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For the EP by Hunters & Collectors, see World of Stone (EP).

"World of Stone"
Song

"World of Stone" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1975 on Extra Texture (Read All About It), his final album for Apple Records. It was also the B-side of the album's lead single, "You". Harrison wrote the song in 1973 but recorded it two years later, following the negative reception afforded his 1974 North American tour and the Dark Horse album. Due to its context on release, commentators view "World of Stone" as a plea from Harrison for tolerance from his critics. According to some of his biographers, the lyrics reflect Harrison's doubts regarding his devotion to a spiritual path – an apparent crisis of faith that followed his often-unwelcome spiritual pronouncements during the tour, and which permeated his work throughout 1975.

Harrison recorded "World of Stone" in Los Angeles with backing from musicians including David Foster, Gary Wright and Klaus Voormann. The downbeat mood of the recording is typical of the Extra Texture album while also demonstrating the influence of soul music on Harrison's career during this period. Music critics have tended to view the track in an unfavourable light; author Dale Allison describes the song as an "expression of alienation from the world".[1]

Background

Although George Harrison's 1974 album Dark Horse attracted highly favourable reviews from publications such as Melody Maker[2] and Billboard,[3] much of the critical reaction to the album was scathing and focused on his near-completed North American tour with co-headliner Ravi Shankar, which took place in November and December that year.[4][5] Harrison had planned these concerts during a pilgrimage to India in February 1974, midway through a period that was otherwise blighted by rock-star excess and the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd.[6] Author Gary Tillery suggests that Harrison envisaged the tour as a development of his acclaimed 1971 Concert for Bangladesh shows,[7] where Shankar's Indian music set and Harrison's spiritually themed rock songs had been warmly received.[8][9] "Why not carry the idea further and proselytize?" Tillery writes of Harrison's motivation. "One tour might open tens of thousands of minds to the wisdom found in Eastern mysticism."[7]

I'm not up here jumping like a loony for my own sake, but to tell you that the Lord is in your hearts. Somebody's got to tell you.[10]

– George Harrison to a concert audience during his "Dark Horse Tour", November 1974

Harrison's workload throughout 1974, particularly his dedication to setting up Dark Horse Records, as a boutique label to replace the Beatles' fast disintegrating Apple Records,[11][12] left him rushing to prepare for the tour by October while also completing Dark Horse.[13][14] Another issue that compromised Harrison's enthusiasm for the venture was the attention afforded it as the first US tour by a former Beatle,[15][16] resulting in a clash between the artist's self-image and the expectations of many critics and concertgoers.[17] Among the criticism levelled at him during the tour, Harrison's declarations of his Hindu-aligned religious beliefs came across as harangues rather than uplifting messages to his fans,[10] and were symbolic of what NME critic Bob Woffinden later described as a "didactic, sermonising mood" on the singer's part.[18] For the shows' encore, Harrison turned his biggest solo hit, "My Sweet Lord", into an "exhortation to chant God's name", author Alan Clayson writes,[19] be it Krishna, Buddha, Christ or Allah;[20] at times during Shankar's set, he chastised the audience for their lack of respect for Indian music and a God-conscious path.[21] In a rare interview early in the tour, Harrison also used religiosity to defend his decision to feature few Beatles-era songs in the setlist,[22] telling Ben Fong-Torres of Rolling Stone magazine: "Gandhi says create and preserve the image of your choice. The image of my choice is not Beatle George ... My life belongs to the Lord Krishna ... I'm the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna."[23][24]

Simon Leng, Harrison's musical biographer, describes the period immediately following the tour as "open season on Harrison".[25] Whereas Rolling Stone had declared in 1973 that Harrison had "inherited the most precious Beatle legacy – the spiritual aura that the group accumulated",[26] now the magazine's album reviewer attacked him for his "insufferable" spiritual preoccupations.[27][28] Writing in the NME, Woffinden similarly dismissed Dark Horse as "the product of a complete egotist ... someone whose universe is confined to himself. And his guru."[29] Privately, Harrison descended into a "spiritual funk", Tillery writes;[30] another biographer, Joshua Greene, concludes of Harrison's post-tour mindset: "He grappled with the depressing realization that most people simply didn't care to hear about Krishna or maya or getting liberated from birth and death ... A man whose natural instinct was to share his life-transforming discoveries with others had been rejected ..."[31]

Composition

Author Robert Rodriguez suggests that one of the reasons for Harrison's follow-up album, Extra Texture (Read All About It), being rushed into production in April 1975 was to "redeem the artist from negative fallout" created by Dark Horse over the winter of 1974–75.[32][nb 1] Having come up with little new material in the previous six months,[35] Harrison revisited songs he had written or begun writing in 1973, one of which was titled "World of Stone".[36] In his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison explains the message of the song as being "Don't follow me", as outlined in its opening verse:[37]

Wise men you won't be
To follow the like of me
In this world made of stone
Such a long way to go.

