Today marks what would have been George Harrison’s 80th birthday. Despite being part of one of, if not the biggest, rock groups in history, for decades, George was overlooked by bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney, especially after the former’s sudden death in 1980. However, in recent years, as George’s solo albums turn fifty, people have been recognizing his music and talent as an individual artist, not just as a Beatle. Since diving through his solo discography would take a long while, take a look at standout tracks that George Harrison wrote for the Beatles, a time that served as the foundation for the songwriter he would later become.

Don’t Bother Me – With The Beatles (1963)

This is the first song George ever wrote for the Beatles, and it ended up on their second album entitled With The Beatles. The story goes that the song was written while he was ill and on bed rest. Although not as upbeat as the other tracks on the album, it established the more quiet and often sad style that he would become known for with his songwriting. In 2018, it made a Time Out London list of the best Beatle songs at number 47.

I Need You – Help! (1965)

By the time Help! came around, the Beatles already had four albums under their belts, a feature film, and teenage girls around the world stricken with Beatlemania. He had become the Quiet Beatle, and adds another quiet, yet slightly more hopeful song to this album. He had not written a song since 1963 and struggled to write a full song until this one. At the time, he was dating model Pattie Boyd, who he had met on the set of their 1964 feature film A Hard Day’s Night. The two had briefly split due to the pressure Pattie felt being the girlfriend of a Beatle. He wrote the song as a plea for her to return, which she did, and the two were married in January 1966. 

Think For Yourself – Rubber Soul (1965)

As the band entered their folk-rock phase, with a little help from some marijuana, George continued to pen tracks for the band. Aside from playing the sitar on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” he gave us “Think For Yourself” in all of its fuzzy-sounding glory. Unlike songs on previous albums, this song is not about young love or heartbreak, but rather encourages people to think for themselves and be independent. “The future still looks good / And you’ve still got time to rectify all the things that you should,” George sings. The boys have come a long way from “She Loves You,” that’s for sure.

Taxman – Revolver (1966)

No one likes paying taxes, not even the Beatles. 1966 brought Revolver to record stores, marking the first time the band stepped into psychedelic-rock territory. However, at that time, tax laws were put into place which would force the Beatles to pay ninety percent of their earnings to the British government. That revenue would go to create military weapons for England. The song is narrated by a taxman, who will stop at nothing to steal money from British citizens. Sentiments like, “If you drive a car / I’ll take the street / If you try to sit / I’ll tax your seat.” are sprinkled throughout to show the Beatles’ dissatisfaction with the new law. Here, the band is unafraid to make their opposition towards the establishment known through their music, making them more than just a commercial rock group.

Within You Without You – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Moving past simply using a sitar to give a song an Indian feel, George brought in the Asian Music Circle, an group in London that sought to promote Eastern Asian culture to Western audiences, to play a wider arrangement of Indian instruments. The song sprouted from a conversation he had with his friend Klaus Voormann (who also designed Revolver’s cover art) about how natural forces bring people together. It fit perfectly within the Summer of Love and its embrace of hippie culture. Aside from singing about loving one another, he also touches upon how individuals can only change if they want to and how we as people are just specks of dust compared to the universe we live in. “Life flows on within you and without you, he says.”

Blue Jay Way – Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

The Beatles’ third, and final, venture into psychedelia, Magical Mystery Tour has two George songs, this and the instrumental “Flying,” which is credited to all four Beatles. Similar to previous songs he wrote for the band, the song uses Indian instrumentation. Despite the psychedelic sound, the lyrics of the song detail a pretty simple story: Geroge is waiting for Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ press officer as well as a personal friend of George’s, to navigate the foggy streets of Los Angeles in order to get to Blue Jay Way, a street in the Hollywood Hills. The song was featured in the film of the same name based on the album.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles (1968)

After the Beatles’ 1968 trip to India, George became the Beatle that was into exploring Eastern mysticism and the idea of a kind of love larger than those shared between two people. He discovered the I Ching, an Old Chinese book on divination from the 9th century, and was intrigued by its ideas of everything being connected in the world. He based the song on the first words he saw in a different book, which were “gently weeps.” George’s guitar, and he himself, reflects on the Beatles’ lack of camaraderie after the India trip, especially considering the fact that some songs on this album feature only one Beatle, further emphasizing their split.

Here Comes the Sun – Abbey Road (1969)

A soft acoustic track, this highlight from Abbey Road is as powerful as it is beautiful. It provides the listener with optimism, likely a welcome change from songs about anti-war protests and resentment towards the world that came out in 1969. In 2020, when the COVID-19 hit the United States, the song became a source of hope and peace while everyone quarantined. Hospitals would even play it when a patient was discharged after recovering from COVID-19. It is currently the Beatles’ most listened-to song on Spotify. 

I Me Mine – Let It Be (1970)

While the release of Let it Be signaled the end of an era to many, as it meant the breakup of the Beatles, the recording sessions for the album were even more depressing. Although Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary from 2021 showed audiences that the Beatles were still having fun and friendly with one another, tensions were rising, culminating in George leaving the band. This song acts as an outlet for him to express and vent his feelings about his current situation with his bandmates. The chorus, which gives the song its title, criticizes how humans are often very self-centered and uncaring to those who are not themselves.

Happy Birthday, George Harrison. Thank you for all of the music and joy you brought us, both in the Beatles and in your solo career. Our guitars gently weep for you.