Here are a few stories from gardeners;
A Man With A Truly Big Heart
by Konrad Engbers
The man who founded Engbers Garden Centre has told how George Harrison helped him to establish the business in its early days.
Konrad Engbers recalls how George visited the centre just after he started. “He came in to see me and asked how things were. I told him it was a little slow and he said ‘I’ll give it a little push for you’. He then bought almost every tree I had in stock and first thing the next day a motorcycle courier turned up with payment.
“Ever since then he was one of my most loyal and regular customers.”
Konrad, aged 79, sold the business two years ago but has never forgotten how George helped him on his way.
They first met when he arrived at Konrad’s original nursery near Abingdon in the late 60s.
“He had called in to another nursery just along the road from mine,” said Konrad. “The owner there told him he didn’t serve hippies and to clear off. I had no idea who he was but we got talking and he began to visit regularly.
“There was a small hut in the nursery that I had converted into a bar. We used to sit together and enjoy a couple of drinks. I remember one particular occasion when he played his guitar there for me.”
And George would walk down the hill from Friar Park to the market where Konrad ran a stall. “He would wait in the queue, take his turn and never expected any preferential treatment. One day he asked me up to his garden for advice on some trees that were dying. After that, he regularly asked for my advice on any gardening matters.
“One Christmas Eve he sent a message down to the stall inviting me to Friar Park for a drink with his then wife, Patti . And on another occasion he took me over to the Catherine Wheel for lunch.”
When Konrad had problems getting planning permission for his nursery at Shiplake he had lots of support from many people, including George.
George continued to visit Engbers and, Konrad said, would sit in the coffee shop in his dirty wellies talking about herbs and Hare Krishna, herbal tea and plants. Nobody would recognise him.
But it was for the support that George gave him that Konrad remembers the star most.
He said: “He was such a kind man with no airs and graces — a man with a truly big heart.”
This is from George Robb (that is his real name)
A Generous Man
George Harrison’s former stonemason has been fondly remembering the man he knew as a ‘generous and intelligent’ man who was deeply affected by the death of his former Beatles colleague John Lennon.
Speaking at his home in Oxford, George Robb, aged 81, told the Standard: “I knew George as an employer and there was never anything I could say against him.
“He was very good to me — a very generous man.”
“I remember the first Christmas I worked for him, and I was in a club down the road when someone told me there was a taxi outside for me.
“I went outside and George had sent me a hamper from Harrods all the way from London in a taxi!”
Mr. Robb was first invited to work on Friar Park in 1980 and he was awestruck at the beauty of the place.
“When I first went to Friar Park, I was stunned because it was such a beautiful, beautiful place, and I couldn’t believe that one person was undertaking the work he was going to spend on it, because it was a monumental job.
“I worked on the main house, the gardener’s lodge, the middle lodge and the front lodge during my years there, as well as the gardens and maintaining the lakes, which are probably two or three acres.
“George literally put millions of pounds into the place over the years, and I don’t think he would like it to be opened to the public, because he was always such a private man.
“I have worked all over the world but Friar Park is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen.”
Although Mr. Robb was always aware of his role as one of Harrison’s employees, he was very close to the family.
“When Dhani was learning to speak, George insisted that he called him Daddy George and me Stonemason George so that he didn’t get confused.
“He was an adventurous lad who loved climbing on the scaffolding, and he’d be up there with me, 30 or 40 feet off the ground quite happily enjoying himself.
“George himself was a generous and intelligent man who suffered no fools, and he was always very private. He used to enjoy a drink at the Row Barge pub in Henley but he didn’t go into the town as much after John Lennon was shot.”
Mr. Robb’s wife, Mina, added: “That really shook him — he used to say that if he landed after a flight, and came out onto the steps of the plane, he would be wondering which person might have a gun.”
woensdag 16 december 2009
woensdag 2 december 2009
Message from Olivia and Dhani
Chris Carter, host of "Chris Carter's 'Breakfast With the Beatles," got a message from Olivia Harrison for the anniversary of George Harrison's passing. It read,
Thank you Chris and each one of you for remembering George today. The love we feel for him grows and grows.
