Mr Harrison, with all of the enormous problems in the world,
how did you happen to choose this one to do something about?
Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, that's all.
CROWD CHEERS
MUSIC: "Awaiting On You All" by George Harrison
# You don't need no love in
# You don't need no bed pan
# You don't need a horoscope or a microscope
# To see the mess that you're in
# If you open up your heart You'll know what I mean
# We've been polluted so long
# Here's a way for you to get clean
# By chanting the names of the Lord and you'll be free
# The Lord is awaiting on you all to awake and see
# Chanting the names of the Lord and you'll be free
# The Lord is awaiting on you all to awake and see... #
Few musical events in recent years have attracted as much attention as George Harrison's concert
for the relief of the refugee children of the holocaust in East Pakistan.
Scheduled for August 1st here at the Garden,
and although tickets don't go on sale until Thursday,
the lines have already started to form.
- I asked some kids why they're here so early.
- To get a good seat.
I'm really into this East Pakistan thing.
Er...masochist.
Ironically, probably the last time the fans were turned on like this was when
the Beatles themselves played together as a group at Shea Stadium.
From Madison Square Garden, this is Geraldo Rivera reporting for Channel 7 Eyewitness News.
Really, it was Ravi Shankar's idea.
He wanted to do something like this and he was...
talking to me and telling me about his concern for the thing
and asked me if I had any suggestions.
Then, after half an hour, he talked me into being on the show.
# Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Such a great disaster
# I don't understand
# But it sure looks like a mess
# I've never known such distress
# Please don't turn away
# I want to hear you say
# Relieve the people of Bangladesh... #
Personally, I prefer to be a part of a band.
But, um...
But for this, you know, it was just something
we had to do in order to get the money. We had to do it quick.
War was going on between
Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan, as it was then known,
which was part of the original whole of Bengal -
that's where I belong to.
And all my distant relatives, along with many other refugees,
they were coming by thousands to Calcutta.
And all the women and children suffering,
and all that made me feel very concerned.
And George immediately said that he would help.
'I had the benefit of fame with The Beatles.
'John, you know, he was... he made me more aware
'of that aspect of using The Beatles' power,
'using recordings and videos and stuff to make more money.'
George, in the concert on August 1st, you will be the number one star.
- How do you feel about that?
- Er...nervous. - LAUGHTER
MUSIC: "Something"
# Something in the way she moves
# Attracts me like no other lover
# Something in the way she woos me
# I don't want to leave her now
# You know I believe her now
# Somewhere in the way she smiles
# Tells me I need no other lover
# Something in her style that shows me
# Don't want to leave her now
# You know I believe her now
# Asking me will my love grow
# I don't know
# I don't know
# You stick around now it may show
# I don't know
# I don't know... #
'I think the most memorable thing, really,
'was the fact that it came off and that it worked,
'because there was very little time preceding the concert to organise it.
'The concert happened to be on August the 1st,
'because that was the only day Madison Square Garden was available.
'So it was pure coincidence. And all the people that were assembled,
'with very short notice, with very little rehearsals,
'in some cases, there was no rehearsal.'
My first impression when arriving outside Madison Square Garden was
the level of energy outside.
I mean, as I recall it, it was mobbed outside. There were so many people on the streets.
It was intense. A block and a half away, you could feel it buzzing.
The level was just high!
When your tickets went on sale, they sold out within minutes almost.
It seems as if the same kind of mania that was attached to the group now attaches to you.
- How do you feel about that?
- I feel flattered, you know.
I don't understand why it should and it's a great honour, you know.
I was pretty chuffed to be there and it was the place to be that night.
The whole idea of a superstar concert,
which is a pretty bad phrase - superstar concert - but this was the first
of seeing The Beatles or a Beatle. It was a completely rare thing.
I think it was the first time any of The Beatles had been out, you know, since they broke up.
# Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues
# And you know it don't come easy
# You don't have to shout or leap about
# You can even play them easy
# Forget about the past and all your sorrows
# The future won't last
# It will soon be over tomorrow... #
'It was a question of, um... phoning friends that I knew
'and seeing who was available to turn up.
'I spent one month -
'I think the month of June into half of July -
'just telephoning people.
'And there was some people I could really rely on, who was, um...
