When I started this blog, it was November 29th 2011… the 10th anniversary of the passing of Beatle George Harrison. As I attempt to finish this blog, it’s February 25th, 2012 which would have been George’s 69th birthday. In music history, on November 27th 1970, George released his 3 record solo album All Things Must Pass. Today, I’m going to talk about the memories, the music and emotions that I associate with this album.
I wish I could say I have many memories of growing up and listening to this album. But, I really don’t. I remember Eric Blume listening to this album during my college days at Dustys Records. I remember that it was a 3 (vinyl) record album and it was lengthy. I remember in my junior high and high school years when my hometown church told us that George’s song My Sweet Lord was bad. This is because if you listened to the chorus, you could hear them singing “Hare Krishna, Krishna krishna” and this should not agree with your Christian beliefs. As a musician, I’ve read of the many outstanding musicians that played on that album including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and the band that would become Derek and the Dominoes, Alan White who would go on to play drums for YES, and of course Ringo Starr. It’s only been in the last 10 years that I’ve really come to know and love this album. In my blog about John Lennon’s death, I talked about my own journey into Beatlemania and my love for the Fab Four. Many of my friends who have known me over the years knew what a big Beatles fan I’ve been for those years. I share a birthday with Ringo. I play drums and I count Ringo as a big inspiration. I saw Paul McCartney live in 1993 in Kansas City and it’s still one of my all-time favorite concerts. But, as I look back on the week leading up to November 29th 2001, the news of George Harrison’s passing was something that left me both devastated and somewhat calming at the same time.
I had been newly married in March 2001. In the movies, the story usually ends with the couple getting married and the audience is made to believe that everyone lives “Happily Ever After”. In reality, the story really begins after the wedding ceremony. In the months following our wedding, my wife and I started dealing with the many issues that married people do. Looking back, I’m not sure we were ready for it. As a hopeless romantic, I thought after we got married, things would be great for us…..just like in the movies. That fall, we spent Thanksgiving with my parents. I felt we had a great time with lots of laughs and games and a general enjoyable time. After we got back home, I asked my wife if she enjoyed the holiday and time spent with my family. As we lay in bed, she said, “We’re not good for each other”. I was in utter shock at the words that came out of her mouth. I had the hardest time sleeping that night. In fact, I couldn’t sleep. I was hurt and my mind was swimming with things to say or do to make her change her mind. All I could think was that our marriage was already over and we hadn’t even been married a full year yet. The next morning(after limited sleep), I went to check my email as I did every morning. I had received one from my brother Mike and my old roommate Matt to inform me that George Harrison had passed away. As a fan, I was deeply saddened. I’ve always considered the musicians that I admire to be some sort of kindred spirit. This news was just another blow to my emotional well-being. I told my wife of George’s passing and she shrugged it off as just another one of my dead music icons that I obsessed over. I don’t know if she ever understood how I felt about many of the artists I followed….especially the Beatles.
Being the media junkie that I am, I had the VCR on “RECORD” all day to tape the news stories on George. This was an event I wanted to preserve as a sort of “video scrapbook”. I watched story after story on him that day from CNN to MTV to VH1 to ABC Nightline. Of course, the obvious stories of his time in the Beatles were highlighted. Also, much was said about George being the “quiet” and the “spiritual” Beatle. If you know the Beatles history, you know they studied transcendental meditation and other Indian Mysticism. At that point, I thought about my own “spiritualism” and my own Christian faith and what it meant to me.
Then, the title song for his 1970 album All Things Must Pass would be played. All good things come to an end.
“Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up has left you with no warning
It’s not always going to be this grey”
It’s been said that George wrote this song in response to the breakup of the Beatles. For many years, musicians have likened the band experience to being married to 3-4 other people. So I likened the breakup of a band to my marriage. So, All Things Must Pass was a song of healing for me. If my marriage would to continue or end, Let it be in God’s hands. This song gave me my own personal peace. We eventually had one son. But, the divorce was final in 2007 after we had separated in late 2005. But, whenever I question “why” this happened, I would always find solace in this song.
In 2002 (a year after George’s passing), Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and a bunch of other of George’s friends put together “A Concert for George”. These artists and friends of George would perform many of his songs. I knew the Beatles’ songs and the ones he did with the Traveling Wilburys. Then, I was exposed to some of the lesser known songs from All Things Must Pass. I have been a longtime fan of Eric Clapton. Clapton and George had been longtime friends since the days of the Beatles. They even were married to the same woman(at different times). Clapton actually wrote his song Layla for George’s first wife Patti. Clapton eventually married her too. But, they still remained friends. In the concert for George, Eric sings the song Beware of Darkness. I’ve always felt that Clapton conveys an extra sense of passion in any performance he does. I found myself drawn into this song.
