In praise of… George Harrison and My Sweet Lord

By Dilip -



Ten years on from the death of the quiet Beatle, there's all sorts of George nostalgia, including an enjoyable Scorsese film. But much of it makes the dreadful mistake of hailing Harrison's 60s delusion that you could make a good record by taking the genuine magic of the sitar and bolting on top a monotonous dirge enlivened with a few lysergic "insights". The truth is that the interest in eastern spirtualism did pay dividends, but only after the drone of Love You To and Within You Without You had faded away. With My Sweet Lord, George returned to the form that had made the Beatles name – the straight, great little pop tune. 



source:http://redriverpak.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/music-flashback-george-harrison/


But he twisted the familiar formula – substituting the usual jingle concerning a yearning for sexual gratification with lyrics about a yearning for death, or the redemption he believed that it promised. He thereby married his newfound mysticism to the musical format of which he was a past master. There was a legal dispute about whether the melody and very nice chord sequence, with that distinctive diminished seventh, had been lifted from The Chiffons' He's So Fine. Maybe, but no one comparing their mindless "doo-lang-doo-lang" backing vocals with Harrison's extraordinary multifaith mantra – which moves from Hallelujah to Hare Krishna – could dispute he was doing something new. As George sings of salvation, his voice projects real peace of mind, and then of course there's the weeping guitar. It all combines to lend a taste of grace to the most irreligious of ears. Hear the song: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a48gIt84AZc&feature=related


and here he is singing While my guitar gently weeps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qx4RQotho&feature=related
at the Concert for Bangladesh organised by him and Ravi Shankar on August 1, 1971 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ryV6TSbszeI&NR=1
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps.

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