When it was over, George Harrison rarely got too sentimental about his time with The Beatles. But he also didn’t shy away from commenting on it in his songs, even if he did so ever so subtly at times.
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“The Light That Has Lighted The World” stands out as one of the most moving songs from Harrison’s 1973 album Living In The Material World. It reflects his feelings on how people viewed the changes that he underwent upon entering the world of fortune and fame.
Heading for the “Light”
Because All Things Must Pass was such a powerhouse of an album, the LPs that followed it in the George Harrison catalog sometimes didn’t get the respect they deserved. This is especially true about Living In The Material World. It’s a far more muted record than its predecessor. But it’s no less compelling.
Harrison included “The Light That Has Lighted The World” on that album. He had originally written it as part of a series of songs that he intended for Cilla Black. Black was a recording star in Great Britain who came from the same environs as The Beatles, which led to a long association between the acts.
Since he had earmarked the song “When The Song Is Sung” as a single for Black, he figured he’d write her a B-side as well. To do that, he imagined a topic that might be relevant to Black. And he considered the fact that she, like Harrison, had gone from humble beginnings to the height of fame. That transformation served as the focus for “The Light That Has Lighted The World”.
Harrison had found that many people who knew him before he got famous cast aspersions on what he had become after the fact. As always, he philosophized about their reaction, giving his conclusion in his book I Me Mine:
“The strange thing about change is that people are always saying ‘Oh he’s changed’ as if change is a sin, but the whole of life is a change: from the morning to the evening; from spring to winter – everything is a change – from birth to death; life is change.”
Exploring the Lyrics of “The Light That Has Lighted The World”
“I’ve heard how some people have said that I’ve changed,” George Harrison begins in “The Light That Has Lighted The World”, immediately setting the premise. Their hangups actually seem to cause them unnecessary anguish. “The thoughts in their heads manifest on their brows,” Harrison notes. “Like bad scars from ill feelings/They themselves arouse.”
In the second verse, Harrison pities those who can’t accept the transformations inherent in living. Their need for stasis disrupts the natural order of things: “As if nature itself they’d prefer rearranged.” He considers them on another level, and not a good one: “So hard to move on when you’re down in a hole.”
By contrast, he not only accepts change in people; he cherishes it. “I’m grateful to anyone that is happy or free,” Harrison sings. “For giving me hope while I’m looking to see/The light that has lighted the world.”
That last line is one of those cosmic phrases that George Harrison often conjured in his songs. Change is to be cheered, not feared. With “The Light That Has Lighted The World”, George Harrison made that point quite eloquently.
Photo by Robert Altman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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