I think of George and a million wonderful things flood my mind and heart. And a million things in the world remind me of him, from a leaf blowing across the sky to hum of a guitar string.
God bless us all.
Send your warm loving thoughts to all the people in the spiritual sky and your kind actions to the people here in the material world, especially those in need.
Love from Olivia and Dhani
Thank you Chris and each one of you for remembering George today. The love we feel for him grows and grows.
I think of George and a million wonderful things flood my mind and heart. And a million things in the world remind me of him, from a leaf blowing across the sky to hum of a guitar string.
God bless us all.
Send your warm loving thoughts to all the people in the spiritual sky and your kind actions to the people here in the material world, especially those in need.
Love from Olivia and Dhani
zondag 1 november 2009
Jim Keltner interview
I always love how people talk about George.
This is Jim Keltner, the drummer who has played with George since the early 70's.
It just hurts so bad to know that he's not going to be coming around anymore and calling. I want to hear that beautiful, soft accent. Forget his singing, I mean, I used to just love to just listen to him talk. And all the funny stories about him recently about being the quiet Beatle - he was the most talkative person I know. He didn't stop talking.
But the thing that was beautiful about George was that he always had something to say. I used to see people get their feelings hurt being around him. It was almost as if he couldn't not tell the truth.
What brought you two together?
George always loved Ry Cooder. Ry was a huge influence on him. It was the musical connection, I think, because he used to always talk about Ry and his music to me when we first met. He was also Bob Dylan's biggest fan. He could quote the lyrics to practically any Dylan song that you came up with. So I think that was a good, solid connection between the two of us - my association with Bob and Ry. And then, of course, when I started playing with John Lennon, that went a long way, too - because to describe George's relationship with John is to say that John was truly his big brother. Now I've heard Paul say he felt like George was his little baby brother. And that was very touching to hear that just recently. But I know that in fact John was older than both of them, and John was kind of the big brother to the whole deal. George was very, very heavily influenced by John, all of John's thinking and the way John did things in the world, and the way he handled his Beatledom, you know. I think that George was very affected by that. I got to have the best of all of that by being friends with both of them, and it's just been a tremendous ride. I can't ever describe properly what it's like to have been so close with all those guys. With George there was a closeness, like really, truly a brother. I mean, that's such a cliché.
Was it meaningful for you to have spent some time with him at the end of his life?
Oh, God, you can't imagine. My whole deal with George was that I never gave up for a minute, not even till the very last second. We saw him on Sunday, and he died on Thursday, and I didn't believe it. When we left him that day, we were walking three feet off the ground as we got to the car. We had been talking and laughing with him a little bit, and he seemed to have rallied and had his strength, and it was just so wonderful. God, it was just fantastic: "Hi, Jimmy." It just was such a great gift. That's what I'm holding onto. Eric Idle was there one night. When Eric walked in, George just beamed. He started laughing, and he raised his hand to Eric and held his hand, and was actually laughing. I will never forget that moment in my entire life. He was such a huge Eric Idle fan. Just the thought of Eric made him laugh. He was always quoting Eric. And so to see Eric walk in and have George just brighten up like that and start laughing, it was just fantastic.
He seemed to die as he lived, with remarkable dignity.
The guy just had a way of handling everything so beautifully. He was deep with his religion, with his spiritual side, and even though we don't share the same religion, I believe that God must be blessing him immensely right now. And he never changed, he never wavered. He was always talking about how great one of these days it's going to be to get out of these old bodies.
Anything else you'd like to say about him?
To me he was just George. He was just George, my beautiful, beautiful friend, who I kind of took for granted over the years. Then, when he passed on, I was shocked to see the whole world eulogizing him over and over. I never thought of him as this icon. He wasn't any of those things. John and George were both like that. Here I come into their lives, and I'm going, "Oh, man, hey, what was this like" and "What was that like?" Beatle this, Beatle that, and they wouldn't have it, you know. They finally instilled upon me that, hey, Jimmy, you know, we're not Beatles anymore. They were trying to break that, bust that in two, so that they could move on and do something else.
