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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview of Martin Lewis, Beatles Historian

Aired November 30, 2001 - 06:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We had a chance in the last hour to have a very interesting discussion with Martin Lewis, who's a Beatles historian and since we could probably talk about The Beatles all day, we've invited Mr. Lewis to join us, to come back on the phone once again. Thanks for joining us again Martin.

MARTIN LEWIS, THE BEATLES HISTORIAN: That's OK. This is an important day to mark George Harrison's amazing contributions.

KAGAN: Tell us more -- he's referred to as the quiet Beatle -- why -- why the quiet Beatle?

LEWIS: Because in a personality, he was quieter and shyer than the other Beatles. John and Paul especially were gregarious, Ringo a natural class clown, somebody who would pal around. George was always shy in the sense that his passion was to create and make music. He did not seek fame or adulation. That was a byproduct of the music he created. So, for George, he did not envisage all the screaming fans. That wasn't the game plan for him.

KAGAN: And in fact, I don't know if you were able to hear the piece while we were leading up to this interview, but there's a sound bite at the end of the piece that we were just ran on George Harrison, where he himself describes his career as "haphazard." It wasn't a grand plan, and yet he was a man of so many interests and such depth. How do you describe an artist who can write a social protest song like "The Taxman", but then become a movie producer and produce something as silly and fun as "Monty Python's Life of Brian"?

LEWIS: The word "renaissance man" comes to mind, because George Harrison really was. In 1965 it was unheard of for a pop musician to pick up an instrument from the Eastern world, to pick up the sitar. He didn't pick it up as a novelty. He picked it up because he had a genuine passion, an interest in a new musical form for him, and he introduced that music and made that part of The Beatles and suddenly people all over the world, Western music lovers, suddenly heard different music.

He had the same passion to share his concern about the people of Bangladesh, which is why he organized the concert. That concert directly inspired the people such as Bob Geldof who did Live Aid. It inspired the No Nukes concerts. He was a pioneer in so many ways. He had a love of comedy, which is why he put together so many British comedy films. He supported the Monty Pythons, as your package alluded to, producing their "Life of Brian" and many other films. He really was a renaissance man. He had no love of the spotlight. He shunned interviews. He wasn't there for the fame and fortune. He enjoyed doing the work and he enjoyed the impact it had on people and how it stirred them and affected them.

KAGAN: And in fact didn't he understand better than any of the Beatles about what he considered the inevitable breakup, that the fame was just too much and too intense. He described them as being monkeys in the zoo. He just knew that he couldn't go on.

LEWIS: Well he put up with it as long as he could and so did the other Beatles. It was inevitable that The Beatles would break up. They gave 10 years of their lives working together and when they broke up, it was time to move on. And it was a bitter breakup at the time, but they reconciled themselves and they dealt with that and George came to terms with his Beatle past and he did so with typical George Harrison style.

He used humor and when a couple of the Monty Pythons put together a spoof called "The Ruttles," which was an affectionate parity of The Beatles, he joined in and actually appeared in the film playing a TV interviewer. This showed how he always took his music and his art seriously, but he never took himself seriously and that was a wonderful -- a wonderful quality in a human being and it commends itself to his millions and millions of fans around the world.

KAGAN: And Martin, just quickly, you were sharing with us in the last hour how you host these Beatles conventions and surprisingly I think to a lot of viewers you would saying that many of the people who show up to the conventions are young people under 25.

LEWIS: Seventy-five percent of them, and, in fact, last -- I remember a time with George -- George and I had a mutual friend the great singer Harry Nielson, and Harry Nielson used to go to those Beatle conventions and at Harry's funeral I remember George comforting Harry's widow. He had a great belief in the fact that there is an afterlife, and he comforted Harry Nielson's widow by saying Harry Nielson isn't dead. He lives on. His spirit is on. This is just a stage that's he's gone onto another area.

George passionately believed that from a very young age. So for him, he has not died. His music hasn't died. He's simply living on in the music and the great contributions that he's given to millions and millions of people around the world and the wonderful thing is so many young people -- it's nothing to do with the '60s, nothing to do with nostalgia, the music is completely timeless, and it impacts us all.

KAGAN: A very nice remark to end our discussion on. Martin Lewis, thanks for celebrating the life with us, the life of George Harrison. George Harrison has died at the age of 58.

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