'you know, Ringo and Keltner - the drummers.'
CROWD CHEERS
'I was hanging out a lot of the time with Leon Russell, and Leon said he'd come
'and we had Badfinger, just to be acoustic guitar players.'
The beauty of the event came across, um...and, you know, the audience
were so great, because they knew, at that time, they were witnesses.
"Wow! Look at these people together!"
Everybody wanted to help, you know. Everybody wanted to be a part of it.
You just knew it was all gonna come together,
because who's gonna say no to George?
George gave me a call and kind of explained what it was about.
And the charity of it. And I said, "Of course. I'd be happy to be a part of it."
I'd like to continue with a... a song from a member of the band.
An old friend of mine - Billy Preston.
It was exciting. To be able to play with people that you normally don't get a chance to.
So it was really exciting.
MUSIC: "That's The Way God Planned It"
# Why can't we be humble
# Like the good Lord said?
# He promised to exalt us
# But low is the way
# How man be so greedy
# When there's so much left?
# All things are God given
# And they all have been blessed
# That's the way God planned it
# That's the way God wants it to be
# To be!
# That's the way God planned it
# That's the way God wants it to be
# To be!
# Let not your heart be troubled
# Let morning sobbing cease
# Learn how to help one another
# And live in perfect peace
# If we'd all just be humbler
# Like the good Lord said
# He promised to exalt us! But low is the way... #
We did two shows,
and the first one was... was excellent.
And, um... So by the time the second one came,
we all kind of relaxed a little bit and fell into a flow.
And on my number, man, I just...
'I got happy! I just jumped up and ran across the stage!'
HE LAUGHS 'And Phil Spector was in the trunk.
'He said, "Where did he go?! Where did he go?!"
'The band was jamming and it was pumping, the people were with us!
'You know, I just had to rejoice.'
# That's the way... Come on!..God planned it!
# That's the way God wants it to be
BACKING SINGERS: # That's the way!
MUSIC REACHES A CRESCENDO, THEN STOPS
A couple of numbers from Leon.
The thing I remember about it was I thought I would be real nervous.
I got up there and it was so relaxing,
cos all these huge stars were all there.
And I was just sort of there. All the pressure wasn't on me.
But I didn't do anything but show up and sing.
# I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
# And I howled at my mama in the driving rain!
# But it's all right now
# In fact, it's a gas!
# But it's all right, yeah
# I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash It's a gas, gas, gas!
# Whoa-oh!
# Whoa-oh!
# Whoa-oh!
# Whoa-oh!
# Whoa-oh!
# Yeah, but it's all right now
# In fact, it's a gas!
# It's all right, yeah!
# I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash It's a gas, gas, gas, yeah... #
It was just one high-level experience from beginning to end.
The thing that I remember in rehearsal was...
it was just a question of trying to pick up stuff that everyone knew.
# But it's all right now
# In fact, it's a gas!
# But it's all right, yeah
# I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash It's a gas, gas, gas!
# Whoa-oh! #
A lot of the very last-minute logistics
happened in the last two weeks before the concert.
We had booked rehearsal halls at Carnegie Hall.
Above Carnegie Hall, we had a big rehearsal hall booked.
I was basically the concert producer.
I was the production manager of staging it.
And so most of the musicians didn't gather until
literally seven days before the concert.
GEORGE GIVES ORDERS TO CREW, THE BAND TUNE UP
The most obvious missing person was Eric Clapton.
MUSIC: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
'We had him booked on every flight out of London to New York for about seven days.
'We were told, "He's on this flight!"
'We'd go to the airport and he wasn't there.'
By the third day, George was getting a little anxious that he wouldn't have a guitar player.
And by the fourth day, word must've been getting out.
Cos all of a sudden, a lot of guitar players started showing up in the lobby
at the Park Lane Hotel in New York, where we were staying.
And George figured, "I gotta get somebody."
So he hired Jesse Ed Davis, who had been in Taj Mahal's band.
'With Jesse E Davis being an optimist -
'he's carrying his guitar and amplifier, hanging around.
'So we said, "Right!"
'And Klaus Voormann, who was playing the bass in the concert.
'He volunteered just to run through all the tunes,
'so we'd at least have another guitar player.'
