"Save the World" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, released as the final track of his 1981 album Somewhere in England. It was also the B-side of "Teardrops", which was the second single off the album. An environmental protest song, "Save the World" was Harrison's first composition to directly address topical issues such as the nuclear arms race, rainforest and wildlife devastation, and the ecologically irresponsible practices of corporate concerns. Musically, the song partly recalls the style of the comedy troupe Monty Python.
Harrison recorded "Save the World" at his Friar Park studio in England in 1980. The recording includes sound effects that support the song's message of a world heading towards self-destruction, including bombs falling, a cash register, a street demonstration, and a nuclear explosion. In 1985, Harrison contributed a version of the song with amended lyrics to Greenpeace's self-titled fundraising album. "Save the World" also appeared on the home video Greenpeace: Non-Toxic Video Hits.
Since its release, the song has had a mixed reception from several music critics and biographers. While some writers recognise the track as imaginative and sincere, others highlight the disparity between the serious message and the quirky musical backing, or find it heavy-handed. In line with Harrison's wishes, a demo of "Save the World" appeared as the sole bonus track on the posthumously reissued Somewhere in England in 2004.
Background and inspiration
As reproduced in the 2017 book I, Me, Mine – The Extended Edition, George Harrison dated the lyrics of "Save the World" to 24 February 1978, with Hana, Maui as the location.[1] During that visit to Hawaii, Harrison completed the writing for his 1979 album George Harrison,[2] which, as with its predecessor, Thirty Three & 1/3, reflected a light-heartedness that had been lacking in much of his work.[3][4] He returned to the song when working on his album Somewhere in England, most of which was written between mid 1979 and the early part of 1980.[5] As with a track Harrison wrote for Somewhere in England, "Tears of the World",[6][7] "Save the World" conveys his disapproval at the ecological issues and political machinations threatening the world in the early 1980s.[8]
During 1980, Harrison became a member of Greenpeace and CND;[9] he also protested against the use of nuclear energy with Friends of the Earth, in London,[10][11] and helped finance Vole, a green magazine launched by Monty Python member Terry Jones.[12] Author Simon Leng describes "Save the World" as Harrison's first attempt at ecology-focused songwriting and a "quirky protest song" that marked "the culmination of the Pythonization of Harrison's music" at a time when he was increasingly associated with members of the Monty Python comedy troupe through his film company HandMade Films. While recognising "Save the World" as indicative of its composer's disillusion with the 1980s, Leng comments that Harrison had long valued the "madness" of Monty Python's comedy as "a mirror to the insanity of world events", and that his adoption of humour was a "peculiarly British" reaction to a grave situation.[13]
Composition
"Save the World" begins with a chorus, rather than a verse. In musicologist Thomas MacFarlane's view, the chord progression recalls Harrison's 1976 song "Crackerbox Palace". He finds the structure surprising since the verses and choruses "seem deliberately set off from one another", as if the writer is breaking the fourth wall, a device often employed by Harrison.[14]
In the lyrics, Harrison sings of "This planet's rape, how we've abused it".[15] He first addresses the nuclear arms race being waged between the United States and the Soviet Union, and laments the introduction of intergalactic weapons. He then addresses the devastation of the world's rainforests for commercial gain and the threat to wildlife. He refers to the Save the Whales environmental campaign and how Greenpeace's attempts to limit whale hunting had been thwarted by the interests of "dog food salesmen". He also laments the irresponsibility of arms manufacturers and, with regard to plutonium stockpiles, concludes: "Now you can make your own H-bomb / Right in the kitchen with your mom." He then denigrates the use of nuclear power as a "half-wit's answer to a need" that causes cancer. In the final verse, Harrison attributes the world's environmental problems to just a few profit-seeking individuals. He ends on what he promises to be "a happy note" by stating that a simple solution lies in the realisation that "God [lives] in your heart".[13][16]
In a 1987 interview, Harrison said that "Save the World" was meant to be "serious and funny at the same time".[17][18][nb 1] Contrasting with the subject matter, the music recalls the comedy songs of Monty Python.[13][20] In the description of Harrison biographer Alan Clayson, the style is "quasi-reggae",[21] while author Ian Inglis refers to it being sung on the official recording "in a deceptively sweet voice to a march tempo".[22] Leng also likens the song's musical aspects to Harrison's 1975 tribute to comedian Legs Larry Smith, "His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)", in terms of its groove and musical arrangement.[13][nb 2]
