When his first wife Patty left George and went to his friend Eric Clapton, George did not get hysterical, philosophizing: “I’d rather have Patty with Eric than with some idiot”. However, the family life of Clapton and Boyd was not happy: in 1989 they divorced.
Although Harrison and Boyd officially separated in 1977 (although they had broken up earlier, from about 1974-75 George dated his future and last wife Olivia Arias, who gave birth to George’s only child, son Dhani Harrison. Pattie Boyd had previously tried to give birth to George, but her health wouldn’t let her) – they remained good friends. After her divorce from Clapton, Patty was broke and George bought her a place to live. The photo shows them together in 1991…..
In 1970, Sinatra recorded a cover of George’s “Something” (calling it “the greatest love song of the last fifty years”).
“Everybody says ‘Something’ was inspired by Patty, but it really wasn’t,” Harrison admitted with a jovial laugh. She was my wife at the time, but when I wrote that song, I had Ray Charles in my head. I always pictured Ray singing it, and eventually he recorded it. There was a period when that tune was a hit, you could hear it in elevators, and I started to feel a little awkward about it, but now I’ve come back to it and I’m very glad I wrote it.”
Sinatra performed this song over the years,” he slyly remarked, “so now I always think of Frank Sinatra when I perform it. In fact, I included this in the live version: ‘Hang in there, Jack, maybe it’ll work out’.” – Billboard, July 4, 1992.
Patty, on the other hand, recalled, “Then George dryly told me he wrote it for me.”