'We'd sent a telex to Apple in London -
'in those days, you still were using a telex -
to tell Eric he wasn't needed.
And of course, Terry went out to tell him and he said, "I'm coming!"
'And he played great - no rehearsal at all.
'I mean, Eric is just a gem.'
MUSIC SLOWLY STOPS, CROWD CHEERS
I made it really hard for myself. That guitar is not the right guitar
to play that kind of song on. I should've used the fender
or a solid Gibson or something, not a semi-acoustic.
I made it really difficult for myself.
But that was because I was in another world. Not really there.
And I had been in a period of retirement, shall we say,
for quite a long time - maybe about 2 years.
And I think I went to a rehearsal the day before the gig
and couldn't make it, I was in such bad shape.
And I showed up, I think, for the sound check.
# Yeah, the woman I love
# Left with my best friend
# But some joker got lucky
# And stole her right back again.
# I said you'd better come on in my kitchen
# Cos it's gonna be raining outdoors... #
For me to get on a plane to go to New York
was a very difficult thing for me, especially with my circumstances...
I saw myself as a bit of a squire amongst knights, you know.
But I really made the extra effort,
mainly because of all these people who showed up
and we're gonna do this thing and it was outside of the normal line of duty, really.
And I think, you know, the fact that George took a risk
just assembling the whole thing and making it make sense.
All for this cause - it was a bit move, yeah.
To my mind, it took a lot of humility for George,
at this stage in his life, you know, when, er...
The Beatles had split up, he'd had a huge hit album with All Things Must Pass.
He'd never fronted a big show like that before.
This was the first time ever for him.
'So it took a lot of humility on his part,
'to be able to call around and get people to do him favours.
'With the obvious risk, you know, of, er...being turned down.'
# If not for you
# Winter would hold no spring
# Couldn't hear the robin sing
# I just wouldn't have a clue
# If not for you... #
'My relationship with Bob was...
'You know, I just always tried to be straight with him and, you know, he responded.'
Bob would come in and rehearse with the band what songs he was gonna do,
'and so, it was really a matter of working it out at the last minute.'
# If not for you my sky would fall!
# Rain would gather too
# Without your love I'd be nowhere at all
# I'd be lost if not for you
# If not for you
# Winter would hold no spring... #
'Right up until the moment he stepped on the stage, it was not sure he was coming.
'Cos the night before we went to Madison Square Garden,
'he saw all these cameras and microphones and this huge place,
'and he was saying, "Hey, man, this isn't my scene. I can't make this."
'By that time, I'd had so much on my plate, trying to get it organised.
'And I was saying, "It's not my scene either.
' "I don't do this every day. In fact, this is the first time I've done anything on my own.
' "You at least have been a solo artist for years."
'So, on stage, I had a little list on my guitar
'and I had the point where... where it said
'after Here Comes The Sun, I've got "Bob" with a question mark.
'And it got to that point, and I looked around,
'to see if there was any indication that Bob was gonna come on or out.'
The stage was dark and I looked around,
and here's this guy in a jean jacket walking toward me, and I knew it was him.
'He was there and was so nervous - his harmonica on, his guitar in his hand.
'He was walking on stage, it was like, "Now or never!" And so, I just say...'
I'd like to bring on a friend of us all - Mr Bob Dylan.
HUGE CHEER FROM THE CROWD
HE TUNES UP
MUSIC: "Just Like A Woman"
# Nobody
# Feels any pain
# Tonight
# As I stand inside the rain
# Everybody knows
# That baby's got new clothes
# But lately
# I see her ribbons and her bows
# Have fallen from her curls
# She takes
ALL: # Just like a woman
# And she waits
# Just like a woman
# Then she breaks
# Just like a woman
# But she breaks just like a little girl
# Queen Mary
# She's my friend
# Yes, I believe
# I'll go see her again
# Nobody has to guess
# That baby can't be blessed
# Now she sees finally
# That she's like all the rest
# With her fog
# Amphetamine and her pearls
# She takes
# Just like a woman
# And she breaks
# Just like a woman
# And she wakes
# Just like a woman
# But she breaks just like a little girl... #
I was on tambourine and Bob did his couple of numbers.
