"George was getting alot of independence for himself in those days. He was writing more, and wanted things to go his way - where, when we first started things basically went John and Paul's way. You know, 'cuz they were the writers"
About this Quote
Ringo’s line lands with the casual candor of someone who lived inside a mythology the rest of us only inherited. He’s not delivering a grand Beatles thesis; he’s describing a shift in gravity. The telling phrase is “a lot of independence for himself” - not “taking over,” not “rebelling,” but carving out oxygen in a band where the air had long been rationed by the Lennon-McCartney axis.
The subtext is workplace politics, just with better haircuts and louder amplifiers. “Wanted things to go his way” isn’t petty; it’s an artist learning that being “the quiet one” can become a job description if you don’t fight it. Ringo also sneaks in a blunt reminder of how power was organized early: “John and Paul’s way,” justified by authorship. In pop groups, songwriting isn’t just creativity; it’s currency, voting rights, and legacy. If you write, you steer. If you don’t, you perform someone else’s map.
Context does the heavy lifting. By the late ’60s, George Harrison was no longer content supplying tasteful guitar lines and one song per album; he was arriving with material that demanded space, and with a confidence sharpened by being underused. Ringo’s “you know” and “‘cuz” keep it human, almost shrugging - but that shrug is the point. Great bands don’t only break up from drugs or ego; they fracture when the internal hierarchy stops matching the talent in the room. Harrison’s independence wasn’t a detour. It was the sound of a closed system finally admitting another author.
The subtext is workplace politics, just with better haircuts and louder amplifiers. “Wanted things to go his way” isn’t petty; it’s an artist learning that being “the quiet one” can become a job description if you don’t fight it. Ringo also sneaks in a blunt reminder of how power was organized early: “John and Paul’s way,” justified by authorship. In pop groups, songwriting isn’t just creativity; it’s currency, voting rights, and legacy. If you write, you steer. If you don’t, you perform someone else’s map.
Context does the heavy lifting. By the late ’60s, George Harrison was no longer content supplying tasteful guitar lines and one song per album; he was arriving with material that demanded space, and with a confidence sharpened by being underused. Ringo’s “you know” and “‘cuz” keep it human, almost shrugging - but that shrug is the point. Great bands don’t only break up from drugs or ego; they fracture when the internal hierarchy stops matching the talent in the room. Harrison’s independence wasn’t a detour. It was the sound of a closed system finally admitting another author.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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