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Petty honors George Harrison with Paul McCartney and Olivia Harrison (© C3396 Hubert Boesl/dpa/Corbis)

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"Getting to know George and actually being in a band with him, that's one of those 'pinch me' moments in life.

"You try not to think about it, and there'd be times we'd all in the room playing together, and then out of nowhere it pops into your head, 'Oh my God, I'm playing with one of The Beatles!' That's usually when I'd hit a wrong chord.

"When you think about the '60s you can't not think The Beatles. George knew he was part of history, and he was pretty cool about it, as cool as a person could be, I imagine. I would ask him questions about what it was like, Shea Stadium, the Maharisi, Sgt Pepper - how could I not?

"The thing that surprised me, when I asked him about playing The Ed Sullivan Show, was how nervous he said they all were. 'Seventy-three million people,' he said. 'That's a pretty big gig.'

"I know I might sound jaded, but I don't think anything could ever grab us in quite the same way. Plus, they were really, really great."

Tom Petty's comments originally appeared in Guitar World magazine, 2004.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' newest release, The Live Anthology, will be issued on 10 November.

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