Bangla Desh (song): Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 79: | Line 79: | ||
|align="left"|[[UK Singles Chart]]<ref name="ukchart">{{cite web|title=Chart Stats George Harrison - Bangla Desh|publisher=[[The Official Charts Company]]|url=http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5669|accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> |
|align="left"|[[UK Singles Chart]]<ref name="ukchart">{{cite web|title=Chart Stats George Harrison - Bangla Desh|publisher=[[The Official Charts Company]]|url=http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5669|accessdate=9 September 2009}}</ref> |
||
|align="center"|10 |
|align="center"|10 |
||
|- |
|||
|Canadian [[RPM (magazine)|''RPM 100'']] Singles Chart<ref name=>{{cite web|title= Library and Archives Canada|publisher=|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.7787&type=2&interval=24&PHPSESSID=tflvluuu3gmgse7n7epkm834m4|accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref> |
|||
| style="text-align:center;"|13 |
|||
|- |
|||
|Belgian Singles Chart<ref name="bechart71">{{cite web|title= Song artist 223 - George Harrison - Tsort pages|publisher=|url=http://tsort.info/music/azncfw.htm|accessdate=5 March 2012}}</ref> |
|||
| style="text-align:center;"|14 |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
|align="left"|U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref name="Billboard_singles">{{cite web|title=allmusic ((( George Harrison > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))|publisher=allmusic.com|url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4444/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}}|accessdate=26 August 2009}}</ref> |
|align="left"|U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref name="Billboard_singles">{{cite web|title=allmusic ((( George Harrison > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))|publisher=allmusic.com|url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p4444/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}}|accessdate=26 August 2009}}</ref> |
||
Revision as of 00:02, 5 March 2012
| "Bangla Desh" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Deep Blue" |
"Bangla Desh" is a George Harrison song that was inspired by Ravi Shankar and written in response to the disasters, both political and natural, that had occurred in East Pakistan from November 1970 through the first half of 1971. Released as a non-album charity single at the end of July '71 − just days before the Harrison-sponsored Concert For Bangladesh shows at Madison Square Garden − the single peaked at number 10 in the United Kingdom and number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1]
Background
"Bangla Desh" starts with the lyrics "My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyes / Told me that he wanted help, before his country dies.'" These lines refer to the conversation Harrison had with sitar virtuoso, mentor and friend Ravi Shankar, during which the latter asked Harrison to help his war-torn country in any way he could.[2] The former Beatle responded by cutting short his work on Apple proteges Badfinger's new album,[3][4] and setting about recruiting friends and colleagues to help him stage an all-star benefit concert for the victims of the civil war, floods and famine.[5] A month of frantic activity ensued as Harrison shuttled between New York, Los Angeles and London attending to the details.[6] Of his dedication to the Bengalis' cause, he would state in his autobiography eight years later: "I got tired of people saying 'But what can I do?' Also, the reluctance of the press to report the full details created the need to bring attention to it."[7]
Ravi Shankar would also cut a benefit disc at this time − the Harrison-produced Joi Bangla EP, accompanied by sarod master Ali Akbar Khan and Shankar's regular tabla player, Alla Rakha.[8][9]
Recording
With so little time to begin rehearsing for the UNICEF shows, the "Bangla Desh" single was rush-recorded at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, California, in early July.[10] Phil Spector again co-produced, as he had on the ex-Beatle's hugely successful triple album All Things Must Pass the previous year. Joining them in the studio was Harrison's former bandmate Ringo Starr, along with Leon Russell and others. According to Harrison, it was Russell's idea to give the song its emotive intro − to explain the refugees' desperate plight, thus setting out the reason for the later pleas to "help us save some lives" and "give some bread, get the starving fed'".[11]
"Bangla Desh" marked the first occasion that Harrison worked with Jim Horn, the saxophonist/flute player who would go on to become a regular collaborator ("Living in the Material World", "You", "Got My Mind Set on You" and the Traveling Wilburys'"Wilbury Twist" being prime examples). It was also the first time that Starr drummed alongside Jim Keltner, so forming a drummer pairing that featured regularly on future Harrison and Starr solo projects. Together with Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan and the group Badfinger, all the musicians at the session would join Harrison and Shankar on stage in New York on 1 August.
The B-side, "Deep Blue", was written in July 1970 during a period when Harrison was visiting his dying mother in hospital.[12][13] In the Bangladesh context, its lyrics discussing "tired bodies full of sickness and pain" made it seem a perfect, chilling companion to the hard-charging lead song.
