But Theres Also Something Slightly Funny About It?? - Blog Posts
George Harrison, his father Harold, Olivia, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, and the whole Dark Horse Tour band visiting the White House, 13 December 1974. Photos: screenshot © Harrison Family; David Hume Kennerly; Bettmann/Corbis.
They’d been invited when George met Jack Ford backstage in Salt Lake City on 16 November 1974.
Olivia Harrison: “This is in the Oval Office with Billy Preston. President Ford’s son Jack had come to some shows and said: Why don’t you meet my dad? I was in the room, and George was telling Gerry Ford how Muhammad Ali had lifted up the Beatles; I think he got two of them under each arm! Somehow they’d got straight into that conversation, then Ford asked him what all the badges he was wearing were and George explained that they were Krishna, Babagi [sic], and the Om sign. Then Ford went to his desk and pulled out a badge that said WIN, which meant Whip Inflation Now. So funny! I remember George wore red handmade Tibetan boots, probably the first hint of any protest about Tibet. A sly political statement.” - Olivia Harrison, Observer Monthly Magazine, June 2009
“We were taken up to into the private apartments, had lunch up there, came down and went into the Oval Office. […] There’s a photo of Billy Preston playing the piano in the White House. He was playing ‘God Bless America’ on the 200th or 2000th Steinway.” - George Harrison, Raga Mala
“According to the briefing paper for this visit, it was the first Presidential meeting with a member of the Beatles. President Ford recognized not only George Harrison’s musical ability but also his efforts to raise funds for UNICEF and various hospitals throughout the United States. (A2426-17 / National Archives Identifier 7839929)” (x)