Pure Smokey (song)
| "Pure Smokey" | |
|---|---|
1977 single face label
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| Song by George Harrison | |
| from the album Thirty Three & 1/3 | |
| Published | Oops/Ganga |
| Released | 19 November 1976 |
| Genre | Soul |
| Length | 3:56 |
| Label | Dark Horse |
| Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
| Producer(s) | George Harrison with Tom Scott |
| Thirty Three & 1/3 track listing | |
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10 tracks
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"Pure Smokey" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in 1976 on his debut album for Dark Horse Records, Thirty Three & 1/3. The song was the second of Harrison's musical tributes to American soul singer Smokey Robinson, following "Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)" in 1975. Harrison frequently cited Robinson as one of his favourite vocalists and songwriters, and Robinson's group the Miracles had similarly influenced the Beatles during the 1960s. In the lyrics to "Pure Smokey", Harrison gives thanks for the gift of Robinson's music, while making a statement regarding the importance of expressing appreciation and gratitude, rather than forgetting to do so and later regretting it. The song title came from the name of Robinson's 1974 album Pure Smokey.
Harrison recorded "Pure Smokey" at his Friar Park home studio in Henley, Oxfordshire. Jazz musician Tom Scott provided production assistance and the song features musical contributions from Scott, Richard Tee, Willie Weeks and Alvin Taylor, together with a pair of highly regarded guitar solos from Harrison. Several reviewers recognise the song as superior to "Ooh Baby", due in part to its more authentic musical setting; Harrison biographer Simon Leng views the track as its composer's most successful excursion in the soul music genre. "Pure Smokey" appeared as the B-side to the second single from Thirty Three & 1/3 in the UK, which was Harrison's cover of the Cole Porter standard "True Love".
During the Beatles' career, according to author Ian MacDonald, George Harrison had served as the band's "scout" regarding new American music, particularly soul music. In 1975, Harrison released Extra Texture, his most soul-influenced album, with songs such as "You", "Can't Stop Thinking About You" and "The Answer's at the End" all demonstrating his adoption of the genre. Another track, "Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)", was a homage to "Ooo Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson,the Miracles' lead singer whose music had a considerable influence on Harrison and John Lennon during the 1960s. Among the frequent compliments he paid the American singer in interviews, Harrison often praised Robinson as a songwriter, noting in his 1980 autobiography, I Me Mine: "one tends to forget how many good tunes he has written." After coming up with the song's "nice chord changes", as he puts it in I Me Mine, Harrison wrote a more personal musical tribute to Robinson in 1975, titled "Pure Smokey" after Robinson's 1974 album of the same name.
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