A Minute for George

George Harrison's surviving family members are inviting fans to join them in a minute of meditation at 4:30 P.M. EST Monday to remember the former Beatle, who died Thursday in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.

In a statement released by a family friend late Saturday, wife Olivia Harrison and son Dhani expressed gratitude for the world-wide displays of emotion -- which included weekend gatherings at London's Abbey Road and New York's Central Park -- and support that have followed Harrison's death. "We are deeply touched by the outpouring of love and compassion from around the world," the statement read. "The profound beauty of George's passing -- of his awakening from this dream -- was no surprise to those of us who knew how he longed to be with God."

A spokesman for the Hare Krishna movement, the branch of Hinduism of which Harrison was a long-time devotee, also announced that, according to custom, the family plans to travel to India to hold a private ceremony at the holy city of Varanasi, and to immerse Harrison's ashes in the sacred Ganges river.

Harrison was fifty-eight.

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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