Circles (George Harrison song)

"Circles" is a song by English rock musician

Harrison revisited "Circles" during the sessions for his 1979 album George Harrison before he finally recorded it for Gone Troppo. Over this period, Harrison had softened the spiritual message in his work and had also begun to forgo the music business for a career as a film producer with his company HandMade Films. The song was produced by Harrison, Ray Cooper and former Beatles engineer Phil McDonald, with recording taking place at Harrison's Friar Park studio between May and August 1982. The track features extensive use of keyboards and synthesizer, with Billy Preston, Jon Lord and Mike Moran among the contributing musicians.

A slow, meditative song, "Circles" has received a varied response from reviewers. While some find it overly gloomy, others recognise the track as a highlight of a generally overlooked album. In the United States, it was issued as the

"Circles" was one of several songs that George Harrison wrote in Rishikesh, India,^[1][2] when he and his Beatles bandmates were attending Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation course in the spring of 1968.^[3][4] Aside from providing an opportunity to progress with meditation,^[5] the two-month stay marked the start of Harrison's return to the guitar after two years of studying the Indian sitar, partly under the tutelage of Ravi Shankar.^[6] During those years, according to Harrison, he only played guitar while working with the Beatles.^{[7][nb 1]} Harrison biographer Simon Leng considers that "Circles" was composed on an organ, however, as most of Harrison's Indian-inspired melodies since 1966 had been – among them, "Within You Without You", "Blue Jay Way" and parts of his Wonderwall Music soundtrack album.^[11] Leng writes of "fugue-like keyboard parts" on the song and "bass figures" that partly recall the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.^[12]

The song's lyrical theme is

According to musicologist Walter Everett, the musical aspects of the 1968 version of "Circles" include a "singularly expressive common-tone modulation" over a semitone descent from the chord of C minor to B minor.^[33] Harrison changed the key for the official recording,^[33] where the song is played in the key of F major.^[34] In this final form, the structure comprises two verses and a chorus (or "bridge", as Harrison terms it on his handwritten manuscript); a repeat of this combination, with an instrumental passage over the second section of verse; and two further verses, followed by an extended instrumental passage.^[35]

The composition is based on a six-

Allison describes the lyrics as "a clear statement of reincarnation", as well as "the most blatant example" of Harrison's desire to pass on to a "'higher' and better world" at death, and so escape the cycle of rebirth in the material world.[37] The choruses include the lines from Lao-Tse: "He who knows does not speak / He who speaks does not know".^[21][32] Elsewhere in "Circles", Harrison contemplates the changing nature of friendship as, over the course of lifetimes, in Inglis's description, "our enemies become our companions, affections turn into hatred".^[21]

On the released recording, Harrison concludes with a statement on how to break the circle of repetition:

As with "Sour Milk Sea", another Harrison song inspired by the Beatles' stay in Rishikesh,^[53] the group did not attempt to record "Circles" for the White Album.^[54] This partly reflected Harrison's junior position to John Lennon and McCartney as a songwriter in the Beatles;^[51][55] in an interview conducted later in 1968,^[56] he also stated that he was enjoying contributing more on guitar again and being a "rock 'n' roll star".^[57] With the band's songwriting output at an unprecedentedly high level,^[58][59] Harrison's "Not Guilty" was similarly left off the album,^[60] even though the group completed a studio recording of that track in London.^[61][62]

The demo of "Circles", along with the Esher recordings of "Sour Milk Sea" and "Not Guilty", began circulating on bootleg compilations in the early 1990s.^{[63][nb 5]} In 2018, all the Esher demos were issued on the 50th Anniversary box-set release of The Beatles.^[64][65]

Recording

In 1978, Harrison returned to "Circles" and "Not Guilty" during the sessions for his sixth post-Beatles solo album,

Harrison recorded "Circles" at his

suspensions and chromatic shifts to produce a "curious hybrid" combining a "Harrison pop tune" with an art song.^[36]

