George Harrison wasn’t afraid of revealing the vulnerabilities and flaws in his music. In 1974, his marriage to Pattie Boyd was unraveling, and he struggled with alcoholism and drugs. While Harrison didn’t speak about this time often, he did write a song that expressed what he went through during this period. Pattie Boyd and George Harrison married in 1966. Boyd experienced Beatlemania’s highs and lows and the band’s eventual downfall. She left Harrison in 1974, but the pair didn’t officially divorce until 1977. She then married Harrison’s friend, Eric Clapton, in 1979. After Harrison and Boyd’s marriage unraveled in 1974, the former Beatle was in a dark place where he dealt with drinking and drug use. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Harrison admitted he went on a “bender” after he split from Boyd, and many of the songs on Dark Horse, including “Simply Shady”, are manifestations of his experience during this period.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com