Writing's on the Wall (George Harrison song)

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.[1][2] 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.[3][4] As an additional factor by the late 1970s, Harrison had chosen to distance himself from the Hare Krishna Movement[5] following the death of the movement's founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in November 1977.[6]

The song's title is a phrase from the biblical Book of Daniel. While acknowledging that the phrase is commonplace in its own right, theologian Dale Allison cites Harrison's use of it as one of many examples of his acceptance of Christian teaching beside the Hindu influences with which he was more typically associated.[7] This recognition of Christ was in keeping with a concept espoused by the late Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda,[8][9] whose teachings had had a significant influence on Harrison since 1966.[10][11][12]

Allison describes "Writing's on the Wall" as "musically idiosyncratic".[13] According to author Simon Leng, the song shares the same contemplative musical mood as two earlier Harrison compositions, "Be Here Now" and "Long, Long, Long",[14] both of which carry their melody over an Indian music-style drone, recalling Harrison's period as a sitar student under Shankar in the 1960s.[15] Leng adds that, such was Harrison's disinterest in contemporary musical genres such as disco, new wave and heavy metal,[16] the song represented "a genus all its own".[17]

In his lyrics, Harrison sings of the transient nature of existence[14][18] and warns against relying on material things.[19] Leng considers "Writing's on the Wall" to be the first song in which Harrison "equates music with spirituality" and explicitly evokes Nada Brahma, a concept espoused by Indian classical musicians such as Shankar that means "sound is God".[20]

Amid his warning of life's fleeting qualities, Harrison sings of friends who are "drunk away, shot away, or die away from you".[21][nb 1] Author Ian Inglis likens the song's message, regarding the need to accept and prepare for death, to a philosophical point espoused by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges. Inglis writes that, like Borges in his poem "Limits", Harrison fully accepts the impermanence of life and so challenges Dylan Thomas's contention (in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night") that the inevitability of death should be defied until the end.[23]

Harrison recorded "Writing's on the Wall" during the main sessions for Somewhere in England,[24] held at his FPSHOT studio in Oxfordshire between March and September 1980.[25][26] Aside from Harrison, who also served as producer,[27] the musicians at the sessions were Neil Larsen and Gary Brooker (both on keyboards), Ray Cooper (percussion), Willie Weeks (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums).[24]

In July that year, Harrison was planning to produce an album by Shankar,[28] a project that would have been their first collaboration since recording the Music Festival from India album in 1974 and their subsequent North American tour.[29][30] Although the 1980 project did not take place,[28] the song includes a rare contribution to a Western rock recording by tabla player Alla Rakha, Shankar's longtime accompanist.[31] Harrison added other Indian instrumentation to the track,[32] including gubgubbi, a gut-stringed instrument he had also used on the song "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" in 1974.[33]

Harrison submitted Somewhere in England to Warner Bros. Records, the distributor of his Dark Horse record label, in late September 1980,[34] with "Writing's on the Wall" sequenced as the second song, following his cover of Hoagy Carmichael's "Hong Kong Blues".[35] Warner's were unimpressed with the album and asked Harrison to rework the content[24] – including replacing four of the original songs – to ensure the release had more commercial appeal.[36][37] Harrison chose to retain "Writing's on the Wall" over more upbeat and commercial-sounding tracks such as "Flying Hour" and "Lay His Head".[38][39] The song was remixed during the additional sessions for Somewhere in England.[24] Ray Cooper was credited as co-producer on the second version of the album.[40][41]

Somewhere in England was released on 1 June 1981.[42][43] "Writing's on the Wall" appeared as the eighth track, between the newly recorded "That Which I Have Lost" and "Hong Kong Blues".[44] The song was also issued as the B-side of the lead single, "All Those Years Ago", which Harrison wrote as a tribute to his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon,[45] who had been fatally shot in New York City on 8 December 1980.[46] Its inclusion on the single led many listeners to assume that "Writing's on the Wall" also addressed Lennon's murder, particularly with the line referring to friends who are unexpectedly "shot away".[47] Author Robert Rodriguez comments that, had the scheduled release of Somewhere in England taken place in late 1980, "listeners would doubtless have been chilled by the song's prescience".[18]

Coinciding with the public's outpouring of grief in reaction to Lennon's death, the single was a top-ten hit in many countries around the world and became Harrison's most successful single since "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" in 1973.[48] Among the people he thanked on the inner sleeve of Somewhere in England was Yogananda,[49] and he dedicated the album to Lennon's memory[50] with a quote from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: "There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you. Nor will there be any future when we cease to be."[51][nb 2] The quote was followed by Lennon's initials and accompanied by both the Hindu Om symbol and a Christian cross.[49]

Although unimpressed with Somewhere in England generally,[54][55] Harry Thomas of Rolling Stone wrote: "Harrison has achieved the supreme gift of communicating, through the abstract medium of music (the words are secondary), a vision of the spiritual world he's glimpsed in his mystical explorations. Side two's "Writing's on the Wall," which makes discreet use of Indian instruments, is very nearly as gorgeous and haunting as 'Life Itself,' and a far more imaginative exercise in raga-rock than anything Harrison ever managed as a Beatle."[56] People magazine's reviewer said that "thoughts of eternity haunt even the jauntiest of these tunes … In Writing's on the Wall, Harrison writes that 'death holds on to us much more with every passing hour.' This record is both entertainment and a musical giant's defiant tribute to the value of life."[57]

In a gesture that Simon Leng terms "unprecedented", Harrison authorised the inclusion of "Writing's on the Wall", together with "Life Itself" and "That Which I Have Lost", on the 1993 audio release of Deepak Chopra's bestselling book Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.[58] The track accompanies a passage read by Chopra,[58] who became a friend of Harrison's in the mid 1980s and helped effect a reconciliation between the singer and his former meditation teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in 1991.[59][nb 3] Having interviewed Harrison for Guitar World magazine in 1987, Rip Rense cited the song as an example of the high standard that Harrison consistently applied to his songwriting as a solo artist, such that "his work is my choice for best among the ex-Fabs for being the most substantial in melody, structure, and content."[62]

While he considers both the 1980 and the 1981 versions of the album to be "mixed bags", former Mojo editor Mat Snow pairs "the gentle, thoughtful 'Writing's on the Wall'" with "Life Itself", as the two tracks that "stand out as deeply felt returns to singing of his spirituality".[2] Leng recognises the same pair of songs as "about the only reason to look into the 1981 Somewhere in England", with "Writing's on the Wall" representing "the ultimate expression of [Harrison's] introverted music in an extroverted age".[14] In his comments on the media attention afforded Harrison after his near-fatal stabbing in December 1999, Leng also remarks on the irony that the issues Harrison had addressed in songs such as "Writing's on the Wall" "were played out before his eyes, with himself as the leading man".[63]

Ian Inglis admires the synergistic aspect of the song's music and lyrics, a quality that he finds lacking in other tracks on Harrison's most artistically compromised album.[64] Inglis adds that the "poetic properties of his lyrics are seen here at their best" and reflect Harrison's continued ability to "use language in expressive ways".[65] Author Elliot Huntley describes the track as "pleasant" but seemingly "unfinished", and suggests that it would have been better served with a full Indian classical arrangement in the style of Harrison's Beatles composition "Within You Without You".[32]

According to Simon Leng:[14]

• George Harrison – vocals, electric guitars, gubgubbi, backing vocals
• Neil Larsen – keyboards
• Gary Brooker – synthesizer
• Willie Weeks – bass
• Jim Keltner – drums
• Ray Cooper – percussion, congas
• Alla Rakha – tabla