When George Harrison quit The Beatles the lead guitarist went home and wrote what would go on to be one his most famous solo tracks.
Having been up against two of the most iconic singer-songwriters in modern history in the band in the shape of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, George rarely got the chance to shine in his own right. The 1970 documentary Let It Be highlighted his struggle to get along in the band as Paul set down very clear rules for their creativity.
The documentary saw John going with the flow, while Ringo Starr was focused on developing his acting career, meaning just George was feeling the real strain as a creative individual meaning he ultimately walked away from the band. January 10 1969 saw him quit – but he would ultimately rejoin The Beatles not long after.
Dealing with his emotions around his exit he wrote Wah-Wah with the lyrics meant to take aim at his bandmates and their constant arguing. He later told Crawdaddy magazine of the song: “That was the song, when I left from the Let It Be movie, there’s a scene where Paul and I are having an argument, and we’re trying to cover it up.
“Then the next scene I’m not there and Yoko’s just screaming, doing her screeching number. Well, that’s where I’d left, and I went home to write ‘Wah-Wah’. It had given me a wah-wah, like I had such a headache with that whole argument. It was such a headache.”
Wah-Wah would go on to feature on George’s 1970 debut album, All Things Must Pass and became one of his most memorable hits, despite the fact he performed it live just twice. Both of those performances came at the Concert For Bangladesh.
The event was the first-ever charity concert organized by George at New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden with performances from Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston and Ringo. In fact Derek and the Dominos keyboardist Bobby Whitlock recorded Wah-Wah with George before he started working with Eric.
He previously said; “I was the last one to show up at the session – I was running late and my car went down on me. It was getting started, I walked in and Phil Spector said, ‘Phase those drums! Phase those guitars!’
“He’s standing there looking out like he’s the captain of a ship, and he says, ‘Phase everything!’ A guy had to operate this phase shifter by hand, his name was Eddie Albert, and he had to work it by twisting this knob to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right.
“You had to do it manually then. He’s saying, ‘Phase this, phase that,’ I come in, I’m late and Billy Preston’s sitting down at the organ, [Procol Harum singer] Gary Brooker is on the piano, where’s my spot? Everything was on the downbeat.”
He added: “I said, ‘I’ve got it, give me that little piano over there, I’ve got my part.’ I played everything that nobody was playing – I played on the upbeat. That’s me on the electric piano playing the exact opposite.”