Recording
Harrison recorded "Save the World" during the main sessions for Somewhere in England, held at his FPSHOT studio in Henley, Oxfordshire, between March and September 1980. Aside from Harrison, who played guitars and self-produced the sessions,[5][23] the musicians on the track were Neil Larsen and Gary Brooker (both on keyboards), Willie Weeks (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), Ray Cooper (percussion) and Tom Scott (horns).[13] Harrison added various sound effects throughout the recording, including the sound of bombs being dropped, a cash register,[21] an army on the march, gunfire, and a street demonstration.[24] The majority of these effects appear midway through the song,[21] accompanied by a Moog synthesizer solo,[13] after which the section concludes with the sound of a nuclear explosion.[25] A baby's cry then accompanies the song's return.[25] MacFarlane describes the effects over the instrumental break as a foray into musique concrète, but he also sees them as representing excerpts from a film soundtrack in their vividness.[14] He adds that aside from drawing on elements of Monty Python and the Beatles, the combination of lyrical imagery and sound effects gives the song the identity of a "mini movie".[26]
At the end of the track, Harrison edited in the faint sound of a bow-played Indian string instrument, the tar shehnai.[25] This part was taken from "Crying", an instrumental piece performed by Vinayak Vora[27] and released on Harrison's 1968 soundtrack album Wonderwall Music.[28] When asked about its inclusion in "Save the World", Harrison told Musician magazine in 1987: "I just wanted to let the whole song go out with something sad, to touch that nerve and maybe make you think, 'Ohhh shit.'"[25][nb 3]
After submitting Somewhere in England to Warner Bros. Records, the distributor of his Dark Horse record label, in late September 1980,[29] Harrison was forced to rework the content of the album[5][30] – including replacing four of the original songs – to ensure the release had more commercial appeal.[31] Harrison chose to retain "Save the World" in the revised track listing and worked with Ray Cooper on a second version of the album.[5] Although the mix for the re-submitted "Save the World" differed little from Harrison's original,[32] Cooper was credited as a co-producer.[33]
Release and reception
Somewhere in England was released on 1 June 1981,[34][35] with "Save the World" sequenced as the final track.[36] It was the only song from Harrison's initial submission to Warner Bros. to retain its position in the running order of the official release.[32] The album was a relative commercial success,[24][37] an outcome that was due largely to a public outpouring of grief in reaction to the murder of Harrison's former bandmate John Lennon in December 1980.[38][39][40] As a follow-up single to Harrison's tribute to Lennon, "All Those Years Ago", Warner's released "Teardrops",[32][41] which was another of the album's four replacement tracks.[42] This release took place on 20 July 1981, with "Save the World" appearing as the single's B-side.[43]
In his album review for Creem magazine, Mitchell Cohen called Harrison a "C– thinker" and ridiculed the lyrics of "Save the World" with the comment: "Harrison comes out against paper towels (!!) (expect a rebuttal on the next Nancy Walker album) and whalemeat used as dogfood (ditto Lorne Greene)."[44] In another unfavourable review,[45][46] Harry Thomas of Rolling Stone opined that "Social commentary and ironic wit clearly remain outside the scope of Harrison's very real talents" and wrote of "Save the World": "Veering uncertainly between whimsy and dour warnings, the song ultimately fails either to galvanize or amuse."[47] Conversely, Joel Vance of Stereo Review said it was "almost a vaudeville number" and, like "Blood from a Clone", contained "some very funny lines".[48]
NME critic Bob Woffinden welcomed "Save the World" as an example of how the album's subject matter ranged beyond the "humdrum", and he found it "only characteristic of [Harrison] to embrace more universal themes".[49]Record Mirror's Mike Nicholls described the lyrics as "conscience delegating" and wondered whether, given Harrison's warning of the devastation of rainforests through the demand for paper towels, the message was "Boycott bog rolls". He said the song nevertheless had "a catchy little tune" and was "cutely-constructed".[50]
Greenpeace version
Harrison revisited "Save the World" in 1985 when Greenpeace UK approached him for a contribution to an album intended to raise funds[12] for their environmental efforts.[32] Harrison amended the lyrics slightly to include further references to Greenpeace,[32][51] along with a spoken comment that conveyed his disgust with the power of corporations: "You greedy bastards".[13] In addition to recording a new vocal, he remixed the musical backing, giving more prominence to some of the guitar parts.[52]
Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior. The video clip for "Save the World" used footage of the ship and of Greenpeace's activities to protect the environment.
