When talking about his former bandmate, the one-fourth of The Beatles also opens up about the last conversation he had with the guitarist before he died from cancer in 2001.
- December 30, 2020
AceShowbiz - Paul McCartney communicates with late The Beatles bandmate George Harrison through a fir tree in his garden.
George gave the rocker the tree before he lost his battle with cancer in 2001, and Paul admits he uses it to communicate with his old pal.
"George was very into horticulture, a really good gardener, so he gave me a tree as a present," Macca explains. "It's a big fir tree and it's by my gate. I get out of the car, close the gate, look up at the tree and say, 'Hi George.' "
"There he is, growing strongly. It's lovely. He gave it to me - I just planted it. But then, as the years go by, every time I look at it I go, 'That's the tree George gave me.' George has entered that tree, for me. I hope he's happy with that."
Asked if he remembered the last thing George said to him, Paul smiles, "We said silly things. We were in New York before he went to Los Angeles to die... We were sitting there, and I was holding his hand, and it occurred to me - I've never told this - I don't want to hold George's hand. You don't hold your mate's hands. I mean, we didn't anyway."
"I remember he was getting a bit annoyed at having to travel all the time - chasing a cure. He'd gone to Geneva to see what they could do. Then he came to a special clinic in New York to see what they could do. Then the thought was to go to L.A. and see what they could do. He was sort of getting a bit, 'Can't we just stay in one place?' And I said, 'Yes, Speke Hall. Let's go to Speke Hall.' "
"That was one of the last things we said to each other, knowing that he would be the only person in the room who would know what Speke Hall (a public garden and estate in Liverpool) was. Anyway, the nice thing for me when I was holding George's hands, he looked at me, and there was a smile."
