"The Answer's at the End" | |
---|---|
Song by George Harrison | |
from the album Extra Texture (Read All About It) | |
Released | 22 September 1975 |
Genre | Rock, soul |
Length | 5:32 |
Label | Apple |
Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
Producer(s) | George Harrison |
"The Answer's at the End" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, released in 1975 on his final album for Apple Records, Extra Texture (Read All About It) . Part of the song lyrics came from a wall inscription at Harrison's nineteenth-century home, Friar Park, a legacy of the property's original owner, Sir Frank Crisp. This aphorism, beginning "Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass", had resonated with Harrison since he bought Friar Park in 1970, and it was a quote he often used when discussing his difficult relationship with his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney.
Harrison's adaptation of the verse for "The Answer's at the End" coincided with a period of personal upheaval, following the severe criticism afforded his 1974 North American tour by several influential reviewers. In its plea for tolerance and a musical arrangement that includes orchestral strings, the song recalls Harrison's 1970 hit ballad "Isn't It a Pity". The arrangement also bears the influence of Nina Simone's 1972 cover version of "Isn't It a Pity", specifically in a pair of codas performed by Harrison in the soul style.
Harrison recorded "The Answer's at the End" in Los Angeles, where he was overseeing projects relating to his Dark Horse record label during much of 1975. The backing musicians on the recording include members of the Dark Horse Records band Attitudes, among them David Foster and Jim Keltner. As with much of Extra Texture, the song has received a varied response from music critics and Harrison's biographers. On release, Rolling Stone dismissed the track as "padded subterfuge" and overlong, [1] while Melody Maker described it as "majestic" and one of Harrison's "most potent tracks ever, highly emotional and introspective". [2]
In March 1970, George Harrison and his first wife, Pattie Boyd, moved into their Victorian Gothic residence at Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. [3] [4] The 120-room house was built in the 1890s [5] on the site of a thirteenth-century friary by Frank Crisp, a City of London solicitor and microscopist. [6] Harrison was immediately taken with Crisp's penchant for whimsy, [7] the legacies of which included interior features such as doorknobs and light switches shaped as monks' faces (which meant "tweaking" a nose in order to turn each light on), [8] and a carving of a monk's head that showed him smiling on one side and frowning on the other. [9] A keen horticulturalist and an authority on medieval gardening, [10] Crisp established 10 acres of formal gardens, [11] which similarly reflected his eccentric tastes. [6] [12] [nb 1]
From midway through the twentieth century until 1969, ownership of Friar Park resided with the Roman Catholic Church. [15] [16] As a result, paint masked some of Crisp's inscriptions inside the house, [17] but outside, signs reading "Don't keep off the grass", "Herons will be prosecuted" and "Eton boys are a Harrowing sight" remained intact. [18] [nb 2] Harrison also discovered inscriptions with a more profound meaning, which he described to his Hare Krishna friend Shyamasundar Das as "like songs really, about the devil, about friendship, life". [20] One example was "Shadows we are and shadows we depart", written on a stone sundial; [21] another began: "Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass / You know his faults, now let his foibles pass ..." [22] This four-line verse was written above an entrance-way in a garden wall, [23] and it was an aphorism that Harrison soon took to quoting in interviews. [24] On 28 April 1970, just over two weeks after the Beatles' break-up, he used the words during an interview for New York's WPLQ Radio, [25] as Village Voice reporter Howard Smith repeatedly pushed for details on the animosity between Paul McCartney and the other three Beatles. [26] In October 1974 – towards the end of what Harrison termed a "bad domestic year", following his split with Boyd [27] – he used the same quote in an interview with BBC Radio's Alan Freeman, [28] when again discussing the current relationship among the four ex-Beatles. [29] [30] [nb 3]
Harrison wrote his first Friar Park-inspired composition, "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)", within two months of moving in. [33] As with the "Crispisms" that surfaced in the lyrics to his 1974 single "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", [34] a number of years elapsed before he incorporated the "Scan not a friend" inscription into a song. [35] In 1975, it provided the central theme to "The Answer's at the End", [36] [37] a composition that, theologian Dale Allison has written, "expresses the personal doubts and religious uncertainty George experienced in the mid-1970s". [38] This temporary uncertainty contrasted with his previous devotion to a Hindu-aligned spiritual path. [39] It was also a period marked by Harrison's excessive use of alcohol and cocaine [40] [41] – a symptom of his despondency following his troubled 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, and the generally unfavourable reception afforded his Dark Horse album. [42] [43]
The song begins in the key of D, [44] before changing key to F for the choruses. [45] In its musical mood, authors Robert Rodriguez and Elliot Huntley liken the released recording to "Isn't It a Pity", [37] [46] which, like "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp", was co-produced by Phil Spector and issued on Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass . [47] [48] Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes "The Answer's at the End" as a ballad set to a "mellow, reflective soul mood", like much of its parent album, Extra Texture (Read All About It) . [49]
According to the way he renders Crisp's inscription in his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine , Harrison made a minor alteration to the original text's third line ("Life is one long enigma, true, my friend") for his opening verse: [50]
Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass
You know his faults, now let his foibles pass
Life is one long enigma, my friend
So read on, read on, the answer's at the end.