Titled Greenpeace – The Album,[52][53] and including contributions from fifteen other British artists,[54] the album was released in the UK by EMI on 4 June 1985.[55][56][nb 4] The inclusion of "Save the World" on Greenpeace marked a rare new musical release for Harrison between 1983 and 1986,[58][59] when he was otherwise engaged in film production with the continued success of HandMade.[60][61][62] Over the same period, however, he became increasingly involved in environmental matters; these activities included attending an anti-nuclear demonstration in London's Trafalgar Square,[63] voicing support for the British Green Party, and inspiring a successful campaign to stop the John Lewis Partnership from demolishing Henley's Regal Cinema and building a supermarket complex.[64][65]
The song was also included in the video compilation Greenpeace: Non-Toxic Video Hits, released in December 1985,[66] five months after the French intelligence services' sinking of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior.[67] Produced by Ian Weiner, the clip for "Save the World" consisted of scenes of Rainbow Warrior and Greenpeace personnel at work on their international activist campaigns.[32]
Retrospective assessments and legacy
Until his death in November 2001, Harrison continued to express alarm at the ecological issues facing the world.[68][69] He dedicated his 1989 compilation album Best of Dark Horse to Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and "anyone interested in saving our planet";[70] in the revised artwork for the 2001 reissue of All Things Must Pass, he included a series of images showing the gradual encroachment of pollution and industry onto the Friar Park scene depicted on that album's 1970 cover photo.[71][72] As a songwriter, he revisited the themes of "Save the World" in "Cockamamie Business", a new song issued on Best of Dark Horse,[73][74] and in the title track to his final studio album, the posthumously released Brainwashed.[75][nb 5]
In the 1990s, Harrison's elder sister, Louise, used "Save the World" as the soundtrack for a series of public service radio segments she produced, titled Good Earthkeeping Tips, which offered information on environmental issues.[78][79] In keeping with Harrison's instructions for the reissuing of his Dark Horse catalogue,[80] a demo of the song appeared as the sole bonus track on the 2004 reissue of Somewhere in England.[81] Writing for Uncut in March 2017, Neil Spencer highlighted "Save the World" as one of the "[unexpected] delights" among Harrison's 1980s releases, and said that while it was dismissed as "soft protest" originally, the song is "beautifully played and never more relevant than today".[82]
Among Harrison and Beatles biographers, Chip Madinger and Mark Easter describe "Save the World" as "a wholly unappealing track" on which the "heavyhandedness" of the lyrics is completely at odds with the musical mood.[32] Ian Inglis echoes this view, deeming the lyrics "trite to the point of being risible" and the combination of an unfocused narrative and the overuse of sound effects to be as unsuccessful as the Beatles' work during the Magical Mystery Tour era.[83] Although he says that the scarcity of environmental songs in the early 1980s, relative to the 1990s, might be a mitigating factor, Inglis dismisses the song as a "hopelessly vague indictment of the perils we are inflicting around the globe", adding: "The problem with such a general attack is that it lacks focus and, therefore, force."[24]
Alan Clayson views Harrison's conservationist sentiments as "laudable" and considers the track to be a protest song in the mould of Barry McGuire's 1965 hit "Eve of Destruction", yet he also identifies the lack of subtlety as betraying "the impartiality of one long and, perhaps, guiltily isolated from the everyday".[21]Dale Allison recognises it as "the most extensive expression of George's ecological anxiety" and a sincere statement, particularly as Harrison chose to revisit the track for the Greenpeace album.[84] Allison calls it a "strange song", however, with a "jarring disjunction between lyric and sound", and he says that as with Harrison's other songs about pollution and environmental issues, his message reflects a romanticism that was born out of 1960s radicalism but fails to convince in the manner of Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush".[85]
