All Things Must Pass

From Wikipedia:

“All Things Must Pass” is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, issued in November 1970 as the title track to his triple album of the same name. Billy Preston released the song originally – as “All Things (Must) Pass” – on his Apple Records album Encouraging Words (1970) after the Beatles had rehearsed the song in January 1969 but did not include it on their Let It Be album. The composition reflects the influence of the Band’s sound and communal music-making on Harrison, after he had spent time with the group in Woodstock, New York, in late 1968. In his lyrics, Harrison drew inspiration from Timothy Leary’s poem “All Things Pass”, a psychedelic adaptation of the Tao Te Ching.

The subject matter deals with the transient nature of human existence, and in Harrison’s All Things Must Pass reading, words and music combine to reflect impressions of optimism against fatalism. On release, together with Barry Feinstein’s album cover image, commentators viewed the song as a statement on the Beatles’ break-up. Widely regarded as one of Harrison’s finest compositions, its passing on by his former band has provoked comment from biographers and reviewers. Music critic Ian MacDonald described “All Things Must Pass” as “the wisest song never recorded by the Beatles”, while author Simon Leng considers it “perhaps the greatest solo Beatle composition”. The recording was co-produced by Phil Spector in London; it features an orchestral arrangement by John Barham and contributions from musicians such as Ringo Starr, Pete Drake, Bobby Whitlock, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann. […]

Although the Beatles did not formally record the song, a 1969 solo demo by Harrison appears on their compilation Anthology 3 (1996) and as a band undertook over 70 takes of the track. An early version from the All Things Must Pass sessions was released on Harrison’s posthumous compilation Early Takes: Volume 1 in 2012. Paul McCartney performed “All Things Must Pass” at the Concert for George tribute in November 2002, a year after Harrison’s death. Jim James, the Waterboys, Klaus Voormann and Yusuf Islam, and Sloan Wainwright are among the other artists who have covered the song. […]

The Beatles never formally recorded “All Things Must Pass,” but they rehearsed it multiple times during the “Get Back” sessions in January 1969. However, Paul McCartney and John Lennon appeared unenthusiastic about the track.

From Wikipedia:

In contrast with the creative equality [George Harrison] enjoyed with Dylan and the Band in Woodstock, Harrison returned to the Beatles to find the same discordant atmosphere that had blighted the White Album sessions in 1968. Early on during the Get Back rehearsals – and tellingly, music journalist John Harris comments, before the arrival that day of Lennon and his partner Yoko Ono – Harrison enthused to Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney about the Band’s camaraderie and group ethos, saying: “They’re just living, and they happen to be a band as well.”

I got back to England for Christmas and then … we were to start on the thing which turned into Let It Be. And straight away, again, it was just weird vibes. You know, I found I was starting to be able to enjoy being a musician, but the moment I got back with the Beatles it was just too difficult.

George Harrison – Interview with Crawdaddy, 1977

On 2 January, day one of the Twickenham film shoot, Harrison introduced “All Things Must Pass”, and the band worked on the song intermittently over the next four days of filming. In the search for a suitable musical arrangement, Harrison stressed his preference for a “feel” akin to the Band, a suggestion that resulted in Lennon switching from guitar to Lowrey organ, a keyboard favoured by the Band’s Garth Hudson. During the Twickenham rehearsals, the Beatles also discussed the idea of Harrison performing “All Things Must Pass” solo for inclusion in the proposed film.

They returned to the song briefly towards the end of January, by which time the project had moved location to their own Apple Studio, in central London – one of Harrison’s conditions for rejoining the Beatles after his temporary walkout on 10 January. Although the band gave a fair amount of time to “All Things Must Pass”, it was ultimately put aside, just as other Harrison compositions including “Old Brown Shoe“, “Isn’t It a Pity”, “Let It Down” and “I Me Mine” received a lukewarm reception, particularly from Lennon. David Fricke of Rolling Stone has referred to this period as a “struggle” for Harrison “against the patronizing restrictions of writing within and for the Beatles”. Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt, authors of Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles’ Let It Be Disaster, observe that Lennon and McCartney routinely rejected Harrison’s songs, “even though some were far better than their own”.

The Beatles never formally recorded “All Things Must Pass”, and only rehearsal takes circulate on bootleg compilations from the sessions. The Fly on the Wall bonus disc accompanying the McCartney-instigated Let It Be… Naked album (2003) includes a snippet of the Beatles indulging in some Band-like chorusing on the song. […]

At the “Concert for George” tribute to George Harrison, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2002, Paul McCartney sang “All Things Must Pass“, backed by a large band that included Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo Starr:

On November 29th, 2002, exactly a year after his death, George Harrison was honored at London’s Royal Albert Hall. […]

For weeks, Harrison’s friends rehearsed at London’s Asylum Studios. Clapton was impressed with McCartney’s demeanor: “Those guys’ inability to express love for one another was classic,” he says of the Beatles. “The exception is Ringo, who says [in the film], ‘I love George, and George loved me.’ That wouldn’t have been so easy for Paul.“

McCartney shines, playing ukulele and duetting with Clapton on “Something,” and singing lead on “All Things Must Pass.” In rehearsals, says Clapton, “Paul had to admit that he didn’t know ‘All Things Must Pass,’ and that was an awful thing to confront. It was huge humble-pie stuff for Paul to be among these people who he may have thought had a better relationship with George than he did. But I believe Paul missed George as much as — if not more than — anybody.” […]

From RollingStone, October 9, 2003

Lyrics

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

“All Things Must Pass” has been played in 16 concerts and 2 soundchecks.

Latest concerts where “All Things Must Pass” has been played

Going further

Michael R Davis • 2 years ago

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