In another passage from I, Me, Mine, read out by his son Dhani in the 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World , [51] Harrison explains that these words helped him reach a better understanding of human relationships and others around him. [52]
There were disasters all around at that time ... [B]ut the thing about Sir Frank with his advice, like: "scan not a friend with a microscopic glass ..." I mean, that helped me actively to ease up on whomsoever I thought I loved, gave me that consciousness not to hang on to the negative side of it, to be more forgiving. [52]
– George Harrison, 1979
The theme of tolerance is further reflected in the song's chorus, [53] where Harrison urges: "Don't be so hard on the ones that you love / It's the ones that you love, we think so little of ..." The chorus lyrics echo the message of "Isn't It a Pity", [37] in this case, author Ian Inglis writes, providing a "bleak assessment of the human condition". [54]
The second verse begins with an example of what Harrison biographer Alan Clayson views as the "restricted code" found in the lyrics on much of Extra Texture. [55] Harrison sings, "The speech of flowers excels the flowers of speech / But what's often in your heart is the hardest thing to reach" [45] – the second line of which, Allison writes, "is surely [Harrison] talking about his inability to find God, who for him dwells, above all, inside the human being". [56] Allison suggests that, with the singer describing life as first an "enigma" and then a "mystery", the previous certainties of his faith have disappeared; true to the song title, Allison continues, "Only death will reveal ... whether his religious beliefs have been true or false." [39]
As a further reference to the sentiment regarding friendship expressed in "Isn't It a Pity", [57] the middle section of "The Answer's at the End" reflects the influence of Nina Simone's 1972 cover of that earlier song. [35] [46] According to his recollection in I, Me, Mine, Harrison added this section, or coda, when recording "The Answer's at the End". [35] In the lines "And isn't it a pity how / We hurt the ones we love the most of all ...", Inglis notes the influence of the 1944 pop standard "You Always Hurt the One You Love". [58] [nb 4]
In the final half-verse, following a brief instrumental passage, [45] Harrison personalises the second line of Crisp's text to "You know my faults, now let my foibles pass". [60] Rodriguez remarks that the subject of reserving judgement would have resonated with Harrison at this time, given the "shellacking" he had recently received in music publications such as Rolling Stone . [61] On the released recording, the song fades out during a repeat of the "isn't it a pity how ..." coda. [45]
Among the former Beatle's biographers, interpretations differ over the message of Extra Texture songs such as "The Answer's at the End", with regard to his spirituality. Like Dale Allison, Gary Tillery writes of Extra Texture revealing Harrison's "inner turmoil at having strayed from his faith". [62] Leng views this composition as "a deliberate tempering of tone rather than a change in fundamental beliefs", however, with the song's choruses "attenuat[ing] the search for universal solutions to a simpler, earthbound observation". [53] Joshua Greene similarly writes that Harrison had "regained strength and relaxed his missionary zeal" during 1975. Greene references "The Answer's at the End" while stating that "a modest appeal for tolerance" had now replaced the singer's earlier "exhortations to chant and warnings about rebirth in the material world". [63]
Harrison taped the basic track for "The Answer's at the End" at A&M Studios in Los Angeles on 22 April 1975. [64] During the previous month, Harrison attended a press party held by McCartney and the latter's band, Wings, on board the Queen Mary at Long Beach. [65] [66] This event marked the first social meeting between the two former bandmates since December 1970 [67] and, according to McCartney biographer Howard Sounes, was evidence of a "Beatles rapprochement", five years after their break-up. [68]
