Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Perfect Songs: What is Life - George Harrison

The next perfect song is George Harrison's What is Life. 

Taken from the brilliant, All Things Must Pass, this is an upbeat, sixties soul style song. Co-produced by George and Phil Spector, it is one of the Wall of Sound songs.

Essentially a simple song, repetitive and uplifting, it's one of those songs you can't turn away from that makes you want to groove.

It begins with a great guitar riff, with a funkier guitar (played Eric Clapton), brass, and percussion overlay coming in. Funnily enough it is like the perfect pop The Beatles used to turn out, but maybe with a little more sophistication. 

The introduction screeches to a halt to let George sing. And he sounds lovely and clear, earnest and sweet. The verse builds until the joyous chorus and repeats until the end. A simply built song, that George said did not take long to write.

What I feel, I can't say
But my love is there for you any time of day
But if it's not love that you need
Then I'll try my best to make everything succeed.

Tell me, what is my life without your love?
And tell me, who am I without you, by my side?


And what's it really about? Proclaiming love - for a woman or for life itself, that is the question? A lot of people have spent many a long article working through this universal theme of love and life, turning it into something grand and philosophical. And that's great, I think it can be all of those things.

But mostly I think it's quite simply about love and how that makes life shine. That moment when you are surrendered to someone, the way they love you and the fact they are your life, in the best possible way. It's that universal feeling we all are searching for, some of us even lucky to have found. Pure and utter joy, sunshine and happiness, the feeling of perfection.

So this perfect song has that great beat, sheer joy, simple meaning and lyrics, and it goes straight to my heart...this song is one I really want to sing one day because I am experiencing that very feeling!!!


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