(Personal reflections
inspired by Beatles songs)
Song: “Wah-Wah”
Album: All Things Must Pass (George Harrison solo album)
Release Date: November
1970
As a corporate product the Beatles brand stands alone in the music
department for having generated an astonishing treasure trove of collectors’
items. Back in my grade school years, one of my best friends, Pete (who remains
a close friend) lived in an entertaining, welcoming household, and I would
often visit him there. Pete’s only sibling, his older brother Paul, was an avid
collector of all things Beatles, particularly their records. Paul had every
Beatles vinyl release you could imagine, as well as all the discs from their
solo-careers. There was the rare and elusive “Butcher Cover” album. There was
John and Yoko’s “2 Virgins” album (the two posing naked on the cover). There
was the entirety of the Beatles 45 (rpm) singles’ releases, with accompanying
picture sleeves (records are not worth much without the sleeves). There were
releases from Germany, Japan, the UK and other countries. There were bootlegs. All
in all, I’m talking up to 100 albums and an equal number of singles, all in
pristine condition (seeing as they were under lock and chain and hermetically
sealed…. just a slight exaggeration there).
Every so often, Pete and I would go into his brother’s room and
thumb through those albums (sometimes with Paul acting as curator). It was an
awe-inspiring collection which - among other effects - gave me a far greater
perspective into the immenseness of the Beatles popularity than I would have
had otherwise. At some point I became impressed enough to take on the hobby myself
for a spell (the only way to do that in those days was to go to collectors’
conventions, which would, from time to time, make their way thru Boston). I
still have my handful of singles - with picture sleeves of course - which bring
back some nice reflections on the infrequent occasion that I revisit them.
One album in Paul’s collection that stood out for me was George
Harrison’s 1970 triple disc, All Things Must Pass, which was released
less than a year after the Beatles disbanded; his first solo effort. I’d find
myself staring at George on the cover, he, sitting on a stool in a field with a
handful of gnome-like garden ornaments positioned around him. It was hard to make out that this was George
at first, which had nothing to do with camera angle or special effects, or even
his rather lengthy beard (which had him fitting right in with the gnomes). It
was simply that he looked different than he did in any of his Beatles-related
photos and footage, even those from the late years. I mean very different (this
difference was confirmed for me not long after, when I barely recognized a
beardless Harrison during his only Saturday Night Live appearance in
1976). And although I had nothing in my vocabulary at the time to describe how
I felt about Harrison’s appearance on that cover, today I can do it with one
word…. liberated. This look fascinated me (still does, actually). George Harrison’s
appearance was quite stunning, even radiant. The type of look we all strive for
indirectly through inner peace.
As with Bob Dylan’s albums John Wesley Harding, Slow Train
Coming, Saved and Shot of Love as well as Pete Townshend’s Who
Came First (and to a slightly lesser degree, the Who’s Tommy and
Townshend’s Empty Glass), George Harrison’s first solo album will
forever have the deserved reputation as being a deeply spiritual piece of work
(side note: Dylan and Townshend are the only other 2 famous musicians I can
think of in whom I’ve ever recognized that same look of George’s, specifically during the periods when they
were releasing the albums mentioned here).
I was not aware of this spiritual focus at first, but not soon after
discovering the album in my friend Pete’s brothers’ collection, I watched as
Paul presented All Things Must Pass to one of our parish priests for a
listen. I could see then that Pete’s brother had thought highly enough of the
spiritual nature of the album to have the desire to do this. That moment tuned
me in quite a bit more to All Things Must Pass, which would soon make the
record one of my first solo-Beatle album purchases.
One could argue that George Harrison was the biggest loser in the
breaking up of the Beatles (I look forward to debating this with my cousin’s
Tom and Tim, who have been fantastic at diving deeper into my blog-entry
talking-points after the fact). After all, George was seriously climbing the
ladder as a songwriter in the Beatles swansong years (“Old Brown Shoe”, “While
My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Something”, “Here Comes the Sun”) and his bandmate's musicianship
and collective instinct - based on years of working together - would likely have
done him wonders if they stuck it out for at least a few more albums (Harrison
was only 26 years old when the band broke up).
Aside from the songs just mentioned (“Something”, etc.), George
had written a significant amount of other new music for the Beatles in 1968 and
1969, but because he was always regarded as the 3rd writer in the
band, Harrison’s input was never given the same attention as John and Paul’s, and
so his contributions were often relegated to one or two songs per album (by the
way, the only other organically-formed band - i.e. youth constructed - that comes to mind who had 3 exceptional songwriters
is R.E.M. Can anyone else think of another?). Much of Beatle George’s pent-up, unused
music would end up on All Things Must Pass, being the key reason why it
is a triple album.
Yes, George Harrison may have been deprived the most in terms of
the timing of the Beatles breakup. And yet, in the same breath, one could also
argue that Harrison gained the most from the Beatles breakup. It’s all in that
liberated look I see on his face and in his demeanor on the cover of All
Things Must Pass. By the late 60s, the Beatles had become a straitjacket on
Harrison’s personal and professional growth, particularly his burgeoning spirituality.