Leng comments on the seemingly unlikely pairing of Harrison and Lord,[34] who was the keyboardist for the heavy rock bands Deep Purple and Whitesnake.^[80] Acknowledging the close friendship between the two near-neighbours, Leng cites Lord's presence on the track as indicative of a preference for locally sourced contributors and "trusted pals" when Harrison made Gone Troppo.^{[81][nb 6]} As another factor in the album's creation, Harrison felt increasingly removed from contemporary musical trends and more involved with his film company, HandMade,^[87] whose recent successes included Terry Gilliam's 1981 fantasy adventure Time Bandits.^[88][89] While viewing "Circles" as "a throwback to the early days of enlightenment in the 1960s", Leng writes that the "ponderous, stuttering, meditative pace and bizarre, circular melodic structure" of the song evokes "the feeling of being transported to one of the parallel realities" depicted in Gilliam's film.^[90]

Release

"Circles" was issued on 5 November 1982

Warner Bros. Records, the distributor of his Dark Horse record label.^[96] Author Alan Clayson comments that the song's "sense of once more going through the old routine" seemingly reflected the artist's disenchantment after Warner's had rejected part of the content of his previous album, Somewhere in England.^{[97][nb 7]}

Gone Troppo became Harrison's last album for five years,

B-side to the album's second single in the United States, "I Really Love You".^[107]

Critical reception

Discussing the reception to Gone Troppo in their book Eight Arms to Hold You, Chip Madinger and Mark Easter identify "Circles" as the only track "reflecting weightier matters" on what was otherwise Harrison's "frothiest" collection of songs to date, and they conclude: "Sadly, a decent album was lost in the shuffle of the rapidly changing marketplace of the early '80's."[108] In his contemporary review for Musician magazine, Roy Trakin wrote that, following Lennon's murder two years before, Harrison's "tortured honesty" undermined the album's "attempt to heal those psychic wounds with calm, offhanded music". He said that "not even Billy Preston can rescue … the maudlin tautologies of the closing 'Circles'."^[109]

More impressed with Gone Troppo, Dave Thompson wrote in Goldmine in 2002 that, together with "Dream Away", "Circles" "stand[s] alongside any number of Harrison's minor classics".^[110] Writing in 2017, Jamie Atkins of Record Collector also challenged the poor reputation that the album had gained. Among its highlights, he said that "Circles turns the creepy, bad acid vibes of [Harrison's] 1968 demo into one of his finest solo tracks."^[111]

In his book The Unreleased Beatles, Richie Unterberger describes the song as "a pretty neat, if droning, reflection of Harrison's more somber spiritual sensibilities". He views the 1968 demo as a version that "exerts by far the greater fascination" compared with Harrison's later recording.^[51] Author John Winn dismisses "Circles" as "a depressing number that makes 'Blue Jay Way' sound like a Little Richard freakout",^[50] while Ian MacDonald describes it as "a typically perceptive, if deeply gloomy, song about karma".^[52] Harrison biographer Elliot Huntley dismisses the 1982 version as Harrison's "worst-ever composition", adding: "A heavy, spiritual dirge, somehow redolent of 'Blue Jay Way,' but different inasmuch as it's nowhere near as good … you can almost hear the song-writing barrel being scraped."^[30]

By contrast, Simon Leng admires "Circles" as "one of [its] composer's most complex pieces", and he pairs the song with "Beware of Darkness" as "a study in Harrison's unique harmonic sense".^[34] In light of its release as the final track on Gone Troppo, Leng adds: "'Circles' was so personal and eccentric that it seemed to close the book on George's recording career. It felt like he was making music only for himself."^[90] Thomas MacFarlane considers it to be one of Harrison's "most intriguing works" and a suitable conclusion to the "first phase" of his career as a solo artist.^[70] He describes the performances on the track as "startling", saying that they approach a jazz-like virtuosity, and he recognises the production as unique in Harrison's catalogue in its blending of his best signature textural effects with a "minimalistic approach" to soundscape.^[36]

Personnel

According to the Gone Troppo CD credits^[79] and Simon Leng:^[112]

• George Harrison – vocals, bass, synthesizer, slide guitars, backing vocals
• Billy Preston – organ, piano
• Mike Moran – synthesizer
• Jon Lord – synthesizer
• Henry Spinetti – drums
• Ray Cooper – percussion

