'The Years Just Stripped Back': Paul McCartney's Last Moments With George Harrison Were 'Lovely'

The music world suffered a great tragedy on November 29, 2001, when George Harrison died at just 58 years old. The lead guitarist of the Beatles, Harrison is still one of the most influential musicians in modern music, but to Paul McCartney, he was so much more. As McCartney told Uncut, "He was my little baby brother." Just days before Harrison died, McCartney went to visit his former bandmate one last time. The two weren't as close as they had been some 40 years prior, but the love was still there and, as McCartney explained, "it was lovely, really lovely, and the years just stripped back."

When McCartney and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr visited him in New York, Harrison was dying of cancer. The three men who had shared an experience that no one else could ever truly understand talked of old times, having a few laughs and shedding a few tears. Harrison, having spent the last year traveling to clinics from Minnesota to Switzerland to New York in the hopes that the disease could be stopped, complained about the constant travel, wishing that he could just stay in one place and rest. McCartney called back to their shared childhood in Liverpool, suggesting, 'We should go to Speke Hall.' And he's going, 'Oh, that'd be great...'" 

Sadly, the two never got to revisit their old stomping grounds together. When Harrison died, a visibly shaken McCartney spoke to the press who were camped outside his home, asking that the media respect Harrison's son, Dhani, and his wife, Olivia's, privacy. "I'm just privileged to have known him, and I love him like he's my brother," he said.

Before they were Beatles, George Harrison and Paul McCartney were schoolmates who rode the bus together. The two would sometimes sit together on the ride to and from school and talk about music, sharing a love for rock 'n' roll, leading to them teaming up to build their own guitar. Although, as McCartney admitted to Uncut, "But when I say we made it, I have to hand it to George, he was more the engineer than me. I stood by and made a few useless suggestions." Years later, after McCartney had become friends with John Lennon, he suggested that they get Harrison into their band, the Quarrymen, and public transportation once again played a role in their future. "So George came along one night, on an empty bus, on the top deck, somewhere around Woolton where John lived. And he pulled out his guitar and played 'Raunchy', and that was it – he was in the band."

The love for music also led to problems between Harrison and McCartney. As the men matured, their tastes shifted, causing some tension while recording. Harrison also felt disrespected by McCartney and Lennon, who didn't consider him as talented a songwriter as they were at the time, leading to Harrison briefly quitting in 1969, a moment that was captured on film. He returned to the band a few weeks later, but Lennon would leave soon after, ending the Beatles. Years later, McCartney would admit to Howard Stern that he and Lennon didn't give Harrison the respect he deserved, saying, "He wrote some of the greatest songs ever." Over time, McCartney and Harrison repaired their friendship, and, even after his death, McCartney found a way to stay close to his friend.