3 Classics From George Harrison’s Overlooked Masterpiece

Many rightly recognize All Things Must Pass as George Harrison’s solo masterpiece.

But Harrison followed it in 1973 with Living in the Material World, which details his personal and spiritual struggles. The recording differs from the dense and ambitious production of All Things Must Pass with its stripped-back and earthy performances of Harrison contemplating a higher power.

Mostly self-produced, Harrison also returned to the sitar, which he’d abandoned for years. Apart from the religious pronouncements, Harrison’s life had descended into an abyss of sex and drugs. Legal issues surrounding The Beatles and mismanaged funds raised from his Concert for Bangladesh left him in despair. So he turned his despair into yet another great work.

Though it was a commercial success upon release, Living in the Material World was quickly forgotten. And its 50th anniversary arrived last year without recognition. But Dhani and Olivia Harrison have overseen the release of a newly mixed and expanded version of the album, shining a light on an overlooked masterpiece.

Here are three classics from Harrison’s equally timeless Living in the Material World.

“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”

In 1971, Harrison raised awareness and money for millions of refugees fleeing East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War with a pair of benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. Then he took a break. During this period, the former Beatle also dedicated himself more fervently to Hinduism. “Give Me Love” lives in the same spirit as “My Sweet Lord,” and Harrison said the song just fell from his lips. “Sometimes you open your mouth, and you don’t know what you are going to say, and whatever comes out is the starting point,” he said in his 1980 autobiography I, Me, Mine.

Give me hope, help me cope with this heavy load
Trying to touch and reach you with heart and soul

“Be Here Now”

Harrison’s mother Louise died in July 1970. Though “Be Here Now” evokes a more universal sentiment, you can hear a personal plea to the present in this droning hymn. He said he wrote the song while nearly falling asleep. The track’s dreamlike state reveals a higher consciousness, something imagined, contemplated, and centered on a mind that wants to wander ’round a corner. Harrison had borrowed his song title from a story in Ram Dass’ 1971 book of the same name. The story describes Richard Alpert’s transformation into Baba Ram Dass.

The past was, be here now
And it’s not what it was before it was

“Living in the Material World”

Inspired by the teachings of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Harrison describes our bodies more as vessels existing in the physical world. It separates consciousness from what’s carrying it. We exist as passengers, travelers, just passing through, or so the teaching goes. But he also mentions how he met John, Paul, and “Ritchie” in the material world. (Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey.) Apart from a deeper, causal meaning, Harrison said the title just sounded good to sing. Sometimes that’s enough.

As I’m fated for the material world
Get frustrated in the material world
Senses never gratified
Only swelling like a tide

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