And...you know, we just sort of... It was a jammy sort of way,
but we just sort of played, it was 4/4.
HE HUMS THE TUNE
Then we all went to the hotel, came back for the second show, and we came to Bob's set.
And so we all get down, ready to do it.
It was very weird, so I looked over at Leon...
"Oh, it's... It's a waltz this time, boys! Let's go!"
MUSIC: "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"
# Oh, where have you been my blue-eyed son?
# Oh, where have you been my darling young one?
# I've stumbled on the side of 12 misty mountains
# I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
# I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
# I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
# I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
# It's a hard
# And it's a hard
# It's a hard
# And it's a hard
# It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
# Oh, what did you see my blue-eyed son?
# And what did you see my darling young one?
# I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
# I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
# I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
# I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
# I saw a white ladder all covered with water
# I saw 10,000 talkers whose tongues were all broken
# It's a hard
# It's a hard
# It's a hard
# It's a hard
# It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall... #
The Concert For Bangladesh came along at a moment
at which the rock'n'roll scene had been dispirited.
A number of things that happened that made you think maybe the life was going out of it.
Or it was kind of drifting. I mean, there were the prominent deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin,
which suggested the drug scene was too heavy.
Altamont had happened only 18 months earlier, I think.
Er...Bob had not put out a record in a long time.
So the kind of leading voices of rock'n'roll were still or quiet - it was a moment of drift.
And then to see something come along like this, which had such a purpose, a spirit,
and The Beatles had broken up and that was really depressing.
The collapse of the sixties philosophy
sort of seemed to be starting around that time.
It had a lot to do with... What I was going through was very indicative of that.
But it was only... From where I looked at it,
it was only towards the end of the sixties that hard drugs
got really involved in the music industry and the entertainment world.
So it seemed like that was killing the dream.
All sorts of things had been written about
what the music stands for at its best and its highest,
what the generation should stand for, you know - peace and love and all these things.
And here it was, in actual real truth and fact.
And, er...it couldn't have made you feel better
or more proud of...of music.
Friends...
We are trying to set the music to this special event,
this historical programme, which is just not a programme as usual,
but which has a message.
We are not trying to make any politics, we are artists,
but through our music, we would like you to feel the agony
and also the pain
and lot of sad happenings in Bangladesh
and also the refugees who have come to India.
Thank you very much.
The Indian instruments are very sensitive.
And with the strong lights, it does effect them.
'Sometimes, the strings were a little out of tune,
'so it took about a minute and a half or so to properly tune them.
'And after we finished tuning, we were silent,
- 'and there was tremendous clapping.'
- CROWD CHEERS
Thank you. Since you appreciate the tuning so much,
I hope you enjoy the playing more. Thank you.
Many of them, who were new to our music,
I suppose they thought that was an item.
STRINGS AND PERCUSSION PLAY
MUSIC STOPS, CROWD CHEERS
'It was such a unique thing.
'Everybody was so moved.
'But it had a special meaning apart from this performance.'
Overnight, everybody knew the name of Bangladesh all over the world,
because it came out in all the newspapers everywhere,
so it had a tremendous value, didn't it?
I think the awareness is maybe even more important than the money,
because again, even if we make 5 million,
it's still small compared to the size of the problem,
so it's more important to bring the awareness to a mass of people.
HE PLAYS THE GUITAR INTO TO: "Here Comes The Sun"
CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUDS
# Here comes the sun Doo-de Doo-doo
# Here comes the sun
# And I say it's all right
# Little darlin'
# It's been a long cold lonely winter
# Little darlin'
# It seems like years since it's been here
# Here comes the sun
# Here comes the sun
# And I say it's all right
# Little darlin'
# The smiles returning to their faces... #
'Well, they got the money from the concert.
'From the two shows, it was 250,000.
'I mean, just on the gate for Madison Square Garden, it beat Ravi's 20,000.'
What the Concert For Bangladesh did was to provide an additional infusion
of resources, so that UNICEF would be using those resources
to buy the food supplements and other equipment that was needed.
It also helped with some of the real pioneering work in treating cholera...
and oral rehydration solution -
sugar and salt with a little bit of potassium put into water.
You give that to child, and it dramatically increases their absorptive capacity.
