I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Today, a Detour from politics, and a belated note on the passing of George Harrison. I was too old to be a child of the '60s, but you had to live under a rock not to realize the Beatles changed music as nobody did, with the possible exception of Elvis.
And while Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the ones in the spotlight, George Harrison was the one who played great guitar. And when he could muscle his way onto albums, he wrote good songs. He told an interviewer once he had to be good at it, because otherwise the Lennon-McCartney juggernaut would have blown him off the page.
But he penned one of the loveliest '60s anthems, "Here Comes the Sun," one of the best Beatles' love songs, "Something," one of the gems of the White album, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and the conservative's favorite Beatles' tune, "Taxman."
As was the case with all his mates, his post-Beatles career was an inevitable letdown, but "He Helped Change the World" isn't a bad epitaph.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, ditching the AMT.