Simon Leng finds "Save the World" closer in style to Monty Python's "Eric the Half-a-Bee" than to a genuine environmental song such as "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" by Marvin Gaye.[13] He views the Somewhere in England version as "horribly overproduced" next to the "charming" demo, which "is more Dylan than Monty Python".[86] Thomas MacFarlane describes the song as "a curious track that arguably has the makings of a masterpiece". He recognises the production and performances as "exceptional" and credits Harrison with using "biting humor to make some rather serious points".[87]
↑ His handwritten lyrics include a verse that was omitted from the published song: "Those people in the military / All need a dose of LSD / Then send them to a yoga class / To find their souls [and] forget their ass."[19]
↑ MacFarlane likens the arrangement to "Crackerbox Palace", and to Harrison's 1968 Beatles track "Savoy Truffle" in the use of compressed horn sounds.[14]
↑ Harrison added, with the regard to the tar shehnai: "It's like a one-string fiddle, a bowed instrument with the sympathetic strings resting over a stretched skin, so it has that hollow, echoey resonance, a wailing, crying sound."[25]
↑ The album was issued by A&M Records in the United States, in August 1985.[57]
↑ In addition, Harrison considered titling that album Your Planet Is Doomed – Volume One.[76][77]
Related Research Articles
George Harrison is the eighth studio album by the English rock musician George Harrison, released in February 1979. It was written and recorded through much of 1978, a period of domestic contentment for Harrison, during which he married Olivia Arias and became a father for the first time, to son Dhani. Harrison wrote several of the songs in Hawaii, while the track "Faster" reflected his year away from music-making, when he and Arias attended many of the races in the 1977 Formula 1 World Championship. The album also includes the hit single "Blow Away" and "Not Guilty", a song that Harrison originally recorded with the Beatles in 1968.
Thirty Three & 1⁄3 is the seventh studio album by the English musician George Harrison, released in November 1976. It was Harrison's first album release on his Dark Horse record label, the worldwide distribution for which changed from A&M Records to Warner Bros. as a result of his late delivery of the album's master tapes. Among other misfortunes affecting its creation, Harrison suffered hepatitis midway through recording, and the copyright infringement suit regarding his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord" was decided in favour of the plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music. The album contains the US top 30 singles "This Song" – Harrison's satire on that lawsuit and the notion of plagiarism in pop music – and "Crackerbox Palace". Despite the problems associated with the album, many music critics recognised Thirty Three & 1⁄3 as a return to form for Harrison after his poorly received work during 1974–75, and considered it his strongest collection of songs since 1970's acclaimed All Things Must Pass.
"Teardrops" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison from his ninth studio album Somewhere in England (1981). It was also issued as the second single off the album, in July 1981. As with the lead single, "All Those Years Ago", Harrison completed the song after Warner Bros. Records had rejected his initial submission of Somewhere in England in September 1980. In response to Warner's concerns, he wrote "Teardrops" as an attempt at a commercially oriented song.