This is Jim Keltner, the drummer who has played with George since the early 70's.
It just hurts so bad to know that he's not going to be coming around anymore and calling. I want to hear that beautiful, soft accent. Forget his singing, I mean, I used to just love to just listen to him talk. And all the funny stories about him recently about being the quiet Beatle - he was the most talkative person I know. He didn't stop talking.
But the thing that was beautiful about George was that he always had something to say. I used to see people get their feelings hurt being around him. It was almost as if he couldn't not tell the truth.
What brought you two together?
George always loved Ry Cooder. Ry was a huge influence on him. It was the musical connection, I think, because he used to always talk about Ry and his music to me when we first met. He was also Bob Dylan's biggest fan. He could quote the lyrics to practically any Dylan song that you came up with. So I think that was a good, solid connection between the two of us - my association with Bob and Ry. And then, of course, when I started playing with John Lennon, that went a long way, too - because to describe George's relationship with John is to say that John was truly his big brother. Now I've heard Paul say he felt like George was his little baby brother. And that was very touching to hear that just recently. But I know that in fact John was older than both of them, and John was kind of the big brother to the whole deal. George was very, very heavily influenced by John, all of John's thinking and the way John did things in the world, and the way he handled his Beatledom, you know. I think that George was very affected by that. I got to have the best of all of that by being friends with both of them, and it's just been a tremendous ride. I can't ever describe properly what it's like to have been so close with all those guys. With George there was a closeness, like really, truly a brother. I mean, that's such a cliché.
Was it meaningful for you to have spent some time with him at the end of his life?
Oh, God, you can't imagine. My whole deal with George was that I never gave up for a minute, not even till the very last second. We saw him on Sunday, and he died on Thursday, and I didn't believe it. When we left him that day, we were walking three feet off the ground as we got to the car. We had been talking and laughing with him a little bit, and he seemed to have rallied and had his strength, and it was just so wonderful. God, it was just fantastic: "Hi, Jimmy." It just was such a great gift. That's what I'm holding onto. Eric Idle was there one night. When Eric walked in, George just beamed. He started laughing, and he raised his hand to Eric and held his hand, and was actually laughing. I will never forget that moment in my entire life. He was such a huge Eric Idle fan. Just the thought of Eric made him laugh. He was always quoting Eric. And so to see Eric walk in and have George just brighten up like that and start laughing, it was just fantastic.
He seemed to die as he lived, with remarkable dignity.
The guy just had a way of handling everything so beautifully. He was deep with his religion, with his spiritual side, and even though we don't share the same religion, I believe that God must be blessing him immensely right now. And he never changed, he never wavered. He was always talking about how great one of these days it's going to be to get out of these old bodies.
Anything else you'd like to say about him?
To me he was just George. He was just George, my beautiful, beautiful friend, who I kind of took for granted over the years. Then, when he passed on, I was shocked to see the whole world eulogizing him over and over. I never thought of him as this icon. He wasn't any of those things. John and George were both like that. Here I come into their lives, and I'm going, "Oh, man, hey, what was this like" and "What was that like?" Beatle this, Beatle that, and they wouldn't have it, you know. They finally instilled upon me that, hey, Jimmy, you know, we're not Beatles anymore. They were trying to break that, bust that in two, so that they could move on and do something else.
maandag 12 oktober 2009
The Hold Up
This song is not well known maybe to the audience so time to pay some attention to it.
The song is the direct result of a dinner at Al Aronowitz, a famous journalist who had interviewed George about All Things Must Pass and is even featured on "Out Of The Blue". Al was David Bromberg's manager.
At some point, David saw a guitar and started playing a vaguely Hispanic guitar pattern. George could'nt resist getting involved and within 30 minutes the song just came out.
