If you’ve seen A Hard Day’s Night then you know George was definitely the coolest Beatle. If you’ve seen any clip of him you know it. And so it’s fitting that we celebrate George Harrison Week with Conan O’Brien and a cast of friends, family and admirers.

Beck Kicks it off with “Wah Wah” and the influence of All Things Must Pass on Beck’s sound become so obvious now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01IU1Vdz-w8

Next is George’s old pal, Paul Simon with a tasty cover of “Here Comes the Sun.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKZzPb_Y3Y

Contrast that with this version of the George Harrison and Paul Simon playing it together in 1976 and you can FEEL the years wash over you.

My favorite is definitely Dhani Harrison’s version of “Let it Down” from All Things Must Pass. Dhani is in the lead for my nomination for Upright Standing Man of the Year for his devotion to his dad’s legacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2HSmsctFTU

Wrapping up is Norah Jones, whose father Ravi Shankar was a close friend and mentor to George Harrison. It’s a really nice tie-in to his history and personal relationships and a very, very pretty version of one of my favorite dep cuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHUh4127Sqo

So, you might be asking: Why is Conan even having a George Harrison Week? I mean, it’s nice and all and he’s surely a fan, but why now? It might have something to do with this week’s release of the new box set George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968 – 75. Whoever came up with this bit of promotion should get a raise because it goes so far beyond dopey old advertising and into creating something new and interesting in support of a record release.