Authors Nicholas Schaffner and Rodriguez have commented on the rushed and expedient nature of the sessions for Extra Texture, [69] [70] an album that saw out Harrison's commitments to EMI-affiliated Apple Records and allowed him to sign with his own, A&M-distributed label, Dark Horse Records. [71] [72] Rather than use his Friar Park studio, Harrison recorded the album at a facility he admitted to finding "technically limiting", [73] since he was in Los Angeles overseeing projects by his various Dark Horse acts when studio time became available, following the cancellation of sessions for Splinter's second album. [72] Another of these acts was Attitudes, [74] [75] a band put together by his friend, session drummer Jim Keltner. [76] "The timing was perfect", Leng writes of Harrison's approach to making Extra Texture, "as this latest signing to Dark Horse provided a ready-made backup band, close at hand." [77]
Although Attitudes guitarist Danny Kortchmar did not play on the album, "The Answer's at the End" was one of two songs that featured all three of the other band members: [78] Keltner, pianist/musical arranger David Foster and bassist/lead singer Paul Stallworth. [79] [nb 5] Another guest musician on the recording was keyboard player Gary Wright, [84] a regular contributor to Harrison's solo work throughout the 1970s [85] [86] starting with the session for "Isn't It a Pity". [87] [88] A&M engineer Norman Kinney, who had carried out the mix down for The Concert for Bangladesh recordings four years before, [89] added the song's percussion, [64] which the mastering sheet lists as tambourine and shaker. [90] As for all the songs on the album, overdubs on the basic track were carried out between 31 May and 6 June. [91] A string arrangement, written and conducted by Foster, was recorded at A&M on 6 June. [64]
Huntley describes "The Answer's at the End" as "the first of the piano songs" on Extra Texture. [46] While piano and other keyboard instrumentation was typically favoured throughout the album, [92] [93] the song also contains multiple guitar parts, [90] in keeping with the sound more usually associated with Harrison. [37] [94] Credited to Harrison, [95] these parts comprise 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar arpeggios over the choruses, and a brief solo. [90] During the quieter, "isn't it a pity how ..." codas, Huntley notes "the merest veneer of the strings" accompanying Harrison's vocal. [46] In Leng's description, Harrison "semi-scats" over these "smoochy" sections, "gospel style, over sundown jazz piano" [53] – a vocal affectation that reflected his immersion in the soul genre. [96] Following the first coda, the full band returns for the short instrumental break, after which Harrison repeats the choruses, with his singing increasing in emotion. [46]
"The Answer's at the End" was released on 22 September 1975. [97] It was sequenced as the second track on Extra Texture (Read All About It), between "You" and "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)". [98] Some music critics immediately derided the song for its funereal tempo, [84] which was all the more obvious after the upbeat "You". [54] Writing in 1981, author and critic Bob Woffinden paired the song with "This Guitar" as examples of Harrison asking for tolerance from his detractors, and considered that the inclusion of orchestral strings on the album was an attempt to achieve a "commercial bias". [99]
Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone referred to "The Answer's at the End" as "padded subterfuge" which could "easily" have been cut down to two minutes from its length of 5:32. [1] In the NME , Neil Spencer said that, following "You", "hopes of Hari's revival are comprehensively dashed by five-and-a-half minutes of the inordinately dreary 'The Answer's at the End'". Spencer described it as "one of Hari's Homespun Homilies full of crusty chunks of potted wisdom". [100] [101]
In his favourable review for Melody Maker , Ray Coleman wrote that Extra Texture represented "a re-statement of the fundamentals we should all cherish" and that "The Answer's at the End" was Harrison "at his most expressive, vocally", as well as "by far the most majestic track on the album". Coleman also said it was "One of George's most potent tracks ever, highly emotional and introspective" and predicted that its universal theme would encourage several cover recordings. [2]