Beatles version

• George Harrison – vocals, organ

Notes

1. ^ Harrison continued to study the sitar through much of 1968.^[8] Having begun to question his commitment while filming his scenes for the Shankar documentary Raga in California, in June,^[9] he finally abandoned the instrument later that year.^[10]
2. ^ Harrison had first taken reincarnation as his theme for "Art of Dying", which he began writing in 1966.^[19] It continued to be the focus of many of his songs as a solo artist, notably the 1973 hit "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)".^[20]
3. ^ Harrison was encouraged to adapt Lao-Tse's text into "The Inner Light" by Juan Mascaró,^[24] a Sanskrit scholar who had translated part of the Tao Te Ching and other religious writings in his book Lamps of Fire.^[25] Mascaró was impressed by the message of "Within You Without You"^[26] and, in October 1967,^[27] took part in a televised debate about Transcendental Meditation with Harrison and John Lennon.^[28][29]
4. ^ In another comment on the song's unusual harmonic qualities, Leng writes that "Very few songwriters would conceive a D minor–B-flat–B minor [chord] progression" as Harrison employs over the line "I go round in circles", at the end of the choruses.^[34]
5. ^ The first of these bootlegs was Unsurpassed Demos, issued in 1991.^[63] "Circles" then appeared with improved sound^[63] on From Kinfauns to Chaos.^[32]
6. Joe Brown, Alvin Lee, Mick Ralphs, Jim Capaldi^[83] and Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice,^[84] he was part of Harrison's coterie of local musicians known as "the Henley Music Mafia".^[85][86]
7. ^ Leng writes that, in the context of its 1982 release, "Circles" appeared to be "payback for Somewhere in England", suggesting that Harrison was "challenging" Warner Bros. "to achieve the impossible and market a song about reincarnation".^[34]
8. ^ As another comparatively rare musical activity for Harrison,^[105] he joined Lord on stage in Sydney in December 1984^[106] during Deep Purple's reunion tour.^[86]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Madinger & Easter, p. 464.
2. ^ ^{a b} Badman, p. 300.
3. ^ Everett, pp. 199, 202–03.
4. ^ Shea & Rodriguez, p. 301.
5. ^ Paytress, pp. 12, 13–14.
6. ^ Leng, p. 34.
7. ^ Kahn, p. 220.
8. ^ Harrison, p. 55.
9. ^ Lavezzoli, pp. 184–85.
10. ^ Shea & Rodriguez, p. 158.
11. ^ Leng, pp. 32, 34, 50, 236.
12. ^ Leng, pp. 232, 236.
13. ^ Allison, pp. 44–45, 79–80.
14. ^ Nick Jones, "Beatle George And Where He's At", Melody Maker, 16 December 1967, pp. 8–9; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
15. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 139.
16. ^ Tillery, pp. 69–71.
17. ^ Michael Simmons, "Cry for a Shadow", Mojo, November 2011, p. 80.
18. ^ Allison, p. 82.
19. ^ Leng, p. 98.
20. ^ Allison, pp. 79–80, 136.
21. ^ ^{a b c d} Inglis, p. 83.
22. ^ Lavezzoli, pp. 183–84.
23. ^ Tillery, p. 63.
24. ^ Harrison, p. 116.
25. ^ Everett, pp. 152–53.
26. ^ Lavezzoli, pp. 182–83.
27. ^ Winn, p. 130.
28. ^ Everett, p. 152.
29. ^ MacDonald, p. 240.
30. ^ ^{a b} Huntley, p. 186.
31. ^ Everett, p. 163.
32. ^ ^{a b c d} Lindsay Planer, "George Harrison 'Circles'", AllMusic (retrieved 7 February 2018).
33. ^ ^{a b} Everett, p. 349.
34. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Leng, p. 236.
35. ^ Harrison, p. 461.