"Cheer Down" is a song by English musician George Harrison that was first released in 1989. The track was his contribution to the soundtrack of the film Lethal Weapon 2 and was also issued as a single. Harrison wrote the song with Tom Petty and co-produced the recording with Jeff Lynne.
"That's the Way It Goes" is a song by English musician George Harrison from his 1982 album Gone Troppo. Harrison wrote the song during a period when he had become uninterested in contemporary music and was enjoying success as a film producer with his company HandMade Films. Partly influenced by his extended holidays in Hawaii and Australia, the lyrics convey his dismay at the world's preoccupation with money and status, although, unlike several of Harrison's previous musical statements on the subject, he expresses resignation and acceptance.
"Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)" is a song by English musician Ringo Starr from his 1973 album Ringo. It was written by George Harrison, Starr's former bandmate in the Beatles, and was one of several contributions Harrison made to Ringo. Recording for the song took place in Los Angeles in March 1973, with Richard Perry as producer. In addition to Starr and Harrison, the musicians on the track include Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of the Band, and multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg.
"Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass. Harrison wrote the song as a tribute to Frank Crisp, a nineteenth-century lawyer and the original owner of Friar Park – the Victorian Gothic residence in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, that Harrison purchased in early 1970. Commentators have likened the song to a cinematic journey through the grand house and the grounds of the estate.
"Hari's on Tour (Express)" is an instrumental by English musician George Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1974 album Dark Horse. It was also the B-side of the album's second single – which was "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" in North America and most other territories, and "Dark Horse" in Britain and some European countries. Among Harrison's post-Beatles solo releases, the track is the first of only two genuine instrumentals he released from 1970 onwards – the other being the Grammy Award-winning "Marwa Blues", from his 2002 album Brainwashed.
"His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, released in 1975 as the closing track of his album Extra Texture (Read All About It). The song is a tribute to "Legs" Larry Smith, the drummer with the 1960s satirical-comedy group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and one of many comedians with whom Harrison began associating during the 1970s. Smith appears on the recording, delivering a spoken monologue, while Harrison's lyrics similarly reflect the comedian's penchant for zany wordplay. The song serves as a precursor to Harrison's work with Monty Python members Eric Idle and Michael Palin, including his production of the troupe's 1975 single "The Lumberjack Song" and films such as Life of Brian (1979) that he produced under the aegis of his company HandMade Films.
"Learning How to Love You" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1976 as the closing track of his debut album on his Dark Horse record label, Thirty Three & 1/3. Harrison wrote the song for Herb Alpert, sometime singer and co-head of A&M Records, which at the time was the worldwide distributor for Dark Horse. Although the relationship with A&M soured due to Harrison's failure to deliver Thirty Three & 1/3 on schedule, resulting in litigation and a new distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records, Harrison still dedicated the song to Alpert in the album's liner notes.
"Here Comes the Moon" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1979 album George Harrison. Harrison wrote the song while on holiday on the Hawaiian island of Maui in February 1978. His inspiration for the composition was the appearance of the moon in the evening sky, just as the sun was setting. Although the lyrics focus on this natural occurrence rather than on the symbolism it suggests, in the manner of Harrison's Beatles track "Here Comes the Sun", the song is seen as a sequel to that similarly titled piece.
"Soft-Hearted Hana" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1979 album George Harrison. In North America, it was also issued as the B-side of the album's lead single, "Blow Away", while in Britain and some other markets it was the B-side of the follow-up, "Love Comes to Everyone". The lyrics recall Harrison's experiences under the hallucinatory effects of magic mushrooms while holidaying on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The song title refers to Hana, a remote town on the island, and is a play on that of the 1920s ragtime tune "Hard Hearted Hannah".