[On "The Answer's at the End"] the old, bold George is no more. The certainties of "The Lord Loves the One" seem to have dissipated ... The passionate searcher of "Hear Me Lord" sounds defeated, asking for a little "live and let live." [53]
– Author Simon Leng, 2006
Writing 21 years after its release, Alan Clayson dismissed the song as "archaic parlour poetry" on an album full of "long, dull melodies". [102] Simon Leng admires the "warm sonic scenes" of "The Answer's at the End" and recognises it as an "interesting" composition, one that "ponders the nature of relationships" in a similar way to Bob Dylan's 1975 album Blood on the Tracks . [103] Leng pairs the song with another Extra Texture track, "Grey Cloudy Lies", however, as "two slabs of introspection" that suffer from being "part calls for tolerance and part expression of downright despair". [104] [nb 6] While similarly noting the bleakness of the subject matter, Ian Inglis opines: "The lack of optimism in his words is matched by a largely inconspicuous melody and an inconsistent production in which alternate piano, strings, and guitar interludes fail to provide a coherent musical context." [105]
Music journalist Rip Rense cites "The Answer's at the End" as an example of how "even the rather hasty" Extra Texture offers "some of the most affecting moments in [Harrison's] career". With reference to the song's second verse, Rense adds: "and how many songwriters have ever sung a line as wonderful as 'The speech of flowers excels the flowers of speech?'" [106] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter recognise the song as a "highlight" of the album, [64] while Elliot Huntley terms it a "gorgeously melodic song of forgiveness". [36] Huntley praises the track's "epic sweep" and writes of the Simone-inspired coda: "This is one of my favourite moments of the entire Harrison back-catalogue, especially when the ensemble returns to see the song through to its conclusion ..." [46]
AllMusic's Richard Ginell describes "The Answer's at the End" as one of Harrison's "most beautifully harmonized, majestic, strangely underrated ballads". [107] Along with "You" and "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", Ginell rates the song "among the best" from Harrison's solo career. [107] In his book covering the Beatles' first decade as solo artists, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, Robert Rodriguez includes "The Answer's at the End" in a chapter discussing eight overlooked Harrison compositions, and comments that the song's "grace and majesty" is reminiscent of "Isn't It a Pity". [108] In December 2001, Billboard editor-in-chief Timothy White, a longstanding friend of the former Beatle, [109] titled his Harrison obituary "The Answer's at the End". [110] White's piece went on to win an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism. [109]
Reviewing the 2014 Apple Years reissue of Extra Texture, for The Second Disc, Joe Marchese highlights "the touching 'The Answer's at the End'" among the "top-drawer material" found on the album. [111] In his review for Paste magazine, Robert Ham views the song as a "[moment] when Harrison's focus returns" on Extra Texture and one of the album's ballads that "cut deep". [112]
Extra Texture (Read All About It) is the sixth studio album by the English musician George Harrison, released on 22 September 1975. It was Harrison's final album under his contract with Apple Records and EMI, and the last studio album issued by Apple. The release came nine months after his troubled 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar and the poorly received Dark Horse album.
Dark Horse is the fifth studio album by the English rock musician George Harrison. It was released on Apple Records in December 1974 as the follow-up to Living in the Material World. Although keenly anticipated on release, Dark Horse is associated with the controversial North American tour that Harrison staged with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar in November and December that year. This was the first US tour by a member of the Beatles since 1966, and the public's nostalgia for the band, together with Harrison contracting laryngitis during rehearsals and choosing to feature Shankar so heavily in the programme, resulted in scathing concert reviews from some influential music critics.
