Phil Spector’s luxurious production, the soft mantra-like flow and Harrison’s celestial slide guitar solo create one of the warmest, most reassuring five minutes in music. “I wanted to show that ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Hare Krishna’ are quite the same thing.” His worries proved unfounded, as “My Sweet Lord” became one of his signature songs-the shining example of his talent for blending Eastern philosophy with Western pop-and the track most associated with Harrison’s lifelong quest for inner-peace. “I thought a lot about whether to do ‘My Sweet Lord’ or not, because I would be committing myself publicly and I anticipated that a lot of people might get weird about it,” he wrote in I Me Mine. The album served as the introduction to what the solo George was all about, outside of the looming shadow of the Fab Four-something Harrison considered before recording this classic. 1 and a masterwork of spiritual, sacramental songwriting. No George Harrison list would be complete without this track from All Things Must Pass- Harrison’s first proper solo release, a historic triple album, his first post-Beatles No. With it’s quiet truth, mantra-like cadence and plenty of slide guitar, it’s basically “My Sweet Lord” part two. That newfound tranquility and warmth come across in this soothing song, which remains one of the most beloved from his catalog.
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In I Me Mine Harrison describes “Give Me Love” as, “a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it.” The tail-end of Harrison’s time in The Beatles coincided with his deeper dive into Hinduism and spirituality (the line “Keep me free from birth” is a reference to reincarnation), a provider of much-needed peace and introspection in his life after the madness of being in the most famous band in the world.
It’s a testament to Harrison’s skills as a songwriter, but also his character and legacy as a person. It’s a poignant send-up to friendship, love and the support that Harrison was generously offering Dylan, who had been recovering from his motorcycle accident and getting ready to play his highly-publicized comeback show at the 1969 Isle Of Wight festival. “Please forget those teardrops / Let me take them from you” Harrison sings over Pete Drake’s heartbreaking pedal steel guitar. Just like the man who created them, these works are lovely, mischievous, otherworldly, complex and too often fly under the radar.Īn achingly beautiful country waltz clearly inspired by Harrison’s time hanging out with The Band in Woodstock, “Behind That Locked Door” appears on the second side of All Things Must Pass, and is one of two songs about his beloved Bob Dylan (the other appears later on this list). To honor the depth and breadth of his catalogue-from the bonafide classics to the lesser-known gems, here are the 20 best solo songs by George Harrison. There are other albums, too, though George’s genius doesn’t stop there. It’s a masterwork-and unquestionably his best complete effort post-Fab Four-that’s filled with beautiful, wise and spiritual songs like “My Sweet Lord,” “What Is Life,” “I’d Have You Anytime,” and five more album sides’ worth of goodness. But too often these laudatory claims would all come all in reference to All Things Must Pass, Harrison’s historic triple album and first proper solo release, from 1970. They note how his surly charm and acidic wit often matched John Lennon’s, how his gift for melody-when encouraged-could be on par with Paul McCartney’s. For casual fans (and the terribly uninformed), George Harrison was a second-tier member of the Beatles-a member whose contributions only became essential when he wrote “Here Comes The Sun.” For a mid-level fan, and rock writers everywhere, he was an indispensable member of the band who regularly contributed stunning, lesser-known songs like “Long, Long, Long” and “For You Blue.” They discuss how he almost single-handedly introduced Eastern music into the Western pop sphere and organized the first rock benefit concert, the Concert for Bangladesh.