5 years ago

The quiet Beatle, George Harrison, died 5 years ago. I remember I was visiting Shrimp Cracker and Hendo at college (what else was new?) and woke up on Hendo's floor to grab the bed since he went to class. I think Shrimp Cracker called to tell me as he did when Johnny Cash died, but I could be wrong. Anyway I couldn't go back to sleep and was glued to the CNN like it was an international disaster, which it was in my 20 year old mind.
George was the first Beatle to die during my lifetime, that I could remember (Lennon was killed 2 weeks before I was born) and that is not something you take lightly. The Beatles are the best band in the world even if you never really listen to their music a lot. It's like vegetables. You eat them when they are spoon fed to you by the parents and as you get older you'd rather eat candy. But at a certain age you appreciate their nutrional value and understand the harm candy can cause. So the Stones were candy and The Beatles vegetables.
George was the Beatle I could understand the best. He wasn't the star, rather he was graceful and questioning, as if your next door neighbor wound up in the biggest thing in the world and was trying to make sense of it all. How could you really?
George was an element you could not extract from the sum. His contributions were so simple at times but no one has ever been able to successfully repeat the licks or songs he wrote. And there is an argument to be made that All Things Must Pass is the greatest of the Beatles' solo albums.
I got sad thinking about how he's not here anymore, and hasn't been for some time, but it's nice in the most selfish kind of way that he existed because he brought joy to a lot of people, including myself and still does. I'm gonna put All Things Must Pass on now and Disc and I are gonne get happy.