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Welcome To The Black Parade

Vocals + Bass (feat. Marching Band)

My edit, so no stealing :)

and the cow jumped over the moon! nursery rhymes meet jump blues: the lynn proctor trio performing "watch out" in the all-black film, miracle in harlem (1948) directed by jack kemp.

“I smelt your scent on a seatbelt,” he sings on Cornerstone, which may just be the best thing Arctic Monkeys have ever recorded. The lyrics are a dazzling display of what Turner can do: a fabulously witty, poignant evocation of lost love, packed with weirdly suggestive details. The music is a long, wistful acoustic sigh, the melody so effortlessly lovely that you can’t believe no one’s come up with it before.

Mos Def performing "UMI Says" with Doug Wimbish and Will Calhoun of Living Colour, Dr. Know of Bad Brains, and Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic

Rehearsal with Marianela Núñez and Federico Bonelli in one of MacMillan’’s heartbreaking dramas💔L’ Histoire de Manon

The opening chord – which Paul helpfully provided (D-C-Eb-B) – is strange to say the least, but very open-sounding too. To me, it embodies curiosity: Paul's youthful curiosity upon glimpsing a neighbour's silhouette through a closed blind on the one hand, and his current-day curiosity regarding this same neighbour on the other.

After a few plucks, the strange chord is gently resolved toward the tonic (the key's homebase chord, so to speak), which allows a listener to settle into the track and relax; it reflects the spoken part's quiet evening stroll vibe.

"Although we only met / One time I can't forget / The feeling that came over me" – once Paul begins to sing, the harmonies become warm and classic-sounding, focused instead of meandery, matching the romantic fantasies he's describing.

But this earnest daydreaming is quickly overpowered by a disorientingly sudden modulation to a different harmonic space, heralding in the title line: "As you lie across the bed / Am I there inside your head? / As you lie there, as you lie there." In my opinion, it's not straightforward what key this segment of the song is in: there's instability here and some darkness, but also a strong sense of lift, with chords that seem to be pushing towards a different key (whatever the current key might be…). It perfectly captures the terrifying, electric thrill of young attraction: an incessant drive forward while slightly overwhelmed by one's own ferocity.

There's a small tragedy hidden in the song, though.

"I like to think that we could be together forever" – going by the sung melody, this line could perfectly resolve to the tonic, letting the listener feel completely at home harmonically. But instead, Paul resolves on the relative minor (on the word "forever"), referred to as a deceptive or interrupted cadence*. He also does this in the first reprisal of this melodic segment: "Just say the word and we can be together forever." The melancholy minor betrays Paul's uncertainty; there's a sense of desperation for this fantasy to be made real.

Then, at the song's eleventh hour, while he reiterates one last time that he would like to think that he and the you could be together forever, a glimmer of hope appears: the word "forever" resolves on the tonic chord, as if Paul's dreams are about to come true—but then he drags the piano down two chords, back down to that relative minor. We the listeners have been deceived into thinking this wasn't another deceptive cadence, and we're now forced to conclude that despite everything – despite Paul's earnest yearning and ravenous desire – he and the you cannot be together forever.

Listen/purchase: New Dawn by Anoushka Shankar

 "What Is Life” reached the Top 10 in the US, and #1 in Australia and Switzerland.  In the UK, it had also been released as  the B-side to the “My Sweet Lord” single on January 15, 1971.

Its success meant that George was the first ex-Beatle to have two Top 10 solo US hits. 

The US single sleeve below:

The video at the top of this post was directed by Brandon Moore, chosen as the winner of a contest hosted by Olivia & Dhani Harrison to coincide with what would have been George’s 74th birthday in 2017. 

As they wrote at GeorgeHarrison.com at the time, “We were totally surprised and delighted by this video and it was a clear favourite for both of us. The dancer really expressed unbounded joy, and managed to capture the spirit of ‘What is Life’ through movement, which the director captured beautifully.” 

You’ve heard the song before, of course, and are hopefully playing it now. Once you’re done with that, let’s break it down. It’s my favorite solo George song, definitely my favorite from All Things Must Pass, among my favorite 1971 singles by anyone, and more important for the proceedings here, it’s complex enough to both merit and benefit from a little closer scrutiny.

