From uneven songwriting credits to incessant in-fighting, the tense interpersonal dynamics of the Fab Four manifested in plenty of ways, including the future George Harrison hit the Beatles ironically rejected. The song was one of countless Harrison suggestions the band ultimately turned down, opting instead to prioritize the creative songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
However, the charts spoke for themselves. The song would later become a No. 1 U.S. hit for the “Quiet Beatle.” This accolade bested his bandmate, John Lennon, by one chart-topping hit.
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The Future George Harrison Hit The Beatles Rejected
Five months before the Beatles would make their Ed Sullivan Show debut, sparking a wave of Beatlemania across the States, a still unknown George Harrison visited his sister in rural Illinois. (A roadside memorial marks the early 1960s occasion, one of several unique tributes built in Harrison’s honor.) While there, Harrison perused a local record shop. He picked up Presenting James Ray, which featured “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You” as the first track.
Harrison immediately took to the song and offered it to his bandmates as a potential cover. As the story goes, his bandmates rejected the idea because it wasn’t original material. This would’ve made sense had the band committed to recording and performing all original music at the onset of their career, but, of course, that wasn’t the case. Some of their most famous hits in their early career were covers, including “Twist and Shout” and “Please Mister Postman.”
Given their extensive history of performing cover material, it would seem that the band’s decision to nix Harrison’s pick was a matter of personal preference, not a matter of consistency. Still, Harrison never lost his fondness for the song, and it ended up significantly bolstering his solo career two decades later.
“Got My Mind Set On You” Was A Huge Success
The Beatles might have turned down George Harrison’s idea to cover the song, but luckily, this didn’t sour the Quiet Beatle’s opinion of the track. On the contrary, he kept the song close to his chest until he embarked on his solo career years later. He released his version at long last in October 1987. The release would prove to be a tremendous success, topping the charts in the U.S., Australia, Ireland, Belgium, and Canada.
In another ironic twist of fate, Harrison’s No. 1 single broke a tie between himself, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr for their number of solo chart-topping singles post-Beatles. With this No. 1 hit under his belt, Harrison pulled ahead with three No. 1 tracks compared to Lennon and Starr’s two. It was Harrison’s only No. 1 single that he didn’t write.
The timing of the single was also of note. The George Harrison hit that the Beatles rejected topped the charts at the same time that the Fab Four received their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which made the former Quiet Beatle one of the only inductees who topped the charts at the same time the museum inducted them.
Photo by Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock
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