The discography of English singer-songwriter and former Beatle George Harrison consists of 12 studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, 35 singles, two video albums and four box sets. Harrison's first solo releases – the Wonderwall Music film soundtrack (1968) and Electronic Sound (1969) – were almost entirely instrumental works, issued during the last two years of the Beatles' career. Following the band's break-up in April 1970, Harrison continued to produce recordings by his fellow Apple Records acts, notably former bandmate Ringo Starr. He recorded and collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Gary Wright.
"Dark Horse" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison and the title track to his 1974 solo album on Apple Records. The song was the album's lead single in North America, becoming a top-20 hit in the United States, but it was Harrison's first single not to chart in Britain when issued there in February 1975. The term "dark horse" had long been applied to Harrison due to his unexpected emergence as the most accomplished solo artist of the four former Beatles following the band's break-up in 1970. In the song, however, he said he used the phrase in reference to gossip about someone who carries out clandestine sexual relationships. Commentators interpret the lyrics as a rebuttal to several possible detractors: Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd; reviewers who criticised the spiritual content of his 1973 album Living in the Material World; and his former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Harrison named his Dark Horse record label after the song, and his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar came to be known as the Dark Horse Tour.
"Ding Dong, Ding Dong" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, written as a New Year's Eve singalong and released in December 1974 on his album Dark Horse. It was the album's lead single in Britain and some other European countries, and the second single, after "Dark Horse", in North America. A large-scale production, the song incorporates aspects of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique, particularly his Christmas recordings from 1963. In addition, some Harrison biographers view "Ding Dong" as an attempt to emulate the success of two glam rock anthems from the 1973–74 holiday season: "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade, and Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". The song became only a minor hit in Britain and the United States, although it was a top-twenty hit elsewhere in the world.
"You" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1975 album Extra Texture . It was also the album's lead single, becoming a top 20 hit in America and reaching number 9 in Canada. A 45-second instrumental portion of the song, titled "A Bit More of You", appears on Extra Texture also, opening side two of the original LP format. Harrison wrote "You" in 1970 as a song for Ronnie Spector, formerly of the Ronettes, and wife of Harrison's All Things Must Pass co-producer Phil Spector. The composition reflects Harrison's admiration for 1960s American soul/R&B, particularly Motown.
"This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, released on his 1975 studio album Extra Texture (Read All About It). Harrison wrote the song as a sequel to his popular Beatles composition "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", in response to the personal criticism he had received during and after his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, particularly from Rolling Stone magazine. An edit of "This Guitar" was issued as a single in December 1975, as the final release by Apple Records in its original incarnation. The single failed to chart in either the United States or Britain.
"World of Stone" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, released in 1975 on Extra Texture , his final album for Apple Records. It was also issued as the B-side of the album's lead single, "You". Harrison wrote the song in 1973 but recorded it two years later, following the unfavourable critical reception afforded his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar and the Dark Horse album. Due to its context on release, commentators view "World of Stone" as a plea from Harrison for tolerance from these detractors. According to some of his biographers, the lyrics reflect Harrison's doubts regarding his devotion to a spiritual path – an apparent crisis of faith that followed his often-unwelcome spiritual pronouncements during the tour, and which permeated his work throughout 1975.
"Isn't It a Pity" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass. It appears in two variations there: one the well-known, seven-minute version; the other a reprise, titled "Isn't It a Pity (Version Two)". Harrison wrote the song in 1966, but it was rejected for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. In many countries around the world, the song was also issued on a double A-side single with "My Sweet Lord". In America, Billboard magazine listed it with "My Sweet Lord" when the single topped the Hot 100 chart, while in Canada, "Isn't It a Pity" reached number 1 as the preferred side.
"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.
"I Dig Love" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass. A paean to free love, it marks a departure from the more profound, spiritually oriented subject matter of much of that album. Musically, the song reflects Harrison's early experimentation with slide guitar, a technique that he was introduced to while touring with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends in December 1969.
