I Want to Tell You

I almost forgot this year, but thankfully the clock radio played three of his songs on three consecutive mornings this week. I won't bore you with the minutiae of his biography or try to indoctrinate you with his personal philosophy because George wouldn't have liked that very much. Instead, I will simply list some of my favorite facts about the quietest (and youngest) Beatle. He had a great sense of humor and loved laughing at himself most of all, so I hope he would have enjoyed this little post. Here's to you, George.

• He loved jelly babies.
• He played Monopoly like a fiend.
• He had a small cameo in Monty Python's film The Life of Brian.
• He was the first rock musician to host a benefit/charity concert (the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971).
• He played 26 musical instruments, including the ukulele and the glockenspiel.
• He was a vegetarian.
• He was only 26 years old when the Beatles officially split.
• Frank Sinatra called his song "Something" "the best love song of the last 50 years."
• His wife Patty Boyd left him in the early 70s for his good friend Eric Clapton, but the two musicians remained friends.
• His actual birthday is February 24th (11:50 p.m.), but he believed it was the 25th for most of his life.
• Michael Abram, the man who broke into G. H.'s home in 1999 and stabbed him many times, believed he was possessed by George and on a mission from God to kill him.
• He had an extensive collection of Mini Coopers.
• He wrote a song for the soundtrack of Porky's Revenge in 1984.
• He was a lifelong fan of rocker Carl Perkins and played at his funeral in 1998.

If you want to watch one of the best live concerts of all time and remember Georgey this February, I recommend that you rent/buy Concert for George, the memorial concert performed one year after his death. I don't think it's an overstatement to declare that it is indeed freakin' awesome.