A sad tale of Paul McCartney & George Harrison

gaymen2
Aug 22
2 min read

In November 2001, Paul McCartney quietly stepped into a New York hospital room where George Harrison was receiving cancer treatment.

Posted by

Sagun Shrestha

The two had known each other since their teenage years in Liverpool, but now they met with the unspoken understanding that time was running short. George’s health had faded, and the air was thick with tenderness and finality.

Paul later shared that George greeted him warmly, and instantly the years between them seemed to dissolve. They talked about their early days — the long bus rides to school, the thrill of their first guitars, and the cramped living rooms where they practiced late into the night.

For a while, the hospital walls seemed to vanish, replaced by the sound of two boys from Liverpool chasing a dream.

A small guitar sat nearby. Though George’s strength was failing, they strummed a few soft chords together. Paul played gently, and George followed, their fingers moving with the ease of decades spent making music side by side. It wasn’t a performance — it was simply two friends speaking in the language that had always bound them. They laughed about things only they would remember:

Paul teasing George about forgetting a lyric while recording Please Please Me, George poking fun at Paul’s endless harmonizing on And I Love Her. Those little moments had built a lifetime, and now they felt more precious than ever. Paul later described the visit as gentle, warm, and quietly joyful, even as both men knew it would be their last.George spoke softly about life, faith, and the enduring beauty of friendship — the kind that outlives disagreements, distance, and time.

Paul listened, holding George’s hand, feeling the brotherhood that had survived the highs and lows of their shared journey. The Beatles had been more than a band. They had been a family.

As Paul prepared to leave, George looked at him with a calm, almost serene expression. Before Paul could speak, George squeezed his hand and said, “I’ll see you around, mate.” It was a simple phrase, full of understated charm, yet it carried the weight of farewell.

Those words stayed with Paul long after George’s passing later that month. He would later say the moment was both heartbreaking and comforting — their friendship had ended the way it began: with music, laughter, and quiet understanding. There were no grand speeches that day, no need for them. Their lives had already been one long conversation written in chords, harmonies, and shared silences. This meeting was their quiet encore — the final note in a melody they began together decades earlier. And in the silence after George’s words,

Paul understood that true friendship doesn’t need more than a simple promise: to meet again, somewhere beyond the stage.

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