#jefflynne — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

United States News Beep @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 04:40 UTC

The one singer Tom Petty always listened to

Credit: Far Out / The Bigger Picture Wed 12 August 2026 1:00, UK Tom Petty didn’t see himself…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Music #Entertainment #JeffLynne #Rock #TomPetty
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/810806/

#newsbeep #news #us #usa #unitedstates #unitedstatesofamerica

United States News Beep @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 04:40 UTC

The one singer Tom Petty always listened to

Credit: Far Out / The Bigger Picture Wed 12 August 2026 1:00, UK Tom Petty didn’t see himself…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Music #Entertainment #JeffLynne #Rock #TomPetty
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/810806/

#tompetty #rock #jefflynne #entertainment #music #unitedstatesofamerica

United Kingdom News Beep @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 04:20 UTC

The one singer Tom Petty always listened to

Credit: Far Out / The Bigger Picture Wed 12 August 2026 1:00, UK Tom Petty didn’t see himself…
#NewsBeep #News #Music #Entertainment #JeffLynne #Rock #TomPetty #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/735252/

#unitedkingdom #uk #tompetty #rock #jefflynne #entertainment

UK @[email protected] · 2026-08-12 · 03:04 UTC

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1143652/ The one singer Tom Petty always listened to #Entertainment #JeffLynne #music #Rock #TomPetty #UK #UnitedKingdom

#unitedkingdom #uk #tompetty #rock #music #jefflynne

The Delete Bin @[email protected] · 2026-08-10 · 16:30 UTC

George Harrison Sings “When We Was Fab”

Listen to this track by singer-songwriter, guitarist, and former Dark Horse Quiet Beatle George Harrison. It’s “When We Was Fab”, a 1988 single taken from his 1987 Jeff Lynne-produced comeback record Cloud Nine, Harrison’s tenth LP. Representing the second single from the new record, it reached the top ten in the US and the top thirty in the UK and scored respectable numbers in other regions, too. The video directed by Godley and Creme that features fellow Beatle Ringo Starr helped to give the song an air of nostalgic affection. And was that Paul McCartney playing left-handed bass while wearing a walrus costume? In true Beatles tradition—no. That was just a rumour.

Along with his energetic cover version of Rudy Clark’s 1962 R&B song “Got My Mind Set On You”, “When We Was Fab” helped Harrison make a return to the radio after a fallow period for him as a musical artist. During the era of synthpop, Paisley Park, and Madonna, George Harrison had become increasingly convinced that his place in the pop music universe was getting too small. So, he pursued his interests in film production, Formula One racing events, and gardening instead. Harrison was still a songwriter and recording artist who wanted to make new music. He just needed to find an authentic sound for himself that made sense in a new era.

When it came to finding a co-producer and musical collaborator with that goal in mind, who was better qualified than renowned hit songwriter, producer, and ELO creative head Jeff Lynne? Under Lynne’s leadership, that group found great success in making Beatlesque pop for a decade and a half. Their hit song “Livin’ Thing” is so influenced by George that it could have easily been one of Harrison’s own songs. By the time the two songwriters convened at Harrison’s home studio at Friar Park in 1986, and with their co-producer relationship established, Jeff Lynne introduced Harrison to new ways of developing material to get it ready for recording.

With “When We Was Fab”, the two musicians worked up the parts slowly over time, starting with Harrison’s germ of an idea to write a song that captured the spirit of the Beatles’ Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour era. Harrison and Lynne initially plucked out the musical strands of the song on a single piano between them. The ornate arrangement and intricate melodic elements that would eventually define “When We Was Fab” came together bit by bit as they recorded other songs for the new record.

Every so often we took the tape of ‘Fab’ out and overdubbed more, and it developed and took shape to where we wrote words. This was an odd experience for me; I’ve normally finished all of the songs I’ve done—with the exception of maybe a few words here and there—before I ever recorded them. But Jeff doesn’t do that at all. He’s making them up as he goes along.
~George Harrison,
George Harrison: Reconsidered, Timothy White (thebeatlesbible.com)

Both musicians knew that this tune was a vital addition to provide an anchor for the other songs on the new record. Between the two talents—one a huge Beatles fan and the other an actual Beatle—it’s of little surprise that “When We Was Fab” sounds so much like a deliberate return to The Beatles’ 1967 period. It certainly helped too that fellow Fab Ringo Starr is on the drums as well as being in the video. In large part, it was a memory of Ringo’s playing during their Beatle days that helped inspire Harrison to conceive the song in the first place.

Harrison’s affection for that time shines through very brightly here. There are broad streaks of self-referential humour in the song’s lyrics along with accompanying aural Easter eggs that provide an evocation of a whole era. Apart from the George Martin-style cellos and the Beatle George-style mystical sitar outro, the patented dry wit for which Harrison and his bandmates were known is as much a part of the effect as any. “When We Was Fab” comes off as a series of shared inside jokes between a Beatle and his fans, which is what helps make this such a warm listen.

The single sleeve for “When We Was Fab” is by Klaus Voorman, the musician and artist who designed the cover of the Beatles’ 1966 record Revolver, with his original illustration of George Harrison included with an updated one.

After spending a lot of energy deflecting questions about his Beatles days in interviews since the 1970s, this tune contains an important indicator as to where George Harrison’s head was at by the end of the Eighties. All of The Beatles had done various degrees of work to distance themselves from their Fab past by that time. This was in part to give oxygen to their work as solo artists. But they also needed personal space for themselves to help them make sense of what they’d been a part of as individuals. The Beatles had been an era-defining source of joy to listeners. But for the four men themselves, it was often a burden. This was in large part the reason The Beatles broke up.

Yet importantly, the overall effect heard in “When We Was Fab” is one of fondness with plenty of humour to keep things from getting too maudlin. This tune seemed to say that after all he’d been through as a very private person having to deal with monumental levels of fame, George Harrison was fine with The Beatles. It showed him looking back on his younger days in the band with fondness and wistfulness, despite the trials those years also represented for him. Through writing and recording this song, he finds a way to convey his personal contentment with a wondrous and tumultuous past helped along by the gathered wisdom and perspective of middle age.

Besides all that, another reason this song was so impactful and welcome on the radio by 1988 is that it spoke directly to the generation who grew up with The Beatles to do the very same; put past and present into greater perspective. As much as this song was taken as autobiographical, it also told a familiar story for anyone who’d lived through that idealistic and culturally transitionary era of the Sixties whether they’d been a Beatle or not. For many of that vintage, “When We Was Fab” was as much about finding oneself in the present as it was about reconciling with the past.

As for “When We Was Fab” as a chart entry, the song represented the last U.S. top forty single Harrison put out as a solo artist. In a way, it closed the loop on his career as a former Beatle aiming for radio as a solo artist. At the same time, it made way for an era in which he could sit back and simply make music with his friends. His time with the Travelling Wilburys awaited him.

For more about George Harrison during this period, check out this 2024 article from American Songwriter about the Cloud Nine record and what it meant for Harrison at the time after a lengthy (for rock ‘n’ roll) hiatus as a recording artist.

For more music and commentary, be sure and check out this article that examines 20 Great George Harrison songs also written by your humble host.

Otherwise, learn more about George Harrison at, predictably, georgeharrison.com.

Enjoy!

#80sMusic #comebacks #GeorgeHarrison #JeffLynne #songsAboutBeingFamous #TheBeatles

#80smusic #comebacks #georgeharrison #jefflynne #songsaboutbeingfamous #thebeatles