Even during his early creative peak, George Harrison was typically allocated two slots on The Beatles albums. This often occurs when your bandmates are named John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The Beatles disbanded in 1970, and Harrison understandably began his solo career with a backlog of exceptional songs. He burst onto the charts: every single Harrison released in the first five years of his solo career reached the Billboard Top 40, with two hitting No. 1.
He would add four more Top 40 hits, including another No. 1, before taking a break from music in the early ’80s. As before, Harrison returned with a collection of great songs in the early ’00s.
How Did George Harrison Make a Remarkable Comeback?
Harrison achieved the most recent solo Beatles U.S. No. 1 song during a period of late-’80s resurgence. He almost broke into the Top 20 twice with two other singles during this era and was halted just outside the U.K. Top 40 with 1990’s “Nobody’s Child” alongside the Traveling Wilburys.
There were also some peculiar anomalies. Harrison scored a hit in his native U.K. with the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care,” but the single only reached No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their follow-up single, the then-ubiquitous “End of the Line,” somehow stalled at No. 63 on the main charts and got no further than No. 52 in the U.K. (Both were No. 2 smash singles on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart.)
READ MORE: George Harrison’s Best Beatles Moments
As with his former bandmate Lennon, Harrison’s music revisited the top of the charts following his untimely death. A reworked version of his first-ever chart-topping hit soared to No. 1 again in the U.K. amid mourning after Harrison lost his battle with cancer.
No. 16. “My Sweet Lord (2000)”
From: All Things Must Pass (2001 reissue)
(On the charts: No. 1 in the UK)
The original version of “My Sweet Lord” featured a cast of thousands and enough reverb to bring down Abbey Road studios. However, all anyone remembered was the lawsuit. Years later, Harrison stripped all that away—along with the call-and-response part that initially got him in trouble—for a competently conveyed (though frankly unneeded) remake. Listen for its standout moment: Harrison admitted he recorded this update to “play a better slide guitar solo.” Remarkably enough, he succeeded.
No. 15. “Ding Dong, Ding Dong”
From: Dark Horse (1974)
On the charts: No. 36 in America; No. 38 in the UK)
On the quite dark Dark Horse, even his attempt at writing a holiday classic takes on a strikingly dispirited undertone. Lyrics like “ring out the old, ring in the new” collide with an overall feeling of doom as Harrison weathered a season of loss.
No. 14. “Any Road”
From: Brainwashed (2002)
On the charts: No. 37 in the UK
Harrison had some version of this song in his head since the early Wilburys era, retaining their easy-going vibe despite an edgier subject (“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there“). This may have been inspired by an exchange in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Harrison walks a fine line here, never giving in to the impulse to insult or become facetious; after all, we’ve all taken a wrong turn or two.
No. 13. "Bangla Desh"
From: Single (1971)
On the charts: No. 23 in America; No. 10 in the UK
Harrison deserves credit for a great idea as he created the first charity pop single. Unfortunately, “Bangla Desh” feels only half-formed, likely because it was created hurriedly so that this standalone song could arrive before a significant benefit concert supporting refugees from that country. Harrison later admitted to composing “Bangla Desh” in “10 minutes at the piano,” and quite frankly, that’s just how it sounds.
No. 12. “Dark Horse”
From: Dark Horse (1974)
On the charts: No. 15 in America
Harrison goes down swinging as “Dark Horse” takes on critics, his ex, and possibly his former bandmates among others—but it’s delivered with a ravaged voice, making an earlier take recorded before laryngitis an utter revelation.
No. 11. “Crackerbox Palace”
From: Thirty-Three and a Third (1976)
On the charts: No. 19 in America
The album’s title was a play on RPMs for vinyl and Harrison’s age on its proposed release date; it held great playful promise but wasn’t released until his 33 2/3 birthday—a preview of looming label issues. Too bad since Thirty-Three and a Third was significantly better than Extra Texture (Read All About It), highlighted by this incredibly fun Top 20 hit. “Crackerbox Palace” was about friend Lord Buckley’s estate, putting an expectedly different spin (for Harrison anyway) on the line: “Know that the Lord is well“.
No. 10. "This Song"
From: Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
On the charts: No. 25 in America
Harrison had much more success when he humorously lampooned the whole “My Sweet Lord” legal mess rather than attempting to reverse-engineer a solution like he did for the 2001 reissue of All Things Must Pass.
No. 9. “You”
From: Extra Texture [Read All About It](1975)
On the charts: No. 20 in America; No. 38 in the UK
Harrison had returned to drinking and drugs, and Extra Texture couldn’t have strayed further from his religious moorings—or from the free-spirited uplift that made his initial post-Beatles records such pleasant surprises. This Top 20 U.S hit—actually a relic from a scrapped solo album by Ronnie Spector—takes you right back; still, it says a lot when what’s best on an LP is essentially a table scrap.
