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Meeting George – The Somewhere In England Cover Shoot

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I’ve had a request for this story. I’m sure I’ve posted it here before, but it may have been on the old blog and as it’s impossible to search the site, here it is again.

Sometime in early 1981 I got a phone call from a friend who worked as a porter at the Tate Gallery on the south bank in London. “Come ’round the back door when we close tomorrow if you want to meet George Harrison” was all he said. It turned out that Beatle George had booked the gallery after hours for a photo shoot. That’s all I knew.

So, armed with a bag of LP sleeves and related items I turned up at the Tate just as they were closing. I later found out that the boss in charge of the backroom boys, porters and the like had asked if anyone wanted to work back a couple of hours to accommodate George and his party. Most of the long-serving old blokes didn’t want the overtime, but my mate and some of the younger guys jumped at the chance and probably would have done it for nothing.

When I arrived George was already there with his manager and a few others, including everyone’s favourite mad percussionist Ray Cooper (who, it transpired, came up with the whole idea for the shoot). The idea was to photograph George up against a 3D relief artwork by Mark Boyle titled “Holland Park Avenue Study”. Dating from 1967 the piece was basically a 239cm square x 11.5cm thick representation of pavement and road made from (it says here) “Earth on Epikote and fibreglass”. The idea was for George to sit on the floor and lean against the artwork on the wall and, suitably cropped, it would seem like he was lying on the street itself. Caroline Irwin was the photographer.

While everything was being set up I spoke to George’s manager/PR man (I forget which) and asked about the chances of getting autographs. He assured me it would be OK and asked to see what I had brought. He gave the OK to everything except a copy of the 1976 Best Of George Harrison LP (the UK version with cover showing George sitting on the bumper of a hot rod car). “If you give him that to sign, he’ll probably tear it up in front of you!” said the manager. It turns out that George hated that album, feeling insulted that EMI had filled only one side with his solo material and padded out the other with his Beatles hits.

As we waited I overheard George relating how he’d been pulled over for speeding in his black Porsche on the way into London that afternoon. “So when the cop asked for my address, I said ‘which address do you want, my LA address, my New York address, or my Surrey address’?” he said in that oh-so familiar languid scouse drawl which could have come straight from a scene in “A Hard Day’s Night”.

Finally the photo shoot was over and I produced my bag of assorted goodies for signing (minus the Best Of LP). I’d taken the Faster single picture disc insert, a copy of Wonderwall and the booklet from the Concert For Bangla Desh. It was this last item which caused the most excitement. George grabbed it and after flicking through, became quite animated and insisted on showing it around. He called Ray Cooper over saying stuff like, “Look at Eric on this one” and generally behaving like he’d never seen it before.

The “Holland Park Avenue Study” picture was used for the original version of George’s Somewhere In England album, but the cover was changed when the CD appeared years later, however.

I still have the Faster picture disc, but parted with the rest of the signed items years ago. Yeah, I wish I still had it all, but a guy’s gotta eat.

Footnote. As George was leaving he called my mate over, thanked him for looking after his party and keeping the gallery open late. Then as they shook hands he quietly pressed a fifty pound note into his palm. And that’s fifty 1981 pounds, folks. Whadda guy.

http://i.imgur.com/lffUP8t.jpg

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Comments

  4. The Famous Working class are famous for handing out to the working class dollar bills to the lesser working class thus easing the burden of the working class guilt that they hated in the first place and couldn’t wait to escape from. I.E. You’re on your own.

  6. Great story JC. Love those little back water stories of things we know so well. I’m really looking forward to the Floyd exhibish to get to see the props and other stuff which created imagery now woven into our culture.

  7. Lovely JC that’s a great story, I just saw your comment on the ISB thread and I love the way on this place one thing can lead to another. I will give the Bangladesh box a go one evening this week if I have the time. I’m hoping the booklet is in there, sounds fascinating

  8. Thanks Dave and Twang,

    “Look at Eric on this one!”

    A page from the Concert For Bangladesh* booklet showing Eric Clapton with his Gibson Byrdland, a guitar he has since admitted was totally unsuitable for playing rock music (although Ted Nugent seems to do OK with them).

    Two of the photos in the booklet were subsequently used for LPs covers. One of Eric formed the sleeve of The History of Eric Clapton and another of Bob appeared on the cover of More Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits (titled Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol.II outside the UK)

    *I’ve just noticed I’ve been spelling Bangladesh as two words “Bangla Desh” throughout this thread, apologies.

    http://i.imgur.com/tBF1Doo.jpg

    • David Hepworth recently blogged about a YouTube clip of George sometime in the late 70s/early 80s being shown an archive Beatles clip on an editing machine while he was visiting Granada studios (Tony Wilson is in the background)… it’s obvious he can’t remember ever seeing it before (possibly can’t even remember the performance), and his excitement, just as a fan, is palpable…

      (… and I’m sure it was nearly always referred to as “Bangla Desh” throughout the 70s…)

      • Oh yeah, that was George watching them do This Boy. He was laughing at the haircuts, but then added as an aside ” good song though”.

        Thanks for the “Bangla Desh” factoid. Good to know I wasn’t going completely mad.

  10. Good fun story, Johnny.

    The concert for Bangla Desh had a lot more resonance then, as the first all star charity bash (or at least the first notable one) before it was overshadowed by Live Aid and other charity festivals.

    I think I could make a good guess which photo of Eric he got excited about – the one where he looks particularly portly. But we’ll never know.

      • That’s right Johnny. Cuddly old uncle Allen didn’t register the event as a UNICEF sponsored one (oops!) and – no doubt inadvertently – it’s possible that funds may have ended up in Klein-controlled accounts. Surprisingly, it seems it was fairly difficult to persuade the various tax authorities to regard the event as a charitable one and all non-ticket funds (90% of what was raised) were subject to lawsuits and challenges for most of the 70s and beyond. During that time, it’s possible that some of these funds may have – accidentally of course – ended up being mixed in with money in some other Klein accounts. A hell of a mess anyway – if you didn’t know better, you might be tempted to think that Allen was some sort of crook!

        Anyway, I believe it all got straightened out in the end, possibly in time for Live Aid to carry on the noble work of fucking Africa up some more.

      • When Adelaide staged its first Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1985, the rumours were spreading thick and fast that The Quiet One would be in town. Sure enough, he was spotted at the airport, and a small group of modern-day Apple Scruffs collected outside the Hilton, clutching various items in the hope of autography.

        Sadly for them, the MSLH emerged from the lift, made an uninterrupted beeline for the waiting car, and upon reaching it (having been followed by the Scruffs) whipped around and shouted “You can all GET F*CKED!!”

        (This is mitigated by several accounts of him consequently being a prince of a fellow to people who either had no idea who he was, or were car enthusiasts like himself.)

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