Fast forward to 2007 and Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. I had seen clips of the concerts on PBS or something like that. The performances I saw were just fantastic. I received the DVD of the 2007 Guitar Festival as a Christmas gift in 2008. I was moved by so many performances. I knew most of the songs that had been played. But, I have such a curiosity about different songs. Clapton makes an announcement for his next song “This song is for someone I wish was here…and he kinda is anyway!” The song was (and is) Isn’t it a Pity. Here it was….another George Harrison song.
Once again, I felt myself drawn into the passion and the heartbreak of this song.
Isn’t it a Pity. Now isn’t it a shame.
How we break each other’s hearts and cause each other pain
How we take each other’s love without thinking any more
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity?
Even now, as I listen back to this song, I feel the tears well up in my eyes and the loss I felt.
The past ten years have been a time of music that can be ordered or downloaded through services on the internet. I had looked up the 2000 Remastered edition of All Things Must Pass on Amazon.com. I had saved it on my Amazon wishlist. It was always a purchase I wanted to make. But, since the album was originally 3 record albums long, this remastered CD wouldn’t be a cheap purchase. After working in record stores in the 80’s and 90’s, it’s still hard for me to buy albums at the “suggested retail price”. So, I put it off over and over again.
So, this past fall, I decided to download the 2001 Remastered edition of All Things Must Pass from Amazon.com. The production is very crisp. The vocal harmonies are beautifully haunting and soothing. George’s signature slide guitar sound slices and cuts through the mix. It may only be a slide guitar. But, the sound is instantly identifiable as GEORGE HARRISON’S Slide guitar. George augments his song Wah Wah with a fantastic horn section. The background vocals singing “Hare Krishna” on My Sweet Lord are evidently clear in the mix too. Most of the songs were songs I had probably heard earlier in my life. I know I had probably heard them in my college years working at Dustys. But, with the Concert for George performances, I was definitely re-introduced to these songs. Another great song that has a great melody and inescapable horn line is What is Life.
2011 saw the HBO premiere of the Martin Scorsese’s documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. The first part of the documentary concentrated on his early life and Beatles years and the second half was about his solo and post-Beatles years. I had seen so many clips and footage from the Beatles years. So, I was really looking forward to seeing the clips from the 70’s and 80’s and his solo years. There is some great footage of his Concert for Bangladesh and his 1974 tour. His throat (and voice) seems really raspy and raw on the 74 tour. After furthering my research on this tour, I found out he had been suffering from laryngitis. But, his band (featuring Billy Preston on keyboards and backing vocals) sound immense with lots of rhythmic energy. We later see George gargling with a mixture of honey and vinegar and water to help with his laryngitis/throat problems. Yet again, I discovered lesser known songs that moved me musically.
This album is so intense with many different layers. I am overwhelmed by the array of musicians that play on this album. From the signature sound of Ringo on drums to Clapton and his “Dominoes” band jamming on the instrumental Plug Me In, I can pick out many different musical personalities. Then, I am reminded that many of these songs were compositions that George stockpiled from his days in the Beatles. Since he was in a band with the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney, his songs had a tendency to get pushed to the wayside. Then, I am touched by the themes of spirituality in some songs like My Sweet Lord, Hear Me Lord and Awaiting on You All.
The album is so dense and filled so much material. I need a couple of days of no interruptions to take it all in. I keep thinking that a new generation of music fans have grown accustomed to downloading selected songs instead of complete albums. I still find that to be a very foreign concept. I bought/downloaded this album because of the music I had found through the tributes to George after his death. I liked the few songs I had heard from this album and was anxious to hear more and I’m still discovering more with every listen.
When I started writing this blog, I associated the title track with my own personal trials and the dissolution of my marriage. It was hard for me to write so much of what was going on. The memories were painful and yet I knew I would eventually publish this and share them online. I started writing more this week so that I could publish this blog on what would have been George’s 69th birthday. Even now, I am reminded how the title track continues to give me some perspective and healing. This week, I was contacted by a friend and former co-worker that his job had been eliminated and outsourced. He had worked for the same company for almost 20 years. He and I had shared a lot of the same hardships. I was there for him when he went through his divorce. He was there for me during my divorce. I was there when he legally adopted his son. He was one of my groomsmen. So, I sat here at the computer thinking of his troubles and once again George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass came to mind. This job loss won’t last forever. He’ll find another job. But, at the same time, I’m reminded of the lyrics from Beware of Darkness.
Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night
Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for
I would like to think that as I write this and I express the memories, emotions and “the thoughts that linger”, I am getting them out of my brain and expressing them in a way that I can share. I am reminded of the joy this album has given me and continues to give me. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish these blogs and I can continue on yet another journey as part of this crazy life. I hope these memories and personal interpretations reach the people reading this too.
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