Because of its context when he recorded the song, Harrison's biographers view these lyrics as an abdication by Harrison of his previous role as an avatar for Eastern mysticism.[38][39][40] Leng notes the precedent set in the late 1960s, when the Beatles were "recast" as "the bearers of fundamental spiritual truths", yet here Harrison was observing that "rock stars have no cure for the world's spiritual malaise".[40] Ian Inglis interprets this verse as either a "rebuke" to listeners looking to the Beatles for philosophical answers, or a "frank confession" from Harrison that "his own quasi-religious search for enlightenment has brought him little contentment".[41]

The song's second verse serves as Harrison's plea for tolerance from his critics, Leng writes, as on other Extra Texture songs such as "The Answer's at the End":[42]

You may disagree
We all have the right to be
In this world made of stone ...

The eponymous "world of stone" is "the material world under another guise", Leng observes.[40]

Before the first of the song's two instrumental breaks, Harrison states that this world is "Such a long way from home" – home being "spiritual understanding", according to Inglis.[41] This repeated line is viewed as significant by Tillery and by Christian theologian Dale Allison, on the basis of whether Harrison intended the final word to be "home" or the sacred Sanskrit term "Om". Tillery writes: "Where does he find himself? 'Such a long way from home,' he says, but in his autobiography, he renders it, 'Such a long way from OM' – confessing his inner turmoil at having strayed from his faith."[43][nb 2] Allison identifies Extra Texture as being unique among Harrison's post-Beatles solo albums due to its complete avoidance of "positive theological statements", mirroring the "emptiness" of Harrison's apparently faithless existence in 1975, and he interprets this particular lyric as the singer "expressing his remoteness from both God and his ideals".[46] While noting that the ancient Hindu text Bhagavad Gita "identifies the sound 'OM' with Brahman and promises that chanting it with attention on one's deathbed will lead one to 'the highest goal'", Allison writes of its possible inclusion in the context of "World of Stone": "All pontifical pronouncements have ceased. George has come to doubt what matters to him most."[47]

Allison opines that in the lyrics to "World of Stone", Harrison "abandons his earlier religious content for ambiguity",[46] a quality that Leng identifies especially in two lines in the song's final verse: "The wiser you may be / The harder it can be to see".[40] Leng presents three possible interpretations for this couplet: "another play on the blind seer idea"; Harrison's rejection of the concept espoused in his 1968 Beatles composition "The Inner Light", "that knowledge is the key to enlightenment"; or, like his 1975 rebuttal to detractors such as Rolling Stone, "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", a "dig at smartass rock journalists".[48]

In September 1975, during his track-by-track discussion of Extra Texture with BBC Radio 1's Paul Gambaccini,[49] Harrison commented on "World of Stone": "There's not much of a story to it ... it's really just down to saying that everybody has their own opinion and right to be ... It's a nice melody."[50] Author Peter Lavazzoli writes that, after Dark Horse and the ill-fated 1974 tour, Harrison "continued to infuse his work with an implicit spirituality that rarely manifested on the surface".[51] Harrison's 1976 album Thirty Three & 1/3, his first on Dark Horse Records, contains the spiritually themed "Learning How to Love You" and "Dear One", the last of which, Allison writes, "reflects a religious renewal following the melancholy of Extra Texture".[52]

Recording

The sessions for Extra Texture took place at A&M Studios in Hollywood,[53] starting in the third week of April 1975.[54] Harrison taped the basic track for "World of Stone" on 2 May,[55] with backing musicians David Foster (piano), Gary Wright (organ), Jesse Ed Davis (electric guitar), Klaus Voormann (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums).[56] A friend of Harrison's since the Beatles' years in Hamburg, Voormann was dismayed at the prevalence of drugs at the sessions;[33][57] recognising that Harrison was "bottoming out from events of the past couple of years", according to Rodriguez, Voormann's participation on "World of Stone" marked a relatively rare appearance by the German bass player at the Extra Texture sessions.[58] With regard to this song and the similarly downbeat[59][60] "Grey Cloudy Lies", Harrison's girlfriend at the time (and later, his wife), Olivia Arias, recalls that Harrison "was being very hard on himself" during this period.[61]