Release and legacy
The single was issued on 28 July in the United States (as Apple 1836), with a UK release two days later (R 5912);[14] it achieved considerable, though not spectacular, success: number 10 in Britain, number 23 in America.[15] More importantly, as Shankar noted years later, now "the whole world knew the name of Bangladesh".[16] Even the Harrison-hostile pair of Carr and Tyler at the NME conceded that "Bangla Desh" had "performed the service for which it was specifically intended'.[17] More recently, author Simon Leng deems it as having "as much raw energy as anything the Plastic Ono Band ever offered".[18]
Despite the song having been a sizeable hit − not to mention its substantial legacy as the first-ever rock 'n roll charity single, a decade plus before Band Aid and USA for Africa − "Bangla Desh" has all but been ignored by record-company repackagers since 1971. Over a period of 40 years, the studio version has only received an album release on the 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison, which has yet to be remastered since the CD format appeared in the early 1980s. Thankfully, Harrison's highly charged live version, with which he closed the two UNICEF shows, is available on the 2005 re-release of The Concert for Bangladesh.
A popular song in its own right,[19] "Deep Blue" was finally reissued when it was included as a bonus track on the 2006 remaster of Harrison's Living in the Material World album.
In 2004, "Bangla Desh" was played during the final episode of the BBC television series Himalaya with Michael Palin. Six years later, AOL Radio listeners placed it at number 10 in a poll to decide the ten best post-Beatle Harrison songs.[20]
Personnel
The following musicians contributed to the recording of "Bangla Desh".[21]
- George Harrison – vocals, rhythm guitar, slide guitar, Moog synthesizer*
- Leon Russell – piano, harmonium*
- Jim Horn – tenor sax, baritone sax, horn arrangement
- Klaus Voorman – bass
- Ringo Starr – drums
- Jim Keltner – drums
- Chuck Findley – trumpet
* denotes unconfirmed credits. Harrison biographer Simon Leng lists Billy Preston as having played organ,[22] but this is unlikely given Preston's distinctive style and the unobtrusive presence here of the organ-like keyboard (which, in fact, sounds more like a harmonium), and also that the instrument is heard only during the song's brief intro. Similarly, during the second half of the introduction (beginning with the line "Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try"), what sounds like orchestrated strings can be heard; given the speed with which "Bangla Desh" was written, arranged, recorded and mixed, this part is likely to have been played on a Moog synthesizer, a device that Harrison frequently toyed with during the final years of the Beatles and in the early '70s.
Chart positions
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swiss Singles Chart[23] | 2 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart[24] | 3 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[25] | 7 |
| UK Singles Chart[26] | 10 |
| Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart[27] | 13 |
| Belgian Singles Chart[28] | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[29] | 23 |
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart[30] | 47 |
External links
- Performance of "Bangla Desh" from the Concert for Bangladesh
- AOL Radio, "10 Best George Harrison Songs"
References
- ^ Keith Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970−2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2002), p. 49.
- ^ Olivia Harrison, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Abrams (New York, NY, 2011), p. 286.
- ^ Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006), pp 111, 114.
- ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, pp 39−40.
- ^ Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003), p. 308.
- ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, pp 38, 39, 43.
- ^ George Harrison, I Me Mine, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002), p. 220.
- ^ Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, p. 112.
- ^ Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961−1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976), p. 103.
- ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 38.
- ^ George Harrison, I Me Mine, p. 220.
- ^ George Harrison, I Me Mine, p. 212.
- ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 12.
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik, All Together Now, p. 103.
- ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 49.
- ^ Olivia Harrison, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, p. 286.
- ^ Roy Carr & Tony Tyler, The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Trewin Copplestone Publishing (London, 1978), p. 96.
- ^ Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, p. 113.
- ^ Clayson, George Harrison, p. 319.
- ^ AOL Radio, "10 Best George Harrison Songs", http://www.aolradioblog.com/2010/04/03/best-george-harrison-songs/ (retrieved 15 February 2012).
- ^ Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, pp 112−13.
- ^ Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, p. 112.
- ^ "George Harrison - Bangla Desh - hitparade.ch". Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- ^ "norwegiancharts.com George Harrison - Bangla Desh". VG-lista. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- ^ "dutchcharts.nl - George Harrison - Bangla Desh". MegaCharts. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- ^ "Chart Stats George Harrison - Bangla Desh". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
- ^ "Library and Archives Canada". Retrieved 5 March 2012.
- ^ "Song artist 223 - George Harrison - Tsort pages". Retrieved 5 March 2012.
- ^ "allmusic ((( George Harrison > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- ^ "George Harrison - Chart Archives on the Japanese Oricon Top 100". Homepage1.nifty.com. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
