The Bavarian garden gnomes, which feature on the cover of George Harrison‘s solo album All Things Must Pass, are representations of The Beatles.
The “quiet one” of the Fab Four confirmed as much during a question-and-answer session hosted on Yahoo Chat. A fan had asked why garden gnomes were featured on the cover of All Things Must Pass, and Harrison confirmed they were representations of the four members of The Beatles. The band had split up just months before its release in November 1970. Harrison began recording the album just a month after The Beatles had officially come to an end. He did leave a nod to his former bandmates on the front cover, though, confirming the four garden gnomes are meant to represent his time in the band.
Writing online, Harrison shared: “Originally, when we took the photo, I had these old Bavarian gnomes which I thought I would put there. Like kinda… John, Paul, George and Ringo.” Fans have since called the album cover “cute” knowing the intention was to pay tribute to The Beatles.
One user, who took to the r/Beatles subreddit where Harrison’s quotes were shared, wrote: “That’s so cute. Never even considered that this was the intention.” Elsewhere in the interview, Harrison confirmed he was looking for heading into his tape library for a remaster of Living in the Material World.
EMI would reissue Living in the Material World in 2006, five years after Harrison’s death. Harrison told chat members at the time: “That will be the next one to be remastered. I have to get into my tape library to find out if there are any alternate versions of anything.”
Two extra tracks were released with the 2006 edition of the album, while alternate versions, acoustic demo tracks, and live versions were included on the deluxe edition DVD release. Further remixes and alternate takes were featured on the fiftieth anniversary album.
Harrison was asked several questions about his Beatles bandmates in the interview, and hinted there was a chance he, McCartney, and Starr could reunite. Though the band never would get back together, the door was seemingly open for a reunion.
One question reads: “George, do you ever see a reunion tour with you and Paul and Ringo?” Harrison replied: “Stranger things have happened.” The Beatles would never get back together but received several high profile offers to reunite on stage.
One such offer came from Lorne Michaels, the Saturday Night Live producer, who went live on air and offered The Beatles a $3,000 cheque to come to the studio and perform for the audience.
Lennon and McCartney, who were nearby when the offer was made live on air, are said to have considered it. They eventually passed on Michaels’ offer. Harrison would show up weeks later as musical guest and featured in a skit trying to claim the $3,000 for himself.