"World of Stone" is typical of its parent album's keyboard-based sound,[62] which "tended toward moody, piano-driven soul-jazz", in Leng's estimation.[63] The recording opens with Foster's piano, which also provides the main instrumentation over the first two verses, before what author Elliot Huntley describes as the song's "sped up second section", featuring the full band.[64] Leng suggests that this structure partly mirrors that of Harrison's 1971 charity single "Bangla Desh": "a slow explanatory introduction followed by a stomping rocker – except that 'World of Stone' is more softshoe shuffle than stomp".[40] Unlike "Bangla Desh", the song returns briefly to this sparse, piano-led setting, over which Harrison sings falsetto,[65] similar to the two "smoochy codas" in "The Answer's at the End".[66] Gary Wright's gospel-inflected Hammond organ becomes prominent during the two more-uptempo, instrumental sections,[40] which feature extended guitar soloing from Harrison and a shouted, crowd-like backing chorus.[64][nb 3] Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter write that overdubbing on the basic track took place on 2 June and that the song was "revisited" on 27 June;[36] although the album's musicians credits provide no personnel for the chorus singing,[70] Madinger and Easter list Harrison, Davis, Foster and Attitudes singer Paul Stallworth as participating in the 2 June session.[55][nb 4]

Release

Compared to what I should be, I'm a heathen.[74]

– George Harrison to Melody Maker, September 1975

With the 1971-recorded "Motown pastiche"[62] "You" the most obvious choice for an A-side,[65][75] "World of Stone" was selected for the reverse side of the album's lead single, released on 12 September 1975 in Britain[76] and three days later in the United States.[77] Author Bruce Spizer describes the pairing as an "up-beat love song" backed by a "philosophical ballad".[78] Rodriguez notes the "joyous" quality of the single's A-side compared with the "slower or darker groove" of songs such as "World of Stone", the latter being "every bit as downbeat as the [title] suggested".[79] For the first time as a solo artist, Harrison undertook promotion for the album;[80][81] while limiting any discussion of spiritual issues, he conceding to feeling like a "heathen"[82] and stated that he was in "a real down place" when writing many of the songs.[83]

Apple issued Extra Texture (Read All About It) later in September 1975, with "World of Stone" closing side one of the original LP format.[84] Despite the lack of religiosity in the album's lyrical content, the Roy Kohara-designed artwork (based on sketches provided by Harrison)[85] included a blue Om symbol displayed prominently on the vivid orange cover, as did the face labels for both the single and the album.[86]

Reception

Leng describes the critical reception for Extra Texture as "only slightly less vituperative than the one Dark Horse had received".[87] Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone dismissed most of the album's first side as "padded subterfuges" and concluded of the collection as a whole: "Finally, we are faced with the fact that Harrison's records are nothing so much as boring. They drone, and while chants and mantras may be paths to glory in other realms, in pop music they are only routes to tedium."[88] Writing in 1981, Bob Woffinden commented in response to "World of Stone" and other songs that "again plead plaintively with critics not to judge too severely": "In this different context [a year on from Dark Horse], such pleas are more sympathetic. Very well, then, we will not."[89] In a 2001 review, Record Collector editor Peter Doggett was similarly more impressed, writing that "In retrospect, side one of the album was most commendable, from the upbeat 'You' … to the portentous 'World Of Stone'."[90]

The track is held in low esteem by Harrison's biographers. Dale Allison describes it as an "expression of alienation from the world" and notes: "The disparity between this confused melancholy and the confident religious advocacy on All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World is remarkable."[91] Gary Tillery includes the song along with Extra Texture tracks "Grey Cloudy Lies" and "Tired of Midnight Blue" as examples of Harrison having reached "rock bottom" in 1975.[92] Elliot Huntley views "World of Stone" as overlong, the uptempo sections' backing vocals "annoying", with Harrison's guitar sound "a bit thin and weedy", and bemoans that "the melody doesn't really deviate from its beginnings".[64] Like Leng, Ian Inglis gives over much of his discussion of the song to possible interpretations of its lyrics, but he otherwise writes: "Harrison returns to his view of the world as a place of obstacles and trials in which there is little hope ... The variations in his vocal range fail to add variety or interest to what is, by now, a predictable and cheerless message, set to a leaden and monotonous score."[93]

