Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison / Edition 1

Add to Wishlist

ISBN-10:: 0470127805
ISBN-13:: 9780470127803
Pub. Date:: 06/29/2007
Publisher:: Turner Publishing Company

ISBN-10:: 0470127805
ISBN-13:: 9780470127803
Pub. Date:: 06/29/2007
Publisher:: Turner Publishing Company

Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison / Edition 1

Paperback

$13.3

$13.30 ~~$16.95~~ Save 22%

SHIP THIS ITEM
— Temporarily Out of Stock Online
PICK UP IN STORE

Your local store may have stock of this item.

Available within 2 business hours

SHIP THIS ITEM

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Please check back later for updated availability.

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Overview

A fascinating read.
– Associated Press

Joshua Greene, who studied meditation with the legendary Beatle George Harrison, draws on personal remembrances, recorded conversations, and firsthand accounts to create a moving portrait of Harrison's spiritual life, his profound contribution to the Beatles' music, and previously unpublished anecdotes about his time with music legends Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, and others.

"Many well-known artists have touched people's hearts with their music, but few have ever succeeded in touching people's souls. That was George's gift, and his story is described here with affection and taste. A wonderful book."
– Mia Farrow

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470127803
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/29/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Joshua M. Greene (Long Island, NY) is the author of two acclaimed biographies and the producer of numerous award-winning films. His articles have appeared in print media internationally, and his books on the Holocaust were adapted for broadcast on PBS and the Discovery channel.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Preface.

1. Beginnings.

2. George among the Savages.

3. A Price to Pay.

4. A Father to His Spirit.

5. Rebirth.

6. In the Land of Gods.

7. Devotees.

8. Looking for Krishna.

9. All Things Must Pass.

10. The Sky beneath His Feet.

11. Dark Horse.

12. Laws of Nature.

13. Sacred Ground.

14. Going Back.

Afterword.

Acknowledgments.

Notes.

Credits.

Index.

Photographs.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"There is a palpable excitement to this book that made me feel I was there, with George, on his journey. . . . Extraordinary."—Martin Rutte, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work

"The depth of insight into Harrison's inner life is great."—Yoga Journal

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

* It has always seemed to me a convincing proof of the greatness of the Beatles that the bulk of "The White Album"—that voluptuous crack-up of a record, full of smut and lunacy—was written at a meditation camp in the Himalayas. Geniuses that they were, at Rishikesh, India, the Beatles answered the pull of the transcendental with an equivalent downward thrust of their own; commanded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to focus on bliss, nothingness, and the white light of eternity, they came up with "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" and "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey." Apart from George Harrison, that is. While John and Paul strummed and swapped their ribaldries, and Ringo went home early with tummy trouble (too much spicy food), George was rigorous, sober, down with the program. It had been his idea to go there, after all. His best Rishikesh songs are solemn and beautiful: the devotional murmur of "Long, Long, Long" and the elegiac "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." And according to Joshua Greene's "Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison," in his solemnity the heavy-browed young guitarist would remonstrate with his fellow Beatles: "Too much time spent writing . . . struck George as a distraction from their purpose in coming to India, and he said as much. 'We're not here to talk music. We're here to meditate.' 'Calm down, man,' Paul said. 'Sense of humor needed here, you know.'"
Perhaps a spiritual biography is humorless by definition. The spirit doesn't tell jokes; it strives wordlessly for perfection. One reads of course of the constant merriment of the Dalai Lama, and the Maharishi himself was apparently quite prone to the giggles, but the mirth of these sages seems to be of a very rarefied and cosmic order. Earthly laughter—the guffaw, the yip, the cackle—is different, and there isn't too much of it in "Here Comes the Sun," suffused as it is with the earnestness of the seeking soul. Greene, who met George through London's Radha Krishna Temple in the 1970s, has efficiently separated from the mass of Beatle data the single thread of his subject's religious endeavors, and writes of them with the unblinking identification of the fellow devotee. "George had discovered singing God's glories through the Krishna mantra," we read on Page 145. "It made him feel good; it was easy and musical. How wonderful to think that God played a flute, that he was a musician." What we have here, not to put too fine a point on it, is new age prose—moon-faced, quietly zealous, and limpidly free of skepticism.
On the other hand, this is rather the key in which the story of guru-hungry George demands to be written. The story of Paul, flashing his two raised thumbs like a pair of small horns, necessitates a different approach. Christopher Sandford's "McCartney," with wit and some bemusement, paints the jaunty "head Beatle" as a comic figure on the very grandest scale: an irrepressible entertainer, a stranger to doubt, absurdly vital, rebounding from vicissitude, part of humanity's immune system. A key moment occurs in January 1980, when the first Wings tour of Japan is derailed on arrival by the discovery at Narita Airport of what McCartney would later refer to as "a bloody great bag of pot right on the top of my suitcase." The Japanese customs officers are not amused, and McCartney is promptly incarcerated. Things look bleak; there is the prospect of a long sentence, even hard labor. To console himself, the prisoner performs an impromptu medley of show tunes and Beatles standards for his fellow detainees, thus granting his future biographer the following prize-winning image: "McCartney had finished Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goo'bye' and was nearing the end of 'Hey Jude' when the consul came."
This is essence of McCartney: The Fabness—a twinkling amalgam of professionalism, personal toughness, and showbiz brio—cannot be dented. It drove the other Beatles m

From the Publisher

Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison / Edition 1

Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison / Edition 1

Paperback

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

Customer Reviews

Related Searches

Explore More Items

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews