November 3, 2009 16:06

Unreleased George Harrison lyrics about John Lennon turned into new song – video

Wirral songwriter Dean Johnson has turned the lyrics into a new composition

Photo Gallery: The Beatles
Photo: PA Photos

Previously-unseen lyrics written by The Beatles' late guitarist George Harrison have been turned into a song by Wirral songwriter Dean Johnson.

Watch a video of Johnson performing 'Silence (Is Its Own Reply)' live on BBC Radio Merseyside by scrolling down and clicking below.

Harrison is said to have penned the lyrics to the song in the latter part of the 1960s before handing them to The Beatles' biographer Hunter Davies. After Davies referenced the lyrics – which he had forgotten about until recently – on a BBC Radio Merseyside interview, host Spencer Leigh decided to contact Johnson to get him to write the music for the track.

"I found it unbelievable, tremendously exciting and, above all, a complete honour. My brief was to follow George's sentiment through to its conclusion," Johnson explained.

An explanation of the track on Deanjohnsonmusic.co.uk suggests that the lyrics are likely to be about the guitarist's troubled relationship with John Lennon.

"The lyrics are of a personal nature and were first thought to be a song of unrequited love but, in hindsight, they seem to allude to George's uneasy relationship with John Lennon," the note on the site reads. "This is substantiated by first-hand observations by Hunter Davies and by people close to Harrison."

Watch Dean Johnson performing 'Silence (Is Its Own Reply)' on BBC Radio Merseyside's 'On The Beat' show below.