George was also gaining a new perspective on band dynamics by hanging out with
the likes of Bob Dylan and the Band in Woodstock. He saw the freedom they had
that he was lacking. Anyhow, I think both sides of that argument (whether
Harrison gained or lost from the Beatles breakup) hold merit.
I have great respect for musicians who express faith in their
music. At some point in this series I will focus on at least one of those faith-filled
songs from All Things Must Pass for an entry all its own (as I did with
Townshend and Dylan in earlier series’).
Here though, I want to take a minor detour by focusing on another song off
the album, “Wah-Wah”, in order to expand on that ‘liberated’ theme. In my mind,
spirituality is there in “Wah-Wah”, albeit in a more ambiguous fashion, and so
I am not straying all that far off the enlightened path here. No matter how I
slice it though, here is one definitive truism: “Wah-Wah” has for decades been
one of my favorite Beatles-affiliated songs. This week I tried to get a better
sense on why, and I think I’ve succeeded….
The term “Wah-Wah” can be translated here to “Headache” as in….
“you are giving me a headache”. The song
was written during the Beatles 1969 “Get Back” sessions, when Harrison quit the
band for a short spell due to disagreements and infighting. “Wah-Wah” is
specifically directed at Paul McCartney, who apparently was being heavy-handed
and overbearing in his musical perfectionism, making way too many suggestions
to Harrison about the latter’s guitar contributions for his songs (there has
also been suggestions that “Wah-Wah” was at least partly directed at John
Lennon, who at times could be a bit dismissive of Harrison’s songwriting skills).
Harrison felt unappreciated. This feeling is palpable in “Wah-Wah” when he
passionately sings the lines:
“Oh, you don’t see me crying,
Hey baby, you don’t hear me sighing
Oh, no, no, no, no”
However, there are other things going on in this song; deeper
liberating sorts of things, which lifts “Wah-Wah” to higher grounds. For,
Harrison’s liberation transformation was not only sprung through him moving on
from the suffocation of the Beatles environment in their latter years. George
was also walking away from much of the general social conventions expected of
someone in modern Western culture (hence the spiritual meaning of the song, at least in part). This all plays
out in the very next set of lines in “Wah-Wah”, which go:
“And I know how sweet life can be
If I keep myself free”
These lines are short and ‘sweet’, but without proper context, you
really can’t make this kind of connection. However, listening to the entirety
of All Things Must Pass, one can get a good sense for what Harrison is
talking about here in these 2 lyrical lines. The man was taking a deep dive
into life’s most profound questions. What does it all mean? This was heavy
stuff for my younger self to take in.
Those 2 lines also shift the song-meaning of “Wah-Wah” from a
negative vibe to a positive one. And as I listened this week, I also concluded
that these lines put a glorious cap on the entire Beatles narrative, at least through
the George Harrison lens. In other words, the lyrics are testament to the fact
that the Beatles story in Harrison’s mind would not be in vain, despite his
need to move on. I liken it to a son or
daughter telling his/her parents that their years of parenting paid off: “You
done me right Mom and Dad (being the Beatles as a whole in this case).
Now it’s time for me to take what you have taught me and run with it on my own”.
Perhaps this is why Paul McCartney could bring himself to co-perform
“Wah-Wah” in The Concert for George on the one-year anniversary of
Harrison’s death (which remains my second favorite concert video after the Bob
Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration). Knowing smiles
and smirks were flying all over the stage, from Paul, to Eric Clapton, to
Ringo, to Tom Petty, to Jeff Lynne, to George’s son Dhani (a spitting image of
a young George…it must have been mind boggling to Ringo & Paul being on
stage with him). Yes, being there on stage took some courage on McCartney’s
part.
The song “Wah-Wah” could apply to anything we need to move on from,
or signal out, or compartmentalize. It could apply to compartmentalizing irreconcilable
differences with someone you know. It could apply to moving on from
materialism. It could apply to moving on from bad decisions. It could apply to signaling
out dastardly leadership. It could apply to signaling out fake news. The song
fits many bills.
George Harrison performed “Wah-Wah” live at the Concert for
Bangladesh on August 1, 1971 (I believe it is the first ever rock-benefit
concert, which he organized). In the process he did a pretty darn good job
recreating that studio-recording version's “Wall of Sound” on stage. The Concert for Bangladesh version ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFUKVZn8DsI ), the original studio recording, and the live version performed
in the Concert for George by Harrison’s friends and family all work equally
for me.
What George Harrison showed me as a young dude is that it’s
possible to transform your life. I’m
forever grateful.
- Pete
Concluding Note: This being the 9th Fab Foundations
entry, I did ponder some the notion of having it centered on the White Album’s beyond-bizarre
“Number 9”, but in the end my brain just could not go there. In replacement was a week of listening to All
Things Must Pass. Yeah, like passing
on that original idea! I think I made the
right decision.
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