They wrote the lyrics together which were linked to "Taxman" and the great analist Simon Leng in his book Bromberg tells how he does not really remember who wrote what part but did say that "getting the nose wet' is very English and that it was very George to say "I'll put a bullit right through your best liver"
Bromberg tells "He was a very thoughtful player. I never saw him do any improvisation at all. In our interactions with me, he worked in a way I'd never seen anyone else work. He worked on the slide solo in the studio, he sat in the control booth, plugged the guitar into the board, and he had the tape played over and over. He worked out exactly what he was going to play and laid it down.
Bromberg and George met during Bob Dylan's Self Portrait sessions. By that time George already knew about David's work from Bob. David is probably also the one who inspired George to pick up the dobro.
Bromberg: "I met him at Columbia Studios and he sang me a song I wrote and told me that Bob had taught it to him. It floored me"
Here is the lyrics and sorry for the big ones
STICK UP YOUR HANDS, YOU MUST STAND AND DELIVER,
MY STOMACH'S EMPTY, MY CLOTHES ARE ALL THORN.
OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO THE JOYS OF THE GIVER,
ALL OF YOUR POCKETS ARE TERRIBLY WORN.
THIS IS A HOLDUP, NO WAY TO MISTAKE IT,
WE'RE MEN OF VIOLENCE SO DON'T FOOL AROUND.
IF YOU HAVE MONEY, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE IT,
YOU'LL TRY AND STOP US, YOU'LL END UNDERGROUND.
WHEN WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, WE'LL RIDE TOWARDS THE SUNSET.
AT ROSA'S CANTEEN WE'LL STOP AT THE DOOR.
WE'LL SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY JUST GETTING THE NOSE WET,
TOMORROW EVENING WE'LL BE BACK FOR MORE.
SO HAND US THE MONEY, DON'T STAND THERE AND SHIVER,
TAX TIME IS COMING, GIVE ALMS TO THE POOR.
OR I´LL PUT A BULLET RIGHT THROUGH YOUR BEST LIVER,
WEALTH IS DISEASE AND I AM THE CURE.
WHEN WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, WE'LL RIDE TOWARDS THE SUNSET.
AT ROSA'S CANTEEN WE'LL STOP AT THE DOOR.
WE'LL SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY JUST GETTING THE NOSE WET,
TOMORROW EVENING WE'LL BE BACK FOR MORE.
SO HAND US THE MONEY, DON'T STAND THERE AND SHIVER,
TAX TIME IS COMING, GIVE ALMS TO THE POOR.
OR I´LL PUT A BULLET RIGHT THROUGH YOUR BEST LIVER,
WEALTH IS DISEASE AND I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE....
The song is the direct result of a dinner at Al Aronowitz, a famous journalist who had interviewed George about All Things Must Pass and is even featured on "Out Of The Blue". Al was David Bromberg's manager.
At some point, David saw a guitar and started playing a vaguely Hispanic guitar pattern. George could'nt resist getting involved and within 30 minutes the song just came out.
They wrote the lyrics together which were linked to "Taxman" and the great analist Simon Leng in his book Bromberg tells how he does not really remember who wrote what part but did say that "getting the nose wet' is very English and that it was very George to say "I'll put a bullit right through your best liver"
Bromberg tells "He was a very thoughtful player. I never saw him do any improvisation at all. In our interactions with me, he worked in a way I'd never seen anyone else work. He worked on the slide solo in the studio, he sat in the control booth, plugged the guitar into the board, and he had the tape played over and over. He worked out exactly what he was going to play and laid it down.
Bromberg and George met during Bob Dylan's Self Portrait sessions. By that time George already knew about David's work from Bob. David is probably also the one who inspired George to pick up the dobro.
Bromberg: "I met him at Columbia Studios and he sang me a song I wrote and told me that Bob had taught it to him. It floored me"
Here is the lyrics and sorry for the big ones
STICK UP YOUR HANDS, YOU MUST STAND AND DELIVER,
MY STOMACH'S EMPTY, MY CLOTHES ARE ALL THORN.
OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO THE JOYS OF THE GIVER,
ALL OF YOUR POCKETS ARE TERRIBLY WORN.
