Two example …..”Good Day Sunshine” from Lovin Spoonfuls Day Dream and “The Long And Winding Road From Simon and Garfunkels “Bridge Over Troubled Waters “

Can we stick to Beatles?

The Hollies were doing charity shows for children along with fellow artists back in 1965-66….

Graham Nash’s final sixties Hollies concert at The London Palladium was ‘The Save Rave’ on 8 December 1968….
that was a charity concert for the underprivileged children’s charity

both Beatles ‘Across The Universe’ (original version) and Hollies ‘Wings’ were included on the budget charity LP;
‘No One’s Gonna Change Our World’ released in November 1969 by EMI’s Starline label, to raise funds for The World Wildlife Fund.

The Hollies also donated ‘Stop Stop Stop’ to a follow up EMI Charity LP too.

Later they wrote & recorded ‘Find Me A Family’ (1989) as theme song for the TV show; ‘Find A Family’ that sought homes for orphaned children

while a branch of the New York Fire Dept later adopted The Hollies version of ‘He Ain’t Heavy…He’s My Brother’ as their anthem post 9/11

So The Hollies have “done their bit” for charities too, and were doing charity concerts at the same time as The Beatles did in the early sixties.

The Hollies ‘rocked it up’ where as The Beatles version was a gentler ‘Byrds-ish’ approach purely an album track

George Harrison (then just prior to his wedding to Patti) was caught by a UK music paper writer just prior to going onstage in Glasgow (so George may have had both pre-wedding nerves & pre-show ones too) he said he disliked the way The Hollies had done his song because the guy asked if he had written if FOR The Hollies (which annoyed George)

George’s ‘souless sessionmen’ remark WAS out of order (Bobby Elliott could blast Ringo offstage, Hicks was as good a guitarist as George, Eric Haydock was a faster bass player than Paul using a six string bass !)

Clarke-Hicks-Nash harmonies were even more powerful vocally than The Beatles (hence The Hollies not Beatles were tagged ‘Britain’s answer to The Beach Boys’ by the press – that might have miffed the very ‘touchy’ John Lennon – who used to vocally ‘attack’ anyone he perceived as being a “threat” – as both Paul & Yoko later felt: ‘How Do You Sleep ?’ / ‘Move Over Ms. L’ !)

The Hollies worked in the studio a more ‘workmanlike’ manner – often nailing a hit single in a few takes (unlike The Beatles) which might have given George a wrong impression re their musical ability

whatever George’s negative remarks STOPPED The Hollies single selling (it stalled at no.20 in the UK chart)

– tho’ The Hollies had, nevertheless, put a Harrison song into the UK Top Twenty in 1965 (George never managed that himself until ‘Something’ in 1969 !)

The Hollies Top Twenty hit hit cover DID give George’s songwriting a big boost in the eyes of George Martin (he got to lead off ‘Revolver’ with ‘Taxman’) and John & Paul must have taken note

at his wedding press conference George had a ‘dig’ at the music press writer (who asked if he’d invited The Hollies ? – to press laughter) saying he wished the guy hadn’t written what he’d said (George learning a lesson as he cut off his own royalties from the single !)

Paul healed any lingering ‘friction’ between the EMI groups when he praised up ‘I Can’t Let Go’ the next Hollies single – Lennon invited Nash to singalong on ‘All You Need is Love’ (they remained friends with the designers of The Hollies LP ‘Evolution’ sleeve Simon & Marjike then doing ‘Sgt Pepper’ cover with Peter Blake in 1967)

Later John praised up The Hollies single ‘Hey Willy’ (1971) when he did a disc review saying ‘it will shoot up the charts like a rocket’ (which proved wrong as that one stalled at no.22 !)

Paul & Linda loaned The Hollies their ‘Band on The Run’ synth’ for ‘Another Night’ (1975) so there was no real ‘rift’ between them after 1965…

Later Hollie Terry Sylvester from Liverpool once worked for George’s brother

George lived near to Tony Hicks later & their sons Dhanni & Paul Hicks are good friends