George Harrison was arrested for marijuana possession on March 12, 1969
Beatle George Harrison was arrested on this date, March 12th, 38 years ago for marijuana possession.
Sergeant Norman Pilcher was the man behind the arrest. He was also behind John Lennon's arrest for drugs the previous year. Pilcher showed up at the house of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd with a team of men, a pack of dogs, and a search warrant. Harrison was not home at the time but came home upon the call of Pattie. When he arrived home he found his house torn apart by the police. He was quoted as saying "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you would have had to do is ask and I would have shown you where I keep everything." Pilcher had already found 120 marijuana joints.
When a photographer showed up as the police led them out of the house his temper flared and he chased down the photographer and stomped on his camera when it was dropped.
Harrison thought the bust was a frame and that the joints had been planted in his house. He said that the police failed to find the drugs that he actually kept in his house and that this bust was set up to take away from the fact that on this very same day fellow Beatle Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman.
Lending much credence to Harrison's claim is the fact that in 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was charged with "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" for having planted drugs in many cases. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Besides Lennon and Harrison, Pilcher also arrested Mick Jagger and Donovan on drug charges.
It's possible that it is Pilcher being referenced in the Beatles classic I Am The Walrus with the line "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower" but Lennon never explained the lyric. Pilcher was the subject of a song by the band Primus called "Pilcher's Squad."
George Harrison Downloads For Your iPOD
Listen to Harrison's Beatles classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (acoustic version):
Sergeant Norman Pilcher was the man behind the arrest. He was also behind John Lennon's arrest for drugs the previous year. Pilcher showed up at the house of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd with a team of men, a pack of dogs, and a search warrant. Harrison was not home at the time but came home upon the call of Pattie. When he arrived home he found his house torn apart by the police. He was quoted as saying "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you would have had to do is ask and I would have shown you where I keep everything." Pilcher had already found 120 marijuana joints.
When a photographer showed up as the police led them out of the house his temper flared and he chased down the photographer and stomped on his camera when it was dropped.
Harrison thought the bust was a frame and that the joints had been planted in his house. He said that the police failed to find the drugs that he actually kept in his house and that this bust was set up to take away from the fact that on this very same day fellow Beatle Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman.
Lending much credence to Harrison's claim is the fact that in 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was charged with "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" for having planted drugs in many cases. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Besides Lennon and Harrison, Pilcher also arrested Mick Jagger and Donovan on drug charges.
It's possible that it is Pilcher being referenced in the Beatles classic I Am The Walrus with the line "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower" but Lennon never explained the lyric. Pilcher was the subject of a song by the band Primus called "Pilcher's Squad."
George Harrison Downloads For Your iPOD
Listen to Harrison's Beatles classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (acoustic version):
Labels: 1969, George Harrison, March 12, The Beatles
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
www.MusicByDay.com - HOME