George Harrison scored the first Beatles solo No. 1 single. He also notched the most recent with 1987’s “Got My Mind Set on You.” He then assembled the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, ending the ’80s with a flourish.
It was a remarkable comeback. Harrison had begun the decade with plenty of momentum, reaching No. 2 with “All Those Years Ago” from 1981’s Somewhere in England. But then 1982’s Gone Troppo underperformed, and Harrison downshifted. Besides contributing a stray song for 1985’s Porky’s Revenge soundtrack (of all things), Harrison would fall silent until beginning a series of collaborations with the Beatles-loving Jeff Lynne.
Together, they helped Harrison back to the Top 10 with 1987’s platinum-selling Cloud Nine and 1988’s multi-platinum Vol. 1 with the Traveling Wilburys. (Harrison also worked with Lynne on a track for 1989’s Lethal Weapon 2 and on songs that would become 2002’s posthumous Brainwashed.)
READ MORE: Top 25 George Harrison ’70s Songs
Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Harrison largely fell silent in the ’90s after the Traveling Wilburys’ second album, save for a hits-filled Asian tour and small contributions to the Beatles’ Anthology project. By the turn of the century, Harrison was losing a battle with cancer. The following look back at the Top 25 George Harrison ’80s Songs returns to happier days of comeback and renewal:
No. 25. “Blood from a Clone”
From: Somewhere in England (1981)
If you don’t listen too closely, this is a gangly little goof of a track. That must have been why Warner Bros. approved it for their last-minute reworking of Somewhere in England. The lyrics actually mercilessly twist the shiv into Harrison’s label.
No. 24. “Dream Away”
From: Gone Troppo (1982)
The critically lambasted Gone Troppo ended on a decidedly up note, as Harrison tacked on this thinly veiled Beatles pastiche. The stage was already set for his return, even if no one knew it just yet.
No. 23. “Mystical One”
From: Gone Troppo (1982)
“They say I’m not what I used to be,” Harrison admitted to open “Mystical One” then went on to argue how little that mattered to him by this point. It’s an admirable sentiment, but the contrived production values on this otherwise good song told a different story.
No. 22. “Sat Singing”
From: Songs by George Harrison EP (1988)
Another of the rejected songs for the Somewhere in England album, “Sat Singing” referred to a Sanskrit ritual in which adherents gather to seek the “highest truth.” Harrison’s remarkable meditative surrender turned late bandmate John Lennon’s old advice to “turn off your mind” into a moment of religious euphoria.
No. 21. “Writing’s on the Wall”
From: Somewhere in England (1981)
Harrison’s unknowing prescience in writing a track about losing friends too soon made this the perfect B-side for “All Those Years Ago,” the Lennon tribute found later in our list of Top 25 George Harrison ’80s Songs.
No. 20. “Wake Up My Love”
From: Gone Troppo (1982)
This album opener is as dated an item as any Beatles-related ’80s release this side of Paul McCartney’s “Spies Like Us.” Released as Gone Troppo‘s first single, “Wake Up My Love” actually bears a more uncomfortable resemblance (both in tone and in chart performance) to the regrettable “Teardrops” from Somewhere in England. Neither reached the Top 40 in the U.S., and both finished unranked in the U.K. Beneath the sophomoric synth riff, however, there seems to be a fun song struggling to get out.
No. 19. “Lay His Head”
From: B-side to “Got My Mind Set on You” (1987)
“Lay His Head” is such an easy-strumming, perfectly Harrison song that it’s difficult to understand how it ended up on the cutting-room floor when Warner Bros. blew up Somewhere in England.
No. 18. “Someplace Else”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
Lennon once referred to Lynne’s ELO as “son of Beatles.” No need for a DNA test on this tune.
No. 17. “Life Itself”
From: Somewhere in England (1981)
Harrison swerved hard on this album, moving away from more mainstream recent themes on Thirty Three & 1/3 and George Harrison toward a hardened, often unpalatable religiosity. “Life Itself” stood out, not because it avoided such topics, but because his lyric featured the notable return to a message of unity across faiths that Harrison first espoused in “My Sweet Lord.” It’s probably the album’s prettiest song, too.
No. 16. “That’s the Way It Goes”
From: Gone Troppo (1982)
Once again putting aside faith songs, Harrison became absorbed in a potent rumination on the slide. It was a notable departure for someone who had just returned to proselytizing on tracks like “That Which I Have Lost” — and the first hint of the more mainstream turn Harrison would take on Cloud Nine.
No. 15. “Cockamamie Business”
From: Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989 (1989)
Often the extra tracks tacked onto hits packages sound like what they are: warmed-up leftovers. “Cockamamie Business” is different, a slinky groover that’s just packed with attitude and mystery.
