Isn't it a pity all things must pass but here comes the sun

Joseph Fattorini and his girlfriend.  Nicky Spavento and his girlfriend.  And me – the fifth Beatle.

We were lucky enough to have seen the Beatles during their first tour in the U.S.

People were just beginning to say groovy and far out.  So Joe and Nicky didn’t know who the Beatles were. The girls knew. And I knew.  

I actually had a pretty good idea of all that was about to happen to the world from my thirteen year old perch in Queens.

I told Joe and Nicky who the Beatles were and where they were playing the following weekend.  They said something about how the fab four couldn't be as good as The Four Seasons and I went and bought the tickets.

I didn’t have a girlfriend but I had a job after school.  At $1.25 an hour, and even though I was younger than my buddies, I was living in the material world. Nicky paid me back the money I laid out with interest: a slice of pizza.

There we were and there they were: the lads from Liverpool.  I could tell Joe and Nicky were instant heros even though we couldn't hear a thing with all the screaming and yelling.   

We couldn't hear John. 

We couldn't hear Paul. 

We couldn't hear Ringo. (Today, Ringo would be Blingo and is probably old enough to be playing bingo)

We couldn't hear George. But he was the quiet Beatle anyway.

George was standing in the middle between Lennon and McCartney but not really in the middle of the action.  

With apologies to George Harrison fans the world over, I’m late to the party - but, in fairness, I wasn't alone.  A lot of people never gave George the credit he deserved.

When Frank Sinatra called Something "the best love song ever" he credited Lennon and McCartney as its creators.

I never heard that George said a word about the misnomer.  All things must pass.

Too often, I have repeated Leonard Bernstein’s comment that Sgt. Pepper’s was the best album ever or something to that effect. 

Sgt. Pepper’s, album is historic.  Breakthrough.  No one can ever take that away.  As for the individual songs, I’m starting to believe more of George Harrison's will stand the test of musical time.

Martin Scorsese’s recent documentary is shining a light on L’Angelo Misterioso. 

Scorsese tells of George Harrison chanting while a violent, crazy man is in their home confronting George and his wife. 

George was chanting for help, peace either in this world or the next.

 That’s not someone who found unique marketing niche in eastern religion, or religion in general. That's a true believer.  A seeker.  Someone who really did think there was more to life.

Real things get better with time.  Everything else falls away.

George didn't believe in violence but he telegraphed his punches.  Isn't he the one who wrote “By chanting the names of the Lord and you’ll be free”.

 Until recently, I couldn’t hear him with all that screaming.  I’m catching up though.  Just the way my pals, Joe and Nicky, had to catch up all those years ago.

Here comes the sun.

-The fifth Beatle

August 29^th, 1964