READ MORE: Ranking Every Beatles Solo Album
No. 8. “Got My Mind Set on You”
From: Cloud Nine(1987)
On the charts: No. 1 in America; No. 2 in the UK
Harrison discovered James Ray’s version of this song while browsing record shops during a visit with his sister to rural Illinois in 1963—months before The Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan’s show. He didn’t revisit “Got My Mind Set on You” for decades, but Harrison’s timing was impeccable: The Jeff Lynne-produced update gave him a third chart-topping single just as his old band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
No. 7. “Blow Away”
From: George Harrison(1979)
On the charts: No. 16 in America
A soul-lifting track about clearing skies and opening hearts that has aged as well as any solo Beatles single—maybe better.
No. 6. “My Sweet Lord”
From: All Things Must Pass(1970)
On the charts: No. 1 in America and UK
This track was docked several spots because he lost that court case; an American publishing company famously earned a $600,000 judgment after claiming that “My Sweet Lord” sounded too much like early-’60s hit “He’s So Fine.” The court ruled that Harrison “subconsciously plagiarized” it; oddly, he countered that he had indeed stolen it—but not from The Chiffons—instead claiming it was originally inspired by Edwin Hawkins Singers’ “Oh Happy Day.”
No. 5. “When We Was Fab”
From: Cloud Nine(1987)
On the charts: No. 23 in America; No. 25 in UK
Poking some good-natured fun at The Beatles’ Summer of Love-era excesses, “When We Was Fab” allowed Lynne to play every psychedelic card available—adding strings, backward tapes, and of course, a sitar; The delightful video featured sideman Ringo Starr and an actor mimicking McCartney’s left-handed bass while wearing a walrus costume; Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall also passed by at one point with a copy of Lennon’s album Imagine. All felt like bittersweet nostalgia even then.
No. 4. “All Those Years Ago”
From: Somewhere in England(1981)
On the charts: No. 2 in America; No. 13 in UK
Under label pressure, Harrison provided some late-session replacement songs including this big hit—a requiem for late John Lennon; His tragic murder sparked an unlikely reunion involving McCartney and Starr along with Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick; even Denny Laine and Linda McCartney from Wings were present—the results were so incandescent they almost—but not quite—made up for dreck found elsewhere on Somewhere in England.
No. 3.”Handle With Care”
From: The Traveling Wilburys’ Vol .1 (1988)
On the charts: No .21 in UK
Harrison’s smash hit about sly resiliency was originally recorded as an inconsequential B-side until his label intervened; He’d called Lynne who was then working with Roy Orbison—they arranged to use Bob Dylan’s studio before Tom Petty got involved when Harrison stopped by to retrieve a guitar; Suddenly perhaps rock’s greatest supergroup emerged; Warner Bros wasn’t going to bury their first song on back of Harrison’s single “This Is Love”; Lucky us.
No .2.”What Is Life”
< from :All Things Must Pass (1970)
( On chart :No .10 In America )
A towering rocker from Harrison’s six-times platinum-selling debut,”What Is Life” actually warranted Phil Spector’s infamous Wall of Sound approach; He ended up assembling who’s who for session:Badfinger added extra layers to sweeping exclamation of passion while background vocals credited to George O’Hara-Smith singers—Bobby Whitlock and Eric Clapton—the future nucleus Derek Dominos ; Predictably results couldn’t be more widescreen—and yet”What Is Life” never loses its sense intimate joy.
No .1.”Give Me Love(Give Me Peace On Earth)”
< from :Living In Material World (1973)
( On chart :No .1 In America ;No .8 In UK )
In way there wasn’t any other direction go smaller ;Harrison had already reached #1 both U.S.and U.K.with overstuffed triple-disc solo debut towering lead single then organized huge Bangladesh benefit concert ;So this time gathered tightly knit quartet confidants—only Gary Wright,Klaus Voormann ,Jim Keltner Nicky Hopkins—to record something Harrison later described as”a prayer personal statement between me ,Lord whoever likes it”; Turns out everybody did ;Harrison expressive slide took center stage rather than all those sidemen while message became more direct ;All worked tandem render universal truths healing forgiveness ;Oh another #1 song.
Beatles Live Albums Ranked
Beatles live albums didn’t really used be thing – then started arriving bunches ;Let’s count them down .
Gallery Credit :Nick DeRiso
You Think You Know Beatles ?
Here you can find original article; photos images used our article also come from source . We are not authors ; they have been used solely informational purposes proper attribution original source .
Tagged:listsoriginal features
Beatles live albums didn’t really used be thing – then started arriving bunches ;Let’s count them down .
Gallery Credit :Nick DeRiso
You Think You Know Beatles ?
Here you can find original article; photos images used our article also come from source . We are not authors ; they have been used solely informational purposes proper attribution original source .
