George Harrison Called This Solo Track a “Prayer and Personal Statement,” but It's Not the ...

Imbuing spiritual philosophy into music was a practice George Harrison started back when he was still a mop-topped Beatle with tracks like “Within You Without You” and “I Me Mine”, so it’s no surprise that he continued this songwriting tradition into his solo career. In fact, two of his first major wins as a solo artist were spiritual numbers, one of which he later referred to as a “prayer and personal statement.”

For many folks, their minds might wander to Harrison’s first No. 1 hit post-Beatles, “My Sweet Lord”. The 1970 chart-topper sounds like a word-for-word prayer, right down to the “hallelujah” refrains. But the one Harrison felt was an even stronger impression of his spiritual state was his second No. 1: the 1973 track “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” from Living In The Material World.

Whereas “My Sweet Lord” was adoring and reverent, “Give Me Love”, as the title would suggest, was more about his hopes and immaterial desires. “Give me love, give me peace on earth, give me light, give me life,” the song begins. “Keep me from birth, give me hope, help me cope with this heavy load.”  George Harrison Called “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” His Personal Statement.

No two songs ever come into being in the same way. George Harrison sat with some songs for years, whether because he was still revising them or because his Beatles bandmates rejected them as a Fab Four tune (often a mix of both). Songs like “Isn’t It A Pity” spent years incubating before Harrison released it on All Things Must Pass, his solo debut. But “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” was notably different.

“Sometimes you open your mouth, and you don’t know what you are going to say,” Harrison wrote in I Me Mine. “And whatever comes out is the starting point. If that happens, and you are lucky, it can usually be turned into a song. This song is a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it.”

Chart performance would indicate that there were plenty of folks who liked it. “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100. It also hit the Top 10 in Harrison’s native United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, and Norway.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis

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