When I go over my favorites list on my iPod, it always surprises me that I have as many songs by George Harrison and Ringo Starr as I do by John Lennon and Paul McCartney...which probably shows just how much the Beatles were a sum of their parts. And probably one of the numerous reasons why they're considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll band of all time.
For the third straight week the biographical portion of this week's post will be brief (though I should note that each of the Beatles' entries on Wikipedia takes longer to read than it does to write the corresponding week's post)--the life of George Harrison has been written about numerous times by writers much better than myself (including Harrison himself). Though he developed a reputation as the quiet Beatle (mostly because he got strep throat on their first trip to America and didn't speak much at press conferences to protect his voice), Harrison was anything but. He was very active in charities of every stripe (civil rights, poverty, animal rights, environmental to name but a few), and was also known for playing and corroborating with numerous other artists (Dylan, the Band, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Billy Preston to name but a few). Unlike the other Beatles, Harrison joined another band--the Traveling Wilburys--who released two albums before going their separate ways. Like his bandmates Lennon and McCartney, Harrison is a double inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He won thirteen Grammys altogether, and an Academy Award. For his solo career, Harrison released twelve albums (two of which reached #1), and 35 singles (with three hitting the top of the charts). Harrison passed away in 2001 after battling numerous cancers over the last four years of his life.
"What Is Life" was the second single released from Harrison's seminal 1970 LP All Things Must Pass. The single reached #10 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #1 on the Billboard 200. Rolling Stone ranked it 368th on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All-Time."
Fun Fact: All Things Must Pass, surprisingly enough, is widely considered to be the best of all the solo albums by the members of the Beatles. Bet you there weren't many people that had that ticket in 1970 in the greatest Beatles solo albums pool....
For whatever reason, George Harrison's sense of pop music always meshed very well with mine--there are really any number of his songs that I could have featured this week, but I chose "What Is Life" for the sheer exuberance of its music, lyrics, and vocals. From its laser gun burst guitar opening to its snazzy horns throughout, the song is a celebration. Harrison mixed the best of the Beatles catchy hooks with a Motown vibe and came up with a pop masterpiece worthy of the ages. While there is some minor disagreement as to who the song is speaking of (is it God or a woman who love he can't live without?), in the end the song is a paean to a special love--with Phil Spector's Wall of Sound providing the soundtrack. Other than the whole using real musicians who play real instruments (God do I sound like a cranky old fart), it's the kind of song that even fifty years down the road sounds as if it would be a hit right here in 2020.
Lyric Sheet: "What I feel, I can't say/But my love is there for you anytime of day..."
Enjoy:
237,000+ Dead Americans
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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