Although Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” approach to producing All Things Must Pass had its desired effect – Rolling Stone called it “Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountain tops and vast horizons" – George was the first to admit that some of it was a bit much. 

When remastering the 30th Anniversary Edition of All Things Must Pass released in January 2001 (see? Even George associated ATMP with 1971), he included a number of stripped-down demos that got closer to his original intent, but as a delightful contrast, he also included Phil Spector’s original backing track for “What Is Life?”, which was way, WAY too much. 

“When we were going through all the tapes, I just found this version that was like a rough mix on which I tried having this piccolo trumpet player like the guy who played on Penny Lane. It wasn’t actually the same bloke but I wanted that sound. So I had an oboe and a piccolo trumpet and I had this part for them all written out but they couldn’t play it the same; they couldn’t do this this kind of ‘hush’ phrase, and they played it very staccato like a classical player. So I must have just recorded them on it, then rough mixed it, and then ditched that.

And as I was saying earlier, most of it was live. I hadn’t done the vocal overdub because I’m playing the fuzz guitar part that goes all through the song. So all I could do on the take was to give the band the cue line - the first line of each verse - and then go back to playing that riff. So that rough mix without the vocal - I’d forgot all about it - was a novelty I found.” (more here)

It really is a lot of fun! Check it out!

One More For The Guitar Nerds!

What’s that you say? You want to hear George Harrison’s lead guitar isolated? Done! 

It’s a lovely little fuzz tone that somehow simultaneously evokes surf music and Motown! Take a listen, see if you hear it. (Sorry if this is blocked in your country! Read on, though! Plenty more treats ahead!)

But wait! ANOTHER For The Guitar Nerds!

The “Wall of Sound” wasn’t just a production trick. Yeah, George’s voice is layered onto 8 of the 16 tracks, but there’s also a ton of musicians here, playing mostly live, including all of Delaney & Bonnie’s backing band, all four members of Badfinger, and one Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sir Eric Patrick Clapton.

Protect ya ears on this one! 

The video is very quiet for the first 20 seconds as George counts the band in and Eric waits his turn, so don’t be turning that volume up too high just yet – but once he takes off, he burns rubber. Listen to the first minute and a half or so to see what kind of chaos he’s laying down, then if you want to skip ahead, pick it up around the 4 minute mark, where Eric goes absolutely nuts on the outro. (Clapton nerds in particular won’t want to miss a lick, though!)

It’s easy to see why this was too much even for Phil Spector, who mixed Eric’s part way the hell down. Fortunately for the snoops among us, an enterprising lad on YouTube created his own version of a mix that pulls Eric’s version equal to George (here if you want it) …

…but if you want to really get a feel for what Eric was attempting, it works better to hear his part on its own – as another bonus track, if you will.

Last but not least….

One For The Drum Nerds!

And honestly, if you’re not a drum nerd, you can skip this…but if you are, this’ll be the best thing you’ve heard in ages. 

Jim Gordon’s tale is a tragic one (drugs and paranoid schizophrenia don’t mix: he’s serving a life sentence for murder in a California psychiatric prison, and we’re fortunate that the body count he left behind is as low as it is), but man, he gave us some amazing music, including this iso track of his drum work on “What Is Life?” 

Jim was the definition of a “pocket” drummer, with an unerring sense of groove that transcended mere rhythm. High profile gigs with Delaney & Bonnie, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Derek & The Dominoes, and here on All Things Must Pass are just the tip of it: he was surely among the top two or three most in-demand studio drummers in the 70s. This bonus track will give you an idea of why.

What Is Life? What a ride! 

I’m the first to admit that you may not ever need to hear some of these alt takes twice, but they really help illuminate what all these fellas got out of their work together, and why they kept crossing each other’s paths in various ways over the years.

When everything else is said and done, though, the version to listen to most often is the good ol’ original. 

“Te Iwi E - Takapuna Grammar School Leonessa (Live at The Big Sing 2025)