THIS IS A HOLDUP, NO WAY TO MISTAKE IT,
WE'RE MEN OF VIOLENCE SO DON'T FOOL AROUND.
IF YOU HAVE MONEY, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE IT,
YOU'LL TRY AND STOP US, YOU'LL END UNDERGROUND.
WHEN WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, WE'LL RIDE TOWARDS THE SUNSET.
AT ROSA'S CANTEEN WE'LL STOP AT THE DOOR.
WE'LL SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY JUST GETTING THE NOSE WET,
TOMORROW EVENING WE'LL BE BACK FOR MORE.
SO HAND US THE MONEY, DON'T STAND THERE AND SHIVER,
TAX TIME IS COMING, GIVE ALMS TO THE POOR.
OR I´LL PUT A BULLET RIGHT THROUGH YOUR BEST LIVER,
WEALTH IS DISEASE AND I AM THE CURE.
WHEN WE HAVE YOUR MONEY, WE'LL RIDE TOWARDS THE SUNSET.
AT ROSA'S CANTEEN WE'LL STOP AT THE DOOR.
WE'LL SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY JUST GETTING THE NOSE WET,
TOMORROW EVENING WE'LL BE BACK FOR MORE.
SO HAND US THE MONEY, DON'T STAND THERE AND SHIVER,
TAX TIME IS COMING, GIVE ALMS TO THE POOR.
OR I´LL PUT A BULLET RIGHT THROUGH YOUR BEST LIVER,
WEALTH IS DISEASE AND I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE CURE,
I AM THE....
donderdag 8 oktober 2009
Pisces Fish
I want to take you on a little Henley-on-Thames tour.
The lyrics to the song "Pisces Fish" come mainly from bike rides as Olivia Harrison mentions in a "Brainwashed" interview with Jools Holland.
Bike rides along Henley. Henley is a lovely typical English town. I have seen many pictures from it, from inside the town but also from the surroundings like the Thames area.
In Pisces Fish, the song, for the first time George describes Henley.
Let's have a look at the lyrics and see what comes up;
Rowers gliding on the river Canadian geese crap along the bank Back wheel of my bike begins to quiver
Henley is known for the annual Regatta. Dhani used to row and there are stories that George would go along on a bike wearing some sort of disguise and bike along the river following Dhani.
Smoke signals from the brewery
Henley has a few breweries, like this one
http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/thame802.htm
There's a temple on an island
Here is the 'temple on an island'
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/18001287.jpg
So, that was a little tour along the lyrics.
Now as for the lyrics as a whole, from what Olivia says I believe it is George looking back on his life and the pleasure of being outside in the country area and enjoying what he comes across on a bike ride.
Old ladies, who must be doggie training
Walking, throwing balls, chasing all the sheep
While the farmer stands around,
and he's complaining
His mad cows are being put to sleep
just a description of a nice bike ride, translated in the Harrison way of playing with words and in these few words put
a) the beauty of the farmland
b) his life as a true vegetarian
I love bike rides and living very close to the country side like farms, acres, rivers, green, I know exactly the feeling as he describes it
Riding along those things as he mentions, sightings, one thinks about the beauty of it and at the same time can think of serious things. Like problems, thoughts about that come out better in an environment like George describes.
Like someone in there found the latest Pope
In a vat of beer that keeps pumping out with fury
While the churchbell ringer's tangled
in his rope
a left verse to P2Vatican blues?
There's a temple on an island
I think of all the Gods and what they feel
You can only find them in the deepest silence
I got to get off of this big wheel
So from the scenery of the Temple Island he moves in his mind to 'the Gods and what they feel' and his feeling of meditation and maybe his love for the silence of his garden come along, remember what he says in the Brainwashed EPK about
'the moment I get out of the gate I think; what the heck am I doing here'
so that my be
'You can only find them in the deepest silence
I got to get off of this big wheel'
okay, the bike ride was okay, but now let's get back to Friar Park and let me be in the garden and meditate. The search for peace and quiet.