"Simply Shady" is a song by English musician George Harrison that was released on his 1974 album Dark Horse. The song addresses Harrison's wayward behaviour during the final year of his marriage to Pattie Boyd, particularly the allure of temptations such as alcohol and drugs over spiritual goals. Harrison said the song was about "what happens to naughty boys in the music business".
"Māya Love" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1974 album Dark Horse. The song originated as a slide guitar tune, to which Harrison later added lyrics relating to the illusory nature of love – maya being a Sanskrit term for "illusion", or "that which is not". Harrison's biographers consider the lyrical theme to be reflective of his failed marriage to Pattie Boyd, who left him for his friend Eric Clapton shortly before the words were written. Harrison recorded the song at his home, Friar Park, on the eve of his North American tour with Ravi Shankar, which took place in November and December 1974. The recording features Harrison's slide guitar extensively and contributions from four musicians who formed the nucleus of his tour band: Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark. Reviewers note the track as an example of its parent album's more diverse musical genres, namely funk and rhythm and blues, compared with the more traditional rock orientation of Harrison's earlier solo work.
"Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1975 on his album Extra Texture (Read All About It). Harrison wrote the composition as a tribute to American singer Smokey Robinson, whom he often identified as one of his favourite vocalists and songwriters. The song was intended as a companion piece to Robinson's 1965 hit with the Miracles, "Ooo Baby Baby", and its inclusion on Extra Texture contributed to that album's standing as Harrison's soul music album. His impersonation of Robinson's celebrated vocal style on the track, including portions sung in falsetto, contrasted with Harrison's hoarse, laryngitis-marred singing on his 1974 North American tour and the poorly received Dark Horse album.
"Can't Stop Thinking About You" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1975 on his final album for Apple Records, Extra Texture . A love song in the style of a soul/R&B ballad, it was written by Harrison in December 1973, towards the end of his marriage to Pattie Boyd and while he was having an affair with Maureen Starkey, the wife of his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr. Having first considered the song for his 1974 release Dark Horse, Harrison recorded "Can't Stop Thinking About You" in Los Angeles in May 1975 for his so-called "soul album", Extra Texture. Some authors view its inclusion on the latter release as an obvious attempt by Harrison to commercialise the album, in response to the harsh critical reception afforded Dark Horse and his 1974 North American tour.
"Grey Cloudy Lies" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1975 album Extra Texture . Harrison wrote it in 1973 during a period that he characterised as his "naughty" years, coinciding with the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd and his divergence from the ascetic path of his Hindu-aligned faith. He returned to the song two years later when filled with despondency and self-doubt in response to the scathing reviews that his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar and Dark Horse album had received from several music critics.
"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.
"Pure Smokey" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1976 on his debut album for Dark Horse Records, Thirty Three & 1/3. The song was the second of Harrison's musical tributes to American soul singer Smokey Robinson, following "Ooh Baby " in 1975. Harrison frequently cited Robinson as one of his favourite vocalists and songwriters, and Robinson's group the Miracles had similarly influenced the Beatles during the 1960s. In the lyrics to "Pure Smokey", Harrison gives thanks for the gift of Robinson's music, while making a statement regarding the importance of expressing appreciation and gratitude, rather than forgetting to do so and later regretting it. The song title came from the name of Robinson's 1974 album Pure Smokey.
"So Sad" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison that was released on his 1974 album Dark Horse. Harrison originally recorded the song for his previous album, Living in the Material World, before giving it to Alvin Lee, the guitarist and singer with Ten Years After. Lee recorded it – as "So Sad " – with gospel singer Mylon LeFevre for their 1973 album On the Road to Freedom. The latter recording includes contributions from Harrison and marked the first of several collaborations between him and Lee.
"I Don't Care Anymore" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the B-side of the lead single from his 1974 album Dark Horse. The A-side was "Dark Horse" in the majority of countries internationally and "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" elsewhere, including the United Kingdom. It is one of Harrison's relatively rare compositions in the country music genre and, equally unusual among his 1970s releases, the recording is a solo performance.