Day’s Night, and was sung by McCartney. It has heartfelt lyrics like “A love like ours/ Could never die/ As long as I/ Have you near me,” which were inspired by his lover Jane Asher.
In Many Years From Now, written by Barry Miles, McCartney remembers “It was the first ballad I impressed myself with.” He also added, “It still holds up and George played really good guitar on it. It worked very well.”
Listen to the song down below.