# Sun, sun, sun Here it comes... #
It was a great thing that can be done.
And it was the first of its kind which set an example.
# Little darlin'
# I see the ice is slowly meltin'
# Little darlin', it seems like years since it's been clear
# Here come the sun Doo-de, doo-doo
# Here comes the sun
# It's all right
# Here come the sun Doo-de, doo-doo
# Here comes the sun
# It's all right
# It's all right. #
MUSIC STOPS, CROWD CHEERS
Bangladesh was important, and it was the first...
..huge show for charity with a mass ensemble.
And it showed that musicians can make a difference if they work together.
And before that, it had always been everybody on their own.
Everybody would come out, do their set, then go off,
but to see guys working together really made a statement.
MUSIC: "My Sweet Lord"
CROWD CHEERS
Hare Krishna.
# My sweet Lord
# Hm, my Lord... #
Since then, there have been hundreds of special programmes
raising funds for different calamities happening in different places of the world.
All the musicians, they got an inspiration -
an idea from the Bangladesh concert.
It was an immense success artistically,
and I'll use the word spiritually,
because he decided
he would use this great ability he had for another reason.
# Really want to go with you
# Really want to show, you Lord
- # That it won't take long, my Lord
- (Hallelujah!)
- # My sweet Lord
- (Hallelujah!)
- # Hm, my Lord
- (Hallelujah!)
- # My sweet Lord
- (Hallelujah!)
# I really want to see you... #
'The musicians were great.
'I mean, they completely put down their own egos to play together
'and to do something, because the whole vibe of that concert
'was that it was something bigger than the lot of us.'
Individuals look at problems in the world
and find them to be of such a scale and so far away, um...
as to really... It ends up making them feel there's nothing they can do about it.
And I think every generation has to be reminded that that simply is not the case.
'There was a lot of kids and just general public,
'who - having had the inspiration to go and do something -
'all started collecting money and donating things.
'There was a lot of people who gave a lot of money
'and collected on the streets and were banging on UNICEF doors, saying, "What can we do to help?"
When you have the kind of assemblage of popular people,
like George and the others that were with him,
and that concert goes around the world, and the album is selling and selling.
That also moves other leaders to say, "What are we doing?
"Are we on the right side on this Bangladesh issue?"
That sense of one world, a better world,
providing the basis for a better world through music.
All of that may sound wild and woolly today, but it wasn't.
If you were living in the mid-sixties and you understood the way the world was going,
everything seemed better, it all felt better.
We would actually have a better world.
We would deal with Africa, we would deal with poverty.
George never gave up hoping, never, ever, ever - even the very last time I saw him -
never gave up hoping that the dreams of the sixties could be realised.
'For people who had that talent,'
to be able to use it to reach out,
to the public and to their fans, and to raise awareness.
It was a groundbreaking event.
And since then, of course, it's become very common.
But in those days, it was quite unique and quite daring.
And, um...they were pioneers.
MUSIC STOPS, CROWD CHEERS
These things will always be remembered as...
times that we could be proud of, being musicians.
We actually weren't just thinking of ourselves for five minutes.
We were doing something for a bigger issue.
- CROWD CHEERS
- Thank you very much.
And we need that, you know.
CROWD: More! More!
'When you look at the words of the song...'
"My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes,
"and said, 'Help me before my country dies.' "
'It also portrays the man behind the music.'
# My friend came to me
# With sadness in his eyes
# He told me that he wanted help
# Before his country dies
# Although I couldn't feel the pain
# I knew I had to try
# Now I'm asking all of you
# To help us save some lives
# Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Where so many people
# Are dying fast and it sure looks like a mess
# I've never seen such distress
# Now won't you lend your hand and try to understand?
# We've got to relieve Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Such a great disaster
# I don't understand But it sure looks like a mess
# I've never known such distress
# Please don't turn away I want to hear you say
# Relieve the people of Bangladesh
# We got to relieve Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Bangladesh
# Now it may seem so far from where we all are
# It's something we can't neglect
# It's something I can't neglect
# Now won't you give some bread to get the starving fed?
# We've got to relieve Bangladesh
# Relieve the people of Bangladesh
# We've got to relieve Bangladesh
# Relieve the people of Bangladesh. #
CROWD CHEERS