George Harrison's Southern Illinois connection inspired father-son duo to pen original song

Residents of Southern Illinois, especially those of the original Beatles-loving Baby Boomer generation, are well aware of the fact that George Harrison visited Benton in September of 1963. The first Beatle to come to America, George traveled across the pond to visit his sister Louise, who had recently purchased a home at 113 McCann St. in Benton with her husband, Gordon Caldwell, who had found work as a mining engineer in Franklin County.

Louise, the eldest of the Harrison children — George being the youngest — promoted her brother’s band on the radio waves of Southern Illinois and to anyone who would listen on the street. When George visited just four months before the Beatles’ big debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, he and the Beatles were still unknown in the United States and he was able to enjoy a carefree excursion in the region, playing on stage with a local band, purchasing a Rickenbacker guitar in Mount Vernon, visiting Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest, and hitting up the local root beer stand and drive-in movie theater. In 2017, a mural was even constructed near the Benton exit on Interstate 57 commemorating George’s visit in early fall of 1963.

Source:

NELLIE BARIL/thesouthern.com

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