The late George Harrison married Pattie Boyd 55 years ago today (January 21st).
The Beatles song “If I Needed Someone” was written about her. (Between George and Eric Clapton there were 11 songs written about her including “Something”, “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight”. “If I Needed Someone” was a case of The Byrds influencing The Beatles. George Harrison wrote his classic Rubber Soul album cut “If I Needed Someone” about model Pattie Boyd, who he’d go on to marry 55 years ago today (January 21st) in a ceremony outside London. Harrison spoke about writing the song, which was released a couple of months before their wedding, in an interview from the 1980s.
“It was just purely based upon that Rickenbacker 12-string sound. And I think as The Byrds were influenced by The Beatles, so we were influenced by The Byrds, y’know. And they had that album out with ‘[Mr.] Tambourine Man’ and that’s where I learnt that, from an idea of doing that kind of thing.”