"Your Love Is Forever" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1979 album George Harrison. He wrote it as a guitar instrumental in an open tuning, before adding lyrics at the suggestion of his co-producer, Russ Titelman. The lyrics have an ambiguity typical of Harrison's work, in that the love he expresses is directed towards both a romantic partner and his God. In the United Kingdom, the song was also issued as the B-side of "Faster", on a charity single benefiting the cancer research project set up by the late Formula 1 driver Gunnar Nilsson.
"Soft Touch" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1979 album George Harrison. It was also issued as the B-side of the album's lead single, "Blow Away", in Britain and some other countries, while in markets such as North America, it was the B-side of the second single, "Love Comes to Everyone". Harrison wrote the song while in the Virgin Islands with his future wife, Olivia Arias, shortly before recording his 1976 album Thirty Three & ⅓. The song is a love song in which Harrison also conveys his wonder at the idyllic island setting.
"Writing's on the Wall" is a song by English musician George Harrison from his 1981 album Somewhere in England. It was also the B-side of the album's lead single, "All Those Years Ago", which Harrison wrote as a tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon. In his lyrics, Harrison sings of the transient nature of life and the importance of recognising a spiritual purpose. Although the song was written long before Lennon's murder in New York in December 1980, the lyrics' reference to how easily friends can be shot down and killed led listeners to interpret it as a further comment on Lennon's death.
"Circles" is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison, released as the final track of his 1982 album Gone Troppo. Harrison wrote the song in India in 1968 while he and the Beatles were studying Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The theme of the lyrics is reincarnation. The composition reflects the cyclical aspect of human existence as, according to Hindu doctrine, the soul continues to pass from one life to the next. Although the Beatles never formally recorded it, "Circles" was among the demos the group made at Harrison's Esher home, Kinfauns, in May 1968, while considering material for their double album The Beatles.
"You and Me (Babe)" is a song by English musician Ringo Starr, released as the final track on his 1973 album Ringo. Starr's fellow ex-Beatle George Harrison wrote the song along with Mal Evans, the Beatles' longtime aide and a personal assistant to Starr during the making of Ringo. The track serves as a farewell from Starr to his audience in the manner of a show-closing finale, by lyrically referring to the completion of the album. During the extended fadeout, Starr delivers a spoken message in which he thanks the musicians and studio personnel who helped with the recording of Ringo – among them, Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and his producer, Richard Perry.
"Life Itself" is a song by English musician George Harrison from his 1981 album Somewhere in England. Harrison also included it on his 1989 greatest-hits compilation Best of Dark Horse. As a love song to God, the track served as the artist's most overtly religious musical statement since 1974. The lyrics offer praise to Christ, Vishnu, Jehovah and Buddha, thereby marking a return to the concept of a universal deity, regardless of religious demarcation, that Harrison had first espoused in his 1970 hit single "My Sweet Lord".
Songs by George Harrison is a book of song lyrics and commentary by English musician George Harrison, with illustrations by New Zealand artist Keith West. It was published in February 1988, in a limited run of 2500 copies, by Genesis Publications, and included an EP of rare or previously unreleased Harrison recordings. Intended as a luxury item, each copy was hand-bound and boxed, and available only by direct order through Genesis in England. The book contains the lyrics to 60 Harrison compositions, the themes of which West represents visually with watercolour paintings. Starting in 1985, Harrison and West worked on the project for two years, during which Harrison returned to music-making with his album Cloud Nine, after focusing on film production for much of the early 1980s. The book includes a foreword by his Cloud Nine co-producer, Jeff Lynne, and a written contribution from Elton John.
Songs by George Harrison 2 is a book of song lyrics and commentary by English musician George Harrison, with illustrations by Keith West and an accompanying EP of previously unreleased Harrison recordings. It was published in June 1992, in a limited run of 2500 copies, by Genesis Publications. As with Harrison and West's first volume, published in 1988, each copy was hand-bound and available only by direct order through Genesis in England.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
