Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison

"Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison" by Joshua M. Greene went straight to my heart and has become my favorite book about The Beatles. It struck me that most people who write about the Fab Four concentrate on John and Paul, and by comparison I knew little about the group's lead guitarist. This offers a refreshing viewpoint. Greene talks about the lovely, quiet child George was, and how he always was sensitive to his spiritual side. Greene covers but does not dwell on the history of The Beatles - that was just an opportunity that enabled George to afford to take his spiritual journey. Greene uses beautiful language to describe George's experiences in India, where he found "perfected creation. Ecology, flawless as fresh cloth, washed and ironed and uncorrupted, whole and healthy, a partnership of earth and air and water and sky ... this goddess of nature spoke to him in commanding tones, a goddess of magnificent things as large as a mountain and small as a leaf." The book is very well written, easy to follow, well documented, professionally presented and really quite moving. Very nicely done.

George Harrison was the Beatle with the "spiritual" reputation. Some even wrote him off as a nut case or someone who had succumbed to the cult of the Hare Krishnas. (He was a great benefactor and supporter of the group.) Our western culture often "writes off" public figures who take spiritual turns in life, treating them as quacks, cranks, kooks and people who can no longer be taken seriously. In some ways that's what happened to "the quiet Beatle." But in this book's sympathetic analysis, Harrison emerges as someone resembling a modern-day Buddha or St. Francis of Assisi (my comparison, not the author's). While Harrison wasn't born into wealth and privilege as Francis and the Buddha were, he did attain it in very young adulthood as a member of the Beatles "royal family." And like Francis and the Buddha, in his young adulthood he grew to struggle with questions of "Is that all there is?" because he had it all and still felt empty. So he set out on the journey to find true holiness. This is the book that documents that journey. If you seek dirt or gossip about George here, you won't find much. The book was written by Joshua Greene, a former Hare Krishna devotee who greatly respects and admires Harrison and actually spent time in his presence and knew Harrison's ISKCON friends. That given, Greene does manage to nicely walk the tightrope between saccharine and salacious in giving a seemingly accurate portrayal of both Harrison's strengths and weaknesses. The author's familiarity with Hindu scriptures and spirituality is a great asset in this book. He beautifully weaves in a few stories from those scriptures to help the reader see and understand why those scriptures touched Harrison's soul and were his rock that supported him throughout his late- and post-Beatles life. The book also expresses funny anecdotes about the intersection of spirituality, rock 'n roll, and humor in Harrison's life. In Harrison's Friar Park estate, between large pictures of his most revered gurus, he'd hung the famous depiction of dogs playing cards. When Harrison tried to hold a 1969 Paris hotel press conference to help prevent French Krishna devotees from being hassled by police, reporters refused to listen. They kept asking stupid questions about mop top haircuts and whether the Beatles were really breaking up. The press had no interest in spiritual matters. It grew to a mob scene in which George and a friend, an American from the London Hare Krishnas (complete with dhoti and shaved head) escaped by shimmying down a nearby laundry chute. They fell two stories, but landed safely in a pile of dirty linen, much to the astonishment of women folding towels in the basement. Reporters followed them down the chute, and in a scene that could have been out of _A Hard Day's Night_, Harrison and the Krishna devotee bolted out to a taxi, reporters in hot pursuit and throwing themselves before the taxi to prevent departure. Harrison never was able to fully extricate hi

This bio is probably the most comprehensive Harrison bio you can buy. Especially when it comes to his "Spiritual Journey". Greene's writing style is very accessible and it makes the book a very easy read. A drawback would be that Greene does focus heavily on George's association with the Hare Krishnas and sort of exaggerates his connection with them. They were a big part of his spiritual life but not necessarily as huge as what Greene makes it out to be. The musical aspects may seem glossed over but this book is more about George the man and his journey through life and how he found the things that were most important to him. For those new to George or those older fans this book has everything you'll need to get a better grip on who this reclusive figure really was.

Although people just can't seem to let them go, there is surely no longer any need for anyone to write another single word about the Beatles. Once again with this book, concentration on "Beatle" George dominates over half the narrative, the majority of the photographs offered here as well. I've been waiting for a volume that will some day be able to see George Harrison: The Whole Man, in a broader portrait that treats the Beatles as simply one facet of the man's life ... and not necessarily the most important facet ... an honorable stab at which is made here, but like many accounts available on Bob Dylan lately too, be they television documentaries or offerings in the print media, the constant over-emphasis on the earliest part of his career can never seem to be escaped. I enjoyed "Here Comes The Sun" for what it is worth - a nice book that does its subject justice. But the definitive, wholly non-partisan George Harrison tome is still yet to be written. And I'd like to see that done by someone who is not a Krishna devotee (as is the case here) or some type of Beatles specialist as in the case of books by Geoffrey Giuliano ("Dark Horse") and Marc Shapiro ("Behind Sad Eyes"). A person with no possibly perceived agenda of some kind or another. The primary theme is George's spiritual development ... and taking this narrative at face value, you'd be left to believe that after the Maharishi, he hooked up with the Hare Krishnas - end of story. But George Harrison's spiritual leanings were varied - he was just as attracted to Paramhansa Yogananda for example - but these other interests tend to get swept by the wayside in favour of the Hare Krishna angle every time in books like this, depending on who's doing the writing. George was never a staunch ISKCON devotee; But that doesn't really matter, as they continue (even after his death) trying to wring out every last ounce of P.R. mileage for their movement that they can by association with his big-name celebrity. He can be made to look like anything you want him to be, given the right spin. This is the primary reason for my desire for an objective Harrison book by someone not involved with one of the spiritual practices that claimed him as their own. I have a copy of an English-produced "talking book" on the artist called "Maximum George Harrison" that features interview clips with the man. In one segment of this program, Harrison says that in relation to the Hare Krishnas, he could "appreciate it", but was not really as closely connected with it as people might want to assume. While this book is nicely written and well-nigh inspirational on a number of levels, in the end it only covers the same ground again in a different vehicle. If this were the first book you were to read about Mr. Harrison it would be a very good introduction, one well worth keeping and recommending ... but for completists there are no revelations. Fairly thorough in its detail from Day One up to roughly the Bangl

I was fortunate enough to be able to read an advance copy of this book, and I have to say: I love it. While I knew, of course, who George Harrison was, I never considered myself a huge fan. Author Joshua Greene has changed that by bringing me inside Harrison's world to explore the spiritual, societal, and musical forces that make up his genius. It was intriguing to learn that many of Harrison's pronouncements on yoga, meditation, and health practices -- which in his day were considered "far out" -- have now been embraced by the mainstream. In an era of self-serving, do-nothing celebrities (Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson, anyone?) it is refreshing to read of a man who used his fame to truly help others. I learned a great deal from reading this book. If I could, I would give it ten stars -- I loved it.