John and George...complex. At a meeting post 'Abbey Road' when John proposed henceforth it should be '...four songs for me, four for Paul, four for George and two for Ringo - if he wants them.' George oddly didn't like this idea, and said to John 'Well, you never play on my songs anyway!'. John bit straight back, 'That's fucking rubbish! I'm worked on most of those songs and the you go and take my contributions off!' (Old Brown Shoe, Long, Long, Long, and others). 'John also reminded George that he both backed and loved 'Old Brown Shoe' in particular and pushed EMI to at least have it as the B-Side to 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' when Lennon wanted it to be a double 'A' side - which Paul and Ringo were less keen on. In a later interview, a calm, honest one, John said 'George had a funny but great way with chords and keys in his songs which sometimes made them difficult for him to sing, so I would help him simplify some of these things without losing the feel. I encouraged him to do a solo album (All things Must Pass), finish all his stuff up and get it out there in a way he liked. I used to help with lyrics a fair bit too, sometimes just a line or two, sometimes a bit more of a collaboration, you know - but there was a time when I'd lose interest when it came to the 'God' verse. I even changed a song into 'Sexy Sadie' rather than calling it 'Maharishi, you fucking cunt' to keep him happy.' Point being, Beatle memories which have been passed down as fact are often incorrect, or at least heavily filtered through four very different pairs of eyes - plus those of Martin, Emerick, Taylor and many more. What is worth remembering is that George NEVER forgave John for not doing the 'Concert for Bangladesh' as he wanted him to.
George Martin did do orchestration for "Within You Without You" for the "Sgt Pepper" album.
John and George...complex. At a meeting post 'Abbey Road' when John proposed henceforth it should be '...four songs for me, four for Paul, four for George and two for Ringo - if he wants them.' George oddly didn't like this idea, and said to John 'Well, you never play on my songs anyway!'. John bit straight back, 'That's fucking rubbish! I'm worked on most of those songs and the you go and take my contributions off!' (Old Brown Shoe, Long, Long, Long, and others). 'John also reminded George that he both backed and loved 'Old Brown Shoe' in particular and pushed EMI to at least have it as the B-Side to 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' when Lennon wanted it to be a double 'A' side - which Paul and Ringo were less keen on. In a later interview, a calm, honest one, John said 'George had a funny but great way with chords and keys in his songs which sometimes made them difficult for him to sing, so I would help him simplify some of these things without losing the feel. I encouraged him to do a solo album (All things Must Pass), finish all his stuff up and get it out there in a way he liked. I used to help with lyrics a fair bit too, sometimes just a line or two, sometimes a bit more of a collaboration, you know - but there was a time when I'd lose interest when it came to the 'God' verse. I even changed a song into 'Sexy Sadie' rather than calling it 'Maharishi, you fucking cunt' to keep him happy.'
Point being, Beatle memories which have been passed down as fact are often incorrect, or at least heavily filtered through four very different pairs of eyes - plus those of Martin, Emerick, Taylor and many more. What is worth remembering is that George NEVER forgave John for not doing the 'Concert for Bangladesh' as he wanted him to.