Living In The

Material World

George Harrison: Living In The Material World

Y'know, as a young teenager, I actually purchased the Bangla Desh single that George Harrison released in August 1971. Standalone, it was by no means a great song...but I liked it...and in the context of The Concert For Bangla Desh, it became significantly more powerful. 

However, I found that I really loved the b-side, a jaunty little acoustic number called Deep Blue. I played it a lot more than Bangla Desh and it had bizarre, very dark lyrics that I didn't really seem to understand, other than literally. I mean, why write a jolly pop song about such awful stuff?

"...When you stand here
Watch tired bodies full of sickness
And pain that shows you just how helpless
You really are
When you get down to the truth
It hurts me

I'm feeling deep blue
Feeling deep blue..."

       Deep Blue

Later I discovered that Deep Blue was written in reaction to his father's death from cancer. Well, that explained a lot.

Then when the laid-back Give Me Love, the first single from Living In The Material World was topping charts around the world, I happened to hear the b-side of the single, Miss O'Dell, and again fell in love with another strange, almost comic Harrison toon with silly lyrics and...George cracking up while he sang them.

It was almost as if George was a little embarrassed by his lighter side and while knowing that they were too good to toss away, dismissed them as trivial. For me, that was a real shame, because they made George so much more human than the severe trainee guru that he seemed to feel the need to present himself as.

Couple those two tracks with the three he donated to Ringo Starr's 1973 album Ringo:

• the hit-single, co-written with Ringo, Photograph
• You And Me, Babe co-written with Beatle roadie Mal Evans &
• the superb sea shanty Sail Away Raymond

...you've got 5 tracks, which, with Give Me Love making 6 altogether, was half an album of uplifting, smart pop music that just needed a little bit of work on the lyrics to be top-grade.

Top that up with the best parts of Living In The Material World:

Living In The Material World  a krishna-fied autobiography set to a nutty looping beat...(and yes, Madonna's chorus to Material Girl did rip it off...but Harrison didn't sue her!)

"...Met them all here in the material world
John and Paul here in the material world
Though we started out quite poor
we got Richie on a tour...
[Ringo drum fill]..."

   Living In The Material World

Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (should have been a single)

Try Some, Buy Some, strange stop-start chord changes that are just so unusual, and lyrics about drugs powerful enough for David Bowie to cover on his 2003 Reality album:  

"...Way back in time, someone said try some
Now buy some,
I bought some
After a while
When I had tried them, denied them
I opened my eyes and I saw you..."

      Try Some, Buy Some 

Sue Me, Sue You Blues, a wry comment on The Beatles long-running financial squabbles

"...When you sue me and I sue you
Swing your partners all get screwed
Bring your lawyer and I'll bring mine
Get togerther, we'll all have a bad time
I've got the sue me, sue you blues..."

         Sue Me, Sue You Blues 

...and That Is All, a fairly good end-of album song that strangely seems to be in too high a register for him to really sing comfortably.

Living In The Material World promotional poster

O.K. what I'm trying to say is that Living In The Material World could have been a really fine, strangely melodic album if George hadn't hidden away the two b-sides and given the three songs to Ringo. 

What we'd have got would have been a gentle rock album with some curious acoustic guitar tracks. It would have been very mellow, very self-contained, a far cry from the big sound that Phil Spector used on All Things Must Pass although a worthy, distinctive follow-up. 

What we got instead were four other songs that were big on the Krishna consciousness but not particularly memorable, making the album a trifle preachy and a bit uninteresting on the music side. What a shame! Though Living In The Material World was a chart-topper, it still sold disappointingly and George would have a mostly continued decline through the rest of the 1970s. Shucks! Bad career move, George.

However, with the remastered version, Deep Blue & Miss O'Dell are now included, so burn a new version with the three tracks from Ringo...and you'll see what I mean...Living In The Material World could have been hot! 

Actually, it could have been even better. He had a track, You, hanging around, from aborted sessions from 1971 with Phil Spector's wife, Ronnie, which he released a few years later on 1975's disappointing Extra Texture. It's fabulous, urgent, like his hardly remembered mini-masterpiece, What Is Life, from All Things Must Pass.

So, there you have it,  Living In The Material World, George's almost really interesting album. 

George Harrison: Living In The Material World

"...I think overall, this is his best. Yes, All Things Must Pass contains his best songs but it also has a lot of filler tracks. This one does not. It has a unique beauty to it in the writing and production. Buy it now!!!..." Amazon reviewer Jimmy DeLoche "redSVTneck"

"...Some songs are slow and require a bit of listening. As with some of Harrison's solo work the hidden jewels are in the mix. (i.e. guitar parts, backing vocals, piano riff etc. etc.) It's worth the listen. Check out the guitar and sax parts on the title track. So cool..." Amazon reviewer mirrortime

"...The remastered version sounds wonderful...the booklet is very nice with extensive liner notes, lyrics, and lots of pictures..." Amazon reviewer Third World Symphony 

...Living In The Material (World's) ...opening song, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth), inspired me to express my feelings at quarterly planning meetings and with my therapist rather than by yelling at others..." Amazon reviewer The Footpath Cowboy "rockerusa2002"

George Harrison: Living In The Material World, enhanced edition

For more info, see:

• wikipedia Living In The Material World

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