No. 14. “Unknown Delight”
From: Gone Troppo (1983)
Gone Troppo was ultimately defined by the use of then-hip synths, but it actually plumbed some notable emotional depths as Harrison spoke to a desire to be part of smaller things after the big things have let you down. (In this way, it could be favorably compared with the pastoral joys of Lennon’s earlier Double Fantasy.) Proof can be found in “Unknown Delight,” this lovingly crafted track for his son Dhani. It remains a low-key triumph on what turned out to be one of Harrison’s most up-tempo, if instantly dated, releases.
No. 13. “Just for Today”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
“Be Here Now,” from 1973’s Living in the Material World, felt like the quiet and then soaringly meditative song Harrison was trying to make with the Beatles on the White Album’s interminable “Long, Long, Long.” “Just For Today” was very much like “Be Here Now,” only crafted for air-play on the radio.
No. 12. “Cloud 9”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
Harrison brilliantly tangles with Eric Clapton on a tough statement of purpose, the first thing begun for an LP that would lead the dormant ex-Beatles star back out of a musical wilderness.
No. 11. “Devil’s Radio”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
There’s not much new here, as Harrison dunks on the paparazzi. But he rocks it all the way out.
No. 10. “I Don’t Want to Do It”
From: Porky’s Revenge (1985)
What a dumb place to hide maybe Harrison’s very best Bob Dylan cover.
No. 9. “Cheer Down”
From: Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
For a few months, this soundtrack cut co-written by Wilbury buddy Tom Petty was one of the more hard-to-find gems from a period of offhanded delights. Produced in a surprisingly contemporary style, Harrison’s tongue is firmly placed in cheek throughout: “When your teeth drop out, you’ll get by even without taking a bite.” Later in the year, “Cheer Down” was widely issued as a single upon the release of Best of Dark Horse.
No. 8. “Heading for the Light”
From: The Traveling Wilburys’ Vol. 1 (1988)
As the ’80s concluded, Harrison had put his life back together, then his faith and finally his career. His sense of purpose leaks out of every part of this song.
No. 7. “Wreck of the Hesperus”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
The title of this sharp and snarky rocker, originally found in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, became a colloquial term used by the Brits in reference to a disheveled appearance. That opened the door for a winking glance at Harrison’s newfound status as a dinosaur rocker: “I’m not the wreck of the Hesperus,” “feel more like the Wall of China,” “getting old as Methuselah,” etc. Ringo Starr was, of course, the perfect choice to drum up a sense of humorous self-effacement.
No. 6. “This Is Love”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
“Got My Mind Set on You” became a chart-topping smash, and “When We Was Fab” was the album’s sentimental favorite. But “This Is Love,” with one of Harrison’s most openhearted vocals, should have been the hit. It’s simply infectious.
No. 5. “Got My Mind Set on You”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
Harrison discovered James Ray’s version of this song while browsing record shops during a 1963 visit with his sister in rural Illinois – months before the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan’s show. He didn’t return to “Got My Mind Set on You” for decades, but Harrison’s timing was impeccable: The Jeff Lynne-produced update gave Harrison a third chart-topping single just as his old band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
No. 4. “That’s What It Takes”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
Cowritten with Gary Wright, and featuring a nicely understated turn on slide, this is the completely realized mid-’70s hit Harrison never quite managed. Better late than never.
No. 3. “When We Was Fab”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)
Poking some good-natured fun at the Beatles’ Summer of Love-era excesses, “When We Was Fab” allowed Harrison and Lynne to play every psychedelic card in the deck – adding strings, backward tapes and, of course, a sitar. The delightful video included sideman Starr and an actor miming McCartney’s left-handed bass while wearing a walrus costume; Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall also passes by at one point with a copy of Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine. All of it felt like a bittersweet reverie, even then.
No. 2. “Handle With Care”
From: The Traveling Wilburys’ Vol. 1 (1988)
Harrison’s smash hit about sly resiliency was originally recorded as a throwaway B-side, until his label intervened. He called up Lynne, who was then working with Roy Orbison. They arranged to use Bob Dylan’s studio, then Tom Petty got involved when Harrison stopped by to retrieve a guitar. All of sudden, perhaps rock’s greatest supergroup was born. Warner Bros. wasn’t going to bury their first song on the back of Harrison’s “This Is Love” single. Lucky us.
No. 1. “All Those Years Ago”
From: Somewhere in England (1981)
Under label pressure, Harrison provided some late-session replacement songs that included this No. 2 hit, a requiem for bandmate John Lennon. His awful murder sparked an unlikely reunion that included Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick. Even Denny Laine and Linda McCartney from Wings were there. The results were so incandescent that they make up for some of the dreck found elsewhere on Somewhere in England.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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