Reviewing the 2014 reissue of Harrison's Apple catalogue, Paul Trynka of Classic Rock considers that Extra Texture's "confessional songs" such as "World of Stone" have "worn well". Trynka writes that the track exemplifies its composer's "knack for taking a sweet melody in an unpredictable direction", and concludes: "Today, when pop stars swig Cristal and flash their pecs on Instagram, we can appreciate the irony of Harrison being attacked for preaching enlightenment."[94]

Personnel

Notes

  1. ^ Another factor was that Harrison was in Los Angeles overseeing projects by acts signed to his Dark Horse label when studio time became available, through the postponement of sessions for Splinter's second album.[33][34]
  2. ^ In I, Me, Mine, Harrison writes the line as "Such a long way from OM" in his discussion of the composition.[44] The page containing the typed song lyrics reads "Such a long way from home", yet Harrison's handwritten lyrics in the same publication give the final word as "OM" in the song's last verse.[45]
  3. ^ As with his 1974 song "Simply Shady", "World of Stone" provides a rare example of Harrison playing a non-slide electric guitar solo on a post-1970 recording, although his part is mixed low, as on the rest of Extra Texture.[67] A later, more highly regarded example, Leng notes, is "Pure Smokey", from Thirty Three & 1/3.[68][69]
  4. ^ Los Angeles-based Attitudes was a band signed to Dark Horse Records,[33][71] comprising Keltner, Foster, Stallworth and guitarist Danny Kortchmar.[72] As well as possibly singing on "World of Stone", Stallworth contributed bass or backing vocals to three other songs on Extra Texture, including "The Answer's at the End".[73]

Citations

  1. ^ Allison, p. 159.
  2. ^ Brian Harrigan, "Harrison: Eastern Promise", Melody Maker, 21 December 1974, p. 36.
  3. ^ Bob Kirsch (ed.), "Top Album Picks", Billboard, 21 December 1974, p. 63 (retrieved 27 May 2015).
  4. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 46.
  5. ^ Greene, p. 213.
  6. ^ Leng, pp. 151, 165.
  7. ^ a b Tillery, p. 113.
  8. ^ Badman, pp. 44–45.
  9. ^ Greene, pp. 190, 193.
  10. ^ a b Tillery, p. 114.
  11. ^ Clayson, pp. 345–46.
  12. ^ Snow, p. 72.
  13. ^ Lavezzoli, p. 195.
  14. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 44.
  15. ^ Schaffner, p. 176.
  16. ^ Doggett, pp. 224–25.
  17. ^ Leng, p. 166.
  18. ^ Woffinden, p. 83.
  19. ^ Clayson, p. 339.
  20. ^ Leng, p. 163.
  21. ^ Greene, pp. 213–14.
  22. ^ Schaffner, p. 178.
  23. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 129.
  24. ^ Ben Fong-Torres, "Lumbering in the Material World", Rolling Stone, 19 December 1974, p. 59.
  25. ^ Leng, p. 177.
  26. ^ Stephen Holden, "George Harrison, Living in the Material World", Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973, p. 54 (retrieved 18 April 2013).
  27. ^ Huntley, pp. 112–13.
  28. ^ Jim Miller, "Dark Horse: Transcendental Mediocrity", Rolling Stone, 13 February 1975, pp. 75–76.
  29. ^ Bob Woffinden, "George Harrison: Dark Horse", NME, 21 December 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 17 April 2013).
  30. ^ Tillery, p. 116.
  31. ^ Greene, p. 219.
  32. ^ Rodriguez, p. 64.
  33. ^ a b c Leng, pp. 178–79.
  34. ^ Snow, p. 73.
  35. ^ Rodriguez, p. 248.
  36. ^ a b Madinger & Easter, pp. 451, 452.
  37. ^ Harrison, p. 276.
  38. ^ Tillery, pp. 113, 115–17.
  39. ^ Greene, pp. 219, 221.
  40. ^ a b c d e f Leng, p. 183.
  41. ^ a b Inglis, p. 52.
  42. ^ Leng, pp. 183, 186.
  43. ^ Tillery, pp. 112–13.
  44. ^ Harrison, pp. 274, 276.
  45. ^ Harrison, pp. 277, 278.
  46. ^ a b Allison, p. 7.
  47. ^ Allsion, pp. 7–8.
  48. ^ Leng, pp. 181, 183, 186.
  49. ^ Badman, pp. 164, 165.
  50. ^ George Harrison interview, Rockweek, "George Harrison explains 'World of Stone'" on YouTube (retrieved 17 April 2013).
  51. ^ Lavezzoli, p. 197.
  52. ^ Allison, pp. 140, 148.
  53. ^ Clayson, p. 348.
  54. ^ Spizer, p. 274.
  55. ^ a b Madinger & Easter, p. 452.
  56. ^ Leng, p. 182.
  57. ^ Snow, pp. 70, 73.
  58. ^ Rodriguez, pp. 83, 85.
  59. ^ Allison, p. 7, 143.
  60. ^ Inglis, pp. 53–54.
  61. ^ Kevin Howlett's liner notes, Extra Texture (Read All About It) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), p. 6.
  62. ^ a b Rodriguez, p. 385.
  63. ^ Leng, p. 186.
  64. ^ a b c Huntley, p. 125.
  65. ^ a b Clayson, p. 349.
  66. ^ Leng, pp. 181, 183.
  67. ^ Carr & Tyler, p. 117.
  68. ^ Leng, pp. 195–96.
  69. ^ Rip Rense, "The Rip Post Interview with Simon Leng", The Rip Post, 2006 (archived version retrieved 26 October 2013).
  70. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 376.
  71. ^ Rodriguez, pp. 81, 247–48.
  72. ^ Spizer, pp. 274, 275.
  73. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 375–76.
  74. ^ Allison, pp 7, 22.
  75. ^ George Harrison interview, Rockweek, "George Harrison introduces Extra Texture and explains 'You'" on YouTube (retrieved 17 April 2013).
  76. ^ Badman, p. 169.
  77. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 369.
  78. ^ Spizer, p. 271.
  79. ^ Rodriguez, pp. 184, 385.
  80. ^ Chris Hunt (ed.), NME Originals: Beatles – The Solo Years 1970–1980, IPC Ignite! (London, 2005), p. 101.
  81. ^ Huntley, p. 123.
  82. ^ Clayson, p. 330.
  83. ^ Allison, p. 22.
  84. ^ Spizer, p. 273.
  85. ^ Extra Texture (Read All About It) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), pp. 8, 16.
  86. ^ Spizer, pp. 272, 275.
  87. ^ Leng, p. 187.
  88. ^ Dave Marsh, "George Harrison Extra Texture", Rolling Stone, 20 November 1975, p. 75 (retrieved 17 April 2013).
  89. ^ Woffinden, p. 86.
  90. ^ Peter Doggett, "George Harrison: The Apple Years", Record Collector, April 2001, p. 40.
  91. ^ Allison, pp. 7–8, 159.
  92. ^ Tillery, pp. 116–17.
  93. ^ Inglis, pp. 52–53.
  94. ^ Paul Trynka, "George Harrison: The Apple Years 1968–75", Classic Rock, November 2014, p. 105 (retrieved 29 November 2014).

