An American Songwriter feature revisits how George Harrison stepped in to produce part of Badfinger's 1971 album Straight Up, helping the Apple Records band realise their creative peak before other commitments pulled him away. Badfinger, signed to The Beatles' Apple label, had already scored hits with Paul McCartney's "Come And Get It" and their own "No Matter What", but it was Harrison's brief involvement that helped shape what is widely regarded as their finest record.

Harrison was drafted in after the label rejected an album's worth of material co-produced by engineer Geoff Emerick, who was subsequently dropped from the project. Harrison, already familiar with the band through their contributions to his solo album All Things Must Pass, produced new and re-recorded tracks including Pete Ham's "Day After Day", adding his own slide guitar to the song, before leaving to organise the Concert for Bangladesh. Todd Rundgren then completed the album, producing further Ham compositions such as "Baby Blue". Straight Up was released in 1971 to strong acclaim, though Badfinger never repeated its success, and members Ham and Tom Evans later died by suicide.