And I'll be swimming until I can find
those waters
That one unbounded ocean of bliss
Olivia says George will be swimming till he finds those waters and maybe now he has found that ocean of bliss.
Some times my life it seems like fiction
Some of the days it's really quite serene
I'm a living proof of all life's contradictions
One half's going where the other half's just been
doubts? I'm not sure. He seems to be 'thinking' deeply here. Weighing.
Beautiful song and a nice Henley tour from George
The lyrics to the song "Pisces Fish" come mainly from bike rides as Olivia Harrison mentions in a "Brainwashed" interview with Jools Holland.
Bike rides along Henley. Henley is a lovely typical English town. I have seen many pictures from it, from inside the town but also from the surroundings like the Thames area.
In Pisces Fish, the song, for the first time George describes Henley.
Let's have a look at the lyrics and see what comes up;
Rowers gliding on the river Canadian geese crap along the bank Back wheel of my bike begins to quiver
Henley is known for the annual Regatta. Dhani used to row and there are stories that George would go along on a bike wearing some sort of disguise and bike along the river following Dhani.
Smoke signals from the brewery
Henley has a few breweries, like this one
http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/thame802.htm
There's a temple on an island
Here is the 'temple on an island'
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/18001287.jpg
So, that was a little tour along the lyrics.
Now as for the lyrics as a whole, from what Olivia says I believe it is George looking back on his life and the pleasure of being outside in the country area and enjoying what he comes across on a bike ride.
Old ladies, who must be doggie training
Walking, throwing balls, chasing all the sheep
While the farmer stands around,
and he's complaining
His mad cows are being put to sleep
just a description of a nice bike ride, translated in the Harrison way of playing with words and in these few words put
a) the beauty of the farmland
b) his life as a true vegetarian
I love bike rides and living very close to the country side like farms, acres, rivers, green, I know exactly the feeling as he describes it
Riding along those things as he mentions, sightings, one thinks about the beauty of it and at the same time can think of serious things. Like problems, thoughts about that come out better in an environment like George describes.
Like someone in there found the latest Pope
In a vat of beer that keeps pumping out with fury
While the churchbell ringer's tangled
in his rope
a left verse to P2Vatican blues?
There's a temple on an island
I think of all the Gods and what they feel
You can only find them in the deepest silence
I got to get off of this big wheel
So from the scenery of the Temple Island he moves in his mind to 'the Gods and what they feel' and his feeling of meditation and maybe his love for the silence of his garden come along, remember what he says in the Brainwashed EPK about
'the moment I get out of the gate I think; what the heck am I doing here'
so that my be
'You can only find them in the deepest silence
I got to get off of this big wheel'
okay, the bike ride was okay, but now let's get back to Friar Park and let me be in the garden and meditate. The search for peace and quiet.
And I'll be swimming until I can find
those waters
That one unbounded ocean of bliss
Olivia says George will be swimming till he finds those waters and maybe now he has found that ocean of bliss.
Some times my life it seems like fiction
Some of the days it's really quite serene
I'm a living proof of all life's contradictions
One half's going where the other half's just been
doubts? I'm not sure. He seems to be 'thinking' deeply here. Weighing.
Beautiful song and a nice Henley tour from George
woensdag 7 oktober 2009
For George
Hi Everyone,
For quite a number of years I have been writing on various forms about my admiration for George Harrrison. His personality, phylosophical views and music has inspired me for over four decades now and still does.
To write about George and his life is a passion and whilst moderating a special forum for George called the Crackerbox Palace a new thought came to me which was to start a blog page.
So here I am and I want to tell you and share with you a lot. One has to start somewhere.
I hope to be able to share things with people who also have 'a thing' for George.
For quite a number of years I have been writing on various forms about my admiration for George Harrrison. His personality, phylosophical views and music has inspired me for over four decades now and still does.
To write about George and his life is a passion and whilst moderating a special forum for George called the Crackerbox Palace a new thought came to me which was to start a blog page.
So here I am and I want to tell you and share with you a lot. One has to start somewhere.
I hope to be able to share things with people who also have 'a thing' for George.
Abonneren op:
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