cally, “it was like being constipated for years, then
finally you were allowed to go,”
But even as he enjoyed some professional satisfac-
tion, his personal life imploded. In 1974 his wife and
muse of eight years, Pattie, left him for his friend
Clapton. Even before the split, Pattie had inspired
Clapton’s tortured love song “Layla.” Harrison’s dis-
arming reaction to the partner swap? “I’d rather she
was with him,” he said, “than with some dope.”
After his divorce was final, Harrison met Olivia
Arias, 26, a record-label secretary. The two married in
1978 soon after son Dhani was born. Harrison became
a film producer, both successful (Monty Python’s Life
of Brian) and not (the Madonna-Sean Penn debacle
Shanghai Surprise), and enjoyed a career resurgence
that teamed him again with Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff
Lynne and Tom Petty in the Traveling Wilburys. After
years of strained relations with McCartney, the two,
Penny Lane pals since before either joined John,
became good mates again. In 2001, less than two years
after he survived a knife attack by an intruder in his
own home, Harrison was diagnosed with lung and
then brain cancer. “He couldn’t move,” a teary Ringo
told Rolling Stone in 2015, recalling a hospital visit
when his friend was near death. “He was riddled with
cancer, laying down. I said, ‘Look I’ve got to leave.’ And
he said, ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ ” Harri-
son died Nov. 29, 2001, at age 58.
His final studio album, 1987’s Cloud Nine, with its
Sgt. Peppery single “When We Were Fab,” had demon-
strated more fondness than bitterness for his Beatle
days. Things weren’t all bad then. After the debacle of
that early-1969 recording session, the band regrouped
to make Abbey Road, which included Harrison’s
“Something.” Said Lennon at the time: “I think that’s
about the best track on the album, actually.”