Writing's on the Wall (George Harrison song)
| "Writing's on the Wall" | |
|---|---|
US B-side face label
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| Song by George Harrison | |
| from the album Somewhere in England | |
| Published | Oops/Ganga |
| Released | 1 June 1981 |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 3:59 |
| Label | Dark Horse |
| Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
| Producer(s) | George Harrison, Ray Cooper |
| Somewhere in England track listing | |
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10 tracks
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"Writing's on the Wall" is a song by English musician George Harrison from his 1981 album Somewhere in England. It was also the B-side of the album's lead single, "All Those Years Ago", which Harrison wrote as a tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon. In his lyrics, Harrison sings of the transient nature of life and the importance of recognising a spiritual purpose. Although the song was written long before Lennon's murder in New York in December 1980, the lyrics' reference to how easily friends can be shot down and killed led listeners to interpret it as a further comment on Lennon's death.
Harrison recorded "Writing's on the Wall" at his Friar Park studio in England in 1980. A sombre and meditative track, it includes Indian classical instrumentation alongside the Western rock backing. The musicians on the recording include Ray Cooper, who plays various percussion instruments, former Procol Harum keyboardist Gary Brooker, and Alla Rakha on tabla.
Along with "Life Itself", "Writing's on the Wall" marked Harrison's return to philosophical songwriting after his more subtle and light-hearted work since the mid 1970s. Several music critics and commentators recognise the song as a highlight of the otherwise disappointing Somewhere in England album. Harrison agreed to its use in the 1993 audio-book format of author Deepak Chopra's Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, where the track accompanies a passage read by Chopra.
Along with the Somewhere in England track "Life Itself", "Writing's on the Wall" represented a return by George Harrison to directly addressing spiritual and philosophical issues in his songwriting. In his two previous albums, Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976) and George Harrison (1979), Harrison had conveyed his spirituality in subtle terms, whereby his lyrics in praise of the Hindu deity Krishna regularly invited interpretation as standard love songs directed towards a romantic partner. This subtle approach had continued a precedent set after his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, when Harrison's spiritual pronouncements had attracted scorn from many music critics. As an additional factor by the late 1970s, Harrison had chosen to distance himself from the Hare Krishna Movement following the death of the movement's founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in November 1977.
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