Sources

  • Dale C. Allison Jr., The Love There That's Sleeping: The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison, Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; ISBN 978-0-8264-1917-0).
  • Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8307-0).
  • Roy Carr & Tony Tyler, The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Trewin Copplestone Publishing (London, 1978; ISBN 0-450-04170-0).
  • Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976; ISBN 0-345-25680-8).
  • Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003; ISBN 1-86074-489-3).
  • Peter Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup, It Books (New York, NY, 2011; ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8).
  • The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002; ISBN 0-7432-3581-9).
  • Joshua M. Greene, Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ, 2006; ISBN 978-0-470-12780-3).
  • George Harrison, I Me Mine, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002; ISBN 0-8118-3793-9).
  • Elliot J. Huntley, Mystical One: George Harrison – After the Break-up of the Beatles, Guernica Editions (Toronto, ON, 2006; ISBN 1-55071-197-0).
  • Ian Inglis, The Words and Music of George Harrison, Praeger (Santa Barbara, CA, 2010; ISBN 978-0-313-37532-3).
  • Peter Lavezzoli, The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; ISBN 0-8264-2819-3).
  • Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ISBN 1-4234-0609-5).
  • Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium, 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; ISBN 0-615-11724-4).
  • Robert Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980, Backbeat Books (Milwaukee, WI, 2010; ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4).
  • Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY, 1978; ISBN 0-07-055087-5).
  • Mat Snow, "George Harrison: Quiet Storm", Mojo, November 2014, pp. 66–73.
  • Bruce Spizer, The Beatles Solo on Apple Records, 498 Productions (New Orleans, LA, 2005; ISBN 0-9662649-5-9).
  • Gary Tillery, Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison, Quest Books (Wheaton, IL, 2011; ISBN 978-0-8356-0900-5).
  • Bob Woffinden, The Beatles Apart, Proteus (London, 1981; ISBN 0-906071-89-5).
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