EAR CANDY MAG - NOV 2022

George Harrison's "Rocky" Strat
Peter Jackson's GET BACK solves yet another mystery!

By Ronnie

George Harrison's "Rocky" guitar was first painted in 1967, appearing on the "All You Need is Love" satellite broadcast as well as the "I Am the Walrus" segment of Magical Mystery Tour (Saturday 23 September 1967). He later painted additions to the guitar, adding the Krishna symbol (inside the green circle); the words "BEBOPALULA" & "GO CAT GO" (inside the red circle); and Eric Clapton's face on the headstock. Previously, it was only known that, "At some point in 1969, Harrison added to the original psychedelic design with some more artwork..."

But, with Peter Jackson's film you can SEE the timeline of when it was added, and estimate the exact time the addition was painted!

  • Sat. Jan 25th, you see the original "Rocky" when they are playing "Let It Be"
  • Sun. 26th you see the original guitar on the ground behind George. The additional painting has not been done yet.
  • Mon 27th you see the original guitar in a corner. Again, the addional painting has not been done yet.
  • Tues Jan 28th, you see the additional painting on the guitar when they are playing "I've Got a Feeling".
This means that George painted the additions to "Rocky" between on the evening of Monday 27th (or the early morning hours of Tueday Jan 28th).

I've painted two "Rocky" copies: the original (2017) and the addition (2012) - so it is really cool for a guitar nerd like me to find this info! Most painted re-creations show the post Jan 27, 1969 version. I painted one of each.

Here's a video I made of the 2017 creation:


THE RUTLES CONNECTION:

Fun Rutles factoid: In the Rutles TV special (1978), the band lovingly recreates the Beatles video (Magical Mystery Tour film) "I am the Walrus" as "Piggy In The Middle" for The Rutles' TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR. The guitar that Stig plays in the "Piggy In the Middle" video is NOT George Harrison's Rocky guitar, but a re-creation. I had always thought that since George was involved in the film that he lent his "Rocky" for the Tragical History Tour scene. But upon closer inspection, while Stig's guitar is close, there are some differences and it has elements missing. It just shows the little details that make this movie so special - to have a guitar re-created for just one scene. I wonder where that guitar is now?