36. ^ ^{a b c} MacFarlane, p. 133.
37. ^ Allison, pp. 82, 139.
38. ^ Allison, pp. 82–83.
39. ^ Harrison, p. 460.
40. ^ Allison, p. 83.
41. ^ MacDonald, p. 244.
42. ^ Womack, p. 364.
43. ^ Unterberger, pp. 195, 197.
44. ^ Winn, pp. 169, 170.
45. ^ Miles, p. 299.
46. ^ ^{a b} Womack, p. 185.
47. ^ Unterberger, p. 197.
48. ^ Everett, pp. 163, 202.
49. ^ Quantick, p. 160.
50. ^ ^{a b} Winn, p. 170.
51. ^ ^{a b c} Unterberger, p. 198.
52. ^ ^{a b} MacDonald, p. 244fn.
53. ^ Womack, p. 857.
54. ^ Unterberger, pp. 198, 349.
55. ^ Quantick, pp. 108, 110–11.
56. ^ Alan Smith, "George Is a Rocker Again! (Part 2)", NME, 28 September 1968, p. 3.
57. ^ Clayson, pp. 260–61.
58. ^ Hertsgaard, p. 251.
59. ^ Paytress, p. 15.
60. ^ Goldmine staff, "Cover Story – The White Album: Artistic zenith or full of filler? Part II", Goldmine, 16 October 2008 (retrieved 5 August 2015).
61. ^ Miles, pp. 305–06.
62. ^ MacDonald, pp. 267–68.
63. ^ ^{a b c} Winn, p. 171.
64. ^ David Fricke, "'The Beatles (White Album) Super Deluxe' Is a Revelatory Dive into Their Frayed Late-Sixties Drama", Rolling Stone, 8 November 2018 (retrieved 24 February 2021).
65. ^ Steve Marinucci, "The Beatles Announce 50th Anniversary 'White Album' Box with Unreleased Tracks", Billboard, 25 September 2018 (retrieved 7 June 2021).
66. ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 457, 464.
67. ^ Badman, pp. 221, 300.
68. ^ Clayson, p. 368.
69. ^ Shea & Rodriguez, p. 302.
70. ^ ^{a b} MacFarlane, pp. 132–33.
71. ^ Lavezzoli, p. 197.
72. ^ Tillery, p. 128.
73. ^ Allison, p. 47.
74. ^ Chant and Be Happy, p. 2.
75. ^ Kahn, pp. 288–89, 304–05.
76. ^ Inglis, p. 79.
77. ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 462.
78. ^ Leng, p. 235.
79. ^ ^{a b} "Circles", Gone Troppo CD booklet (Dark Horse Records, 2004; produced by George Harrison, Ray Cooper & Phil McDonald).
80. ^ Romanowski & George-Warren, pp. 251, 1071.
81. ^ Leng, pp. 229–30, 236.
82. ^ Clayson, pp. 364, 390.
83. ^ MacFarlane, p. 123.
84. ^ Mark Ellen, "A Big Hand for the Quiet One", Q, January 1988, p. 56.
85. ^ Clayson, p. 390.
86. ^ ^{a b} Leng, p. 239.
87. ^ Leng, pp. 229–30.
88. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 204.
89. ^ Clayson, pp. 372–73.
90. ^ ^{a b} Leng, p. 237.
91. ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 636.
92. ^ Inglis, pp. 83, 151–52.
93. ^ Doggett, pp. 280–81.
94. ^ Badman, pp. 305–07.
95. ^ Huntley, pp. 190, 192.
96. ^ John Harris, "Beware of Darkness", Mojo, November 2011, p. 83.
97. ^ Clayson, p. 392.
98. ^ Romanowski & George-Warren, pp. 419, 420.
99. ^ Leng, pp. 239–41, 243.
100. ^ Inglis, pp. 84–86.
101. ^ Leng, pp. 239–40.
102. ^ Inglis, p. 85.
103. ^ Badman, p. 351.
104. ^ Huntley, p. 195.
105. ^ Clayson, p. 397.
106. ^ Badman, p. 347.
107. ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 633.
108. ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 462–63.
109. ^ Roy Trakin, "George Harrison: Gone Troppo", Musician, January 1983; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
110. ^ Dave Thompson, "The Music of George Harrison: An album-by-album guide", Goldmine, 25 January 2002, p. 53.
111. ^ Jamie Atkins, "Apple Buff: George Harrison – The Vinyl Collection", Record Collector, March 2017 (retrieved 4 February 2017).
112. ^ Leng, pp. 235–36.

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